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My Top 30 Most-Played Christmas Songs of 2024
🕑 Added 2024-12-25 05:11:53 +0000 UTCWell, we did it again, folks. Another Christmas is officially accomplished. And since this is whole season is the time of traditions that somebody else forces upon you without your consent, I’m gotta take this chance to stuff my Patreon with ONE MORE blog about Christmas stuff. That’s right, it’s time for another round-up of my Most-Played Christmas Songs of 2024! Yeah, I know no-one else cares about these things, but by an amazing conscience, that’s also the exact same of that I care about how much other people care! I find this stuff interesting to tally up and talk about, so here we go.
Some quick housekeeping: The astute of you will notice that the chart has grown a bit this year, up from 25 to 30. Why? Meh, I mostly just felt like it. It’s more symmetrical this way. Just be glad I didn’t go the full Top 40, mostly because that would have taken too long to write. Also, to confess something LITERALLY NO OTHER PERON ON EARTH would have cared about, this ranking isn’t “absolutely” accurate, because I actually started writing the blog a few days early. Hey, I didn’t wanna spend my whole Christmas Day sitting in my room working on a blog post, alright? …I’ve got plenty of of OTHER things to spend Christmas working on. But enough about that, let’s take about Christmas music while it’s still socially acceptable to do so.
30. “Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly” - Percy Faith
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I’m pretty sure I remember this being my Number One most-played song back when I first started making these lists. What’s more, this I Percy Faith’s only appearance on the whole list (outside of some songwriting credits, that is). The Muzak is much MUCH less strongly represented this time around that it was on last year’s list. Apparently, I’m just feeling way less orchestral this time around, seeing as how the ‘80s-and-onward post-Mannheim Steamroller artists made a real resurgence on this list. Still, if Faith were going to appear with anything on the list, this is a good one, and an atypically-sounding arrangement for him. I still really love the almost medieval minor key bridge in the middle of this one, it gives the song way more weight than the usual Percy Faith Elevator Music.
29. “Ballade pour une fête” - Francis Lai
Oh man, we got some wild selections to talk about this year. In 1984 there was a Christmas movie called J'ai Rencontré Le Père Noël, and yes, I absolutely had to copy/paste that. It’s French, obviously, but there was an English dub called I Believe in Santa Claus which got featured on Rifftrax, which is how I encountered it. Now, the very fact that I saw it through Rifftrax tells you how good of a movie it is. Not very. However, I have come to really like the soundtrack, by Oscar winner Francis Lai. Being a soundtrack to a movie made in 1984, it’s EXTREMELY electronic, to the point that it almost sounds like a Giorio Moroder Christmas album. But you know what? I’ve listened to enough Mannheim Steamroller in my time that I’m into that. Lai’s songs for the movie manage to simultaneously fit the synth-heavy production while still having enough of traditional folk melody to fit that mysterious definition of “feeling Christmas-y.” Also, this is basically just an instrumental version of the song “P'tit pomme sur le pommier” which is also nice, but the vocal songs on the soundtrack are something to discus at another time…
28. “Linus and Lucy” - David Benoit
Shockingly, the original Vince Guaraldi version of “Linus & Lucy” did NOT make it up onto this top 30 list, or at least it’s shocking on general principle. It should surprise anybody who actually read the previous lists, because this cover has crowded out the original here before. It’s one of the many, MANY examples of a Smooth Jazz artist trying to ride that post-Steamroller craze of slick Holiday instrumentals in the late ‘80s. So of course I end up listening to it a lot every year. Actually, I can recall hearing this exact version playing in the mall back when I was a kid. We entered the halls while the extended jam in the middle way playing, at which point it just sounded like any other Smooth Jazz background music of the era. Then, suddenly, I noticed the main melody kick in, and my small mind was blown. I was already very familiar with “Linus & Lucy,” but I’d sure never heard it sound like THIS before. It was one of those little kid epiphany moments where you only just then notice something that should have been really obvious in retrospect. “Oh, I guess you can just cover any song you want in any style that you want! How about that?” It really SHOULDN’T have surprised me, since I’d already heard Mannheim Steamroller make traditional carols sound like they belonged in the Flash Gordon soundtrack, but that’s just how those weird little kid epiphanies work.
27. “Christmas Song” - Arthur Lyman
Another oddball cover outranking the original, you won’t be seeing Nat “King” Cole anywhere near this list, buy you WILL see this cover of his most famous Holiday song as performed by Hawaiian Lounge pioneer Arthur Lyman. And before you ask, no. I know absolutely nothing about Arthur Lyman ousted of this one recording… which is actually kind of odd when you consider how much Lounge and Exotica from the ‘50s and ‘60s influenced the Indie Pop I listened to so much in college. I really ought to look up more of this guy’s stuff, excuse the sound on this one recording is kind of amazing. It’s a sparse little Jazz combo, with Lyman on vibraphone backed mostly by just a bass and some percussion, but the bass spends most of the song playing in exact unison with the vibes, and it’s a VERY distinct sound. I remember the first time I head this song, and I was wondering what the heck ind of giant, misshapen, Dr Seuss-looking bells they must have been hitting to get a sound like THAT out of them. Obviously, I figured out that the explanation was more mundane than that, but I still really dig that sound. And given that this recording dates from the min-‘60s, that means there’s a lot more work that had to go into getting a unique sound than, say, a Mannheim Steamroller recording. Yes, I know those guys actually did a lot more than just mashing a pre-set button on a Casio keyboard, but it sill wasn’t anything close to the sheer inventiveness that musicians in the pure analog era of recording had to work out. Just sayin’.
26. “Oui, le Père Noël existe” - Tilda
Hey look! It’s that French movie that I don’t want to have to copy/paste the title of again! Okay, strap in, because this gets complicated. Half the reason the movie existed in the first place was to be a vehicle for French singer Karen Cheryl, who gets multiple musical numbers throughout the film. But of course, Rifftrax didn’t use the French version of the film, they used an English dub that had all of Cheryl’s audio replaced by a singer from Quebec named Nathalie Simard. NEITHER of those are the version I have. Apparently, Karen Cheryl failed to properly work out the release of the movie’s soundtrack with her managers/producers/label/whoever, which resulted in that version being pulled from the market. (So, basically, they pulled a Bubblegum Crisis) Afterwards, an alternate version was released with the same backing tracks, but Cheryl’s vocals replaced by Israeli/Turkish singer Tilda Rejwan, and THAT’S the version I have. Obviously, I don’t speak French, so I can’t really judge whether the lyrics are good or not (even though I know enough to know it’s a song about Santa really existing, which remains one of my pet peeves), but the melody is quite charming and the frothy synth arrangements fit it quite nicely. Like the rest of the soundtrack, it fits in nicely with that Steamroller-era movement of synth-heavy holiday music. And however those French lyrics turned out, it can’t be any worse than the deeply awkward English translation, where the title becomes “Stop all your crying business.” Yeah, there’s a reason that movie ended up in the hands of Rifftrax.
25. “The First Noel” - Spencer Brewer
Every year, it feels like there’s at least one song what creeps up onto the top rounds of my play count, and I’m just left going “…really? I listened to that song? THAT many times? …WHEN?” This cover of “The First Noel” by New Age pianist Spencer Brewer is one of those songs. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s one of those pieces of music that’s deliberately designed to fade into the background, so I don’t really have a lot of memory of listening to it… even though I apparently listened to it a LOT. Anyway, the centerpiece of this song isn’t actually Brewer’s piano, but rather Steven Kindler’s lead violin. In fact, before I looked up the credits to double check, I was under the assumption that Spencer Brewer must be a violinist, since this recording is so obviously a violin showcase. And it isn’t a bad one, either. I especially like the subtle variations on the familiar melody that this arrangement employs to break up the monotony. As we saw earlier with Percy Faith’s version of “Deck the Halls,” I really appreciate a good twist on a familiar theme. So, yeah, it’s a fine entry in that tidal wave of post-Mannheim Steamroller holiday New Age music, though it’s far from the most memorable. Fine music for walking around and looking at the decorations in one of the fancier stores at the mall.
24. “I Wonder As I Wander” - Richard Souther
Okay, Take everything I said early about a track having big “Why did I listen to THIS so many times?” energy, and crank it up to eleven for this one. Richard Souther is yet another one of those New Age guys who tried to cash in on the whole Mannheim Steamroller holiday craze, though he seemed to have been a lot more persistent about it than a lot of the other Windham Hill and Narada guys. Most of those guys just cranked out one or two individual tracks for a seasonal compilation from their label, where Souther has at least two entire Christmas albums out there. And unlike Spencer Brewer, I actually have some NON-Christmas songs by Richard Souther. (“The Long Riders” has actually made it into my REGULAR Most-Listened-To blogs from time to time) That said, “I Wonder As I Wander” is …odd. Most versions of this song I’ve encountered are very sparse and ethereal, haunting enough to match the slightly morbid bent of the lyrics. Souther’s version, however, has this very prominent Worldbeat percussion throughout, all very obviously created via synth rather than any physical instruments. The end result honestly feels like what would happen if there were a Christmas level in Donkey Kong Country. Like, it’s not BAD, and certainly not boring, but it’s… odd. Spencer Brewer’s “First Noel” might not have left a huge impression on me, but it’s THIS track that most feels like it made the list via a fluke of the iTunes shuffle command than anything else.
23. “Angels We Have Heard on High” - Mannheim Steamroller
Well, look who finally decided to show up! Now I don’t have to strain to find an excuse to shoehorn a reference into this entry! But seriously, I’m honestly surprised it took this long for Chip Taylor’s seasonal money-printing machine to appear on the list, especially since that big unwieldy name honestly did appear in entries for OTHER artist’s songs without me even realizing I was doing it. What can I say? Where American Christmas music is concerned, Mannheim Steamroller casts a shadow that’s only rivaled by Bing Crosby… who surprisingly didn’t make it onto this list as ALL this year, despite his impressive performance last year. Anyway, 1995’s “Angels We Have Heard on High” is a blatantly obvious attempt to recapture the vibe of the previous decade’s “Deck the Halls,” and as blatant as it may be, I think it succeeds pretty well at its goals. It may not be anywhere near as iconic as their mainstream breakthrough, but it’s still a lot of fun. And on, we’re gonna be talking a LOT about this crew before we’re done…
This has been on at least one of these lists before, and it still feels like one of the oddest things to turn up on my Christmas lists. Really, there shouldn’t be anything about this song to make it “Christmas” related, it’s just Denver trying hard to make his yuppie ski resort hometown sound more bohemian. But then he re-recorded it with way more ethereal production and jingle bells for one of his Christmas albums, and that version got played on the Atlantic Easy Listening station the night my Dad recorded several tapes-worth of songs, and now I can’t get it out of my holiday collection. I mean, it certainly does sound the part. I’ve never been that huge a fan of John Denver (I still think his best work was done with The Muppets) but he really nails that “warm living room on a cold night” vibe that I tend to default to as prime Christmas mood here. It fits in well amid all the Mannheim Steamroller tunes, so it deserves its spot on my playlists. And hey, you can’t say The Rockies don’t get plenty of officially-sanctioned Christmas weather, so I guess it works. (Hey, one of those tapes my Dad recorded had Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song for a Winter’s Night” on it, and that’s even less Christmas-y than this is.)
Diving even deeper into the depths the New Age Christmas gold rush with this one. I’m pretty sure this has been on the top played lists at least once before, I know for sure it was on one of my Songs You Don’t Know lists at some point. It’ll be a bit hard to come up with something to say about this that I haven’t already said elsewhere, other than it’s a good extension of that late-80s/early-90s Electronic soundscape that any Mannheim Steamroller fan would appreciate around Christmastime. OH! I thought of something! I literally only just now was looking up info on Spencer Brewer for that entry, and discovered that Teja Bell was actually a prouder on that recording. So I guess this due cashed in on that Christmas gold rush even more than I thought! And good for him, too, ‘cos Lord knows I’ve veneer knowingly heard anything Teja Bell has done that ISN’T Christmas related.
20. “Silver Bells” - Kevin Eubanks
It still blows my mind to think that, when little kid me was listening t those tapes my Dad recorded, one of the songs was by the bandleader who would spend years playing covers of oldies during Jay Leno’s commercial breaks. Yup. It’s THAT Kevin Eubanks. I’m sure this song has been on at least one of these blogs before, and it still feels like a shocking revelation when I have to write that. But in all seriousness, it’s a really slick cover. The arrangement is really space, but Eubanks is going wild throughout. In fact, a lot of people I play this song to don’t even realize it’s “Silver Bells” until around halfway through, it’s so far removed from the familiar Bing Crosby version. And speaking of whom, I really ant kidding earlier. Ol’ Bing genuinely didn’t make it onto the list this year. No, not even the duet with David Bowie made it up into the top runs of the ranks this time around. I was going to joke that all the Mannheim Steamroller songs crowded him out, but even when my New Age listening was at it’s absolute peak, at least “Little Drummer Boy” managed to claw it’s way up between all the synth songs. So I’m really not sure how Bing Crosby managed to fall off the ranking entirely, but KEVIN FREAKING EUBANKS still makes the cut. Truly, my tastes keep shifting around wildly, you never really know what’ll make it into the final rankings. Speaking of which…
19. “It’s Christmas Time Again” - Johnny Mathis
This is the only Johnny Mathis song on the list. THIS. Not “We Need A Little Christmas,” not “Winter Wonderland,” not "Marshmallow World” or any of the MANY other Johnny Mathis songs that infest your local store’s holiday playlist every year. Its THIS obscurity, which I even went and included on one of the Songs You Don’t Know blogs in years past. I mean, I guess that should have been a sign that it’s a song that I’LL listen to a lot, but on general principle, it’s still odd to see this and ONLY this make any most-played list. It’s a kind of fascinating track to listen to, by the way, straddling the line between the days of recording with an actual orchestra and doing it all digitally. There is a full orchestra providing the foundation of the song’s backing, but there’s still a lot of little flourishes being added via Casio, like they could only afford to get the orchestra in for one session but not any subsequent overdubs. It kind of results in a Mannheim Steamroller vibe, though it seems a lot more accidental than anything Chip Taylor did. And yes, I am going to make a game of seeing just how many of these entries I can squeeze a Steamroller reference into. Take a shot every time it happens.
18. “Hark! The Harold Angels Sing” - Fourplay
Okay, this is getting to be something really interesting. This is the third time Smooth Jazz band Fourplay has been on one of my end of the year lists, and every time it was for a different song. I’ve only got one Christmas album by Fourplay, you wouldn’t think that would be a wide enough selection to go this long without a repeat. And yet, here we are! I still don’t really know much of anything about Fourplay as a band. I only stumbled upon them while trying to track down a sample in a Vaporwave song, and as soon as I saw they had a Christmas album I snapped it up because of COURSE that’s the kind of thing I would do. From what little I’ve heard they do seem to lean a bit more on the Jazz side of the Smooth Jazz equation than a lot of similar bands in the Contemporary Instrumental space who seem to drift more toward New Age whether they bill themselves as that or not. So, more like the previously mentioned David Benoit than, say Spencer Brewer (or Mannheim Steamroller, got another one it!). Although Fourplay’s rendition of “Hark” is relatively muted and quiet, there’s still some really tasty chord changes throughout, and the band frequently teases that they’re just about bust loose with some really wild jamming, without ever actually doing so. That’s just enough tension to keep the song from sounding too sleepy, but not so much as to make it bad listening when YOU’RE sleepy. Good for a holiday night drive.
17. “Sleigh Ride” - The Boston Pops
How is this the only spot where The Boston Pops made it onto the list this year? Christmas is, like, the only time I ever listen to The Boston Pops! And what’s more, this one year I’ve seen more evidence than ever that I’m not the only one who grew up with them as one of those core components of the Christmas music library. If anything, this should have been the year when I would bust out even MORE of those tracks as a sign of solidarity! But no, I guess I really did turn hard against the orchestral elevator music sounds this year. Still, there’s just no escaping “Sleigh Ride.” Yes, I know this song existed well before the Pops version of it, and I know there’s a solid case to be made that it doesn’t really count as a “Christmas” song since it’s really only about the existence of Winter… but I don’t care. In my mind, this song belongs to The Boston Pops, and The Boston Pops are one of the key Christmas musical artists, second only to Mannheim Steamroller. THERE, I got another one it! But seriously, I am quite surprise to see that no other tracks made it up into the top ranking. I guess I’ve just got so MANY of their songs in my playlists at this point that they’ve been eating into each other’s plays. That’s definitely not the case for…
16. “Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day” - The Disney Studio Holiday Chorus
Yeah, I’m legitimately shocked if a year rolls around where the opening song (and ONLY song) from Mickey’s Christmas Carol DOESN’T turn up on my rankings somewhere. It’s one of the songs that motivated me to start doing those OTHER Christmas song blogs, and I still stand by all my statements that this really ought to be more of a standard. Yes, I know The Mouse would never let go of anything they own enough for a song like this to ever have a chance to slip into the public consciousness, but it sure deserves a chance to try! I wanna hear kid’s choirs singing this during recitals! I wanna hear instrumental cover by The Boston Pops or Mannheim Steamroller! (CHECK!). I want to hear ironic genre-bending cover versions going viral! …well, okay, maybe not that last part, but you know what I mean.
15. “Christmas Waltz” - Carpenters
And on to another band right up there with the aforementioned Boston Pops and Mannheim Steamroller (DING!) on the list of artists people seem to forget about until December rolls around. I mean, that’s not true for me NOW, but there was certainly a time when my only exposure to Carpenters songs beyond a Christmas context was The Simpsons making jokes about “Close To You.” And even now, I still listen to their two Christmas albums way more than any of their songs for the rest of the year. Heck, I technically was first introduced to “Christmas Waltz” as a song thanks to the Carpenters’ version. I have to specify “technically” because the same tape it was on also had an instrumental version by Hagood Hardy (which has been on this very list in previous years, but didn’t quite make the cut this time around) but this version was officially the one that young me heard first! It’s in the books!
14. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” - Mannheim Steamroller
Okay, I don’t have to strain myself for a reference this time around. I always love how dramatic this song songs, to the point that it’s not-quite quotes of “Tubular Bells” seem completely natural in this context. As an aside, because I don’t know when I’m going to get a chance to say this elsewhere, I manage to feel a little bit betrayed all over again every December when I post out the Christmas music and remember all over again that Home Alone does NOT play a Mannheim Steamroller song while Kevin is laying out all the traps. I’m not the only one who forgets that, right? It’s an “original” John Williams composition, but it absolutely SOUNDS like a Steamroller version of several different holiday standards, but it isn’t actually any of them. AND WHY NOT? Why couldn’t you use an actual track like THIS one in that scene? John Williams is the Jimmy Hart of Christmas music! (Have I gone on this rant in previous blogs? I genuinely can’t remember at this point)
13. “I Saw Three Ships” - David Arkenstone
Okay, I say this every year, but I legitimately spent decades of my life believing this actually was a Mannheim Steamroller song. I’m not even squeezing that in to keep the gag rolling, it really is the truth. And can you blame me? This TOTALLY sounds like something Chip Taylor would produce! From the galloping rhythm to the space synth lead to the slightly-but-not-ostentatiously Prog production, it’s got all the hallmarks of a Mannheim Steamroller track… and yet the ACTUAL Mannheim Steamroller version of “Three Ships” is one of Taylor’s periodic moments of LARPing as a renfair act, with nothing but fiddles and harpsichords and the like. Luckily, in swooped David Arkenstone to give us the futuristic synth version of “I Saw Three Ships” that we didn’t know we needed! And since I’ve been talking about a different artist than the one this entry is supposed to be about, let me also mention that David Arkenstone is one of the few New Age artists in this whole New Age Christmas gold rush that I legitimately do listen to at other points in the year. Go check out his tune “Stepping Stars” …which he could honestly have titled something snow-related and released as a Christmas tune if he wanted.
12. “Joy to the World” - The Rhodes Kids
Now THIS is an interesting one. Earlier this month, I mentioned The Rhodes Kids in the latest Songs You Might Not Know blog, where I half-ironically brought up their gimmicky “Santa Loves Rock 'n' Roll Music” as a sort of novelty Oldies Christmas tune. But in the time since I dropped that song onto this year’s blog, I’ve actually come to unironically like a lot of the tracks on their Rock ’n Rhodes Christmas album, most notably this take on “Joy to the World.” The harmonies are stellar throughout, which should kind of be a given with these sorts of Osmond-wannabe family groups. But what really makes it work is the surprising arrangement. The bulk of the song is played in a galloping 6/8 time, surprisingly close to the aforementioned “I Saw Three Ships.” But then, for the instrumental break, the song shifts down to a standard 4/4 time while some earthy Country guitar plays over the ethereal vocal harmonies. And then it seamlessly sequels BACK into the 6/8 signature for the remainder of the song. Hey, this kind of thing impresses me. Also, the blend of almost-Prog musicianship with some highly Southern instrumentation reminds me of how Chip Taylor was also the man behind C.W McCall’s “Convoy,” so that’s enough justification for me to squeeze in another Mannheim Steamroller reference. DRINK!
11. “Above the Northern Lights” - Mannheim Steamroller
Well, this one’s just a gimme. Yeah, it’s interesting how an act that so much of the world only knows for arrangements of preexisting Christmas tunes still manages to have their token ORIGINAL compositions ranking so highly on my lists. This was another early entry on my Songs You Don’t Know blogs, and I still really love its spac-y SciFi approach to a Christmas song. Seriously, when space tourism becomes more of a thing, somebody needs to book a flight that’ll put them in orbit on December 24th, JUST so they can play this song while they’re up there. That’s the sort of viral clip that would live on forever… assuming there actually WAS some aurora borealis to be seen that night. And if you immediately thought of Superintendent Chalmers the second you saw that, take a second drink.
10. “Every Christmas Eve” - Aled Jones
Well now, how about THIS? I Believe in Santa Claus isn’t the ONLY flop Christmas movie to be represented musically on this list! “Every Christmas Eve” is one of the songs written for Santa Claus: The Movie, a film only remembered for all the YouTube videos that come around every December to remind everybody that Santa Claus: The Movie was a thing. And that’s a shame, since the soundtrack is pretty sweet. In fact, this is ANOTHER entry on one of my Songs You Don’t Know lists. Gee, it’s almost as if I stuff those with songs I already enjoy listening to! But seriously, “Every Christmas Eve” is one of those songs that sounds like it was already a thing well before the movie existed, a lot like “Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day.” And yes, I would totally love to hear a Mannheim Steamroller version. (DRINK!). A more interesting aside, though, is that Aled Jones was also the singer on the commercially released version of “Walking on the Air” from The Snowman. Not the one in the actual special, that was Peter Autry. But the important thing is, somehow NEITHER of those versions made it onto the list this year! What the heck, me?
9. “The First Noel” - Ralf Illenberger
Another odd New Age version of “The First Noel” making it onto this list? Yeah, but unlike Spencer Brewer, I remember this one a lot better. It’s still a bit surprising to see it claw it’s way all the way up into the top ten, but I actually recall listening to it. Where so much of this type of New Age music is keyboard based (hello again, Mannheim Steamroller), Ralf Illenberger is a guitar guy, and what I’ve heard of his stuff is pretty neat. “Heart & Beat” is the theme song to the best instructional VHS tape you’ve never seen. While ol’ Ralf’s arrangement of “Noel” isn’t especially groundbreaking, just a few layers of guitars sweetened up with some xylophone for that all-important “jingle bell” factor, I really dig the guitar tone he gets on this track. I’m not enough of an engineering guy to be able to say what exactly he’s doing here, but I know I like the slightly “underwater” vibe of the song. Part of that is probably in the arrangement itself, too, with the playing sort of washing over the listener in waves, as it were. This is definitely another prime candidate for listening to at night with no lights on other than the tree.
8. “Sutekina Holiday” - Mariya Takeuchi
Last year’s surprise entry on the list makes a grand return! Yes, this is the song that millions of Japanese people know every year from all the Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials, and basically NO ONE ELSE has ever heard. And that’s a true shame, because even if you don’t speak a word of Japanese (like me) “Sutekina Holiday” still manages to SOUND thoroughly Christmas-y. That’s especially impressive when you compare it to the overwhelming majority of other Japanese Christmas songs I’ve encountered. I mentioned this last time around, but even after another year of making a genuine effort to expand my library of Japanese Christmas music, most of it just sounds like generic J-Pop love songs… because that’s what most of them actually are, to an even more extreme degree than is the case over here. But this song here is just plain jolly and charming and may or may not also subliminally invoke cravings for the secret blend of eleven herbs and spices. What more could you ask for? …well, a Mannheim Steamroller cover, for one. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about the language barrier that’s ensuring most non-Japanese listeners will never get on board with this one. Also, GOT ANOTHER ONE IN!
7. “Catching Snowflakes on Your Tongue” - Mannheim Steamroller
I must reiterate everything I just said about “Above the Northern Light,” at least as far as how odd it is on general principle to see somebody listen to the original compositions. But what can I say? I really like the vibe on this one. I mentioned it in another one of the song blogs, where I believe I compared it to the old musical cues that they would play before the evening news. And yeah, I still think that’s a pretty good way of putting it. This is what the North Poll Evening News sounds like. This is the jingle that played right before the emergency weather report about the especially foggy weather condition, and then the follow-up story in which Santa’s press agent downplayed reports that the Claus administration had elected to exploit a deformed reindeer who wasn’t flight certified. More at eleven.
6. “Carol of the Bells” - The Bird and The Bee
Okay, it’s uniquely surprising to me that this one is still ranking so highly in my plays, because I really notice myself actively avoiding a lot of the quirky Indie Pop songs that I’ve had in my library since college. I’ve mashed “skip” on so many Sufjan Stevens and Jars of Clay and Belle & Sebastian tracks that used to be low key favorites, I must have become allergic to early 00’s hipster white dudes and their whiny, breathy voices. And yet, somehow the “Hey everybody, look how ironic I am!” version of “Carol of the Bells” by The Bird and The Bee still works for me. Maybe it’s the spacy, futuristic production, or the clever way the arrangement plays with the melody so that it’s not quite so repetitive, or maybe it’s just that I still have a soft spot for that Neo-Lounge style that was still kicking around a bit when this song was recorded. I dunno, but this one honestly gives me a case of the warm fuzzy nostalgias in a way that most over renditions of “Carol of the Bells” really don’t… except for Mannheim Steamroller’s with its gimmicky ‘80s sampling. YEAH, GOT ANOTHER ONE IN!
5. “Merry Christmas Darling” - Carpenters
Hey, remember all that stuff I said about generic love songs that just slap a layer of Christmas-y gimmickry on top? This is how you do this sort of thing RIGHT. This is already just a lovely, lush, pristine love song as is, but it nicely fits that cozy Christmas night vibe that I tend to value over everything else. It’s also a song where I’m legit surprised there has never been a Mannheim Steamroller version, and I’m not even saying that as part of the bit this time. This song is already so lush and melodic that it seems perfectly suited to the Chip Taylor treatment, and I’m a little flabbergasted that I’ve never heard one. Oh well. Whatever the case, this has always been one of my all time Christmas favorites, so there’s kind of not much else I can say about it that I haven’t said in a previous blog. In fact, that’s going to be a bit of a challenge for the whole top five, including…
4. “Christmastime Is Here (Vocal)” - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Yeah, no decades-later cover replacing THIS song on the list. I’ve got multiple covers of “Christmastime Is Here” in my library, and the original still absolutely reigns supreme over them all… UNLESS MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER DOES ONE. Seriously, though this is another song where it’s not just a bit, I’m genuinely surprised that there’s no Steamroller cover of this song. It’s simple and space enough to open itself up to plenty of different arrangements, and bittersweet enough to have that sort of haunting, yearning quality that a lot of the best Steamroller tracks have (at least, the ones that AREN’T trying to sound like the opening to an ‘80s action cartoon). But even on its own, “Christmastime Is Here” and the rest of the Charlie Brown Christmas album are among that rare breed of holiday projects that even my friends who constantly dunk on Christmas stuff can’t bring themselves to hate. And again, it’s the perfect music to play at the end of a long day, in a room lit only by Christmas lights. But on the exact opposite note of songs people can’t help but respect…
3. “Wonderful Christmastime” - Paul McCartney
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, every person who rips into this song for being badly written and poorly realized is speaking the whole and complete truth, but I simply don’t care. A Beatle making a Christmas song that sounded like it was recorded on The Moon was just too good of a proposition for Young Me NOT to fall in love with, and it’s still a winning combination for me even now. I don’t care that it sounds like a rough demo for a half-written tune, I still love it. Actually, to continue the “Why didn’t Mannheim Steamroller cover this?” thread that’s developing here, I think it’s a shame this one never got a cover simply because Chip Taylor might have done what Paul McCartney never did and actually FINISHED WRITING THE SONG! Actually arrange the wall of synths into an actual backing score, coordinate the echos on the main keyboards to fit the music rather than just being an automatic pre-set, fill in the dead air with the counter-melody that the song desperately needs; ya know, FINISH it. Of course, a huge part of the Steamroller gimmick is hearing synths on songs that you wouldn’t have expected to hear synths on, so maybe there’s no fun in doing a cover to a song like this. Heck, Taylor would probably do an acoustic, medieval arrangement that’s all harpsichord, just to troll us all… which would still be a pretty amazing move, to be honest.
2. “Christmas Is…” - Jack Jones
Well, it was a nice reign while it lasted. As anyone who’s been paying even the slightest attention to these things over the years already knows, “Christmas Is…” pretty much singlehandedly started my interest in Christmas songs that pop culture forgot. I could ever understand why OTHER songs managed to worm their way into the public’s yearly traditions while THIS one pretty much fell off the map within a few years of being released in the mid-‘60s, and was utterly forgotten by the dawn of the ‘80s. So, ya know, no Mannheim Steamroller version (GOT IT!). But every year, it seemed like the song was clawing it’s way up higher and higher in my play count, until last year when it FINALLY made it all the way to the top spot. But alas, it’s back down to number two this year, though it was a pretty close race. For much of December, this song and the eventual number one winner were trading places with each other, separated by only one or two listens. Eventually, though, the clear winner pulled out ahead with an insurmountable lead, and here we are. It’s especially bittersweet, seeing as how Jack Jones actually passed away earlier this year, but I guess the shuffle algorithm doesn’t care about sentimental stuff like that. And just what song really DID claim the top spot?
1. “Deck the Halls” - Mannheim Steamroller
Seriously, though, could it have been anything else? Could it REALLY have been anything else? Would I actually have gone on that silly game of squeezing a reference into every single entry if I didn’t already know that Mannheim Steamroller’s immortal Christmas hit would be the final punchline? And it’s not as if this song hasn’t won before, either. In fact, this whole top five is familiar enough that it does kind of make me wonder about whether 2025’s top songs will be different enough to justify a blog. But then again, while the top might have been familiar, there’s actually a LOT of weird new songs that showed up out of nowhere in the lower ranks. I mean, I can absolutely guarantee that, this time last year, I had NO idea I would end up talking about The Rhodes Kids or the soundtrack to I Believe In Santa Claus in one of these blogs. So who am I to guess where my musical tastes will take me next December? Only one way to find out! Merry Christmas everybody!
