15
votes
What are your favorite Christmas songs?
"It's too early for Christmas", you may be saying, but you may also be a Scrooge and I won't abide by it. Christmas is just about 2 weeks away and I'm ready to listen to some Christmas music. So what are some of your favorites?
Also any non-Christmas December holiday music can be shared as well! I'm just not aware of any of the others having much music (unless you're into that Adam Sandler song).
edit: I put together a Spotify playlist of everything (so far as of Dec 13 @ 1pm EST) -- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7FY6Ngmo60so3xzy3xCTY5?si=729f98cd8da34283
edit 2: I've been adding songs as they trickle in. Last updated Dec 20
I put everything into a Spotify playlist! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7FY6Ngmo60so3xzy3xCTY5?si=729f98cd8da34283
I didn't add the entire album recommendations, because I thought they might end up dominating the playlist. So if anyone who shared an entire album would like to specify a song or two from it, just reply to this and I'll update the playlist sometime tonight. And if I added the wrong song anywhere, let me know as well. I'm not familiar with most of these renditions, so I just went with what came up in the search.
Merry Christmas!
I don't celebrate Christmas, but Joe Pesci's If It Doesn't Snow This Christmas is the best (NSFW Language)
edit: This thread in /r/VintageObscura is worth digging through. Its got a lot of the stranger classics :)
A few of mine:
Father Christmas will always be my Christmas number 1.
"Christmas Time" - The Darkness: Probably the last properly good Christmas song to come out, and maybe one of the best tracks that the Darkness would ever produce.
"Merry Christmas Everyone" - Shakin' Stevens: While Shakin' Stevens was well before my time, the Christmas song he released is pretty much timeless.
"Last Christmas" - Wham: Only click if you feel like being sent to Whamhalla this year... I obviously failed Whamageddon 2021 because someone in my office had the audacity to blast Christmas songs at full volume.
"Fa La La" - Justin Bieber feat Boyz II Men: An unpopular opinion of mine but this is one of Bieber's best songs, hands down.
Ronettes - "Sleigh Bells (PhatCap! Trap Remix)": Not that the original Ronettes song is bad, but the Trap remix just sounds so much better to my ears. It has a damn good drop.
"Proper Crimbo" - Bo Selecta: For non-Brits, Bo Selecta was an early-2000's sketch comedy on Channel 4 starring Leigh Francis as Avid Merrion, a celebrity-obsessed stalker. The main draw of the show were various skits where Francis would impersonate and mock various celebrities, including Mel B, Craig David and Michael Jackson (apparently MJ was a big fan of the series.) This was the Christmas single they released.
Two honorable mentions:
"Boris Johnson Is A F***ing C*** - The K***s: (NSFW language) Obviously not a Christmas song but one that was pushed out as a contender for UK Christmas #1 as a protest vote last year. It hit #5 at its peak. My reasons for listening to this track a lot last year weren't just politically motivated (Boris Johnson has been driving the UK downhill.) It's a pretty decent punk song by its own merits. KATG is releasing yet another anti-Boris song to contend for the chart this year too.
Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine: Another not-Christmas song that wasn't even released during the holiday period this time around. Rather, this gets an honourable mention because a Facebook movement to get the song to Christmas #1 in the UK singles chart actually worked back in 2009. It's worth noting that this came after years of dissatisfaction at X Factor winners dominating the Christmas chart with one-hit wonders for the previous few years.
With regards to your honorable mentions, I really appreciate the UK for this. Never been there, likely never will, but it will always hold a place in my heart for stuff like that.
I don't know the name of the song, but whatever Dwight plays at Christmas in The Office.
Sounds like "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" / "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" from the Trans Siberian Orchestra?
Awesome! Such a Dwight kind of song lol
Daði Freyr’s “Something Magical” has been the most played song in my house over the past four weeks.
Gasp! Dang youtube recommendation algorithm, why are you not telling me when one of my favorite musicians puts out a new song?!
Click dat bell! Daði's new videos are almost always worth watching, so his is one of the few channels I keep it enabled for.
As far as I’m concerned, when Santa Claus appears at the end of the Macy’s Parade, Christmas music is fair game.
As for my favorites, I enjoy Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses. Also a fan of Christmas at Ground Zero by Weird Al, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love, and the Captain Picard version of Let it Snow.
For some reason, there's only a single Christmas song that's stuck with me over the years.
Alf Prøysen - Julekveldsvisa
Donʼt Shoot Me Santa by The Killers.
There are a ton of my favorites already mentioned, including two of my favorite "Father Christmas" by the Kinks and "Last Christmas" by Wham.
I'd like to add:
The Pogues feat. Kristy MacColl Fairytale in New York
-This song is definitely polarizing, I find most either love it or hate it. I am strongly in the former camp.
Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time
-Such an easy, upbeat song.
The Beach Boy's entire Christmas with the Beach Boys album.
-I don't know any other band that put out a Christmas record quite like this, that slaps from start to finish.
Boney M's Christmas album is fun, my favorite off the record is Zion's Daughter
-It has that great funky disco feel of their other albums. Definitely a hype Christmas tune.
Jacob Miller and Ray I's Eerie Christmas
-It's a fun reggae alternative to the usual Christmas tunes.
Vampire Weekend's Holiday
-I loved this song when it first came out, and while Honda did their best to ruin it with 'Hondays' advertisement, it is still great.
No Doubt Oi to the World
-Great ska alternative to Joy to the World
Julian Casablanca's I Wish it was Christmas Today
-If you love the Strokes, you'll love this.
Oh man how could I forget to mention this one? Christmas music needs more synths!
Frankly, I'll take damn near anything that doesn't rate retail Christmas playlists (Mariah Carey is right the fuck out), but a sampling that I actually enjoy:
My other favorites have already been posted here, but here is one I thought was a glaring omission:
Greg Lake - I Believe In Father Christmas
Unironically, Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fall Out Boy.
Definitely the unreleased 2008 version of Christmas in the Room by Sufjan Stevens. Especially relevant lyrics in these corona-lockdown-times. (The officially released 2012 version of this song has too much dissonance between the music and the lyrics, in my opinion. The 2008 music conveys the emotion of the song a lot better, to me.)
Next to that, Sufjan Stevens has a lot more wonderful christmas songs:
Looking for a little Christmas cheese? This isn't stilton, this is Magnus Carlsson – Wrap Myself In Paper (2006)
Added to the playlist!
Fascinating Aïda's Christmas Message
Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas is my favorite Christmas album, but if I had to pick just one: Louisiana Christmas Day
Honestly, it doesn't really matter what the song is, but if it's prerecorded it's always going to be annoying to me, but if I've got family and friends singing it I love it.
I always make a new Christmas playlist every year and add new Christmas songs I like. Here are some of my favorites from this year:
I also discovered this album Proskuneo by Seraph which is honestly my new favorite Christmas album of all time. A beautiful melding of traditional Christmas melodies with energetic jazz fusion that hits just the right spot for me. Some of my particular favorites are:
To me there's nothing that compares to looking out the window, the wind howling outside with snow spinning and listening to Long December Nights
If we're only looking at the traditional Christmas hymns, Felix Mendelssohn's melody adapted to Hark the Herald Angels sing is my favorite.
Probably White Wine in the Sun - Tim Minchin
My family has a sort of loose tradition of playing Liona Boyd's "A Guitar for Christmas" every year, which is always really pleasant.
More attention-demanding, TSO's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" is another recurring favorite.
I'll be a total dork here, and say
Come thou Long Expected Jesus
My all time favorite Christmas song is Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade. Which is only a song I found out about two years ago. It’s a British staple during the holiday season, and I discovered it while watching Doctor Who. You can hear it towards the end of this clip. It’s kind of a banger.
Also recently that I’ve heard, That Holiday Feeling sung by Seth Macfarlane and Elizabeth Gilles. I love big band music, so of course I also listen to Michael Buble’s Christmas music each year.
Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney has always been a go to of mine since I discovered the Beatles when I was a teenager. My parents never particularly cared for them, and they’re Mexican, so I had to find a lot of classic American music on my own. Listening to Hey Jude by the Beatles for the first time was a life changer.
Just Like Christmas by Low
Holiday Road by Lindsey Buckingham (and the slow acoustic version by someone else)