![]() ![]() Ingrid Michaelson, “ Happy, Happy Christmas” (2018) Fellow Golden Staters No Doubt covered this cut for 1997’s A Very Special Christmas 3, but Dave Quackenbush’s vocal on the original gives the final proclamation from God - “Oi to the punks and Oi to the skins / But Oi to the world and everybody wins” - an extra shove.Ĥ7. SoCal punks the Vandals’ entry to the Christmas-song canon is a punchy fable about a Christmas Day clash between a punk and a skinhead where the good guys win. But the way it channels its source material’s carnality does echo the more gift-receiving-centric songs of the season.Ĥ8. This Yuletide re-skinning of the song isn’t the most original Christmas tune out there the realization that “to want me” and “for Christmas” had a similar cadence probably caused a lot of high-fiving in the studio. ![]() ![]() Since its release in 1977, Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” has been one of power pop’s greatest achievements, a rollicking riff with some genuine longing on the part of frontman Robin Zander. Cheap Trick, “ I Want You for Christmas” (2012) Could the Snaildartha 6 wear a crown fit for Mariah Carey, though? Likely not, thus its spot at No. Its vibe makes it an ideal lazy Christmas Day soundtrack, and its story is a balm for existentially troubled holiday revelers. (It’s based on the story of the Buddha, hence the title.) Written by Minneapolis-based composer Chris Strouth, narrated by comedian Matt Fugate, and performed by a loose-limbed jazz combo that includes saxophonist George Cartwright, “Snaildartha” is a 45-ish-minute investment that gets even better with repeated listenings. Thanksgiving has “ Alice’s Restaurant” Christmas has “Snaildartha.” This 2004 composition tells the tale of Jerry the Christmas Snail, whose search for enlightenment leads him to the North Pole and a surprising revelation about who he is at his core. The Snaildartha 6, “ Snaildartha: The Story of Jerry the Christmas Snail” (2004) Nearly every one fulfills Bennett’s basic criteria for an ideal holiday track (some better than others), but only one has the commercial appeal and ear worm potential to compete against the queen herself.ĥ0. Consider the following 50 songs, including another from the queen herself, the new classics - those Christmas tunes created in the last quarter-century that have the potential to become holly, jolly staples. If “All I Want” were a car, the almost three-decade-old tune would have graduated from classic to antique by now, putting it in the company of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (38 years old) or Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” (42). But its 28-year reign over charts and hearts has meant that other, more modern Christmas tracks have been relegated to lower ranks of holiday playlists, despite their merit. 25 on the November 26 chart.) Meanwhile, Carey has so embraced the Queen of Christmas ideal - this despite a recent legal ruling denying her a trademark of the title - that her November 1 videos where she trills “It’s tiii-iimmme!” have become the unofficial seasonal kickoff. (It’s already re-entered the Hot 100 this year, landing at No. Combining the vibe of a lost track from 1963’s A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector with the production of a mid-’90s pop song, the lovelorn open letter helped land the octave-vaulting Carey the unofficial title of “Queen of Christmas.” The single has since become synonymous with the season, and has topped the Holiday 100 for 52 weeks, since the chart began in 2011. Unsurprisingly, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” considered the peak of modern Christmas music, checks all of Bennett’s boxes. Home, romance, family, and the usual trappings of Christmas were also in the lyrical mix, with words like snow, party, and Santa cropping up. Written with a Santa-like wink, Bennett posited that the “ultimate Christmas song” would likely include some variation of his findings: A whopping 95 percent of the surveyed tracks were in a major key, and 90 percent were in the 4/4 time signature that echoes clopping horses and jangling sleigh bells. In 2017, Berklee musicologist Joe Bennett published a lighthearted study on commonalities in the music and lyrics of Christmas songs. ![]()
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