Christmas Music.

There is something about a good Christmas song that gets you instantly in the festive spirit.  Whether it be a traditional carol or a classic pop song, when you first hear it you will be transported back to your childhood and exciting nights waiting for Santa.

I’m unsure if other countries place as much importance on the Christmas Number 1, but in the UK the Christmas Number 1 is a coveted spot and it is hotly fought over every year.  You can get novelty tracks which are short lived, more classic tracks that you play year on year, the soulless fare from X-factor that has dominated the Christmas charts in recent years or even the odd Protest song to fight back against the X-Factor drivel.

I took great delight when the Rage Against the Machine song ‘Killing in the Name’ song beat the X-factor song to Christmas number one a couple of years ago and I happily bought many versions of it to help it along the way, encouraged others to do the same and I was an ardent supporter of the campaign.  Not only is the band and song awesome, but it was worth buying, even though I already owned it, to stop Simon Cowell controlling the chart again.  It isn’t especially festive, but I happily play this song every Christmas and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

Other songs instantly make you think of Christmas and you will get strange looks if you play them at other times of the year.  The Pogues song ‘Fairytale of New York’ is one of these and I can’t help but feel festive when I hear it.  Bandaid’s charity single ‘Do they Know it’s Christmas?’, Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’, Wizzard’s ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’ and Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ are Christmas pop standards and if I don’t hear each one at least once during December then my holiday season isn’t complete.

There is also something about the crooner and rat pack singers that makes you feel all Christmas-y and Bing Crosby singing ‘White Christmas’ makes me feel warm and nostalgic every time.  Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra have the same effect.



Of course there have been some dire Christmas songs over the years, like Mr Blobby and most X-factor singles, but thankfully these don’t stand the test of time and they don’t get repeated year on year.  I guess they are OK for marking a particular year though.

The list is almost endless and I could go on and mention loads more, but the point I am making is that music is as a big a part of Christmas as the mince pies, Christmas tree, Festive films and Turkey dinner.  And whilst some shopping centres will play these songs on an endless loop from October onwards, if you manage to avoid this saturation, the songs will still have a resonance and fill you with festive cheer.  I have my own Christmas compilation playing in the background as I write this and it’s making me want to spread my buoyant Christmas spirit to those around me and what more can you ask at this time of year?

I wish you all a warm and happy Christmas and I hope you get lots of new music to share and delight you in the coming year.