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Songs that are winter seasonal, but not Christmas songs

posted 6 months ago by R_Kane (15828)
20 replies | jump to latest

Frosty, the Snowman
https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=frosty%20the%20Snowman,%20YouTube&shem=rime&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a44df4d6,vid:pmuJDmjq-xQ,st:0

Baby, It’s cold outside
https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=baby%20it's%20cold%20outside%20original%20youtube&tbm=&shem=rime&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a8b3e668,vid:6bbuBubZ1yE,st:0

Winter Wonderland
https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=winter%20Wonderland,%20YouTube&shem=rime&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e365be7a,vid:oIKt5p3UmXg,st:0

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=we%E2%80%99re%20still%20goodbying&shem=rime&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0de6caff,vid:mSe6iZF_UfE,st:0

Not a song, but a bit ‘o fun about freezing cold weather from my favorite comedian, WC Fields
https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=wc%20fields%20the%20fatal%20glass%20of%20beer&tbm=&shem=rime&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vld=cid:f9eab46b,vid:YMDsElQzOIw,st:0

[–] 102000 (6160) 6 months ago

Sleigh Ride

Over the River and Through the Woods

[–] SaveTheSeason (292) 6 months ago

Some versions of "Sleigh Ride" have altered the verse "There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray..." to "a Christmas party" in an attempt to make it a Christmas tune. But like "Jingle Bells," the original is merely about riding in a sleigh through the snow.

[–] ClementinaSpur (860) 6 months ago

"Song for a Winter's Night"
Gordon Lightfoot wrote it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyDs6uXww0
Sarah McLachlan's cover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0vSA5_8J0M

[–] SaveTheSeason (292) 6 months ago

"Last Christmas," originally by Wham! and pointlessly covered by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and others. It gets played ad nauseum this time of year.

It has nothing to do with the holiday. It's about an unsuccessful attempt at a relationship... that's all. Take out the word "Christmas" and replace it with any other date, and it doesn't change the song one bit. The addition of sleigh bells in the original does not make it a "Christmas" tune, either.

I despise that song and wish it would be permanently removed from all playlists.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 months ago

Irving Berlin made A FORTUNE from his song, White Christmas, which was in the movie, Holiday Inn. Every other pop composer since then has been trying to catch the same Christmas lightning in a bottle, hence so many pathetic Christmas pop tunes.

There ain’t too many Irving Berlins around.

[–] SaveTheSeason (292) 6 months ago

At least Holiday Inn and "White Christmas" have something to do with the actual holiday; the movie takes place at an inn that is open only during holidays, which include Christmas; and the song is a description of some aspects of the season.

"Last Christmas" is drivel, which I guess is what explains its popularity.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 months ago

The song, which barely has a tune, is complete drek. I didn’t mean to imply that White Christmas has no link to the Holidays. I meant that the song’s enormous—and ongoing—commercial success probably helps to account for the plethora of songs with “Christmas” in the title.

[–] strntz (11165) 6 months ago

Last Christmas is a piece of shit. The original is a piece of shit, and EVERY FREAKING ONE of the 216 covers that have been recorded is a piece of shit. I just don't get it.

If I was the program director of a station, Last Christmas would be verboten, along with Feliz Navidad and Happy Holidays by Andy Williams (who I generally like).

[–] SaveTheSeason (292) 6 months ago

"Feliz Navidad" is too repetitious. "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad" means "Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness." The same basic sentiment is expressed in English: "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart." There are no verses, just the same alternating greetings in Spanish and English, over and over.

"Happy Holidays" offers a varied description of Christmas events, and it actually has verses and a chorus. That makes it a better song, but it has been ruined by oversaturation.

I will give these two songs credit because they actually have something to do with Christmas. "Last Christmas" is about an unsuccessful relationship that could have occurred anytime during the year. How it ever came to receive airplay in the first place is beyond me. I guess garbage sells.

[–] strntz (11165) 6 months ago

Feliz is an earworm deluxe, plus I never liked Feliciano's voice. The part of Happy Holidays that bothers me is the odd cadence of the lyrics.

But make no mistake, I didn't hate them from the get-go, it was years of repetition that finally burrowed them down into the part of my brain that stores these obnoxious noises and plays them in my skull in full spectrum audio all night!

There are some songs that *immediately* bothered me, some of them are commercials like Cars for Kids. I heard maybe 10 notes of that and I immediately switched stations. Pretty much anything Taylor Swift does is obnoxiously bad and becomes an ear worm virtually after one or two listens.

Last Christmas was one that took about a full season of listening before it dawned on me what a toilet that track is, and every cover is just as bad as the original. They even manage to copy the bad percussion of it.

[–] SaveTheSeason (292) 6 months ago

"Jingle Bells." Ask anyone to name a Christmas song and this is probably the most common response.

The song was written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857 as "The One Horse Open Sleigh." When it was republished in 1859 the title was changed to "Jingle Bells; or, The One Horse Open Sleigh."

There are many claims as to its original intention: a drinking song, a Sunday school choir song to be performed for Thanksgiving Day, or another version of a "sleighing song," which was a popular genre in those days. It may have been inspired by the sleigh races which were held in Medford, Massachusetts, where Pierpont composed it. Its association with Christmas began in the 1860s and 1870s.

This is how it would have sounded back then. Note the major differences in the melody, slightly different wording in the chorus, and some completely different verses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TV2JchT6ks

Over time the melody changed. By 1898 the more-familiar modern tune had replaced the original, as can be heard in this Edison cylinder recording from that year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZoXLIrYru4

For further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells

[–] strntz (11165) 6 months ago

I'm going with a winter themed song that NEVER is associated with Christmas/New Years/Hannukah, etc.

I give you Winter World of Love by Engelbert Humperdinck - who in his 80s is still touring and my mother's favorite white singer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY8yicBKve8

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 months ago

Was he still sniffing gift panties onstage, the old rascal? God love him!

[–] strntz (11165) 6 months ago

Are you kidding? If I was there *I'd* throw my drawers on stage!!!

[–] SamNoyoun (4587) 6 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJS9TjjHxx8&ab_channel=JethroTull-Topic

[–] GolfnGuitars (2431) 6 months ago

"Same Old Lang Syne" - The late, great Dan Fogelberg. Set on Christmas Eve and you only hear it during this time of the year, but it's definitely not about Christmas. Brilliant song by a brilliant musician.

https://youtu.be/cfAxWtcfDUk?si=ctVCdHdTpi3KLpVf

[–] strntz (11165) 6 months ago

Crap. I should have thought of that one!!

[–] ClementinaSpur (860) 6 months ago

Oh my gosh. One of the best songs of all time. Seriously. The world lost something irreplaceable when he died.

[–] GolfnGuitars (2431) 6 months ago

December 16 marked 16 years since he passed. I was a big admirer of him as a musician as well (He wrote some of the most beautiful ballads ever, but he could also rock when he wanted to). I think this song was based on an actual encounter he had...what a song!

[–] jcd24fan (396) 6 months ago

How about Linus and Lucy, the theme from the Peanuts specials? Just a great Jazz standard, but there are no references to Christmas at all. The composition being in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is probably why it's a Christmas song, played by many radio stations and public places every holiday season.