20 Christmas Songs That Make The Holiday Amazing

Note: This article was written around Thanksgiving/Black Friday. Sorry for the delay.

So after a night (and morning) of shopping and a few hours of downloading Christmas tunes and then uploading them to my iPod, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to write about something that doesn’t have to do with video games. As most of you know, I’m big on music as well, and the connections we get as human beings with what we listen to. It’s always fascinated me. So I decided to write a list of 20 songs that for me, make Christmas what it is, and when I say Christmas I mean everything from shopping, to wrapping presents, having Christmas parties and trying to go to sleep as a kid on Christmas Eve. This is NOT a Top 20, because to me I can’t rank these songs. They are all awesome in their own way, but these are the songs that make me think of Christmas and the memories I have of the holiday. Some songs I may know who sings it, but there are a few I don’t know who the artist is. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

1)The Grinch Song-What is interesting to note here is that this isn’t a true Christmas song in the sense that it is more of an ode to The Grinch and less about the holiday. In fact, I wonder if they mention it at all. We only hear this song around the holidays, or at least that’s when we hear it the most. Those of you who have heard this song, I need not get into all the wonderfully Seusserific lyrics in regards to how disgusted our narrator is by The Grinch and his antics. I will also say on record that the line about a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich (with arsenic sauce) is one of my favorite lyrics in a song ever. You can have your AC/DC and the Beatles, but neither of them touch the absurd elegance this song has. Damn, everyone must really hate The Grinch..for half of the movie anyways.

2)I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas-Something tells me that for many years children asked for semi-logical gifts for Christmas, that is until this charming song came along and kids suddenly wanted hippos and rhinos and other animals that could kill half their family. Sure, hippos may not like you (I don’t care what this song tells you) but I love this song because it just has a good flow to it and I also do the now infamous Nick DeMarco Dance to this song. If you haven’t seen the dance, maybe I’ll be froggy and show you someday. I wonder if anyone ever got a hippo for Christmas because of this song.

3)Last Christmas-Savage Garden-Don’t lie, even if you were a guy, chances are you or one of your friends were listening to Savage Garden in the 90’s. Go ahead, admit it, we won’t say anything about the fact you liked the band AND monster truck rallies. I will always like anything Darren Hayes, the lead singer of Savage Garden (now a successful solo artist) puts out, and his take on the WHAM classic was very well done, and in my view, superior. He even does a little shout out to George Michaellater in the song. Obviously, for me, this song is very dear to me after the last few years of my life, and I sing it whenever it comes on the radio.

4)Happy Holidays-Andy Williams-Who in the red and green hell is Andy Williams? You may be asking yourself this, and for you I offer this answer. He is a Christmas crooner god. Sure, Sinatra and Dino might have been more popular, but I honestly prefer this classic to any of their Christmas works. It could be the fact I snap my fingers and want some kind of mixed drink while wearing an ugly sweater when I hear this tune, or the classic lyric of “whoop dee doo/and hickory dock” that makes me turn up this song whenever I’m riding with Kathy all while yelling like a 6 year old “This is my favorite song ever!” Seriously, ask Kathy.

5)Frosty The Snowman-Jimmy Durante-I’ve heard a lot of Jimmy’s stuff, and while all of it is pretty good, for me this song is king, for the fact of the awesome cartoon special I never miss, where an animated version of Jimmy narrates (he was the fastest belly flopper..) and just the fact that no one could ever beat Durante in his mannerisms and the voice he had, it was just so iconic. I can’t hear anyone else singing this song, so when someone covers it, I automatically hate it because it isn’t Jimmy Durante, so aspiring artists, if you want to make a Christmas album, leave the Frosty song out, because I’ll hate you if you don’t.

6)O Tannenbaum-Vince Guaraldi Trio-This is the song that makes anyone want to tap their feet and snap their fingers during the Charlie Brown Christmas special, which, for anyone who cares, is my all time favorite Christmas special. My brother and I still quote it to this day. I’ve always thought it was ten times better then the Halloween special or anything else for Peanuts, and when I hear this song I picture Charlie and Linus going into town to get that infamous Charlie Brown Christmas tree (that just needed a little love). To me, I could sit with a cup of hot cocoa during a December snowstorm and listen to this song for hours. It’s that catchy, and it doesn’t even have any vocals.

7)Even A Miracle Needs A Hand-Ok, some backstory. When I was a kid, my mom used to tape all the Christmas shows for my sister and I, and this was a song from one of our favorites Twas’ The Night Before Christmas. For those who don’t know, this was the cartoon with the family of mice that lived next to the Trundles, who had a clockmaker for a dad. The mouse son breaks his clock that’s supposed to bring Santa to town, and the kids are now upset that Christmas will be ruined. This is the song they sing with their father is he encourages them to have faith. The mouse son also sings it as he sets out to right his wrongs. Just a classic song that always reminds me of Christmas as a kid.

8)Mele Kalikimaka-Bing Crosby-I don’t need to explain the epic powers of Bing Crosby, his voice, and his awesome Christmas songs. I chose this one for a few reasons, one it is often overlooked in Bing’s Christmas catalog, I love that is isn’t about snow and wreaths and all the traditional Christmas themes we’re used to, and lastly, my grandmother was always so fond of Hawaii, so I picture her getting ready for Christmas when I hear this song. It’s grown on me a lot over the years.

9)White Christmas-The Drifters-The first time I heard this song was during the first Home Alone movie, and for those who don’t recall, this was the song with the low bass voice at the beginning, that then switches to the higher pitched voice later, and the beat, the “badum badum” heard as we listen just make the song so catchy and fun to sing to. I picture Kevin from Home Alone slapping on that slab of Brut and screaming whenever I hear this tune, but also just sitting around and listening to old Christmas stories.

10)Holly Jolly Christmas-Burl Ives-There are those classic names that are just synonymous with the season and Burl Ives is certainly one of them. For those unsure, he plays the voice of the snowman in Rudolph The Red Nose reindeer cartoon, and his voice in this song just puts you in a good mood, no matter whom you have to spend Christmas with. The song is kind of folky, which makes me imagine a Christmas at like a log cabin or some sort of rural environment. This song kind of embodies that happy go lucky feeling people are SUPPOSED to feel when Christmas comes around.

11)Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer-Dr. Elmo-I dare anyone to name any other well known songs by this artist, because chances are this is the most popular song, and man it is one of the most bizarre Christmas songs I have ever heard, yet there is this odd charm about it, even though it is kind of a song declaring the death of a loved one by mammal homicide (yeah I said it) even though in the equally odd music video, Grandma lives. This is a favorite among kids, and for some reason it doesn’t sound quite as creepy being song by them. I will also never understand the fascination in the singer’s voice over pudding made of fig. Ah! Still it’s kind of not Christmas until this song hits the airwaves.

12)12 Days Of Christmas-John Denver and The Muppets-I may have never been a huge fan of John Denver’s other music, but I can tolerate him in this holiday classic, but then again, it is probably because he’s hanging with THE FREAKIN’ MUPPETS. I’ve always found this song a bit boring, although it is definitely iconic among Christmas songs, but this version is just amazing in every sense of the word. It could be Beeker’s part, or the constant 5 golden rings part from Miss Piggy, but really the only thing this song was missing was The Swedish Chef (Do Swedish chefs celebrate Christmas?) to make it truly legendary.

13)Carol Of The Bells-Trans-Siberian Orchestra-Kathy and I often joke that this is the song they should put on commercials when they talk about Black Friday sales, because we can both picture elbows being thrown (and pepper spray being dispersed) while this tune plays to set the tone for one of the most brooding and dangerous days of the year. Tell me you can’t see that crazy Target lady racing other customers for holiday gifts with this playing in the background. That’s right, you can’t.

14)Sleigh Ride-Leroy Anderson Orchestra-To me any great song is made even greater when you can do a superb job without any words, and in addition this song was also my favorite to play during concerts at high school when I was in the band. I still get goose bumps when I hear this song, especially the trombone part, the last trumpet neigh for the horse, and of course that awesome crack, which if I’m not mistaken we created in band by using some bizarre door hinge that looked like it came out of Noah’s Ark.

15)Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer-Gene Autry-Ah yes, one of the great cowboys of Western films, this version of the song was recorded way back in 1947 and is still one of the best versions of the tune to date. There’s just something cozy about this song, while still keeping a very cowboy feel to it. Rudolph would be so proud.

16)Dominick The Donkey-If you are a part of a family with Italian roots, chances are you’ll hear this song during the holidays no less then 250 times, and if one of your siblings loves this song (Hi Len) chances are you’ll hear it about 500 times or more, which is fine, because the song is just awesome, the jingle bells, the words (Made in Brookaly?) and a true classic Italian feel that would make Dean Martin jealous. I often wonder if people in Italy hate this song. You know, it’s a good thing Dominick is around though, because, as the song tells us, reindeers can’t climb the hills of Italy, which begs the question, if they can’t fly over it or climb over it, is it controlled by some anti-Christmas force field that doesn’t affect festive donkeys? Yeah, I know, I think too much.

17)Little Drummer Boy-I don’t have an artist for this one, because I like pretty much any version of this I’ve ever heard, but if I had to pick a favorite it is the one sang by a choir with actual drums playing in the background, it just has a very epic feel to it, it tells the story the best in my view, and reminds me what the true meaning of Christmas is, or at least should be.

18)Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree-Brenda Lee-Whenever I hear this song, I picture Christmas parties with all the decorations and obviously a huge tree lit up, and even though the song is upbeat, I often get sad, because it reminds me of all the family Christmas Eve parties that have come and gone. It always seems to come in whenever I am going to a Christmas party of some sort,

19)Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow-Frank Sinatra-Ol’ Blue Eyes did amazing work on a lot of Christmas classics, but for me this is his best, and it is also the one song I add a literal version to, like for example “Oh the weather is frightful” (OMG the weather is scaring me!) and that’s always fun, right? I think this was the song I listened to as a kid, hoping for snow on Christmas.

20)Wonderful Christmas Time-Paul McCartney-On the way home from Christmas Eve parties, when all of us were pretending to sleep in the backseat of our parents’ car, this song always came on, so for me it takes me back to those moments, the thrill of heading home to pretend to sleep and sneak downstairs to look at our presents. I also think it is underrated in the genre of Christmas tunes, and that’s a shame.

So please, share with me your thoughts on my picks, give me some of yours. Christmas is a time for sharing after all.