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Top 25 Christmas Songs


The Choc
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You may not know this from my posts on here but I;m a total sucker for Christmas. I've wanted to make this list for a while but never have had the chance until this year. I have nowhere else to post it because no one else would care, eventhough I know no one here cares either! Thats ok though! As you will be able to tell I feel for the most part Xmas songs need to be old, classic. They need to feel eternal as if they just are and always have been part of Christmas. I don't think any song on here was made after I was born. Certainly there are none that I remember when they debuted. If you like newer stuff, thats fine. But for me that'll never work, not for Christmas. So here we go:

 

25-Christmas Time Is Here—The Vince Guaraldi Trio

                Just a great song and not typical Christmas song at all. The little jazzy piano and high-pitched children voices really set it apart. I can just picture Charlie Brown and the gang ice skating and trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. 

 

24-We Need a Little Christmas—Johnny Mathis

                A really fun and fast paced song and really who couldn’t use a little Christmas at different points during the year.

 

23-Blue Christmas—Elvis Presley

                The King of Rock and Roll has a great Christmas entry, as you’d expect. All about how he can't have a good Christmas without his girl.

 

22-Jingle Bells—Frank Sinatra

                A lot of artists have taken a swing at this classic, but none hold a candle to this version. Old Blue Eyes knocks it out of the park with a swinging version starting with the iconic “We love those J-I-N-G-L-E Bells…”

 

21-Christmas Don’t Be Late—Alvin and The Chipmunks

                Not sure if any song really captures what it's like to be a kid at Christmas like this one does. You can take all the goodwill towards men and all that hokey nonsense. Just give me my damn hula hoop.

 

20-Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer—Gene Autrey

                This classic had to be on the list. Was not easy to choose between this great version by the singing cowboy and the version from the tv special sung by Burl Ives but in the end, I just feel this one is that tad bit better.

 

19-Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow—Dean Martin

                Not exactly a Christmas song but really obviously connected to the season. Dean’s smooth tones just work perfect for this song about having nothing to do but stay home so let it snow.

 

 

 

18-Little Drummer Boy—Bing Crosby/David Bowie

                The intro to this song where the 2 of them talk about each singing Xmas songs with the families is maybe even better than the song itself and really in the 70s the idea of an old-fashioned Crosby and Ziggy Stardust working together really at least somewhat helped bridge the generation gap.

 

17-Marshmallow World—Darlene Love

                The greatest Christmas album ever is undoubtedly “A Christmas Gift for You” sometimes called “Phil Spectors Christmas Album”. Spectors signature “wall of sound” really works here as every single song on the album is amazing. This is one of the standouts though with the great Darlene Love singing about how the world in winter is like a marshmallow.

 

16-Happy Holidays—Andy Williams

                Just a real classic Christmas song here. I really don’t have anything specific to say.

 

15-Someday at Christmas—Stevie Wonder

                A beautiful song about how maybe someday in the future at Christmas there will be no war, or poverty or hunger. You can really hear the longing for this in Stevie’s voice. Really a great song.

 

14-Santa Baby—Eartha Kitt

                A lot of female artists have taken a stab at this over the years usually turning the song into something playful, almost tongue in cheek. The original though puts them all to shame as the incomparable Eartha Kitt makes the song unmistakably sexy.

 

13-You’re a Mean One Mr. Grich—Thurl Ravenscroft

                Just a wonderful song and part of one of the great Christmas specials ever. Ravenscroft was uncredited on the special leading many to think Boris Karloff sang the song. He did the Grinch's voice and narration on the special but did not sing it. It took a while, but Thurl eventually got the credit he deserved.

 

12-Here Comes Santa Clauss—Gene Autrey

                The 2nd entry from the singing cowboy! Just always loved this one. As a kid nothing gets you as excited as knowing the jolly fat man is coming with his sleigh full of toys and goodies!

 

11-Santa Claus Is Coming to Town—Bruce Springsteen

                The first real rock n roll version of a song on the list this one is just fun. Bruce asking his bandmates if they’ve been good, then asking the crowd only to note that doesn’t sound like many have been good and that they are “in trouble” is just a fun time.

 

10-It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year—Andy Williams

                I always wondered this: In this song Andy sings there will be “scary ghost stories”. I’ve never heard of that being an Xmas tradition anywhere? Are ghost stories a tradition for anyone? Has anyone ever heard that?

 

9-Its Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas—Bing Crosby

                I always remember being in college in December and since the campus would close down for a month around Xmas there would be no Xmas decorations on campus. It never felt like Christmas at college. Then I’d walk into my mom's house on December 18th or so and the house would be decorated to the hilt with all the same decorations from when I was a kid. It started looking like Xmas really quick and I loved it.

 

8-There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays—Perry Como

                I’m not sure a truer statement as ever been spoken. I’ll just piggyback on the last entry about going into my mom's house from college. Christmas just seems right at home. At other people houses it doesn’t seem right. It's always like “that’s how you decorate your tree? We do it like this…” Or that’s where you hang your stockings? It's just right in your own home and seems a bit off everywhere else.

 

7-Have a Holly Jolly Christmas—Burl Ives

                Ahhh old Sam the Snowman got beaten out for the title track to Rudolph, but he gets the last laugh here as he comes in 13 spots higher himself with this classic. “Say hello to friends ya know and everyone ya meet”.

 

6-White Christmas—Bing Crosby

                Maybe the most successful song of all time but old Bing can only manage 6th here, although he may not be done on this list. Spoiler!!! Obviously, a classic song about a grown-up longing for the Christmas of his youth when it would snow. And yes, Christmas is more magic when there is snow.

 

5-Happy Christmas (War Is Over)—John Lennon

                I’m a pretty big Beatles fan and overall, I’d take Paul’s output over Johns but in the Christmas song department it’s not close. John’s song is far better than Paul’s. “Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear”

 

4-Christmas Baby Please Come Home—Darlene Love

                Ahh another Darlene Love from “A Christmas Gift for You.” Just a wonderful song about missing someone terribly at Xmas. The lyric “We’re singing Deck the Halls but it’s not like Christmas at all” is just one of the great lyrics and easily relatable to anyone missing someone at Christmas. Either someone simply not there or someone who can never be there again.

 

3-I’ll Be Home for Christmas—Bing Crosby

                Yes, the Bing song even better than White Christmas. About a man promising to be home, you can count on him. But in the end the song turns terribly bittersweet when he admits he may only be home for Christmas in his dreams.

 

2-The Christmas Song—Nat “King” Cole

                No song captures what Christmas feels like as this song does. It just feels different than any other day. “tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight”. Just every lyric in the song captures Christmas. That feeling of coziness that it brings. “From kids from one to 92”. Just too many great ones to list but I’ll have to say the final lyric “although it's been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you.”

 

1-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas—Judy Garland

                I love this song. It's just so bittersweet. All about hope for the future. This year may not be great, we may not be together as in the past. But we will some day!! Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow. Next year will be better, next year our troubles will all be out of site. But for this year it won’t be that great Christmas from the past with all of our dear friends. This year we do have troubles. But still the song tells us despite the problems this year, keep hope for the next and through it all have yourself a merry little Christmas this year.

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Yeah, most of the songs from "A Christmas Gift to You" are good enough to warrant inclusion on this list. That along with the Bing Crosby Christmas album as the 2 best there are. Im sure there are some I forgot that I'd include on this list if I had thought of them off the top of my head. I just love the bittersweetness of "have yourself a merry little christmas" and has to be the Garland version. Any version that changes "until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" to "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough" just ain't gonna cut it. 

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They (radio talk show) were talking about Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas" earning her somewhere around $6.5 million from Royalties. It's a pretty popular song.

 

I like most of what is on the list, but I got burned out on "Santa Baby" a long time ago. The radio just plays that song way too many times during the holidays. 
 

i like “Frosty the Snowman” by Burl Ives.

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For me I like a lot of Christmas cheese in my songs! So:

Wizzard: “I wish it could be Christmas Everyday”

Chris Rea: “Driving home for Christmas”

Slade: “Merry Xmas Everybody”

Kirsty MacColl & the Pogues: “Fairytale of New York”

Shakin Stevens: “Merry Christmas Everyone”

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Now the worst two songs are undoubtedly Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney, and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer by whoever did that one.

as a bonus, the dumbest lyric is definitely “Christmas comes this time each year” in Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys. It’s like they couldn’t think of anything else for that little gap and just drunkenly mumbled that to fill it 

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