Remember those old Andy Williams TV Christmas specials? I can't say I do, as they're really relics of the late 60s and early 70s, and I am only 28. But I do remember the album covers of Andy Williams records from that era, complete with tacky theme sweaters. Pat Boone had a similar unfortunate holiday style -- his was the trademark white buck shoes.
My dad used to play those Pat Boone and Andy Williams records twice a year -- the day we set up our Christmas tree, and on the holiday itself. Even though we had several CD players, it was records he'd play on those days. Apparently to him, a sound that was old and scratchy, like Andy's sweaters themselves, was evocative of the season.
I've been thinking about old Christmas music these days, because our local adult top-40 radio station has gone to its all-Christmas music format. It struck me as peculiar that in the lead-up to Christmas, when kids ask Santa for Wiis, iPods, or other newfangled technological toys, this Christmas music is all really, really old.
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) says its most-performed Christmas song is Winter Wonderland, followed closely by Christmas Song (the one with the chestnuts roasting on an open fire) and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. All of these songs were popular when my parents were my age.
So why aren't there new Christmas songs? I asked the morning radio DJ team that has to play this music non-stop for the next month, and the sweet-as-a-sugarplum female co-host chirped, "When you hear Burl Ives doing Holly Jolly Christmas, it just takes you right back to that time when you were watching Rudolph on TV, and eating cookies and milk."
She's certainly onto something. There is something comfortable and cozy about these songs. They're also so simplistic, they're easy to remember. If our national anthem was as singable as Jingle Bells, more Americans would certainly know the lyrics.
A where-is-he-now? performer named Billy Gilman and talk show loudmouth (she'd admit it, I'm sure) Rosie O'Donnell released a song a few years back called I'm Gonna Email Santa. Anyone able to hum that one?
Christmas music may last because it's handed down from adults. Before Christmas in schools became un-pc, teachers would encourage kids to recite holiday music. And the same traditions play out at home: A grandmother listens to Deck the Halls with her grandson, as dad sneaks extra rum into his egg nog, and mom strings popcorn and cranberries, privately wishing she had married that other high school suitor instead. This is music that bridges generations. Case in point -- my grandmother and I have never listened to Rihanna's Umbrella together, but we certainly have listened to Winter Wonderland.
The male half of that morning radio team pointed out "There is new Christmas music, performed by new stars, but they're recording old songs." The Kimberley Locke and Clay Aiken version of Silver Bells is a good example of that, but as their former taskmaster Randy "Dawg" Jackson would complain, "They really don't make it their own."
But those DJs believe the updates of old songs "help make new Christmas memories for today's kids and teenagers." Maybe one day, Kimberley Locke and Clay Aiken will seem as old to me as Brenda Lee now does. But their songs will surely still be familiar, as newer pop stars will also take part in this tradition of re-making old music.
Until then, I'm just glad Rihanna doesn't wear tacky Christmas sweaters and white buck shoes.
-- Jacktastic
My dad used to play those Pat Boone and Andy Williams records twice a year -- the day we set up our Christmas tree, and on the holiday itself. Even though we had several CD players, it was records he'd play on those days. Apparently to him, a sound that was old and scratchy, like Andy's sweaters themselves, was evocative of the season.
I've been thinking about old Christmas music these days, because our local adult top-40 radio station has gone to its all-Christmas music format. It struck me as peculiar that in the lead-up to Christmas, when kids ask Santa for Wiis, iPods, or other newfangled technological toys, this Christmas music is all really, really old.
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) says its most-performed Christmas song is Winter Wonderland, followed closely by Christmas Song (the one with the chestnuts roasting on an open fire) and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. All of these songs were popular when my parents were my age.
So why aren't there new Christmas songs? I asked the morning radio DJ team that has to play this music non-stop for the next month, and the sweet-as-a-sugarplum female co-host chirped, "When you hear Burl Ives doing Holly Jolly Christmas, it just takes you right back to that time when you were watching Rudolph on TV, and eating cookies and milk."
She's certainly onto something. There is something comfortable and cozy about these songs. They're also so simplistic, they're easy to remember. If our national anthem was as singable as Jingle Bells, more Americans would certainly know the lyrics.
A where-is-he-now? performer named Billy Gilman and talk show loudmouth (she'd admit it, I'm sure) Rosie O'Donnell released a song a few years back called I'm Gonna Email Santa. Anyone able to hum that one?
Christmas music may last because it's handed down from adults. Before Christmas in schools became un-pc, teachers would encourage kids to recite holiday music. And the same traditions play out at home: A grandmother listens to Deck the Halls with her grandson, as dad sneaks extra rum into his egg nog, and mom strings popcorn and cranberries, privately wishing she had married that other high school suitor instead. This is music that bridges generations. Case in point -- my grandmother and I have never listened to Rihanna's Umbrella together, but we certainly have listened to Winter Wonderland.
The male half of that morning radio team pointed out "There is new Christmas music, performed by new stars, but they're recording old songs." The Kimberley Locke and Clay Aiken version of Silver Bells is a good example of that, but as their former taskmaster Randy "Dawg" Jackson would complain, "They really don't make it their own."
But those DJs believe the updates of old songs "help make new Christmas memories for today's kids and teenagers." Maybe one day, Kimberley Locke and Clay Aiken will seem as old to me as Brenda Lee now does. But their songs will surely still be familiar, as newer pop stars will also take part in this tradition of re-making old music.
Until then, I'm just glad Rihanna doesn't wear tacky Christmas sweaters and white buck shoes.
-- Jacktastic
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There is something very comforting in hearing the Christmas songs that our grandparents, parents, and cousins all can sing together. I remember caroling in Solvang, CA, with my octogenarian great aunts when I was barely a teenager. Those memories are priceless to me, and they are recalled every time I hear "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" or have a Lu Petit Ecolier.
But I think the Christmas song market may be less sclerotic than you make it out to be. Last night, I caught the tail end of the hodgepodge of NBC’s Friday evening programming, and on a Christmas song countdown, Mariah Carey’s "All I Want for Christmas" was number three on the list this year. It was written in 1994 and apparently is Mariah’s most popular song ever, selling 8 million copies worldwide (also note that Mariah just surpassed Elvis as having the most career chart-toppers).
The list gets broader and younger when taking into account the United Kingdom. While croony Crosby and Sinatra’s 1940s accents are among the most played on American Christmas charts—-with their old-time, wet-candy-cane-sticky, cocoa-stained, threadbare-sweater-on-moth-balls of a "White Christmas"—-Brits are harkening back to neon legwarmers and Vanessa Williams’s Penthouse spread. Their top two Christmas songs: Wham!’s "Last Christmas" and Band Aid’s "Do They Know It’s Christmas?," both from 1984. They also place George Michael and Boy George among the British celebrities most tied to Christmastime; now there’s a wholesome thought.
That being said, Jacktastic is so very, very right. Mariah, the Georges, (and Rihanna, for that matter) never will best Judy Garland, who introduced one of my favorite songs of the season, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which was the third-most-played holiday song in America between 2000 and 2005 after 60 years of recordings—-it debuted in 1944’s "Meet Me in St. Louis."
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