Top 100 Christmas Songs
...and counting
- Christmas
(Baby Please Come Home), Darlene Love (Philles, 1963)
The only original song on A
Christmas Gift For You, producer Phil Spector's
magnum opus, Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby
Please Come Home)" is an amazing performance
that actually outstrips Spector's amazing studio craft.
"They're singing 'Deck The Halls', but it's not
like Christmas at all," Love laments during the
bridge, saving herself for the searing, explosive
crescendo that never fails to raise goose bumps. Very
nearly hollering Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich's
hormonally-charged lyrics, she pleads, "Please,
please, please! Baby, please come home!" We feel
every single ounce of her desire, and it's a riveting,
indelible experience. [back to list] [read more] - White
Christmas, The Drifters (Atlantic, 1954)
Like many songs on my Top 100 list - but more so - the Drifters' interpretation
of Bing Crosby's 1942 Christmas classic (written by
Irving Berlin) transcends the genre. This record (available
on Rhino's Doo
Wop Christmas) is timeless, serving as a shining
example of doo wop singing regardless of the season;
further, a case can be made that "White Christmas"
is the first rock 'n' roll record ever. The
Drifters' amicable, ambling arrangement mimics an
earlier recording by the Ravens, and bassist Bill
Pinckney begins the song with his best imitation of
Der Bingle. But, when tenor Clyde McPhatter makes
his startling entrance (singing essentially the same notes as
Pinckney), we are treated to a mesmerizing moment
of utter originality. It's a legendary, unmatched
performance; Elvis Presley's 1957 attempt to duplicate
McPhatter's lines sounds positively emasculated in
comparison - and that's saying something! [back to list] [read more] - Back Door
Santa, Clarence Carter (Atlantic, 1968)
Mixing the sacred and profane has long been a tradition
in Black music, and salacious Christmas records extend
as far back as the late 1930s, when Ben Light &
His Surf Club Boys thrust their "Christmas Balls"
into public view. The double entendre reached its
pinnacle, though, when Clarence Carter committed "Back
Door Santa" to vinyl, first as a 45, then on
the superb Atco LP, Soul
Christmas. Dirty jokes and leering asides are
scattered throughout, but the lyrical ringer (notwithstanding
the anally-fixated title) has to be Carter's assertion
that, "I ain't like old St. Nick, he don't come
but once a year." Not incidentally, the record
is a sizzling slab of southern soul. Unforgettable!
[back to list] [read more] - Run Rudolph
Run, Chuck Berry (Chess, 1958)
I can think of nothing to say about this record that
could be more complimentary than that it sounds like
Chuck Berry's other records - driving guitar rock
accompanying droll, clever lyrics. Nearly middle-aged
at the time, Berry spoke intelligently to teenagers
in their own language, and he transformed the quaint
story of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer into a thrilling,
space-age tale. "Run Rudolph Run" has been
covered numerous times (including by Berry acolytes
Keith Richards and Dave Edmunds), and it can be found
along with its b-side (a version of Charles Brown's
"Merry Christmas Baby") on Rockin'
Little Christmas. [back to list] - Santa
Claus Is Back In Town, Elvis Presley (RCA, 1957)
The controversy that swirled around Elvis during his
halcyon "Pelvis" days was largely trumped
up, racist crap. Elvis (and rock 'n' roll in general)
mixed black and white together in heretofore forbidden ways,
and the sexual frenzy he stirred in young girls was
a threat to the segregationist status quo more than
to the morality of teenaged America. "Santa Claus
Is Back In Town," however, was one instance where
all the King's critics were dead right. Elvis's performance
is pure sex - bumping, grinding, sweaty, sinful sex.
Written expressly for Elvis by Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller, "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" comes
across as an inside joke, a virtual burlesque of the
blues they - and Elvis - loved. That doesn't mean
the record doesn't smoke; it is, in fact, one of Elvis'
most fiery blues, and it reveals his ability to take
silly or mundane material and turn it into solid gold (a
talent that would serve him well throughout the sixties).
Most of the sexual energy is in Elvis' growling, libidinous
vocals and the striptease frenzy of his band (especially
drummer D.J. Fontana). The ringer, however, arrives
near the song's conclusion with this unabashed couplet:
"Hang up your pretty stockings and put out the
light, Santa Claus is coming down your chimney tonight!"
(Originally released on the wonderful 1957 LP, Elvis
Christmas Album, that also includes "Santa
Bring My Baby Back To Me" and the popular "Blue
Christmas.") [back to list] - Rudolph
The Red Nosed Reindeer, Temptations (Motown, 1968)
Gene Autry introduced Johnny Marks' timeless tale
nearly twenty years before the Temptations transformed
it into a lush soul ballad. For me, though, this masterful
arrangement has become the definitive version. The
Temptation's voices (led by tenor Dennis Edwards)
swirl and blend in sensuous ways that have little
to do with the shiny proboscis of a flying rangifer
tarandus. Improbably, this a romantic record,
a seductive slow-dance that lends itself to reindeer
games of an entirely different sort. Released first
as a single then included on the Temptations' 1970
LP, Christmas
Card, "Rudolph" is also compiled on A Motown
Christmas. [back to list] - Happy Xmas
(War Is Over), John Lennon & Yoko Ono (Apple,
1971)
Uber-producer Phil Spector (read more) developed a cozy relationship with the Beatles, and, after salvaging
the band's final work as Let
It Be, he worked with both George Harrison and John
Lennon on their initial solo records. Spector was subsequently at the helm when rock's most controversial
couple
(Lennon and his wife, avant garde artist Yoko Ono)
waxed their resplendent "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Given the volatile political environment
and the couple's controversial recent work (such as Lennon's scathing Imagine LP), "Happy
Xmas" (note the missing "Christ") was a salve for both the record buying public and a
war-weary world. Released only as a single (backed with Yoko's "Listen The Snow Is Falling"), "Happy
Xmas" is rarely included on Christmas collections; it is, however, available on most Lennon greatest
hits packages, including Lennon
Legend (1998). It is also captured on Vigotone's fab Beatles boot, Ultimate
Christmas Collection (1998). [back to list] [read more] - Merry
Christmas Baby, Charles Brown (Aladdin, 1956)
One of just a few artists earning more than one slot
on my Top 100 (see
below), Charles Brown is one of the greatest figures
in the history of modern Christmas music. He first
recorded "Merry Christmas Baby" with Johnny
Moore's Three Blazers for Swing Time Records in 1947,
and he returned to the well about a dozen times over
the years. He waxed the definitive version in New
Orleans for West Coast label Aladdin in 1956 (collected
on Rhino's Blue
Yule), and the song became an instant standard.
"Merry Christmas Baby" (credited to Lou
Baxter and Johnny Moore despite Brown's claims of
authorship) set the prototype for rhythm 'n' blues
yule tunes - where romance and seduction all but obliterate
the birth of Christ as the reason for the season.
("Merry Christmas Baby" has been covered
innumerable times, including memorable versions by
Elvis Presley, Ike & Tina Turner, and Otis Redding.)
[back to list] - Santa
Claus Is Coming To Town, Jackson 5 (Motown, 1970)
Haven Gillespie and Fred Coot's holiday standard has
been recorded countless times since George Hall &
His Orchestra first recorded it for Bluebird Records
in 1934. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' screechy
but spirited version - with its syncopated hesitation
before the chorus - set the template in 1962 for the
Crystals' rousing 1963 rendition, and "The Corporation"
(a team of elite Motown producers) used that version
as a model for the Jackson 5 when arranging the group's
marvelous Christmas
Album. Five years later, Bruce Springsteen copped
the Jackson 5 arrangement (sort of) for his famous
rendition; head to head, the J5 blow the Boss away.
[back to list] - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, Brenda Lee (Decca, 1958)
While there are few honest-to-goodness rockabilly
Christmas records, several top rockin' Christmas platters
use rockabilly as a base. Brenda Lee's greatest hit
is one of them, and her sprightly vocal - combined
with chiming bursts of guitar - made "Rockin'
Around The Christmas Tree" (written by Johnny
Marks, who also penned "Rudolph The Red-Nosed
Reindeer") an instant classic - at least in my
mind. To the contrary, it took the public two years
to accept Lee's arboreal ode, but when "Rockin'
Around The Christmas Tree" hit, it hit big. First
released on 45 in 1958, the song didn't chart till
1960 when it made #14 on the Billboard singles chart,
and it charted again each of the next two years. In
1964, Decca built an album, Merry
Christmas From Brenda Lee around it, which
reached #7 on Billboard's Christmas chart. Today,
the song is spotlighted MCA's superb Rockin'
Around The Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings,
which also includes another of my Top 100 Christmas
Songs (see below).
[back to list] - Jingle Bell
Rock, Bobby Helms (Decca, 1957)
Though he remained active through the 1980's,
Bobby Helms never had a lot to show for his career
besides "Jingle Bell Rock," his rockabilly-flavored smash from 1957. A few months earlier he had launched his career,
promisingly enough, with "Fraulein"
and "My Special Angel," both of which made the Top
10. Then, "Jingle Bell Rock" zoomed
to #6 and charted again four of the next five years. Oddly,
Helms never graced the pop charts again, though he remained
a fixture on the country circuit. "Jingle Bell
Rock," however, became a musical archetype, one which
shows up frequently on Christmas albums (such as Rockin'
Little Christmas), either with Helms' snappy Decca original, his remakes for Kapp (1965) or Little Darlin' (1967),
or in one of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of cover versions. (The original
Decca 45-rpm record, by the way, featured Helm's wonderfully goofy "Captain Santa
Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol" on the flipside.
Both songs are included on Bear Family's Fraulein: The Classic Years 2-CD set.) [back to list] - Rudolph
The Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Ventures (Dolton, 1965)
The charm of this energetic instrumental lies not
in the multi-guitar attack the Ventures bring to Johnny
Marks' most famous composition but in the gimmick
they use to sell it. On this and other tracks from
their classic LP, The
Ventures' Christmas Album, the band grafts popular
hits of the day onto Christmas classics. In the present
case, they employ the Beatles' "I Feel Fine"
(played at warp speed) as an introduction, and the
resulting alchemy has always been my favorite song
from a consistently great album. [back to list] - (It's
Gonna Be A) Lonely Christmas, The Orioles (Jubilee,
1948)
Hailing from Baltimore (where else?), the Orioles
were one of the leading "bird groups" (such
as the Ravens, Penguins, and Crows) who midwifed the
birth of doo wop. After early hits like "Too
Soon To Know" (1948), their greatest claim to
fame came in 1953 with the immortal "Crying In
The Chapel." Those of us in the know, however,
cherish this song above all others. "Lonely Christmas"
is a picture-perfect expression of desolation (scratchy
master and all), as lead singer Sonny Til solemnly
intones, "This year I'll be blue and lonely listening
to the music from the party across the hall."
When reissued a year later with a new b-side, "What
Are You Doing New Year's Eve" (see
below), history was written; both songs are included
on ...Christmas
Past. [back to list] - Santa Baby,
Eartha Kitt (RCA Victor, 1953)
When Madonna revived "Santa Baby" on the
first Very
Special Christmas CD back in 1987, I hadn't yet
heard Eartha Kitt's high octane original (available
on Hipsters'
Holiday). The song is ostensibly just pillow talk
between a promiscuous gold digger and her sugar daddy;
if he comes through with the goods (furs, cars, jewelry),
she'll let him "hurry down the chimney."
But, my goodness - where Madonna merely teases (in
fact, teeters on the edge of parody), the sultry Ms.
Kitt positively smolders with honest sexual promise.
"Santa Baby" succeeds not just because it
imbues Christmas with an all-but-explicit sexuality,
but because it unflinchingly ties sex to money. The
listener is offered alternate perceptions - hear the
song as naughty trifle or as profound commentary on
the corrupted nature of the the holiday. Either way,
it works. [back to list] - Christmas
Time's A-Coming, Mac Wiseman (Gusto, circa 1979)
Mac Wiseman isn't well-known outside bluegrass
circles, but within that community he is a hero of
great stature - just short of men like Bill Monroe
and Earl Scruggs, both of whom he worked with. It was Monroe who first
recorded "Christmas Time's A-Coming," a timeless number written by Tex Logan,
but Wiseman puts it across with such panache that I
believe it to be just about the greatest country Christmas
record ever waxed. Unfortunately, it's also a very obscure
record, and I can't even be sure of the date. I own a vinyl 45 copy released in 1979 by Nashville budget label Gusto Records, but it's backed with Joe Ward's 1955 King Records hit, "Nuttin' For Christmas" (Ward was a child of eight when he waxed the novelty, so it's obvious that the flipside is the original recording). Now, it makes sense that Wiseman would have recorded the song for an independent label during the 70's, after his long tenures at Dot, Capitol, and RCA had come to a close. Plus, the recording certainly sounds contemporary with that era. But, while Gusto controlled vintage masters from King, as well as Starday, Hollywood, and other labels prolific in country music, Wiseman never (to my knowledge) released any albums for any of those companies, and the 45 itself bears no other recording dates or information. Regardless,
Wiseman's definition rendition of "Christmas Time's A-Coming" has been released on several budget albums - most bearing the Hollywood imprint - including Christmas
Jamboree (1988), a now out-of-print compact disc. To confuse matters even further, Wiseman's Gusto album #1 Christmas showed up around 1994 (but did not contain "Christmas Time's A-Coming") and Wiseman recorded a new version of the song in 2002 with Doc Watson and Del McCoury for the album Christmas on the Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas. [back to list] - Christmas
Celebration, B.B. King (Kent, 1962)
B.B. King is, by now, the most famous blues musician
in history, dwarfing Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters,
and Howlin' Wolf in all but the eyes of academicians.
Until quite recently, King had recorded but one Christmas
record, this strident, brassy rendition of a song
written and recorded in 1951 by Jesse Thomas (with
help from Lloyd Glenn, best known for "Christmas
Sleigh Ride"). Where Thomas' original is quaint,
King's cover is an uptown juggernaut, full of the
kind of manly bravado and stinging, single-string
guitar leads that have earned him such respect. There is, by the way, much disagreement about when King recorded this classic. The consensus seems to be that he recorded it in 1960, but it was not released until 1962 (Kent 387) and then reissued in 1964 (Kent 417). Furthermore, he cut a new version of the song
for his 2001 album A Christmas Celebration of Hope, and the
original version can be tricky to locate. Search for Pointblank's Best
Christmas Ever, House Of Blues' Jingle
Blues, or Ace's Rhythm & Blues Christmas. [back to list] - Father Christmas,
The Kinks (Arista, 1977)
After several dissolute years, the Kinks emerged revitalized
on a new label (Arista) in the mid-70's. "Father
Christmas" was released as a non-LP single between
their first (Sleepwalker)
and second (Misfits)
records for the label. It embodies everything I love
about rock 'n' roll Christmas music - it defies expectations
while embracing the artist's best qualities. In this
case, "Father Christmas" is louder and angrier
than what we had come to expect from the Kinks. But,
it also relates an engrossing tale of class struggle
that makes it entirely of a piece with the rest of
the Kinks' katalogue. Included on Billboard Rock 'n' Roll Christmas as well a 1999 Misfits reissue. [back to list] - If We
Make It Through December, Merle Haggard (Capitol,
1973)
The dust bowl imagery Haggard inherited from his Okie
forbears was easily supplanted in the early 70's by
modern images of economic recession. Here, Merle's
been "laid off down at the factory," and
he's facing with grim resignation the inevitable disappointment
in his daughter's eyes when no presents are found
under the tree. Like all working class heroes, though,
he tenaciously clings to hope. "If we make it
through December, we'll be fine," he insists.
I'm not so sure, but the song is an unforgettably
harrowing tale, all the more effective for its understated
backing track. Originally released on Merle
Haggard's Christmas Present (Something Old, Something
New) which has been reissued on CD as A
Christmas Present (1990), Country Christmas With Merle Haggard (1995), and Hag's Christmas (2007). The song is also frequently collected,
including on Capitol's 20
Greatest Hits, Razor & Tie's Lonesome
Fugitive, and Haggard's boxed set, Down
Every Road - all recommended. [back to list] - Christmas
Celebration, Weezer (Geffen, 2000)
The story of Weezer is a story of pop redemption -
a story I hope to tell more completely at a later
date. "Christmas Celebration" is extracted
from a two-song promotional disc Weezer issued as
they prepared to cap their unlikely comeback with
2001's amazing Weezer (the green album). The song is exactly what we've
come to expect from Rivers Cuomo and company - the
loudest, best pop since Cheap Trick, plus ennui out
the ass. "The pageantry is such a bore,"
Cuomo whines, but he turns up the volume and cranks
out the riffs - a sure way to cure those holiday blues.
(Issued only as the b-side of the Japanese CD single of "Photograph" and as part of a promotional CD single paired with "Christmas Song," which quietly showed up on iTunes in 2014. "Christmas Celebration," by the way,
is a Weezer original, not the B.B. King song listed above.)
[back to list] - Step Into
Christmas, Elton John (MCA, 1973)
Any number of songs on this list or throughout Hip Christmas can claim
Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound as a direct influence.
Elton John's irresistible holiday invitation (released
on a 45 backed with the wacky "Ho Ho Ho Who'd
Be A Turkey At Christmas") has as good stake
as any to such an ambitious declaration. Instruments
are piled on excessively, the reverb grows deeper
and deeper, and the tempo seems to accelerate until,
at last, the song seems about to fly apart. It doesn't
(just barely), and we are left with a record equal
to anything the bespectacled Mr. Dwight released during
his prodigious first decade. "Step Into Christmas"
is now included as a bonus track on Elton's 1974 album, Caribou,
while both sides of the single were issued on Rare
Masters (1992). Elton later featured it on his own Christmas Party compilation (2005). [back to list]