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Old Long SincePosted Tuesday, December 31, at 11:15 AM As I was finishing up my set of Christmas music blogs, I had a thought of (somewhat sarcastically) naming my favorite five or seven New Year's songs. A few factors intervened. 1) I was exhausted. As a guy who sometimes goes a month with just one blog, posting one every day was crazy for me...
So here we are: 24 songs (or thereabouts) in 24 days. I figured I'd fail somewhere about a week in, but here it is Christmas Eve, and no failure so far. And on to the best Christmas song of them all. In discussing "O Holy Night," I spoke of how difficult it is to do it well, which makes it hard to choose a really good version...
Consider this a gentle reminder: Santa Claus is coming to town. Tomorrow night. You better not pout. You better not cry. It's not too late to screw it up. I'm talking to you, Miles Scot Jernagan. Now that I have that out of the way, on to the song. Growing up mainly on old country and rock 'n' roll Christmas songs, I thought there was only one way to do this song -- the way it was written in 1934...
Down to the last three days of this list, two of the spots are reserved for what I consider to be songs of reverence. They are my two favorite Christmas hymns, the two that mean the most to me as the celebration of Christ's birth nears. The other one is just a really fun song about Santa Claus. That's part of the whole celebration too, right?...
I've written previously about how much I loved my parents extensive collection of Christmas cassette tapes. And records. And 8-tracks. And even reel-to-reel tapes. So much Christmas music, so little time. But of the cassettes, there were none I love more than those of Alabama and Kenny & Dolly...
I'm sad to report that while The Singing Cowboy himself, Gene Autry, popularized "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," as well as "Here Comes Santa Claus," he did not make the cut for any of them. I suppose the reason is quite simple: I love cartoons...
My favorite thing about this song might be the audacity of the title. Mel Torme and Bob Wells were bold enough to name it "The Christmas Song." It's not simply "Christmas Song" or "A Christmas Song." Considering the hundreds (thousands?) of Christmas songs out there, the use of the definite article is important...
Only one week until Christmas Day. Are you ready, people? O by golly. Several days ago I wrote about my affinity for sad Christmas songs, but happy Christmas songs are much more common. They are also awesome. I'm not sure there are many happier than this one. Burl Ives is telling you to have a holly jolly Christmas -- not happy, not merry -- but holly jolly...
I had today's slot set aside for Dean Martin's uber-cool version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" but it suddenly became expendable when I heard this sweet medley on the radio recently. I'd forgotten about this song's awesomeness. Sorry, Dino. As someone who grew up a churchgoer, I've always been a bit dubious when I heard a rock band doing a hymn. I mean, I'm not sure where church fits into the equation of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll...
First a question or two. Why is this a Christmas song? Why, for that matter, do they screen "The Sound of Music" in December? As far as I can tell the plot takes place between spring and early fall. I can't really explain the part about the movie/play, but I read somewhere that the winter imagery of "My Favorite Things" is what led to it becoming a Christmas song...
Listening to Christmas music as a child, I don't actually recall liking my mom's old Johnny Mathis Christmas album too well. I wasn't much into crooners until much later, and even then, Mathis has never really been my taste. But there's no denying that the man has made some pretty good (and wildly popular) renditions of Christmas songs over the years...
I regret to inform you that Straight No Chaser did not collaborate with Tennessee Ernie on this one. While that would be awesome, the a cappella group formed five years after Saint Peter finally called the man who "owed his soul to the company store."...
I don't want this to interfere with my constant posts about Christmas tunes, but this old cartoon has been stuck in my head lately. I suppose it has something to do with the number of crooners you listen to if you're really taking your Christmas music seriously...
I can never decide if this little number makes me happy or sad. Although, like a lot of good Christmas tunes I suppose it's a little bit of both. It depends on whether you go with the "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" or "Hang a shining star upon the highest bow" version...
Those insufferable barking dogs aside, it's really hard to do a bad version of "Jingle Bells." (Don't blame me if you clicked the hyperlink. You read what it said.) It's also kind of hard to do one that stands out. Sure, "Jingle Bells" is always fun, but it's kind of hard to do it in a definitive way...
One of the things I've loved about making this list has been the variety of approaches to music I've been able to explore. Rock, pop, country, R&B, classical? Loud or quiet? Big or small? Classic or contemporary? Contrary to some of the stances I've taken in some of the blogs, there really are no wrong answers. The fun is in the variety of ways people approach these songs...
This morning when I woke up, I was starting to compose this post in my head. So when I went out to start my wife's car, I was amused to find that "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was playing in the car It might have been by Carrie Underwood. I'm not really sure...
... That's right, not Bing Crosby. Bring on the hatemail. Of course, this will always be Bing's Song (inasmuch as it's also Irving Berlin's song). But for my essential holiday listening (which was the original point of this list), the Drifters make each Christmas complete...
I didn't abide by this on Sunday, Dec. 1 because, well, "Sleigh Ride" is awesome and was the perfect way to kick off this list. But from here on out, Sundays (as well as several other days) are reserved for Christmas hymns. No Santa Claus or jingling bells here...
My brief mention of the Chipmunks from yesterday leads nicely into today's song. Through at least four different albums, Ross Bagadasarian Sr. and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (both as David Seville) gave us dozens of holiday gems from Alvin and the Chipmunks...
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...and the beat goes on...  - Blog RSS feed ![[Feed icon]](http://www.bannergraphic.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon} - Comments RSS feed - Send email to Jared Jernagan - Login Jared Jernagan is a 2003 graduate of Wabash College and has been in journalism since 2005.
He sometimes has trouble posting blogs.
Hot topics Old Long Since(0 ~ 10:15 AM, Dec 31)
24 Songs of Christmas, Dec. 24: 'Silent Night' -- Chet Atkins
24 Songs of Christmas, Dec. 23: 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town' -- The Jackson 5
24 Songs of Christmas, Dec. 22: 'O Holy Night' -- Bing Crosby
24 Songs of Christmas, Dec. 21: 'Winter Wonderland' -- Dolly Parton
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