Tag Archives: Holiday Songs

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: THE HOLLY AND THE IVY – 19 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

It’s been two years since the passing of pianist George Winston.

His “December” album has been a part of our holiday season for 40 years and we’ve seen him in person numerous times at venues throughout the New York metropolitan area. So it’s not a surprise that when we think about people we miss at this time of year, we think of him – even though we didn’t know him personally.

“The Holly and the Ivy” is my favorite track on “December.” It’s his riff on a early 19th century British folk carol that otherwise is not particulaly stirring.

Instead, Winston imbues it with a passion that lifts the spirit. For me, it would not be the holiday season without hearing it at least once.

Here it is: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0UoevHh28

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HOLIDAY MUSIC COUNTDOWN

HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS – 20 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

The Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry, rode his horse, Champion, in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade – what’s now called the Hollywood Christmas Parade.

Alas, Autry was not the center of youngsters’ attention on Sunset Boulevard. The kids kept shouting “Here comes Santa Claus!” 

Thus Autry had the start of the lyrics for the first of his popular holiday songs. He got Oakley Haldeman, the manager of his music publishing company, to come up with a tune. And this became “Here Comes Santa Claus.”

Autry went on to bring “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman” to the world. 

The version of this song that I like best isn’t his. Instead, it’s one performed by the U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note and soloist Technical Sergeant Paige Martin off the “Cool Yule” album that is an amazing spark of holiday spirit. Let’s see if you agree.  https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i6ud0u0Q6aI

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HOLIDAY MUSIC COUNTDOWN

HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS – 21 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

If I was pressed to pick an absolute favorite Christmas song, it mght very well be this.

We have Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra to thank for making this song live up to its positive title.

This song was written for Garland to sing in the 1944 movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Her character was to sing it to her little sister, distraught over a family move from wholesome and loving St. Louis to evil and cold New York.

Garland thought the song made her character a meanie. So composers Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane softened some of the words, and the song was a hit.

Sinatra wanted to go further when he recorded it for his classic 1957 holiday album “A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra.” His suggestion led to a change from “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow” to “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough” – a much needed uplift.

I love so many versions of this song. My favorite was recorded in the 1980s by Dexter Gordon’s quartet for an album called “God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen.” I think this version is upbeat and welcoming, as if the band actually wants you to have a merry little Christmas.

Hope you enjoy it

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lqYa5wbN4jU.

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING – 22 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” reverses a trend we’ve seen in these holiday songs. The lyrics we use today were written by a Methodist leader in the 1750s, adapting the form that a fellow minister composed about 20 years later.

But the melody came about a century later, when a cantana composed by Felix Mendelssohn was put to the existing lyrics.

It’s not a bad song. But I think we love it because it’s what’s playing when George Bailey finds out he’s actually the richest man in Bedford Falls and when the Peanuts gang realizes Charlie Brown picked out the perfect tree. It carries emotional weight in the holiday season.

The version I’ve picked for today is one introduced to me by my brother several years ago. It’s performed by a group called Cuba/L.A., an ensemble that sought to popularize Afro-Cuban music in the 1990s and 2000s.

Playing this version never fails to stir me. Hee haw and I hope you enjoy it.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CRxmfrIeTF4&list=RDAMVMCRxmfrIeTF4
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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) – 23 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

This song came out of nowhere in the holiday season of 1971.

It was recorded in October and released a few weeks before Christmas. We all knew that John and Yoko were on a peace-and-love mission, but this expressed it in holiday form.

“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” certainly feels like a song of its time – a protest against the Vietnam War, which Nixon was dragging out to make it seem he was a peacemaker by the ’72 election.

But it also hasn’t dated. Its message remains strong today – think Venezuela, Ukraine and Gaza instead of Vietnam. And it counters the message of a warmongering White House run by a insecure lout.

It’s also good music. The melody is catchy and memorable.

To prove the point, instead of the original, here’s an instrumental version by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and ukelele player Jake Shimabukuro.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A-h6V8J9ARE

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: GROOVY XMAS – 24 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

I’m not sure how this septagenarian found this Christmas song by a Los Angeles-area band who’s youngest member turned 15 in August.

But I think it’s terrific. It’s uptempo and joyful.

It is filled with conteporary culture references, and pays homage to “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and Mariah Carey. 

And it’s a reminder that Christmas is for kids from 1 to 92 – even if they’re actually, well, kids.

It’s worth a listen. You can always tell these girls to get off your lawn on December 26.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=edJeYaXPbYI

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: GREENSLEEVES (WHAT CHILD IS THIS) – 25 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

Back in the 19th century, it seems like they recycled melodies a lot.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Deck the Halls” are two examples of music that was composed before the 1800s and lyrics crafted to fit those melodies.

Such is true of “Greensleeves,” although there’s a slight difference.

The melody is believed to date back to Britain in 1580 – when Shakespeare was a teenager. It has been used for folk tunes, love songs, operatic arias and what the ice cream truck plays as it rolls down the street. 

In 1865, William Chatterton Dix took the tune and put Christmas-themed words to it. It was given the alternate title of “What Child Is This?” and apparently caught on.

The best arrangement is the Vince Guaraldi interpretation that is part of the epic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack. But the version I’m linking to is that of a great singer who passed in 2025: Roberta Flack. I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ilAT57Jpc

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN: GOOD KING WENCESLAS – 26 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

You’ve probably been listening to this song your entire life and not understood a) why it’s a Christmas song and b) who the heck King Wenceslas was and what kingdom did he rule.

Let’s start with second things first.

First of all, Wenceslaus I wasn’t a king. He was a duke of Bohemia (now Czechia), the equivalent of a prince. He lived in the 900s – he might be the best known person of the 10th century by default.

Most of what we know about him is legend – there aren’t a whole lot of documents remaining from 1,100 years ago. But apparently, as the song indicates, he went around providing comfort for the impoverished in his realm.

Wenceslaus was supposedly murdered by his younger brother, whose name – believe it or not – was Boleslaus the Cruel. They didn’t fool around with names back then.

Later in the 9th century, the Holy Roman Emperor posthumously crowned Wenceslaus, who also was made a saint by the Catholic Church.

As for the song, the feast of Stephen is the second of the 12 days of Christmas, a day honoring  one of the first Christian martyrs, 

The Wenceslaus legend hung around throughout the centuries. In the 1850s, a British hymn writer put lyrics to a 13th century melody, dropped the u from his name, and, voila, “Good King Wenceslas.”

It’s not one of my favorite holiday songs and I can’t name a definitive version. So here is a version I found on YouTube by the Irish Rovers. 

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HOLIDAY MUSIC COUNTDOWN: DECK THE HALLS – 27 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

I love music of the holiday season. Obsessively.

I add about 100 songs to my library every year. I possess some of the best songs that you might never have heard, some unusual versions of songs you know and some recordings that you would loathe me for bringing into your life.

So I’ll start this year’s countdown to Christmas Day with one of the best-known songs of the season.

“Deck the Halls” started its existence with a Welsh melody that was written more than 400 years ago. In the 1860s, Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant put Christmas words to the melody, which had been used to celebrate the New Year.

Oliphant’s original first stanza remains intact – with the exception of one line. His original third line was “Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel.”

That apparently didn’t sit well with folks in Pennsylvania. If kids were going to sing this song, filling meadcups and draining barrels wouldn’t do. So they changed the lyrics.

To “Don we now our gay apparel.”

In 1877, “gay” was not widely used the way we use it in 2025. Had the Pennsylvanians realized how the meaning of the word would change, it’s a good bet they would have come up with something else.

In fact, I’m surprised the people who see gay as some sort of evil haven’t tried to change the lyrics. Even back to the mead and the barrel draining.

I didn’t use any lyrics when I did my reimagining of the song in 2023. I fooled around a little with the melody instead and created something I thought was more contemporary.

It’s one of three tracks on my holiday EP, “Holiday Hospitality,” which you can hear on pretty much every streaming service (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and buy digitally on Amazon and iTunes.

Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXYDm6kDsK0&list=RDHXYDm6kDsK0&start_radio=1 from YouTube Music. I hope you enjoy it, in gay apparel, a full meadcup, or both.

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HOLIDAY SONG COUNTDOWN – DEC. 25 (2 OF 2)

“(WHEN IS) HANUKKAH THIS YEAR” – 1ST NIGHT OF HANUKKAH

Hanukkah is always the same day in the Hebrew calendar – the 25th day of the month of Kislev.

But since that’s a lunar calendar, it never falls on the same day in the Gregorian one. So figuring out when to wish our Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah is often a challenge.

In 2024, Hanukkah begins on the night of December 25 – tonight if you read this when it’s posted. And it’ll run all the way into the first two days of January.

This song, by the alternate rock band Mêlée, captures the calendar confusion as well as the joy of a festival that celebrates lighting the way in the darkness.

Happy Hanukkah!

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