Christmas Songs

[poliphilo]

Ugh- Christmas music!

I'm not talking about carols or even Christmas hymns- I like a lot of those. I'm talking about Christmas pop songs. Aren't they horrible?

And inescapable at this time of year: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Slade, Wizard, Cliff Richard.

The chingly sleigh bells, the fake bonhomie. Like being backed into a corner by a sentimental drunk with mincepie breath.

There are only two Christmas songs I can stand. The first is White Christmas. Well,  it's Irving Berlin and Irving Berlin was a mensch. And the second is the Pogues' Fairytale of New York.

"You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap, lousy faggot"- ah now, there's the true spirit of Christmas!  

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

"The Little Drummer Boy" for about the 50th time has me looking for an axe, ready to damage something. As said by dadi, I'm not a Christian, but I love "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen" especially and lots of the older carols. "Silent Night" in the right setting can still move me to tears, and I love some of the Benjamin Britton carols. And yes, I DO love "White Christmas" as well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

White Christmas was written in wartime. (At least, I think it was.) It's about being stationed in a foreign country and longing for home. It has a dark undercurrent of pain and exile.

Most Christmas songs feel like they were written to make a quick buck. The very few good ones are the ones that come from the heart.