It’s the holiday season and
almost everywhere you go, you hear Christmas music. This year I started to
notice something. A lot of our “Christmas songs” aren’t actually Christmas
songs. Sure maybe there’s a really blurry line between a Christmas song and a song
for the season, but when I started really looking into it I found some songs
that have come a really long way from where they originally started out.
Make Someone Happy
The feature song in this
year’s Coke Christmas TV ad campaign is Jimmy Durante’s version of “Make Someone
Happy”. This song was originally written for a musical called Do Re Mi which
debuted on Boardway in 1960. Jimmy Durante later released the song on his album
“Way Of Life…” in 1965. Neither the album or original musical had anything do
with Christmas. I’m not sure when this song made the jump to being considered a
Christmas song, but along with it being used in this year’s Coke television ad
campaign, it gets sung by Bill Nighy as the credits role at the end of the
animated feature Author Christmas and I’ve noticed it’s also made it’s way
into the local “all christmas” radio staiton’a playlist.
Jimmy Durante - Make Someone Happy
Coke Commercial
My Favorite Things
It didn’t take too long the
song “My Favorite Things” to make the jump into being considered a Christmas
song. The song is originally from the musical The Sound Of Music, which first
debut in 1959. The movie didn’t come out until 1965, but prior to that Julie
Andrews sung the song on The Garry Moore Show’s 1961 Christmas special and that
was the probably the first step that lead to this song being considered a
Christmas song. Since then there has been an endless list of artists who have
included their version of the song on their Christmas album, including Kelly
Clarkson, Mary J Blige and even the cast from Glee. Aside from some
winter-related imagery in the lyrics, there is no mention of anything directly
Christmas related. They do mention Raindrops, Ponies, Doorbells and Spring.
Sound Of Music
Kelly Clarkson - My Favourite Things
Song For A Winter's Night
Gordon Lightfoot wrote “Song for a Winter’s
Night” in 1967. It was one of the tracks on his album “The Way I Feel” which
came out in April of that same year. Other tracks on the album include “Walls”,
“Crossroads” “Home From The Forrest” and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, none of
which are Christmas songs. “The Way I Feel” wasn’t a Christmas album and “Song
For A Winter’s Night” didn’t become a Christmas song until Sarah McLachlan
covered the song for the Miracle on 34th Street’s soundtrack in
1994, she later included it on her 2006 Christmas album “Wintersong”.
Gordon Lightfoot
Sarah McLachlan
What Child Is This?
One of the very first non-Christmas songs
to make the transition to becoming a Christmas song was “Greensleeves”, which
is also known as the Christmas carol “What Child Is This”. There is a
persistent belief that “Greensleeves” was composed by Henry VIII for his lover
and future queen Anne Boleyn. There are a variety of different versions that
can be dated back to Henry VIII’s time, all of which refer to Lady Green
Sleeves which some believe was a promiscuous young woman, possibly even a
prostitute. At the time the word “green” had sexual connotations, most notably
in the phrase “a green gown” which could also be tied to the sleeves of a gown.
Christmas lyrics started being associated with the tune from as early as 1686,
one of the most popular versions being “What Child Is This” which was written
by William Chatterton Dix in 1865.
“My Lady Greensleeves’
What Child Is This – Bing Crosby
More...
Over the years there have been some feeble
attempts to turn popular songs into Christmas songs. A recent example of this
comes from the movie Love Actually, in which Bill Nighy’s character “Billy
Mack” switches the lyrics from “Love Is All Around” to “Christmas Is All
Around”, to try and secure the elusive #1 spot on the UK Charts at Christmas.
The movie Love Actually has become part of a lot of family’s annual Christmas
viewing, but the song has also joined the list of a handful of radio stations
Christmas playlists. Along that same lines, and in my opinion a pathetic
attempt of turning a non-Christmas song into a Christmas song, Randy Bachman’s
“Taking Care Of Christmas”. This one is just bad. It’s something you’d expect
to see on The Simpsons or Family Guy as a bad joke or parody, but sadly because
it’s Canadian and Randy Bachman is a national rock hero, it also finds itself
in the majority of Canadian radio station’s Christmas playlists. Isn't Randy Bachman a strict Mormon or at least used to be? Don't they have issues with celebrating Christmas and the commercialization?
Billy Mack - Christmas Is All Around
Randy Bachman & Beverly Mahood - Taking Care Of Christmas
The list goes on. “Let It Snow, Let It
Snow, Let It Snow”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Sleigh Ride” and even “Frosty The
Snow Man” weren’t writen as Christmas songs, but more just songs for the winter
season. In “Sleigh Ride” the lyrics actually mention going to a birthday party.
Not a Christmas party, a birthday party. You don’t hear these songs any other
time of the year though. Not in late fall when it first starts to snow or in
the period after Christmas till Spring. These songs only get heard during the
holiday season which tends to end on Dec 26th.
The Future...
This all got me thinking, what could
potentially be the next song to make the jump over to being considered a song
for the Christmas season? Growing up catholic, I still make my annual
appearance at church on Christmas Eve. On a couple of these occassions, along
with the traditional, spriritual Christmas songs, John Lennon’s “Give Peace A
Chance” has been performed by the church choir. Could this song find it’s way
into some radio station’s Christmas play lists? Now I think it’s also important
to point out that the priest at this same mass also had the congregation sing
“Happy Birthday” to Jesus during a portion of his homily. So it might be a
stretch thinking that a church choir could influence a non-Christmas carol
becoming a Christmas Classic.
It’s safe to say Disney’s Frozen has dominated
this Christmas season. The toys are everywhere, the characters appear on
everything from items of clothing to a variety of Christmas decorations. It
almost makes one wonder if Disney is trying to muscle it’s way into the holiday
season and get Frozen established as a Christmas classic. If they are
successful at this, you will not doubt start to hear songs from the soundtrack
mixed in with other holiday classics, the most likely candidate being “Do You
Want To Build A Snow Man” (If Frosty The Snowman can make the jump, so can this one...)
One song that may actually already be on
this path is “Tears Are Not Enough” by Northern Lights. I haven’t heard it
played yet this year, but with the release of the 30th anniversary
edition of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” this year, I’ve heard a
handful of different radio personalities ask “Do you think they will release a
30th anniversary version of “Tears Are Not Enough” next Christmas?”
Add some jingle bells in the background and the song wouldn’t sound too far off
from being a Christmas carol…well aside from the lyrics. Guess we’ll see next
year…
Northern Lights - Tears Are Not Enough
