Preaching To The Choir.

The spirited and friendly debates over what’s a Christmas movie and what isn’t seem to have cooled. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. No, L.A. Confidential isn’t. Gremlins is a Christmas movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang isn’t. A Nightmare Before Christmas is both a Christmas movie and a Halloween movie. Home Alone is a Christmas movie because every kid fantasizes about getting revenge on adults who won’t let them eat junk and watch rubbish, especially when they’re out of school, and every parent fantasizes about a little alone time, especially when the kids are out of school. Sleepless In Seattle is really a movie you watch on New Year’s Day because When Harry Met Sally is too mentally exhausting while you’re nursing a hangover, and how Eyes Wide Shut ever got into the discussion is a mystery best left unsolved.

With that in mind I think it’s time for a new subject to debate: Is it a Christmas song?

 

Jingle Bells

The tune was first copyrighted in September 1857. According to some sources it was intended as a Thanksgiving song. It makes no mention of Christmas, or any holiday. However like Planes, Trains, And Automobiles I think this one should be allowed to cover both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Like Jingle Bells this one makes no mention of any holiday but it’s often included in the mix of Christmas songs because of its association with winter. It was written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne while they were wishing for cooler weather in the midst of a July heatwave, and released just after Thanksgiving in 1945. And what would be better, amidst all the stress of holiday shopping and travel, than having no place to go?

 

Frosty The Snowman

Frosty may not be in any way related to Christmas but, like Rudolph The Reindeer, he is a magical character whose TV specials were used to fill time when the kids were out of school and the networks needed some way to draw in an audience. I’m including it because it’s a catchy song and fun for kids, and the Jimmy Durante version proves that even if you have a voice like a cement mixer all that matters is whether you can carry a tune.

 

Winter Wonderland

Most of the songs on this list, I realize, fall into the category of “Christmas by association” which is why whether they’re “Christmas songs” or not is debatable. However you celebrate Christmas, and even if you don’t celebrate it, the nights leading up to the end of the year are long and cold, unless you’re in Australia, so it’s nice to have a happy song about walking along with someone you love and building a snowman.

 

Home Among The Gumtrees

This one has absolutely no association with any holiday whatsoever but I figured Australia deserved something even though they get to have Christmas right in the middle of summer. Also it’s just a really catchy tune.

 

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

Whether or not Frozen is a Christmas movie can still be hotly debated but I like the movie and I like the song, probably because I don’t have kids and haven’t been subjected to it five or six times a day for ten years. But maybe the holiday season is one time when parents should get a break from it.

 

The Boar’s Head Carol

This one is largely forgotten but could be considered a Christmas song because it originated from Yuletide tradition. Cutting off a pig’s head and serving it at a feast seems like a really dark way to celebrate the holiday but, hey, it’s a dark time of year, right?

 

We Three Kings

This is unquestionably a Christmas song, a musical telling of the story of the three wise men who brought gold, which is gold, frankincense, which is a fragrant resin, and myrrh, which might be some kind of dangerous animal, or did I dream that? Anyway it doesn’t seem to be played as much as it was when I was a kid but I like the way it goes from a minor key to a major one. That seems like a metaphor for the solstice which marks when the days start getting longer again.

 

Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song

This is unquestionably not a Christmas song, as shown by the title, but Hanukkah often falls late in the year, sometimes overlapping with Christmas. In 2024 it begins at sunset on December 25^th. Also I just think there should be special recognition for a song that rhymes “Jingle Bell Rock” with “Captain Kirk and Mister Spock”.

 

What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?

I’m pretty sure there’s something about Christmas in this one somewhere because no one can understand a word of it. And it’s just a really catchy tune.