What Christmas Carols do you love/love to hate?

Share with us, please. :-)

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is the worst.

It is sort of overdone isn't it? It was cute forty years ago.

In this age of gangsta rap and the Britneys and so on it needs to be updated to "I saw Mommy (graphic sexual act) Santa Claus.

To be honest, that's how I usually sing it anyway when I'm in the car. Yeah, I'm a perv....

is my absolute favorite. I'll never forget when I first got married, I sent my husband out to get some Christmas CD's and one of the ones he came home with was Alvin and the Chipmunks. It's brutal!

Alvin and the Chipmunks! ;-)

I especially love the second verse (in bold).

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining.
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine! Oh night when Christ was born!
Oh night divine! Oh night! Oh night divine!

Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother,
and in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise his holy name.

This song *always* makes me cry, and I'm not religious *at all*.

and welcome to DU!!!

at their christmas show. they brought in a tenor for the evening with a full choir. it sent shivers up and down my spine it was so powerful!!

The recent Old Navy ad campaign comes to mind... :puke:

but it sounds terrible!

and most any instrumental version of the Christmas classics.

The song I hate the most is "Santa Baby," though my college roommate also had some pretty disgusting and perverted re-writes of Christmas carols ("Rudolph the Deep Throat Reindeer" among others).

I may have to look it up now. :-)

It's fun. All the other versions suck.

Best thing Bing ever did.

very satiric...

by Judy Garland in the movie "Meet Me in St Louis"

The version used now ends:

"Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now"

the original ending was -

"Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then we'll have to muddle through some how
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now"

I guess they figured it was too depressing?
Either way, it is a beutiful melody.

if you're not surrounded by family.

Especially when its over and over and over on the radio.

Barking dogs should not be recording carols...

Truly. I loathe those songs.

Most of them bother me, too. :-(

is just beautiful. I also love "We Three Kings" jazzed up style.

It only makes me moody now.

Some of the folks on my forum like that one. :-)

I don't know where it came from or who wrote it, but I get the impression there are at least a thousand versions of it, and all were designed to be played in shopping malls 100 times a day thru Muzak.

The one that really bugs me is the one that's got some guy singing that's trying to sound like Gene Autry ("Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer").

sang probably the most famous version of "A Holly Jolly Christmas."

But Burl is the one I recall hearing most times.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and

Here Comes Santy Claus (right down Santy Claus Lane)

Two of the earliest Christmas songs I ever heard. Maybe that explains it - I was a big Gene Autry fan.

Gene was on the radio a lot at that time.

Oh yeah! ;-)

The boy wonder?

wayne newton, brenda lee, and various others who have flamed out

Thanks, I thought Wayne was the King of... of... somewhere. ;-)

Way too repetitive.

That's about all it says.

Worst: "The First Noel" (The lyrics are horridly written and set my teeth on edge.)

Best: "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" (There's a great cover version of this by Irish band The Alarm. I highly recommend it.)

Second Best: "Fairy Tale Of New York" by Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl

Honorable Mention: "Christmas At K-Mart" by Root Boy Slim

I love Fairy Tale of New York. I would always request in on our local alt radio station as we drove to my mother in laws house on X-mas Eve or Day.

That song is completely way to long, and it makes me completely insane. And there are several others, including that stupid WHAM! song about giving her his heart and then her giving it away? GOD, that song SUCKS!
Duckie

As son as I hear it I turn it off. It's not a song but I hate "Twas the night before Christmas"

From the Late '50s. The local Clear Channel oldies station (KDZA-FM in Pueblo) finally got a copy of it last year, after I had been requesting it every year since we moved here in 1995.

The one I hate the most - Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper". :puke:

Secular Christmas Song

Love: Mary Did You Know
Hate: Little Drummer Boy

Non-Secular Christmas Song

Love: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Hate: Christmas Shoes

Hillarious! I hate to say it but I hate Paul McCartney's "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time". Drives me nuts.

:-)

:puke:
I mean, c'mon, WHERE in the city do you meet "smile after smile"? And excuse me, but STOP lights are ALWAYS red; they do not "blink a bright red and green." TRAFFIC lights do that.

Favorites:
- "O Holy Night"
- "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
- the John and Yoko classic "So This Is Christmas"
- BandAid's original "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (haven't heard the 2004 version yet)
- anything from Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts Christmas album
- anything from the Rat Pack's Christmas album
- anything from Phil Spector's girl groups' Christmas album

And oh yes, for me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the Chipmunks!

Love: "I'll Be Home For Christmas"
"Mary's Boy Child"
"Cool Yule"
"The Merriest" (by June Christie)

Hate: "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"
"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" (especially the line about the "scary ghost stories")
"We Wish You The Merriest, The Merriest" (by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby)

I also like "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", "Do You Hear What I Hear", "Joy To The World" and Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". The Bach Christmas Cantatas are good, too.

There is nothing like hearing "Joy To The World" sung by a gospel choir.

Songs I don't like: "O, Holy Night", unless it's the Eric Cartman version, "O, How A Rose E'er Blooming", and "Jingle Bells", especially the barking dog version.

Does anyone remember the Mad Magazine version of "We Three Kings" in the mid-70s? My sister and I still sing the first verse:

"We three bums from Omaha are
spending Christmas Eve in a car
Driving, drinking, glasses clinking
Who needs a lousy bar.

Ooooh
Drink to Charley, drink to Paul
drink to anything at all"

I don't remember the rest.

is my favorite.

I hate Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

It's not really a carol, but I hate it none the less. I love all Christmas carols, and my favorite is "What Child is This?".

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy (and so on...)




I heard that for the first time last year while driving to Cape Girardeau in Missouri for Christmas and damn if it doesn't get stuck in your head.

As far as traditional songs, probably "Carol of the Bells", "Good King ...." and "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen".