Yes, STILL ANOTHER 10 Christmas Songs You Possibly Don’t Know (Patreon)

HOW AM I STILL ABLE TO FIND SONGS TO FILL OUT THESE BLOG LISTS? I mean, I know exactly how, it’s because the music industry has long been full to bursting with writers and performers all desperate to hit the jackpot of a song that just keep getting played over and over, year after year, regardless of age or shifts in style and culture. But at the same time, HOW AM I STILL MANAGING TO DO THIS? I remember last year, I was a little unsure if I’d be able to come up with a full set of ten songs worth talking about… then wound up writing the first half of this list before the year was even over, because I’d come up with too many songs to fit on one list. I was worried about that again this year, AND ONCE AGAIN I’VE WOUND UP WITH A SURPLUS OF TUNES FOR NEXT YEAR’S LIST. I just keep stumbling onto stashes of totally failed holiday records and soundtracks to forgotten seasonal specials and more and more stuff that’s just gotten lost in the shuffle. And somehow, SOMEHOW, we as a culture have the to keep playing “Do They Know It’s Christmas” every year.

And that’s why I keep writing blogs like this, in the vain hope that somebody, somewhere will realize that they actually CAN listen to more than the same three versions of the same two dozen songs over and over for a month and a half. There’s so much syrupy, sparkly musical jolliness out there just waiting to be rediscovered! So let’s all rediscover a few songs together!

“Dingle Ling Dingle Ling” – Don Cornell 

Okay, I need to make a confession. I’m getting this one out of the way immediately because, of the ten songs represented here, this is the one I like the least. I don’t think it’s BAD, but I’m not at all surprised it failed to become a standard. It’s a song from a special called The Dangerous Christmas of Red Ridding Hood, which ALSO failed to become a standard for a good reason (thought it DOES deserve to be remembered as the most embarrassing moment in Eric Burdon’s career). However, I’ve still latched onto this particular tune for one single, solitary, STUPID reason. No, seriously, this is incredibly stupid: the melody makes me think of a holiday version of the “Trololo” song. Seriously, give the link a click and see for yourself. It’s totally A Trololo Christmas.  So when somebody makes the mistake of posting edgelord memes about being sick of Christmas music around me, you’d better BELIEVE this is what I edgelord meme back with. I told you it was stupid. Again, it’s not a BAD song, I just keep it on hand for a really dumb reason. Don’t worry, the rest of the list is here for actual good reasons. I promise.

“It’s Christmas Again” – Henry Mancini 

And we go from one forgotten Christmas project to another, though as maligned as Santa Claus: The Movie might be, it’s definitely better remembered than The Dangerous Christmas of Red Ridding Hood. Being an actual big budget feature film rather than a glorified stage show filmed for 60s TV will definitely help you out in that regard. It also helps that the great Henry Mancini honestly did a bang up job with the soundtrack for this thing, “It’s Christmas Again” MIGHT be my favorite of the bunch, though… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just know that this admittedly generic title is connected to a perfectly charming little children’s choir number, which I could totally see being a recurring feature in real life recitals every year, or repurposed by some twee Indie Pop band as the quicky intro to a Christmas album… if only it came from a movie people actually remembered fondly rather than ironically.

“Celebration” – Mannheim Steamroller 

Can’t have a list of Christmas songs by we without at least one Mannheim Steamroller track, right? Granted, I really am starting to run out of token original Chip Davis compositions to spotlight here. Heck, this particular one is actually the token OPENING to Christmas Celebration, a compilation of otherwise already released songs. Also, it’s kind of cheating, since the song also openly quotes snippets of “Deck the Halls,” “Joy to the World,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and even the freaking “Hallelujah Chorus.” Should I be counting all that as “a song you probably don’t know?” Maybe not, but the synthesizer march at the foundation of it all is brand new, and the part of me that will always love the Steamroller version of “Deck the Halls” is still a sucker for this kind of thing. I still recommend it as a worthy opening salvo to any holiday mix tape.

“Every Christmas Eve” – Aled Jones 

Talk about a Christmas miracle, I’ve bringing up Santa Claus: The Movie TWICE in this one! I wouldn’t even call myself a fan of the thing, I’ve got WAY bigger holiday guilty pleasures. But there’s no denying that Henry Mancini’s bootleg John Williams score really does work for me, and I wish some of these musical pieces were more fleshed out and used in other contexts. Case in point, this lovely little lullaby sung by Aled Jones (he of the OTHER version of “Walking in the Air,” not the original by Peter Autry) would make a great opening to just about any collection of Christmas music. Granted, the soundtrack version bleeds straight into the “Santa’s Theme” instrumental, but that’s honestly pretty beautiful as well (and the reason why I made the John Williams crack earlier) Heck, why hasn’t Mannheim Steamroller ever covered THIS one? …oh right, because it's shackled to Santa Claus: The Movie. Oh well.

“Christmas Bells” – The Border Brass 

Okay, this is one of those cases where I have to offer the disclaimer that I’m not NECESSARILY recommending the original recording of a song, but more the idea of the song itself. Like, I wish this song had gotten around enough for other artists to offer their own interpretations of it. Because this particular artist is The Border Brass, a bunch of nobodies trying to cash in on the popularity of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass with their own budget Christmas album Tijuana Christmas. That album is mostly remembered only for its legendarily terrible cover art, but I think one of the two token original tunes (the other being the title track) is worth of reinvention. Case in point, I wasn’t even introduced to “Christmas Bells” via The Border Brass version, but a Moog synthesizer cover on Sy Mann’s Switched on Santa. On the one hand, the Moog version isn’t trumped-driven, and generally has a less dorky atmosphere. On the other hand, though, Sy Mann’s version on “Christmas Bells” has no, well, BELLS on it, and The Border Brass has… okay, it's a xylophone instead of bells, but that’s still closer to what the title promises. They're both kitschy fun, though, and between the two, this is still a cute little music box instrumental that would fit neatly in the mix of any collection of holiday tunes… IF somebody did a version with some actual jingle bells on it.

“Christmas All Over Again” – Tom Petty 

I have no one to blame by myself for this one. Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again” has been in circulation since the 90s, but it somehow never made it onto MY radar until around last year. How is beyond me, since it’s right up my alley. Petty’s always known how to do a great Jangle Pop throwback rocker, and “Christmas All Over Again” does a grat job of keeping that energy up while still evoking some festive holiday moods. This song works great in the company of other, better known Christmas Classic Rock jams like Elton John’s “Step Into Christmas” or Wizzard's "I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday" …and I can directly cite the Far Out There Christmas Character Soundtracks I’m posting elsewhere on this very site as proof. I haven’t heard any notable covers of this one, but seeing as how it took me a startlingly long time to even notice the original, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

“Christmas In My Heart” – Fran Allison 

Okay, we’re going really REALLY old school for this one. “Christmas In My Heart” is from 1950, though this is the kind of orchestra ballad that could easily have come from the 40s or even 30s. Not exactly the kind of music I normally listen to, but that’s the beauty of Christmas music, right there. I don’t listen to Nat King Cole most of the time either, and that's just what makes busting out “The Christmas Song” every December even more of a refreshing change of pace. And of course, that’s exactly the song “Christmas in My Heart” wants to me, largely following the formula of listing off a string of recognizable holiday imagery. Granted, this one does put a bit of a distinctive stamp on the structure courtesy of the title line. I like the subtle implication that the singer’s memory OF all this Christmas stuff carries as much importance as the actual presence of the things themselves… though that’s almost certainly me reading too much into what was probably just a nice-sounding title. Anyway, this is a good one to throw on in between all the Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra tunes, if that kind of old school stuff your Christmas jam.  It's also the kind of tune I could easily see modern artists digging back up, either as a deliberately retro show-stopper or as one of those ukulele-driven Indie novelties.  Not that I'd WANT the latter, but I could see it.

“Horray for Santa Claus” – Milton DeLugg 

How great is it that, in the year of our Lord 2022, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians is legitimately better remembered by more people than Santa Claus: The Movie? Especially since I’m pretty sure just the CATERING for Santa Claus: The Movie cost several times more than the entirety of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians’ production. And yet, happily, here we are. But for all that, I’m a bit surprised that the film’s theme song “Horray for Santa Claus” hasn’t achieved more of a cult standing in the weirder corners of holiday ephemera. I mean, yes, I get why the original Milton DeLugg version with it’s ear-piercing trumpet isn’t played very often outside of the movie, and Al Hirt’s contemporary cover only cranked that up even harder. Generic kid’s music ensemble The Little Folk Of Mt. Roskill recorded a refreshingly trumpet-free version a year after those two… and that was pretty much. There’s been a sprinkling of more recent covers, particularly ironic Punk Rock versions by Sloppy Seconds and The Fleshtones, but they’re so similar that legitimately have trouble telling them apart. Come on, trash culture nerds of the world! How is there not ONE Chiptune version of “Horray of Santa Claus” that I can find? Where’s an epic Power Metal version? Get on this, guys!

“The Wildest Christmas” – The Boys Next Door 

…and then there’s this. I am offended on a personal level that every Oldies radio station I listened to as a kid would play “Snoopy’s Christmas” into oblivion every December, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I ever even HEARD of this silly little Garage Rock tale of an unusually-gruff-voiced Santa getting stuck in the chimney. Apparently it’s kinda sort of a thing out in the Midwest, but here in the South “The Wildest Christmas” seems to have totally passed us by. And I for one think we’re all the worse off for it. The original was recorded by The Boys Next Door, though I first encountered a cover by The Rumbles Ltd that sounds so similar that, at first, I honestly thought one was just a reissue of the other. But no, they’re different recordings, with The Rumbles Ltd giving a tighter performance but The Boys Next Door pulling off a lusher, more Christmas-y production. Both would do well to add some variety to any mix tape that’s played Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” a few times too many. Just ignore the infinitely less fun Indie cover by JT Shakers… which unfortunately seems to have had the surviving members of The Boys Next Door involved. Boo.

“Merry Christmas All” – The Salsoul Orchestra 

And we somehow end on Christmas Disco? How did I, of all people, let THAT happen? Hey, I’m as surprised as anybody, especially since, for the most part, I don’t hold The Salsoul Orchestra’s Christmas Jollies in anywhere near as high regard as a lot of The Internet seems to. I’ve seen a lot of people champion this album as prime holiday guilty pleasure material, but for the most part I find it a perfect example of why The Disco Backlash was justified. Yeah, I know it’s not as fashionable to dump on Disco these days, but that’s because most of its modern-day defenders have the luxury of only ever listening to The Good Stuff, since most of the terrible stuff is either forgotten or enshrined within protective layers of irony. They don’t know the true horrors of what previous generations actually had to put up with. Heck, I don’t even know that, I was born in ’84, but junk like Christmas Jollies is all the proof I need. Most of this album sounds like cheap, tacky, disposable trash designed to be sold on a late-night mail order infomercials or in a discount bin right next to Disco Mickey Mouse. Christmas Jollies mostly sounds like a sound-alike rip-off version of itself, yet another fly by night cash in on an already over-exposed trend… and yet, somehow, right in the middle of the dross is “Merry Christmas All.” For all my snark, “Merry Christmas All” is a genuinely lovely little slice of smoothness and charm. It probably helps that, unlike the rest of the album, "Merry Christmas All” is less “Disco” as we usually think of it and more a relic of The Salsoul Orchestra’s origins in Philly Soul, which I have a MUCH greater respect for. It’s also another one of those songs I could see easily repurposed into other genres, as demonstrated by a FANTASTIC Indie Pop cover by The Grip Weeds. Seriously, if I’d listed THAT version instead of the Salsoul version, nobody would have batted an eye. It’s so “me” that I’m a bit shocked that I didn’t just instinctively know that song existed the second it was recorded. It’s pretty much every single thing I was into at the turn of the '10s, Christmas or otherwise. And yet, somehow, it seems to be the only cover of “Merry Christmas All” to come out since the early 80s. FOR SHAME.

And there we have it! Yet another ten Christmas songs you may not have heard off! Hopefully at least one of them will help break up the monotony of hearing “Last Christmas” for the hundredth time in the course of a single week! See you with more next year!