Christmas Tunes

I got a hair cut, finally. I only delayed it about 6 months or so.

Before: Wow, did I really leave the house with my hair that frizzy? Sadly, it looks like this on a daily basis.

After: Trimmed an inch, shortened the layers, and thinned out. It will probably go back to looking like the ‘before’ in a couple of days.

I was looking for some new Christmas music to add to my collection and heard lots of good things about A Very She & Him Christmas, so I downloaded it.

While I like their rendition of “The Christmas Waltz“, I find listening to the whole album at length to be rather boring, and the last thing I want is to be bored by my Christmas tunes. It brought back memories of being forced to watch the Lawrence Welk Show on Sunday nights with my Nonna. Plus, there isn’t a single religious song on the album, which is a major Christmas album fail, in my opinion.

So that got me thinking about my favourite (and least favourite) tunes from the holiday season. There are SO many, so it’s tough to pick but I narrowed down my preferences as best as possible.

Best Christmas Tunes

Classic Secular:

Happy Xmas (War is Over) – John Lennon

Truthfully I am partial to Sarah McLachlan’s or Celine Dion’s versions though. Yoko just ruins the original for me.

Coming in a close second is Last Christmas – Wham! (and no one else’s version even comes close to the original). There isn’t a time when I don’t hear this song and turn it up to jam.

Modern Secular:

Yule Shoot Your Eye Out – Fall Out Boy

Yeah, it’s depressing and emo, but I love it. And I listen to this song all year long. Don’t judge.

Classic Religious:

This is SO hard. I think that all the religious songs are a million times better than the secular stuff which I generally find cheesy. I think it’s a toss up between:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and
Oh! Holy Night

Modern Religious:

Breathe of Heaven – Amy Grant

This song is a beautiful perspective of Christmas from the Virgin Mary. We used to sing it every year in high school and it still tops my Christmas playlist.

Worst Christmas Tunes

Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid

I get that this was a fundraiser for the 1980s Ethiopian famine and that’s all well and good. And I get that the lyrics were trying to put into perspective our first world “needs” at Christmas time compared actual needs of the rest of the world, but has anyone ever really listened to the lyrics? Like, really listened to them? They’re a bit of a stretch for even my liberal brain to wrap itself around.

It’s a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

The clanging chimes of doom? Really? It’s Africa, people, not the coming of the grim reaper.

In case you don’t agere with me, even the songwriter Bob Geldorf thinks it’s the worst song in history.

Christmas Time is Here – A Charlie Brown Christmas

This song actually makes me want to shoot my eye out. Or at the very least, cover my ears, curl into a ball, and cry “please, make it stop!”

Anything from Manheim Steamroller

How do people listen to this shit?

Blue Christmas – Elvis

Any version of this song is depressing. The most depressing part being that I can’t stop myself from singing along. Elvis’ version is by far the worst.

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