Anyone out there for a break from the “all Trump, all the time” news cycle? I sure am. And since Christmas is only a few days away, why not a holiday-themed top ten list?
While I certainly enjoy traditional Christmas-caroling type songs, my favorites have always been the non-traditional songs written by popular artists. Over time, I have discovered some real gems, and I decided to compile this list to give some love to a few that you probably won’t hear over the speakers at the department store. Most of them I discovered by purchasing Christmas compilations to get more mainstream songs like Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime or Elton John’s Step Into Christmas and was pleasantly surprised by these hidden gems. So, for your holiday pleasure, here we go:
10. Christmas At The Zoo (The Flaming Lips): This quirky song is the only one on the list that I don’t have in my library, mostly because I have never managed to find it on any compilations, and I’ve never purchased one of their albums to get it that way. The song makes absolutely no sense—the singer sees that it hasn’t snowed on Christmas Eve and somehow decides that this means that he should free all the animals in the zoo. Of course, this doesn’t matter because it’s just fun to listen to.
9. River (Joni Mitchell): This song totally sneaked up on me. I own her Hits album but had never heard this song before I bought the CD, and of course nothing about the title suggests that it is a Christmas song. Then one day it popped up on my music player in the car during a totally non-Christmas time of year, and I thought to myself, “Wait… is that Jingle Bells?” Not quite, but on listening, I picked up the Christmas lyrics in the opening verse, and I really liked it (despite the fact that the overall theme of the song is actually about a lost relationship rather than the Christmas season), so I made sure to add it to my Christmas playlist to play later in the year.
8. Christmas Day (Squeeze): I like Squeeze’s music because it is a lot of fun to listen to and has a lighthearted feel, even when the subject might be a bit of a downer. This song is very whimsical, telling the Christmas story as it would happen in contemporary times. Mary and Joseph drive into town, search through hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. They watch TV and stay in a place with neon lights and a pool. If you are a fan, you’ll find that this song fits right in with the rest of their work.
7. My Little Drum (Vince Guaraldi Trio): Who doesn’t love “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? This is a sweet little tune from the soundtrack that I don’t remember being part of the actual program. There are no lyrics (although there are vocals) so technically it might not meet the definition of “song” but I don’t really care.
6. The Coventry Carol (Alison Moyet): This song is a departure from the upbeat tunes about jingle bells and Santa Claus, dealing with the Massacre of the Innocents under King Herod. It is very old and has been performed by numerous artists, but Moyet’s version is the one that I have and listen to, and it is positively spellbinding.
5. 2000 Miles (The Pretenders): Another song that you have to listen to in order to realize that it is a Christmas song. It’s an amazing song by an amazing group, but one that rarely seems to make it into popular Christmas playlists, possibly because the connection is not obvious. But it makes it into my playlist easily.
4. The Christmas Song (Angel): Wait! Before you jump out of your chair screaming, “How can that possibly be an obscure song?”, let me assure you that the only thing this song and that “other” one have in common is the title. Originally it was The Winter Song, then the band made a few tweaks to the lyrics and turned it into a Christmas song. Personally, I much prefer this one to a song about roasting chestnuts on an open fire (something which approximately zero people actually do, and I have my doubts about how common it was even when that song was written). It probably suffers from an insufficiently distinctive title along with being performed by a generically named and not very well known band.
3. A Spaceman Came Travelling (Chris de Burgh): This song pretty much defines unconventional Christmas music. Inspired by de Burgh’s reading of Chariots of the Gods?, it tells the nativity story with a benevolent spacefaring alien as the angel appearing to the shepherds and his glowing spacecraft hovering in the air as the Star of Bethlehem. The story might even make more sense that way if you are into that sort of thing, but you don’t have to actually believe in aliens to love this song.
2. Christmas Wrapping (The Waitresses): Probably the least obscure song on my list. You might even argue that it doesn’t qualify as obscure, but I just love this song so much, and besides, it’s my list, so there! It’s such a fun song to listen to, although the lyrics can be hard to follow as the singer flashes back and forth between her current plans for a Christmas by herself at home and her memories over the past year of trying and failing to hook up with a man she first meets in a ski shop. In the final feel-good moment, (spoiler alert!) the happy couple finally gets together when both of them forget a key component of their respective solo dinners and are forced to run to the only grocery store open on Christmas Eve.
1. I Believe in Father Christmas (Emerson, Lake & Palmer): Written by Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield and originally released as a solo effort by Lake, it was later re-recorded multiple times either as a solo effort or by the full group. I slightly prefer the 1993 recording, although all of them are excellent. It is easily misinterpreted as anti-religious, although this was not the writers’ intention. After a full reading of the lyrics, I see it as going from the idealistic world of childhood to the realistic world of adulthood; from Santa Claus and fairy stories to the “true” meaning of Christmas; and while things rarely turn out perfectly as promised, Christmas (and life in general) is just what we make of it. The song did well in its day (#2 in the UK) but sadly isn’t still appreciated for the masterpiece it is.
So there you go. Hopefully, you enjoyed this little diversion. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all Kossacks out there!