Christmas Eve Songs – Dec. 24

Thanks to Kayla, I've thought over some of my Christmas listening habits and come up with a few holiday tunes to share with all of you for Saturday Songs this week. Hope you enjoy!


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I should explain that I'm not normally one for Christmas tunes—I find most of them hokey and uninspired and the rest of them—if sometimes brilliant compositions, “White Christmas,” for example—so overplayed and over-covered that the heart has more or less been torn out. I should emphasize that I have no problem with these songs and think several of them beautiful: “Silent Night,” “The First Noël,” and “Good King Wenceslas.”

My feeling—and feel free to disagree with this—is that so much of the popular music released about Christmas tackles this vague idealized moment in our calendar; there is little specificity and any emotional impact is supposed to arrive through the fact of these songs being about Christmas. For instance, Coldplay’s semi-interesting Christmas single from last year—“Christmas Lights”—focuses on a romantic separation between the narrator and his love interest, paying particular attention to how “it doesn’t really feel like Christmas at all.” But is that all there is to it?

It’s almost as if Christmas is an easy target—plop Chris Martin’s sad character down anywhere else on the calendar and he doesn’t quite have the same oomph, if you know what I mean. Maybe you think that I’m asking too much of Christmas music…and maybe that’s true. Maybe the simplicity of that connection—[sad Coldplay character + Christmas = extra sadness / hopefulness because of Christmas time]—isn’t so bad after all. I can only offer that it doesn’t interest me as much as the following songs about Christmas. The only “traditional/popular” song I include is from the Boss…for no other reason than that Springsteen can pretty much do whatever he wants in my book and still be the best.

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1. “Suddenly It’s Christmas” – Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III - Suddenly It's Christmas from Shutter the Thought Prods. on Vimeo.

There’s a long tradition of Christmas novelty songs—from the light schmaltz of “Santa Baby” to the more egregious “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”—but, at least to my knowledge, there aren’t many straight-up comedic eviscerations of this much-beloved holiday. Wainwright offers up some sizable laughs and is not afraid to offer caustic details, such as his description of the Santa at the North Pole:

Santa’s slaving at the North Pole

in his sweatshop full of elves.

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2. “Grateful For Christmas” – Hayes Carll

Asked to sing a Christmas song for a Christmas broadcast by his local television station, Carll realized that he didn’t know any seasonal tunes save for “Jingle Bells.” He went back home and composed this song, which is less about Christmas and more about the importance of family. It’s a sad song, but one that’s worth checking out especially this time of the season. Carll begins the song with a Christmas full of relatives and subsequently explores two other Christmas gatherings at which family members are absent.

I ought to note that the sadness of this song strikes me particularly hard; several members of my extended family will be missing come Christmas Day.

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3. “Noelle, Noelle” – Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

[Sorry, friends! I can't find a video / stream anywhere - if someone wants to send me one, then I'll post it]

Not a Christmas song proper, of course, Kellogg’s ditty twists together a love note to his daughter and the tune of one of my favorite carols (“The First Noël”).


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4. “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – Bruce Springsteen

Simply put, Springsteen is a great performer. He turns this holiday classic—which is such a slight tune when you think about it—into an ecstatic, compelling live track. You’d be crazy to not want to be in the audience for this one…any season of the year.

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5. “Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas” – Okkervil River

This long, languid tune from early in Okkervil River’s discography might seem like a plodding march to some—but you need to give it a chance. The repetitive guitar line eventually envelops you and pulls you into the song, a desperate narrative of a lost lover looking to reclaim Christmases past.