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Christmas music

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Christmas music is a genre which is normally performed during the time period leading up to, and sometimes shortly past, Christmas, and occasionally has no content addressing the holiday or the Christmas season. These songs recognisably fall into several different groupings, depending on both the time and melody of the songs.

Songs which are traditional, even some without a specific religious context, are often called Christmas carols. Some songs of more recent vintage, often introduced in films, are specifically about Christmas, but are typically not overtly religious and therefore do not qualify as Christmas carols. The archetypal example is 1942’s “White Christmas”, although many other holiday songs have become perennial favourites, such as Gene Autry’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

A significant subset of the secular songs are regarded as “Christmas” songs due to the time of year that they are most often sung, despite never mentioning anything about Christmas. These songs include traditional favourites such as “Winter Wonderland” and “Sleigh Ride” (whose standard lyrics mention not a holiday party but a birthday party). These songs fall into the generic “winter holiday” classification, as they carry no religious connotation at all. However, it could be argued that it would be impossible to popularise a winter-themed song, especially in the U.S., without it’s being regarded as a “Christmas” song. For example, in the U.S., winter-themed songs are generally not played on the radio during the larger part of the winter after the Christmas season has ended.

Another subset of the popular holiday songs, apart from the more sincere ones, are the many parodies or twists on existing songs, which are usually classified as "Novelty songs". They range from the cuteness of "The Chipmunk Song", by Alvin and the Chipmunks, to the Cold War gallows humor of "Christmas at Ground Zero" and the morbid humor of "The Night Santa Went Crazy", both by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Some songs have little relationship to Christmas, but are hyped up over the period. Each year, record companies compete for the Christmas number one single spot, usually, but not always, with a Christmas-related song. This is parodied in the film Love Actually, whereby an artist records a cover version of a song and adds a Christmas twist to it, all the time admitting that it is "rubbish".

In the UK Cliff Richard is famed for his many attempts, with some success, to get the Christmas number one single.

Contents

[edit] List of Christmas songs

[edit] General Christmas songs

The following songs are well known for being performed by more than one different artists:

[edit] Best known by one particular artist

Below is an incomplete list of songs that are best known for being created and/or performed by one particular artist:

[edit] Not intended as a Christmas song

Some songs are frequently associated with Christmas because of the time they were released, or for other less obvious reasons, rather than explicit references to the holiday. They are sometimes given a Christmas feel by adding sleigh bells or by recording a Christmas video.

  • "Belleau Wood" – Garth Brooks (Set In A WWII battlefield on Christmas Eve, when a ceasefire is called until midnight, and the soldiers on both sides begin a chorus of "Silent Night"
  • "Dear Mr. Jesus" – PowerSource from their Shelter From The Storm album. It is sung by a 9 year old girl named Sharon Batts. Richard Klender wrote it in 1985. The song is about child abuse awareness and it has nothing to do with Christmas. Connie Bradley, Director, ASCAP, on April 11, 1988 said that this song was one of the, "most requested songs in the history of radio," (it is still highly requested every holiday season).
  • "If We Make it Through December," Merle Haggard (1973). The song is a lament of a father who loses his job at the factory just as the holidays are approaching. Depressed over his predicament during what normally should be a "happy time of year," he observes that his little girl "don't understand why Daddy can't afford no Christmas cheer." The song reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles chart on December 22 1973 ... just in time for Christmas.
  • "Last Christmas" – Wham! (1984) (reached no. 2 in the UK Christmas charts, beaten by Band Aid- Feed the World) George Michael originally wrote the song "Last Easter", the record company asked him to change it to Christmas as it would catch a larger audience
  • "My Favorite Things (song)" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein The Sound of Music. US radio stations that played Christmas music played various versions of this show tune, relating "favorite things" to Christmas gifts.
  • "Sound of the Underground" – Girls Aloud (2002) (reached no. 1 in the UK Christmas charts, therefore commonly associated with Christmas)
  • "Stay Another Day" – East 17 (1994) (added sleigh bells)
  • "Stop The Cavalry" – Jona Lewie (1980) (released in late November when the record company spotted the line "Wish I was at home for Christmas")

[edit] Christmas albums

Some artists record albums dedicated to Christmas or winter. These collections often contain covers of well-known Christmas songs or carols.

Some bands produce Christmas albums exclusively for their fan clubs, including The Beatles who first released such an album in 1963 [1]. Also popular are the Various Artists collections such as The Best Christmas Album in the World...Ever! & Now That's What I Call Christmas!.

[edit] Christmas songs introduced in movies and other popular media

[edit] French language Christmas songs

[edit] German language Christmas songs

German language Christmas carols tend to be less blitheful and more ceremonious than English ones:

[edit] Occitan language Christmas songs

[edit] Swedish language Christmas songs

December is the darkest month of the year in Sweden, so candles are often the theme in Swedish Christmas songs. Ljus is the Swedish word for candle.

[edit] External links

da:Julesang de:Weihnachtslied el:Χριστουγεννιάτικα τραγούδια es:Villancico fr:Chant de Noël nl:Kerstmuziek ja:クリスマスの音楽一覧 no:Julemusikk nn:julemusikk pl:Kolęda ro:Colinda( fi:Joululauluja sv:Julmusik

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