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List of "Tired" Christmas Music (That Should Be Retired)
Self (Vanity)
Posted on 11/27/2001 4:59:09 PM PST by 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.
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To: Tony in Hawaii
It's a yearly tradition on Letterman for Paul Shaffer to do his impression of Cher singing O Holy Night. Priceless.
To: retrokitten
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!
Outstanding. Just think of the brain cells holding that vital info, patiently waiting for their moment...
You do know, of course, what the Paul Simon song "Mother and Child Reunion" was about?
To: katnip
Have you ever heard "Mary did you know?" by Kathy Manea(sp?). Beautiful! One of my absolute favorites. I don't have it by Kathy Manea, and can't remember who does the version I have, but it is beautiful.
To: retrokitten
I think you're right about Kathie Lee Gifford. I just remember reading an article about her, she carried on how she waited until marriage to have sex. After her divorce she played around quite a bit, then was born again, and married Frank. Ugh, the things I remember.
To: Utah Girl
The worst Christmas album is Barbra Streisand's first Christmas album called "Christmas Album"I beg to differ. The worst Christmas album ever has got to be one I got as a gag gift, It's a Cow Christmas. It is parodies of familiar carols changed to a cow theme. There are such gems as "Halle-moo-jah Chorus" and "We wish you a Dairy Christmas". Avoid at all costs--or buy it for someone you don't like's kid--LOL!
BTW, one of the best songs, although tired, is Garth Brooks' "Belleau Wood".
145
posted on
11/27/2001 6:26:10 PM PST
by
Calico
To: Tony in Hawaii
I was referring to any version of Jingle Bells sung by anything other than an actual adult human voice, ala jingle cats, jingle dogs, jingle babies, etc etc and freakin etc...the real Jingle Bells is a classic.
To: Sueann
The greatest Christmas music is Mannheim SteamrollerAmen!!! I luv em too...Mannheim Steamroller is great! ...I also enjoy Bruce Springsteens "here comes Santa Claus"
To: Interesting Times
This will be my first Christmas without my Blue-eyed Irish girl. I don't want to hear "Blue Christmas" by ANYBODY.
148
posted on
11/27/2001 6:27:35 PM PST
by
Ax
To: SamAdams76
The orchestral version of ELP's "I believe in Father Christmas" is a case study in pomposity and sickly sweetness (and it omits Keith Emerson's pleasant piano coda).
The one song I can't get enough of is The Kinks' similarly titled "Father Christmas" - humorous and sad at the same time.
To: SamAdams76
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas---UGH. (Christmas is not "little".)
To: retrokitten
I just did a Google search, and you're right. I stand corrected.
To: katnip
"Mary did you know?" by Kathy Manea(sp?). I haven't heard it, but that's probably Kathy Mathea, a fine if at times an overly weepy country singer.
To: BamaFan
That's the Lennon/Ono song. BTW, I like it too, despite the "X" in the title Oh crap! I hate Lennon/Ono and if I can't find a version by someone else, I just won't buy it! Surely someone else has recorded it. It's a great song!
Thanks. Is the name of it "So This is Christmas"?
To: Tony in Hawaii
It's a yearly tradition on Letterman for Paul Shaffer to do his impression of Cher singing O Holy Night. Priceless. I'll have to watch Letterman for this. I cannot imagine Cher singing 'O Holy Night.' It doesn't even compute.
To: Tennessee_Bob
Love Porky singing Blue Christmas!
My favorites: O Holy Night (any version); Amahl and the Night Visitors (reminds me of being a kid again); What Child is This?; Cyrus Chestnut playing A Charlie Brown Christmas (and others) on his piano; Silent Night; Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (really a bittersweet song).
To: RMrattlesnake
I just love Oh Holy Night and Handel's Messiah, or anything by Tchaikovsky or Mozart.
156
posted on
11/27/2001 6:31:45 PM PST
by
WIMom
To: Interesting Times
You do know, of course, what the Paul Simon song "Mother and Child Reunion" was about?My useless knowledge is more geared towards pointless TV trivia, but I did a quick google search (I know that is probably cheating but I have never heard that song) and found this,
"He spotted it as the name of a chicken-and-egg dish in a Chinese restaurant, and knew he had to use it in a song."
To: Calico
The third worst Christmas album is the Boys 2 Men one. Ugh, it is horrible. The songs are unrecognizable. I won it as a white elephant gift one year.
To: Utah Girl; SamAdams76
I cannot believe I have read this entire thread and no one has listed two of the WORST songs:
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "All I Want for Chrismas is My Two Front Teeth."
Both are traditionally done by little boys with annoying voices, or by women pretending to be little boys with annoying voices. Ugh.
To: SamAdams76
OK
I agree with you on all of them except the Cheech and Chong one!
That one still makes me laugh, even though it is a 70's thing.
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