Have yourselves a merry little Christmas

I’m more familiar with the Frank Sinatra version which replaces the “muddle through” line with “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” But now onto something I’ve been meaning to do for a while - a list of ten songs which I feel are compulsory listening during the holiday season:

1. Snoopy’s Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen - this song, which was of course inspired by a real-life truce early in World War I, is for some reason a quintessential Christmas song in New Zealand and nowhere else. Read this article to find out how that came to be.
2. Jump (for My Love) by the Pointer Sisters - not a Christmas song, I know, but it was in my favourite scene in Love Actually, so I’m counting it.
3. Rio by Duran Duran - also not a Christmas song. I’m counting it anyway because of its use in a Christmas episode of South Park, when Jesus and Santa were having a karaoke sing-off where they sung Christmas songs about themselves but Santa has way less possible songs than Jesus.
4. O Holy Night - now this one is better the way Cartman from South Park sings it. You know, the one with the line “Jesus was born and so I get presents.”
5. Do They Know It’s Christmas - no matter which incarnation of Band Aid put out your favourite version (yes, even the Band Aid 30 version with the Ebola-themed lyrics), the message is the same: THINK ABOUT THOSE LESS FORTUNATE. That’s the meaning of Christmas anyway.
6. Christmas at Ground Zero by Weird Al Yankovic - nobody does Christmas music like Weird Al. Especially when the song also references a nuclear attack.
7. Santa’s Coming by CKY - those dudes butchered a Christmas classic in the best possible way. Listen to it now.
8. Thank God it’s Christmas by Queen - especially the line “it’s been a long, hard year” at the end of the first verse. And this was written long before Covid made 2020 and 2021 even more so.
9. Merry Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon - the genius behind this one may be gone but the music will forever live on. The lyrics are the perfect call for peace during the holiday season.
10. Fairytale of New York by The Pogues - what can I say? It’s a classic.