Call me a Scrooge, but...

Christmas songs I can't abide.

I'm sure these songs have sentimental value for many, so I am not saying they're bad songs and no one should listen to them, only that I don't care for them, and if I hear them once a year, it's once too often.

"Happy Christmas," John Lennon (or Sarah McLachlan or anyone else)
"Santa Clause is Comin' to Town," the Bruce Springsteen version
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," the John Cougar Mellencamp version
"Do They Know It's Christmas Time?", Band Aid 1984
"Wonderful Christmas Time," Paul McCartney
"A Baby Changes Everything," Faith Hill
"Santa Baby," by anyone
"Step Into Christmas," by Elton John
"Jingle Bell Rock," by anyone
"Please Come Home for Christmas," by The Eagles
"Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," by the Jackson 5[1]
Anything with saxophones

*sigh*

And a super-blech (as in "Ugh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs!") to "Last Christmas" by George Michael/Wham (or Hilary Duff or the cast of Glee or anyone else).

 

I'd rather be strapped in a chair and forced to listen to this song a gazillion times than any one of those ever again:

Okay, so I'm exaggerating.

If you like the newer songs and think I'm a Scrooge, good for you (seriously). Enjoy each moment, for it will soon, like mine, be an echo of the past that creates a solitary joy which is, sometimes, all the merrier for being enjoyed alone.

c0

What I Do Like

It would only be fair to list a few I do like very much. No one else has to like them, but 100 years from now, someone might care that I did.

"Carol of the Bells"
"I'll be home for Christmas"
"Little Drummer Boy," by the Harry Simeone Chorale
"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," by anyone, but especially Mel Torme
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," by anyone, but especially Judy Garland
"Silent Night," by anyone, but especially Mannheim Steamroller's "Stille Nacht".
Anything by Bing Crosby
Anything by Dean Martin
Anything by Barry Manilow
Anything by the Carpenters
Anything by Mannheim Steamroller
Anything by Percy Faith
Anything by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
And any traditional song done well.

Mele Kalikimaka.

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BTW, did you try to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas on ABC? Commercials every five minutes and time compression to squeeze it all in. There was easily a minute of ads for each minute of programming. It was impossible to watch. We have some holiday shows on DVD, but there is a sense of community that comes with a broadcast. Too bad that's waning, if not entirely gone.

[2012-12-01]

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[1]
You may be saying, "Wait! Michael Jackson was about your age, that song is from your generation!"

True, but I didn't hear it until a couple years ago. You see, back in my day, they didn't start playing nonstop Christmas music until Christmas Eve. A couple local stations started about 6pm and ran it through 6pm Christmas Day. Most didn't even do that.

Christmas TV programming was the week of, not the month of, and God forbid, not anywhere near Halloween.

If I wanted to hear the Jackson 5 sing about Christmas, I had to buy the album and play it on the Zenith console Hi-Fi in the living room, where the tree and the fireplace were.

(Actually, we were a Magnavox family, but I could only find a Zenith ad, which predates me by a few years, but I like the mood it sets.)

c0