Christmas Songs! (A Nice, Noncontroversial Topic)

So, let me tell you about my friend Elaine.

Elaine is one of the smartest people I know. She has directed me in an abundance of community theater plays since 1999 or thereabouts, and puts up with my general ineptitude where stage blocking is concerned. (I’ve only walked through the wrong door in 5 plays! 9 if you count plays where our set didn’t actually have a door, but I still walked through the wrong thing.)

Elaine is such a good friend, I know she won’t mind me reprinting her extremely well-articulated thoughts about Christmas music. Some of these things Elaine and I have discussed (read: argued) lots of times. Others are brand new to me. But they all inspire me to share my thoughts on Christmas music.

Elaine’s thoughts will be in italics. My thoughts are mine alone and do not represent anyone at any level of my employer.

Some thoughts on Christmas songs (since I know you’re all dying to hear them): 1) Love hearing them right after Thanksgiving (if you want to play them earlier, go for it!) but hate that they are just abruptly cut off on Dec. 26 – Christmas is supposed to be the START of the season, not the end.

I am a total traditionalist where Christmas music is concerned, in that I hate hearing it before Thanksgiving. But I’m getting more used to it, much in the way a hostage becomes acclimated to their conditions.

Now this second thing…the cutting off of Christmas music after December 25th. Well, that seems right as rain to me. But I’m a heathen. (Methodist actually but for purposes of this discussion we’ll say heathen.) Christmas Day is the actual holiday, and while I’m a “take the tree down on New Year’s Day” person, I am absolutely a “pack all the Christmas songs away at Midnight 12/26” person.

2) It doesn’t matter if the word “Christmas” is in it, “Last Christmas” has nothing to do with Christmas. And it’s just a bad song in general. Don’t play it. Ever.

I’m an 80’s kid. I love “Last Christmas”, whether it has anything to do with Christmas or not. But I want the Wham version. We have at least four versions of “Last Christmas” in our library and I like one of them. Wham! There is no other! But when you play all-Christmas-music you have to play multiple versions. This also helps keep Michael Buble employed, because ain’t nobody wants to hear Buble sing a classic when there’s Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, or about 15 others nearby.

3) “My Favorite Things” IS. NOT. A. CHRISTMAS. SONG. Just stop it. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” – also not a Christmas song.

If it’s not a Christmas song, why are Diana Ross and the Supremes singing it in front of a bunch of Christmas presents!?!? Why is that, Elaine?! Hah?!

And why does Kelly Clarkson wish people “Merry Christmas” in her lyric video for a non-Christmas song!?!? Why I ask!

(Elaine and I have gone back and forth on this one for over ten years. I know I’m not changing her mind. I just like to present the evidence. And the Leonard Cohen song…well that’s just ludicrous. I’m with Elaine on that one.)

Elaine didn’t have a number 4, so here’s mine:

4) Andy Williams is awesome.

Okay, back to Elaine.

5) “Feliz Navidad” cannot be the only Christmas song there is using Spanish. Please, please, please find different ones to play.

I got nothin’. It’s an entirely valid point. Being as I am the whitest human being on planet Earth (just ask Elaine!), I cannot think of another Christmas song with Spanish language vocals. But there should be more. Gloria Estefan, once you recover from the ‘Rona, we’re looking at you!

6) I will never get tired of the classic Christmas carols.

Agreed. One of the things I love about Reindeer Radio is that we do include performances of traditional hymns from a variety of artists and eras. My favorite would be “O Holy Night”, vocal by Andy or Perry or Bing or etc.

7) Mannheim Steamroller rules Christmas music!!!!

Mannheim Steamroller is a Nebraskan outfit and therefore I have to tred gingerly. They’re….not my favorite. I mean, it’s good Christmas music. But my tastes go toward Vince Guaraldi. Mannheim, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra for that matter, give me a “waiting room” vibe.

And there you have it! Elaine’s thoughts on Christmas music.

And now, one more thought from me. And again, this is MY THOUGHT ALONE on MY PERSONAL BLOG and I am speaking only for myself and not in any professional or representative capacity.

You know what I miss?

Being surprised by a Christmas song on the radio.

When I was a kid, you would listen to the radio at Christmastime in hopes that a Christmas song would come along. Maybe it would by the time you got home from the store, or maybe it wouldn’t. But you’d listen eagerly, waiting for that special little Christmas jingle.

And you knew how close it was to Christmas by how many Christmas songs you heard in an hour of radio listening. First it might be one song every few hours. Then every other hour. Then every hour, then 2 or 3 per hour, climaxing with the all-Christmas playlist on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The music would increase as one’s awareness of Christmas increased.

And always there was the surprise. The jingle…”Haaaaaaaappyyyy Holidaaaaaaayysssss…from 93Q!” Followed by a Christmas song. You turned up the radio with genuine excitement.

I miss that. As a listener and a participant.