Martin’s Music: ‘Tis The Season
‘Tis The Season by Martin A. Nemeth
Christmas has always been a musical holiday. Going back to almost the beginning, when hymns and carols were sung in church to commemorate the birth of Christ. Even before Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Americas, there was music celebrating the Winter Solstice in festivals such as Saturnalia and Yule. Most of the early Christmas music was of a solemn and religious nature such as Handel’s epic oratorio THE MESSIAH.
There was also a secular aspect to Christmas, with traditions left over from the pagan festivals, such as the tree, gift giving, burning the Yule log and, of course, Santa Claus (or a similar entity, depending on local tradition). And there was music as well.
By the 19th Century, Christmas had become a very anticipated holiday, promising fun and joy at the beginning of Winter. Many of the more popular Christmas Carols were first composed during this period, “Jingle Bells”, “Silent Night”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “Good King Wenceslas” and “Oh Holy Night”.
Christmas made its way into popular songs during this and the 20th Century. One of the first recordings made on Edison’s cylinder was a rendition of Jingle Bells. During the 20s, 30s and 40s, many songs debuted that have become Holiday standards. “Winter Wonderland” from 1934 (first recorded by Richard Himber), “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” which debuted on Eddie Cantor’s radio show, also in 1934, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby from 1942, “Here comes Santa Claus” by Gene Autry from 1947. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer “also by Gene Autry from 1949, are a few examples of hits that have become Holiday standards. Another popular song, especially during World War II, was Bing Crosby’s 1943 release “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, which expressed the longing of soldiers and sailors separated from their families and loved ones. Another popular songs was “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” first recorded by Judy Garland in 1944, for the movie MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS.
After the war, there was a period of economic growth that made Christmas an even bigger deal than ever. Nearly every artist made sure to record at least one or two Christmas songs, if not entire albums of Christmas music, both religious and secular.
Louis Armstrong weighed in with his 1953 release “Zat you Santa Claus?!”. 1953 also saw the release of Eartha Kitt’s sexy “Santa Baby”. Gene Autry once more weighed in with the 1950 release “Frosty the Snowman”. There was also “Hey Santa” by the Moonglows and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by Jimmy Boyd.
The rise of Rock and Roll did not diminish the Christmas spirit at all, even with its rebellious nature. Elvis Presley had a hit in 1957 with “Blue Christmas”, from his Christmas album of that year. (He would record another one in 1970). That same year also saw the release of Bobby Helms “Jingle Bell Rock”. Brenda Lee released “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” in 1958 and there was the debut of David Seville’s cartoon novelty act, The Chipmunk’s with “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” which went to number one on the singles charts and launched the Chipmunks who would release many more popular records as well as appearing on TV and in movies. There was also “Run Rudolph Run” by Chuck Berry from 1958.
As the Fifties gave was to the Sixties, Christmas was still very much in the air and on the charts. The Beach Boys gave us “Little Saint Nick” in 1964 (basically a rewrite of their earlier hit “Little Deuce Coupe”). Famed producer Phil Spector released the album A CHRSTMAS GIFT TO YOU featuring holiday standards by artists such as the Ronettes, Darlene Love and the Crystals. Albums by Ray Coniff, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatara, the Supremes, the Beach Boys and many other artists were big sellers during the Holidays season as well.
The Beatles took part in the holidays from 1964 to 1969 with recordings released exclusively to members of their fan club. The recordings were mostly spoken words greetings and comedy skits, that became more surreal as the Sixties wore on. In the early 70s, these recordings were collected into an album that was also exclusive to fan club members and is a much sought after collector’s item.
Even though they never released a Christmas song while they were together, each member brought out a Christmas record after the breakup. John Lennon (with Yoko Ono) released “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” in 1971, which has also becoming a holiday standard. George Harrison followed three years later with “Ding Dong Ding Dong” which was later included on the 1974 DARKHORSE album. Paul McCartney released “Wonderful Christmastime” in 1979 and Ringo Starr, not to be outdone, released a whole album of Christmas music in 1999, I WANNA BE SANTA CLAUS.
The social upheavals of the 60s and 70s reduced the amount of traditional Christmas music coming from the rock and roll scene, along with music representing more personal visions of the artists and less dependence on standards. Any holiday themed songs were often part of larger works, such as the song “Christmas” from the Who’s rock opera TOMMY. The songs expresses the worry about the protagonist’s immortal soul since, being deaf dumb and blind, “He doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is”. (This was shown more dramatically in the 1974 film adaptation.)
Jethro Tull’s 1970 release “A Christmas Song” attacks the hypocricy of people celebrating the birth of Christ while ignoring his message the rest of the year. (“You'd do well to remember the things He later said. /When you're stuffing yourselves at the Christmas parties”). Jethro Tull also did a rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” on the 1978 LIVE BURSTING OUT album and revisited the holiday’s pagan roots with “Ring Out Solstice Bells”. They also released a full Christmas album in 2003.
Many of the 1970s glam rock bands produced Christmas songs, mostly focusing on the festive aspects. Slade had a hit with “Merry Christmas Everybody”. Roy Wood’s WIzard gave us “I Wish It Was Christmas Everyday”, Elton John weighed in with “Step Into Christmas” and T. Rex recorded “Christmas Bop” , which wasn’t released until 1982. David Bowie didn’t do any Christmas songs during his Ziggy Stardust glam phase, but in 1977, during his time in Berlin, he dropped in on Bing Crosby’s 1977 Holiday special to sing a touching duet of “Little Drummer Boy”, transcending genres and generations to create a truly moving moment, made more so in that it was Crosby’s last tv special. He passed away two months later.
A more cynical take on the holidays was provided by Sparks with “Thank God It’s Not Christmas” from the KIMONO MY HOUSE album. The songs lyrics, of a lonely heart watching the holidays approaching, addresses he loneliness many people feel during the Christmas season. “Thank God it's not Christmas/When there is only you/And nothing else to do”).
Punk and New Wave brought back a simpler form of rock and roll and while there were still fewer Christmas themed songs, the ones that there were are worth mentioning. One of the first was L.A. band the Ravers (aka Daddy Maxfield) and “It’s Going to be a Punk Rock Christmas This Year” from 1978 (“Even Santa’s gonna be A Sex Pistol for a day”.) The Ramones released “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” in 1989, a plea to put aside domestic issues for one night for the Holidays. Kate Bush gave us “December Will Be Magic Again” in 1980. The Damned released “There Aint’ No Sanity Clause” in 1980 as well, but the song’s connection to Christmas is only slightly less tenuous than Mott the Hoople’s “Death May Be Your Santa Claus”.
One track that is well one the way to becoming, yet another standard, is “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses. Released in 1981, it quickly became a favorite on new wave and alternative stations during the Holiday season. The song describes a young woman’s attempts to just take it easy on Christmas while recounting all the missed encounters with a young man she was attracted to. The song is both cynical and charming and often strikes a chord with people who don’t wish to add Christmas to their already stressful modern lives.
Another notable song is “Dancing Barefoot” by Patti Smith. While not strictly a Christmas song, it does give an impression of how Mary must have felt while conceiving a child with God.
Traditional rockers put out some noteworthy Christmas songs in the 70s and 80s as well. Bruce Springsteen did a live rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in 1980 and the Kinks released “Father Christmas” in 1977, in which the lyrics describe a department store Santa who is assaulted by poor kids, resentful of how St. Nick seems to favor the “little rich boys”. (James Brown touched on a similar theme in “Santa Claus Go to the Ghetto” in 1968). In the end, the song reminds us to remember those who are poor and in need while we celebrate our holiday.
This message was taken up in earnest in 1984 when Bob Geldolf, former lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, and Midge Ure, of Ultravox, organized Band Aid, featuring prominent figures of the UK music scene, including Boy George, Bono, George Michael, Sting, members of Duran Duran, and other notables, to record “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to raise awareness, and relief funds, for the famine victims in Ethiopia. The following year, they organized USA For Africa to record a similar track “We Are the World” and also presented the Live Aid fundraisers in England and the US.
Other Holiday moments from the 80s were “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues, with Kristy McColl, “Last Christmas” by Wham, “Christmas in Hollis” by Run DMC, “Christmas in Dixie” by Alabama and A TWISTED CHRISTMAS album by Twisted Sister, featuring Heavy Metal renditions of classic Christmas carols.
Novelty and comedy records also reflected, in a distorted way, the so called magic of the season. One of the first novelty Christmas songs was “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” a 1947 hit for Spike Jones and His City Slickers. There was “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas” by 10 year old Gayle Peevey in 1953,The Barking Dogs rendition of “Jingle Bells” from 1971 and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” by Elmo and Patsy from 1979. The Royal Guardsmen followed up their 1967 hit “Snoopy vs the Red Baron” with “Snoopy’s Christmas” in which a rematch with between the Red Baron and the cartoon dog ends with a Holiday truce. A spoken word comedy single, “Santa Claus and His Old Lady” recounts the story of St. Nick from a counterculture point of view and served as the debut single of the iconic duo Cheech and Chong. Perhaps the darkest takes on Christmas were released by Weird Al Yankovic, who took a break from parodying popular songs to release “Christmas at Ground Zero” in 1986 and “The Night Santa Went Crazy” from 1996. Both are unusually dark songs from Weird Al but do provide a good macabre laugh at the holidays.
The 90s gave us Mariah Carey’s hit “All I Want for Christmas is You” (1994) another song that’s well on the way to becoming a Holiday standard. There was also “Assassination on Xmas Eve” by Archers of Love (1996), “Christmas at the Zoo” by Flaming Lips (1995), “Christmas in the Ghetto” by Master P (1994) and albums by such artists as N Sync, Mariah Carey, Diana Ross, Kenny G and many others.
The Millennium also gave us a good amount of Holiday music, “Where Are you Christmas” by Faith Hill (2000), “Elf’s Lament” by Barenaked Ladies, “What Christmas Should Be” by Hillary Duff (2002) and, surprisingly, a whole album of Christmas songs by Bob Dylan, CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART (2009) which was released to help raise money for World Food Programme and Crisis.
One more notable Christmas song is “The Season’s Upon Us” by Dropkick Murphys (2013). Sung in an Irish folk rock style, the song describes the pressures of gathering with the family during the Holidays and how one may love them but not particularly like them. (“My sisters are wack jobs, I wish I had none Their husbands are losers and so are their sons”) The accompanying video further illustrates this and anybody from a dysfunctional family can relate to the sentiment.
Of course, there are many other songs, albums and performers I have probably neglected to mention. The Christmas holiday inspires all sorts of music, in every style of music there is. The themes often run the gamut between sentimental and cynical. But however long Christmas, and the other accompanying holidays, are celebrated, we can be sure that music and song, both sacred and secular, will always be a part of it.