It’s Time For Some New Christmas Songs
Now I love the Holidays as much as the next guy but can we all please agree that a serious overhaul is needed in the Christmas song industry. I’m pushing fifty years old this yuletide season and I’ve heard most of these tunes enough to last me another fifty.
My guess is I’m subjected to Walking in a Winter Wonderland twice daily between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. So if my collective memory began when I was about five, I’ve heard that song more than 2000 times. I think that probably warrants a break for a few years. And then there’s that Partridge in a Pear Tree that comes up a dozen times in each rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. So according to my estimates I’ve heard that lyric more than 10,000 times. Enough about that damn bird.
I dare not attempt to calculate the number of Pa Rum Pum Pum Pums.
I could go into all the others but I think you get the point. We need an infusion of new Holiday songs and we need them yesterday. And I’m not talking recycling old songs with new artists, that’s a cop out. We don’t need to hear anything like Jay-Z singingHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, that won’t get us anywhere.
When I was a kid Jingle Bell Rock and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree shook up the old guard a little bit. Those tunes were considered new blood up until about the Nixon administration.
Then in the 80’s we were treated what is now commonly considered the most hated Christmas song ever, the infamous Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. We’re still paying the price for the one time we laughed at that one.
Since then we’ve had George Michael’s Last Christmas I Gave you my Heart, Wilson Phillips Hey Santa and Madonna’s Santa Baby. All chick tunes so no further comment.
And that’s about it. Four new songs in fifty years (I’m counting Grandma Got Run Over as a negative here) so in my opinion we deserve better. Here are some themes to consider, I’ll leave the musical arrangements to others:
How about a song finally paying tribute to those other Reindeer. After all, they did pull 8/9 of Santa’s sleigh that foggy Christmas Eve.
Or perhaps one recognizing those in the south or far west who never did have aWhite Christmas. Enough dreaming at this point, its flat out delusional by now.
Maybe a Christmas song dedicated to safety with the opening verse beginning “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but don’t try this one home alone.”
I’d also like to throw out the notion of a rebuttal song clarifying the whole I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus thing. Talk about creeping out kids at the wrong time of the year. Perhaps lyrics here could include “I never saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus, I just told that story to get attention.”
Of course these are all just suggestions. At this point I think we’d welcome any new songs with open antlers.
How about we all make a New Year’s resolution to come up with one new song by next Holiday season. That should cover us for a while. Feel free to think outside the pear tree and keep Grandma out of it.
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Found this Christmas song on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdMDvj4u4c8
The Night Jesus Met Santa Claus by Ricky Traywick…Randy Travis’ brother
You say, and I quote,”It’s time for some NEW Christmas songs.” Really??? FYI, if you go to my website at http://www.danieljan.com, you’ll find that I’ve been playing MY TOP 2,000 Christmas songs for the past 22 years. The music of many more than the 2,000 songs for the celebration of Advent, Christmas,, the New Year, and Epiphany is from a genre of music called eclectic, dynamic life-force, Euro-American multi-ethnic folk, world, nationality, and polka music. This particular music for the real, non-commercial celebration of Christmas consists of the true timeless treasures from two continents ,with some original Christmas carols and hymns dating back to the 1600’s. Of course, much of the music is played on the national instruments of the European countries and sung in the native European languages. Want a refreshing music experience to truly discover the real meaning of Christmas? My 3-hour show, for the 6 weeks of Christmas(for Both Gregorian and Orthodox calendar) is on the ‘net from 7-10 pm at http://www.whrwfm.org on Tuesday evenings from Binghamton University in Binghamton, NY. Hey you just MIGHT discover a brand new carol,hymn, or song for Christmas. Merry Christmas…and I’ll see ya on the radio & simulcast world-wide to all the points of the compass at http://www.whrwfm.org for a real Christmas celebration.
Sincerely,
Daniel Jan
You should get Elvis’s Christmas albums… at least he can sing lol