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Thinking Christmassy thoughts

December 25th, 2019 · Posted by Skuds in Life/Music · No Comments · Life, Music

I don’t think its a secret that I am not a fan of Christmas. I’m not ashamed of that, not proud, it just is what it is. I just don’t get it or buy into all the fuss about it, but ironically I may well enjoy it more than many of the Xmas fanatics because it is a very low-stress time for me.

This is because we don’t have a house full of visiting relatives or dinner guests, and don’t have any elaborate activities, food or entertaining, which all add to the stress for a lot of people. No worrying about whether the dinner will meet the standards of a Michelin starred restaurant because it is just the two of us. Even if there were visitors they would have to accept a fairly normal roast leg of lamb, without wine. All this means we can jut relax and enjoy the time off.

I realised the other day, during a xmas-themed quiz at work, that I have not really seen many xmas films. I know I have seen Love Actually, Die Hard, Gremlins and It’s A Wonderful Life, but I can’t really recall any others, though I’m sure I must hae seen some when I was younger. I do know that I have not seen Elf or the Muppets Christmas Carol or Home Alone. In fact I only found out at the quiz that Home Alone was set at xmas and not at Thanksgiving.

Despite all that, I do actually like xmas music. Maybe not all of it – I have to hide away when Jayne breaks out the Michael Buble – but there are xmas songs that I really like. At this point I would be expected to say that my favourite is The Pogues, but Fairytale of New York wouldn’t even get in my top ten. Talking of which, here are my top ten xmas songs of the moment. My opinion might vary from day to day, but the number one is constant.

  1. Mariah Carey – All I want for Christmas is You
  2. Elton John – Step Into Christmas
  3. Greg Lake – I Believe in Father Christmas
  4. The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping
  5. Mud – Lonely This Christmas
  6. El Vez – Feliz Navidad
  7. Wizzard – I Wish it could be Christmas every day
  8. Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody
  9. Jona Lewie – Stop the Cavalry
  10. Bruce Springsteen – Santa Claus is coming to town

The list is quite biased towards the early/mid-70s when I was more into it all and when they did proper tunes. By the way, the number one is not even an opinion. I think its an established fact that its the best. A welcome earworm through the whole of December.

I can remember when the Christmas number one was quite the event. People complain now that it is taken over by X Factor rubbish that isn’t even Christmassy, and there is a false memory that the Christmas number one used to be very seasonal, but from the first charts in 1952 up to 1979 there were only half a dozen Christmas songs that got that number one. Other Christmas number ones during that time include Rolf Harris’s Two Little Boys, the Beatles with Daytripper, I Feel Fine and We Can Work it Out, Benny Hill’s Ernie, Lily the Pink, Moon River and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Some of the best seasonal songs were actually Christmas number two’s, including Greg Lake, Mariah Carey, Wham and Fairytale of New York. Some of the other number twos that are not Christmassy are absolute bangers – Uptown Funk, Happy, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Jeepster and Sunshine Superman. The interesting thing is that for more than 15 year the bookies have been talking bets on who the number 2 will be because they assume number 1 will be some reality TV dross and have discounted that so that number 2 is the new number 1. It is a bit like how the album charts used to be dominated by Now That’s What I Call Music-type compilations so they got siphoned off into their own chart to give ‘normal’ albums a chance at being number 1. Maybe they should have a separate singles chart for records by winners and runners up of all the various talent shows?

It is still a shame that the campaign to get Jarvis Cocker to number one at Christmas with (Cunts are still) Running the World, but we can’t have everything can we?

Anyway, whether you celebrate xmas or not, do enjoy the holiday and take the opportunity to kick back and get those batteries recharged. Personally I have set the bar quite low. As long as I don’t end Christmas day this year being taken to hospital by ambulance and kept there for 24 hours I will consider it a great improvement on last year!

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