P-Boi Forum: Top 50 Holiday Songs

[White Panther]

When Fairytale of New York hadn't come up by #20 or so I was really worried it wouldn't make the list and I'm overjoyed it made it into the top ten. 3 number one votes makes me happy.

Also, John Lennon is so amazing its hard for me to believe that Yoko Ono can be so annoying as to totally ruin this song for me. Yet she succeeds.
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[Lindy]

5. Baby It's Cold Outside - Standard -156 points
(7 of 16 lists. Highest ranking - #1 SundownMotel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb94s5pkfoY&eurl=

Best date rape song ever made.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a pop standard with words and music by Frank Loesser. Loesser the wrote the contrapuntal duet in 1944 and premiered the song with his wife at at their Navarro Hotel housewarming party. The female voice in the song is called "The Mouse" and the male "The Wolf." The lyrics consist of his attempts to convince her to stay with him at the end of a date; her indecisive protests reveal that although she feels obligated to go home, she is tempted to stay, partially because, as the title suggests, "it's cold outside." The tempo of the tune is published in at least one version as a "Loesserando," giving humorous reference to the composer.

In 1948--after years of informally performing the song at various parties--Loesser sold its rights to MGM, which inserted the song into its 1949 motion picture, Neptune's Daughter. The film featured two performances of the song: one by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams and the other by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. These performances earned Loesser an Academy Award for Best Song.

The song has been recorded by numerous other artists over the years, including Sammy Davis, Jr. and Carmen McRae (1957); Dean Martin (1959); Ray Charles and Betty Carter (1961); Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews ( 1999), Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (2004); and Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton (2004); On "Saturday Night Live" NBC on 10/11/1986, the song was featured as a duet sung by Sigourney Weaver and Buster Poindexter. It was also featured in the 1991 movie For the Boys sung by Bette Midler and James Caan. Due to the wintertime lyrics, the song is often played during the Christmas season; in 2003, it was featured in the holiday-themed film Elf sung by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone.


I simply must go - Baby, it's cold outside
The answer is no - Ooh baby, it's cold outside
This welcome has been - I'm lucky that you dropped in
So nice and warm -- Look out the window at that storm
My sister will be suspicious - Man, your lips look so delicious
My brother will be there at the door - Waves upon a tropical shore
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious - Gosh your lips look delicious
Well maybe just a half a drink more - Never such a blizzard before

I've got to go home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your comb - It's up to your knees out there
You've really been grand - Your eyes are like starlight now
But don't you see - How can you do this thing to me
There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Making my life long sorrow
At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died
I really can't stay - Get over that old out
Ahh, but it's cold outside

Baby it's cold outside

[Kyle]

When I was just in New York, my girlfrien got us tickets to the Ho-Ho-Horatio Sanz Christmas Special at the UCB Theater, and it ended with everyone who was somehow a part of the production singing "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" and it was actually a very pretty rendition and a legitimately sweet moment. If you ever get a chance to see Horatio Sanz, Brett Gelman, David Bazan, and a stable of creeps perform it, I would highly recommend not passing up that chance.
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Kelsey Grammer

[Lindy]

4. White Christmas - Bing Crosby -160 points
(12 of 16 lists. Highest ranking - #5 Spoodles, n88n8888)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NthiA9bVaGg

"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song whose lyrics reminisce about White Christmases. The morning after he wrote the song — Berlin usually stayed up all night writing — the songwriter went to his office and told his musical secretary, "Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — hell, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!"

Berlin wrote the song in early 1940. The original verse pokes fun at a well-off Los Angeleno who, amid orange and palm trees, longs for traditional Christmas "up north." Berlin later dropped the verse but kept the now-famous chorus. "White Christmas" was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1942 musical Holiday Inn. In the film, he actually sings it in a duet with Marjorie Reynolds. The song went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Song.

Crosby's single of "White Christmas" is recognized as the best-selling single in any music category and Crosby's recording has sold millions of additional copies as part of numerous albums, including his best-selling holiday collection Merry Christmas, which was first released as an LP in 1949 and has never been out-of-print since.

The 2007 Guinness Book of Records lists Crosby's recording as the biggest selling single of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold. The "White Christmas Musical website", confirms the Guinness statistics and lists the Crosby recording as "the best selling record in history.", although this is a non-official title.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

[Lindy]

3. O Holy Night - Traditional -167 points
(10 of 16 lists. Highest ranking - #1 Spoodles, Alicia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgMvvJpM2Ws

"O Holy Night" ("Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), an accomplished amateur.

In the carol, the singer recalls the birth of Jesus. It was translated into English by Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight, editor of Dwight's Journal of Music in 1855 and lyrics also exist in other languages. "O Holy Night" may have been the first piece of music to be broadcast via radio, played on the violin.

"O Holy Night" was also sung by lead character Eric Cartman on a Christmas-themed episode of the animated series South Park. The sequence became so popular among fans that this recording is often played on radio stations during the Christmas season.

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night, Oh night divine, Oh night Divine.

[Lindy]

2. Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - David Bowie & Bing Crosby -178 points
(9 of 16 lists. Highest ranking - #2 White Panther, Ragingape)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b6KjR3OvEw

A medley of two Christmas songs performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

The track was originally recorded for Crosby’s 1977 television special Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas. The pair exchanged stilted dialogue about what they do for Christmas before singing a medley of a traditional song, "Little Drummer Boy", and a new song written for the special, "Peace on Earth". Bowie's appearance has been described as a "surreal" event, undertaken at a time that he was "actively trying to normalise his career". He has since recalled that he only appeared on the show because "I just knew my mother liked him." Crosby would die just over a month after recording the special.

According to co-writer Ian Fraser, Bowie balked at singing "Little Drummer Boy". "I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?" Fraser recalls Bowie telling him. Fraser, along with songwriter Larry Grossman and the special's scriptwriter, Buz Kohan, then wrote "Peace on Earth" and arranged a medley of it with "Little Drummer Boy". Bowie sang "Peace on Earth" and Crosby performed "Little Drummer Boy".

The medley was available for some years as a bootleg single backed with "Heroes", which Bowie had also performed on the TV special.

Come they told me
Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A new born king to see
Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring
Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum

Peace on earth, can it be
Years from now, perhaps we'll see
See the day of glory
See the day when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again

Peace on earth, can it be

Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

I pray my wish will come true
For my child and your child too
He'll see the day of glory
See the day when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again

Peace on earth, can it be
Can it be

[Spoodles]

I call horseshit, O HOLY NIGHT is clearly superior to every other song ever made.
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From: Algernon

[Lindy]

1. Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio -190 points
(10 of 16 lists. Highest ranking - #1 B, Lindy, n88n8888)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVENmQqQyx4

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is the first of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. Christmas Time is Here is the first song featured which is performed by Vince Guaraldi on piano. Of any song used in the special it the the music most associated with the holiday special as it plays as an instrumental song throughout.

Network executives were not at all keen on several aspects of the show, forcing Schulz and Melendez to wage some serious battles to preserve their vision. The executives did not want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 2:8-14); the network orthodoxy of the time assumed that viewers would not want to sit through passages of the King James Version of the Bible. A story reported on the Whoopi Goldberg-hosted version of the making of the program that Charles Schultz was adamant about keeping this scene in, remarking that "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"

Another complaint was the absence of a laugh track, a common element of children's cartoons at the time. Schulz maintained that the audience should be able to enjoy the show at their own pace, without being cued when to laugh. (CBS did create a version of the show with the laugh track added, just in case Schulz changed his mind. This version remains unavailable.) A third complaint was the use of children to do the voice acting, instead of employing adult actors. Finally, the executives thought that the jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi would not work well for a children's program. When executives saw the final product, they were horrified and believed the special would be a complete flop.

The actors, all of them children, learned their lines phonetically, often not knowing what they meant. This led to the now-familiar Peanuts delivery style.

The musical soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, by jazz composer Vince Guaraldi, has become as well-known as the story itself. (In particular, the piece entitled "Linus and Lucy" has come to be regarded as the signature musical theme of the Peanuts specials.) A soundtrack album for the special was released by Fantasy Records and remains a perennial best-seller. (While the CD release of the soundtrack album contains much music that does not appear in the TV special - it runs, after all, some 20 minutes longer than the special itself - it also fails to include two musical themes which appear in the special.)

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
We'll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year...

[Nicholas]

[Alicia]

Yay, the #1 was my #7, I had "Linus and Lucy" at #3, but that's because it's on the Charlie Brown Christmas CD, I think they play that song in all of Charlie Brown TV specials.
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[Mally]

I am distressed that half the songs from the Claymation Christmas Special did not make this list. Do the ice skating walruses and the dancing camels mean nothing to you guys?

This list surprised me... mostly in good ways. My #1 and #2 did not make it at all -- I was really surprised about "Silver Bells" not being on there. I adore that song.

Also on my list: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Conventry Carol, We Three Kings, A New York Christmas, and Somewhere In My Memory.

[Spoodles]

Seeing this list really made me appreciate the diversity of holiday music. Also, made me hate all y'all's Muppet-phobia.

2. The Christmas Wish (John Denver and the Muppets)
3. Our World/Brothers (Emmet Otter)
6. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Darlene Love)
10. True Blue Miracle (Sesame Street cast)
11. Merry Christmas Darling (The Carpenters)
12. Please Come Home For Christmas (Southside Johnny Lyon)
16. A Baby Just Like You (John Denver and the Muppets)
18. Do You Hear What I Hear (Johnny Mathis)
19. Christmas in the Playhouse (Pee-Wee Herman)
21. The Dreidel Song (South Park)
22. Silver and Gold (Burl Ives)
23. Dead, Dead, Dead (South Park)
24. Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! (Surfjan Stevens)
25. Can't Wait 'Til Christmas (Garfield)
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From: Algernon

[Mally]

[Greg]

I must say, even though we got half the lists of usual, this turned out nice. A good mix of classics and pop hits.

My Didn't-Make-Its:

3. “Walking In The Air” from The Snowman
7. “Home For The Holidays” by Perry Como
9. “Merry Christmas Everybody” by Slade
17. “Little Saint Nick” by The Beach Boys
19. “Christmas” by The Who
23. “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”
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[Shamrock]

6 Highest Rankings. Clearly I'm the most in touch with the general consensus of the forum.

No shows

6. Winter - Tori Amos
9. Neptunian Elvish Work Song - Futurama
11. Good King Wenceslas
12. Santa Claus and His Old Lady - Cheech and Chong
15. Bouree - Jethro Tull
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