Christmas music has been with us for many years. It has seen a boom thanks to radio stations going "All Christmas" in the past seventeen years. I recently saw a post on Tumblr about types of Christmas songs. The post was by a Millennial and very funny. I had thought several times about doing a post about different sub-genres of Christmas music. The Millennial kept his simple (about 5 types), but I had thought of some others. Some are obvious.
* JESUS IS BORN: "Joy To The World," "Away In the Manger," "Silent Night," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Do You Hear What I Hear?" & "What Child Is This." One of the more recent songs of this sub-genre is "Mary Do You Know."
* SANTA CLAUS IS COMING: "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Up On the House Top."
* THE LITTLE MISFIT WHO SAVES CHRISTMAS: Well, hands down the biggest one here is "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer." Second, would be "Little Drummer Boy." There was also "The Bell Who Couldn't Jingle," "Little Sandy Sleighfoot," and "Ding A-Ling the Christmas Bell."
* WE LOVE WINTER & SNOW: Hands down the biggie here would be "Jingle Bells." Then comes, "Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," "Marshmallow World," "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow."
* ALONE & DEPRESSED AT CHRISTMAS: Most of these came out of World War 2. With that said, I find most of depressing. "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Blue Christmas," & "White Christmas." More recently Wham gave us "Last Christmas."
* CHRISTMAS AMERICANA: The best example would be "No Place Like Home For The Holidays," however, I would count "The Christmas Song" & "Silver Bells" in this group. They are bigger songs. Another example of this is a song called "Christmas In My Home Town."
* BRITISH ROCKERS CHANNELING CHARLES DICKENS: For some reason, this is my favorite sub-genre, because it has only four songs in it and all are from the 70s. Jethro Tull's "Christmas Song," Emerson Lake & Palmer's "I Still Believe in Father Christmas," The Kinks "Father Christmas," and, of course, "Happy Xmas (the War Is Over)" by John Lennon.
* CHRISTMAS GOES HAWAIIAN: This one has even less songs than the British rocker/Dickens sub-genre. It is also the one I understand the least. My guess it is an off-shoot of the exotic trend of the late 40s & 50s. There are only two songs, but they surprisingly get played on "all Christmas" radio. They are "Christmas Island" & "Mele Kalikimaka."
* PRETTY DECORATIONS:"Deck The Halls," "O Christmas Tree," "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "We Need a Little Christmas."
* CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS: "Frosty The Snowman," "I Want a Hippopatamous for Christmas," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Nuttin For Christmas," & "The Chipmunk Song."
* CHRISTMAS PARTY CELEBRATION: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Happy Holidays," "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree." I would also count "12 Days of Christmas," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," & "Here We Come A-Caroling."
* THE XMASTIZED VERSION OF THE BIG HIT: These rarely get played. Bobby Boris Picket's "Monster's Holiday," James Brown's "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag." My favorite is Mickey Gilley's "The Girls All Get Prettier at Christmas Time" and my least favorite is "Santa Claus is Coming In a Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo Train" by The Tractors.
Yes, this is just typical geeky blogger over analyzing, but also something fun. Feel free to share this with your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment