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.

[jackbill]

I personally would like to ban all "Christmas" music from the malls. The fact that I'm going to be bombarded, every time I go to a mall, with "Christmas" music keeps me away.

[Northpaw]

Okay, I like Bruce Springsteen.

Okay, so you are a flawed human being. ;^)

[Twodees]

"Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" That one ruins my day.

"Christmas in Dixie" Alabama did one song in their entire career that I liked, and this one ain't it. While not as puky as some of their others, this one makes me change the station.

Y'all already covered the others that I don't like.

[strictlyaminorleaguer]

I have to agree. I adore Elvis, but I have never liked the song Blue Christmas, even by him. And with all due respect to the late, multi-talented, and greatly missed Mel Blanc, the Porky Pig version should be wiped from the face of the planet. I would also nominate Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer and any version of the 12 Days of Christmas (I'd take Burl's Holly Jolly Christmas ANYTIME over the 12 Days).

[Tony in Hawaii]

Well, in defense of White Christmas, it was released in 1942, the first Christmas away from home for the American soldiers in the Pacific.

I imagine it sounded pretty good to people who were sitting on a humid little rock swatting bugs.

[SamAdams76]

Did you know that the "Barking Dogs" released Jingle Bells way back in the 1950s? That song is very tough to take but fortunately it doesn't last that long. Are you familiar with the "Tabbynacle Choir" doing "Meowy Christmas." That was the answer song as done by cats (or a computer simulation). The Tabbynacle Choir sounds like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir however, when compared to the "Jingle Cats." There are now THREE CDs out by the Jingle Cats if you can believe that and all of them are equally unlistenable. Like nails across a chalkboard, literally.

[retrokitten]

Elvis singing at his bluesy best.

YES! I love that song, too! I must have listened to it a million times this weekend while I was putting up the Christmas decorations.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

'Silent Night'

Yes this is the last really good Christmas song. Introduced to English speakers by Victoria's Prince Albert, I believe.

[Ronin]

YES!!! Death to Jingle Bell Rock!!!!

[muawiyah]

The kids love "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer". As long as there are new kids coming along, this song will have new fans. I say it has to stay on the play lists!

"Run Run Rudolph" is another great one not played enough in these modern times - this song has a depth of meaning that certainly beats "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or whatever it's called.

Bobby Helms, of Helmsburg, Indiana, just outside of Nashville, Indiana, came up with "Jingle Bell Rock" as a positive response to the cloying and sickeningly sweet "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and unless they ban that one, the "Jingle" has got to stay! Obeying the law of unintended consequences, Bobby's recording of "Rudolph" has achieved vast playtime as well.

And finally, my all time favorite, which has been performed by more artists than just about any other song, is "Merry Christmas Baby". If they can't sing something else, every Elvis impersonator in the world has this one down pat.

[nmh]

"It's been so long since they've been heard, 'Silent Night' and 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' would sound new if they were played on the radio."

You need to listen to the right stations. On typical stations it would be viewed as offensive since it isn't secular and humanistic. But God forbide, let's invite Muslims to the WhiteHouse and pray.

I'm rolling my eyes at the hypsocrisy of people, even people claiming to be "Christian". I suppose some like to claim this because it makes em feel good.

[Give Piece A Chance]

The Bing Crosby & David Bowie duet of "The Little Drummer Boy" is particularly loathsome, especially with that "Peace On Earth" crud interjected at random. Ugh. Bing musta been hitting the bottle hard that year.

On the other side, the South Park Christmas tunes are a guilty pleasure and sure do surprise the heck out of guests expecting to hear the umpteenth playing of 'Deck the Halls'...

[DonPaulJones]

Actually, they only get to day eight...

"Eight comic books

Seven packs of smokes

Six packs of Tubor

Five golden Tukes

Four pounds of back bacon

Three french toast

Two turtlenecks

And a beer in a tree!"

[CWRWinger]

IMO, good music is composed and performed when it has the following proportions: 60% melody; 30% harmony; 10% rythme.

I dispise Christmas music which accentuates the rythme, the harmony and contains mindless repetition.

[SamAdams76]

OK. Not sure of the title but it was about snoopy and the red barron in a dog fight. And altho he shoots snoopy down he does not kill him.Closing lyric is something "merry Christmas my friend "

That would be "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" by the Royal Guardsmen from 1967. It was a big chart hit as well. I haven't heard that song on the radio in quite a while but I have it on a couple of compilations.

[Revolting cat!]

The real Christmas music are Christmas carols and the Vienna Boys Choir and similar ensembles do an excellent job interpreting them. That really ought to be enough for all of us...

[Tony in Hawaii]

So you don't like Carol of the Bells? :)

[Nathan Jr.]

"Christmas Time in Hell" as seen on South Park. Loved it!!!

[lowbridge]

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

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

[GeekDejure]

"The Taliban Torched Christmas" !!! :-))