It needs to be said: Christmas music is lacking variety. If you tune into the radio, you will hear the same songs you’ve heard last year…and the year before that…and the year before that. Yes, it is great to hear Mariah Carey belt out “All I Want for Christmas is You”, but how many years can you listen to that before it gets old, especially if you are destined to hear it multiple times in a year?
Now, you may point out that artists today are still releasing Christmas songs. Take Laufey for example, who released “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town” this November. Even though it is very enjoyable to listen to, it cannot hide what it is: a cover, a version of a song sung by dozens of other artists (not to criticize Laufey of course—she’s amazing). As mentioned in my previous article, many popular Christmas songs are just variations of the same few classic tunes (not trying to plug my article, but it provides numerical evidence for my point). While covers can differ from each other, they still add to the overall issue of repetition.
The purpose of this article is not to be a complex, in depth critique of the production of Christmas music. Instead, I am going to try to alleviate your ears by providing you with some lesser-known Christmas songs that, in my opinion, are criminally underrated.
Bing Crosby has created many hit Christmas songs from “White Christmas” to “Jingle Bells” to “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. “Christmas is a-Comin” is a song of his that often gets overlooked. The song, based on an old English folk tune, is about an old beggar asking for small things from nearby homes during the holiday season, wishing them well if they have nothing to give. This song has a fun melody, playful tune, and emphasizes a very important aspect of Christmastime: the joy of giving. “The First Snowfall” is another underrated Bing Crosby song. While not technically about Christmas, it is about the magical feeling you get when you see snow for the first time, especially as you watch society go to a standstill to enjoy winter’s wonder.
Perry Como, like Bing Crosby, is a singer famous for his Christmas music. He was the first singer of the songs “Home for the Holidays” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”, which have now become Christmas classics. But an equally good and little known song of his is “I Wish it Could be Christmas Forever”. The lyrics are about something rarely touched on in Christmas songs: the desire to feel the Christmas joy all year round, and the aching sadness you feel when those holiday decorations are taken down and the lights shut off and everything turns cold and dark. But despite the tragic way I describe it, it is really a happy song about how much Christmas can stick with a person.
“Merry Christmas, Everyone” by Shakin Stevens is a song that has the perfect recipe to be a Christmas classic, with 1980s instruments, bells, a catchy chorus, fun lyrics, and a grand key change. It is a simple song about the singer enjoying all the things he is doing during the holiday season, and in the chorus, he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas. The song tops the charts in the UK every December, so technically it is not very underrated. However, in America, the song gained little to no traction.
We know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Viken, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. And Rudolph? Why, he’s more notable than the eight of them combined, with enough songs and movies to make him known for generations to come. But whom do we ignore? Chrissy the Christmas Mouse, who got a singular song by Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. The story goes that this young mouse lives all alone in Santa’s house, helping Santa load his sleigh and prepare for Christmas Eve. The only thing that kept her going was that one day she could ride in his sleigh, but she was never allowed to. Spoiler alert: In the end she is allowed to ride there, although my childhood self always wondered if she really made it or was just imagining it. Either way, I wanted a movie about this diva, or a book, or at the very least a sequel song, and it never came.
A song that is particularly special to me is “Stille Nacht” by Manheim Steamroller. It uses piano, 1980s synth, soft vocals, and orchestral instruments, ending off with the sounds of snowy winds and sleigh bells to make a sweet, unforgettable version of Silent Night. Yes, I know I criticized covers earlier, but this song hardly classifies as a cover. It does more than celebrate the holidays; it tells the story of a cold winter night on Christmas Eve, using an archaic tune with modern beauty to create something emotional and meaningful. Perhaps my praise of this song comes from my own nostalgia, as my family and I have often used this song as the last song we listen to on Christmas night, to signal a bittersweet farewell to the holiday season. However, even with my bias, it is definitely worth listening to.
But while Stille Nacht may make me a bit emotional, there is one song that puts tears in my eye for the Christmas past: “Believe”, a song by Josh Groban. This was played at the end of the credits of The Polar Express. Yes, it is silly to say that a song from a movie about a magical train could bring tears to my eyes, but when you listen to the lyrics, you would understand what I meant. One lyric that always sticks with me is this: “we were dreamers not so long ago, but one by one we all had to grow up”. This song is both a love letter and a goodbye to childhood, but don’t be fooled. It’s not a sad song. It’s a celebration of finding your inner joy when Christmas comes; the singer is directly telling the audience to let themselves believe in the Christmas magic again.
Since I have been recommending a lot of cerebral and emotional Christmas songs, the last song I will recommend is something modern and just plain fun! Pentatonix is an acapella group well known for creating creative covers of Christmas songs. This year they created a whole new Christmas album. I highly recommend listening to the entire album, but if I had to give a shot out to one song, it would be to the album’s titular song “Christmas in the City”. It is an extremely catchy song about the magic of visiting cities in Christmastime (who would’ve guessed?).
Whatever music you choose to listen to, I hope you, dear reader, have very happy holidays!
