List of "Tired" Christmas Music (That Should Be Retired)

Self (Vanity)

[SamAdams76]

The Christmas season is upon us once again and the sounds of holiday music can be heard in shopping malls, restaurants, and other public places. Radio stations are already slipping the occasional Christmas song into their playlists and by mid-December, it will be wall-to-wall Christmas music.

Now that is not a bad thing. I like Christmas music. I collect Christmas music. Later in the Christmas season, I will post a vanity on my favorite Christmas music and that post promises to be much longer than this one.

But why is it that so many tired and really annoying Christmas songs seem to get the most airplay? Is it just me or does it seem like the radio stations play the same few Christmas songs 90% of the time?

On this thread, I will list some of my least favorite or more accurately, the most tired Christmas songs of alltime and will seek your input. I put a lot of thought into putting this list together. You are welcome to disagree with me and/or list a few really tired Christmas songs of your own.

Surely there are worse Christmas songs out there than the ones I am about to list. But I kept my list to songs that are familiar and that get a lot of airplay. The emphasis here on on "tired" rather than "bad." Also, to make my list, the song must have been out for at least five years. These songs have established some longevity of being really tired. I am listing the ones that have been "in our face" year after year. Without so much great material out there (I'll have a separate post on that closer to Christmas), there is no excuse for radio stations not to pursue fresher material.

So in no particular order, here goes...the most "tired" Christmas songs of alltime.

• Elmo & Patsy - Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. Now I'm not normally a violent person. But if somebody was to shoot the person who wrote this song, it would be okay by me. This has got to be absolutely the most annoying Christmas Song I have ever heard. It stopped being funny sometime around 1984. Yet year after year, radio stations seem to play it at least once every hour. Many a Christmas compilation album has been ruined for me by the inclusion of this tired ditty.
  

• Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song. Okay, maybe it was funny the first 232 times I heard it. But this song has really run its course and it should be retired. And to add insult to injury, Sandler released a "sequel" version of this song a few years ago but it already seems like 20 years ago. It's just not "funakah" to hear this anymore.
  

• The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping. Many, many years ago, back when Ronald Reagan used to refer to Russia as the "Evil Empire," it was cool to play this record at Christmas. It was cutting edge and having this song in your Christmas collection separated you from the Perry Como and Bing Crosby crowd. Well it's not cutting edge, cool or "New Wave" anymore. It's as mainstream as Garth Brooks and as dull as Peter Jennings. Give this record a rest, please.
  

• Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad. Must be a "PC" thing because the song itself is lame. Okay, okay, so it's politically correct to be "diverse" and know "Merry Christmas" in 17 different languages. So Buon Natale to you then, I am putting a contract out on this record. I am going to have it inserted into a block of wet cement and send it to the bottom of Boston Harbor. At least the Italians know what to do when something becomes tired and no longer "useful." Time for some new Christmas material from Mexico, and fast.
  

• Cheech & Chong - Santa And His Old Lady. Cheech: "Like I PLAYED with that dude, man." Chong: "Whoa, like Santa Claus ain't no musician, man!" Cheech: "I'm hip, man, like that dude couldn't play for beans, man!" Well I'm hip to Cheech & Chong. They can't play for beans and they aren't funny anymore to boot. Were these guys EVER funny? Must have been a 70s thing.
  

• Band-Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? Not only was this song a blatant rip-off of "We Are The World" (or maybe it was vice versa) but the question the song poses is ridiculous. Of course they don't know it's Christmas, and they probably couldn't give a shit either. Until this year, did we ever know it was Ramadan over there? And that "Feed The World" chorus, well, here it is 15 years later and the people are still starving over there. Guess it makes liberals feel good to sing the song though. Like the next one on my list...
  

• John & Yoko - Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Maybe it's the spelling of Christmas that irks me most about this record. Didn't this song start the whole loathsome "Xmas" thing? Anyway, you can be sure that this song will get even heavier airplay this Christmas season in light of the current war situation. But I'm so tired of this song already!
  

• Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Okay, I like Bruce Springsteen. But I still think he could have picked a better Christmas song to cover. Or even have done an original. Anyway, I was already tired of this song by 1979.

I could think of a few more but I'm going to let my fellow Freepers get a crack at adding to the list of "tired" Christmas music.

[Kaslin]

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by the I Forget Who.

I believe that was Brenda Lee

[Revolting cat!]

But it is incongruous to be Jewish and release Christmas albums...

Which goes to prove that Christmas as we know it is really Xma$$. I know a person of that faith who is to this day upset about Bob Dylan having recorded two Christian albums 20 years ago. But Brbra and Neil? Shrug their shoulders. Go figure!

[geege]

Who sings that song "Santa Baby".....she sounds like Marilyn Monroe...it's actually cute....she wants diamond rings and cars???????

[Tribune7]

OK, I read 'em all and nobody's mentioned "Santa Baby" Yuck.

[Pompah]

I have to agree with you 100% Rattler. Seems like they all want to forget that "Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day."

[Revolting cat!]

The one and only Eartha Kitt sings "Santa Baby"! Classic!

[katnip]

Who sings that song "Santa Baby".....

Is it Eartha Kitt? I have that on a CD and can't remember now.

[Tony in Hawaii]

The flat-out best version of Jingle Bells was performed by Italian opera tenor Jose Carreras on his TV special years ago.
(Carreras is the "other guy" in the Three Tenors) The most memorable line was:

"On a one-a horse-a open sleigh"

[BamaFan]

I think Greg Lake's "Father Christmas" is better

[retrokitten]

C'mon, you can do it. Quick, who did George Jetson work for? Who was his competitor? What did both companies make?
Now then. Let's sing the "Gilligan's Island" theme song together...

Spacely Sprockets, Cogswell Cogs, sprockets and cogs....

Now sit right back and you'll here a tale...

Whew, you're right, I still got it!

[Tony in Hawaii]

She wants a "'54 convertible." Good taste.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

It was vice versa. "We are the world" was the rip off. The American celebrities were so horrified to find that European celebrities came up with a novel way to raise money for charity, leaving them in the dust. They had to do something and produced "We are the world", which was a worse song than "Do They Know It's Christmas?" IMHO

We arrrrreeeee the world, we arrrrrreeeee the chilldrrrun, we have the willlll to make a betttter day, so lets start givvvvvinnnnnn...

Rock on!!

[StockAyatollah]

Didn't a lot of the money raised by the We Are the World/Band-Aid/Live-Aid benefits end up going to Ethiopian warlords instead of feeding the starving? It wouldn't suprise me a bit to find out Bin Laden or one of his predecessors ended up with quite a bit of that money.

[Utah Girl]

Madonna also did a version of 'Santa Baby'. Eartha Kitt's is much better.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Hmmm...and I was going to say that next. Must be the vibes.

[retrokitten]

How 'bout Cher's version of O Holy Night? :)

Oh that's just wrong. "O Holy Night" is one of my favorites, but Cher? She really outta stick to "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves".

[Tony in Hawaii]

Kathie Lee Gifford (nee Epstein) is also Jewish, and she belts out Christmas songs like crazy.

[bootless]

Beauty toque. I love that one, too. Hate the rest of the songs mentioned so far, though.

And the dogs barking Jingle Bells.

[retrokitten]

Kathie Lee Gifford (nee Epstein) is also Jewish, and she belts out Christmas songs like crazy.

I believe she is a born-again Christian.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Yep, definitely the vibes. You missed it right when you were typing.