12 Days of Christmas Songs
I can be a fairly curmudgeonly, Scrooge-like character in the holiday season. But there are parts of the holidays I love – seeing my family, watching Miracle on 34th Street (the ‘90s version) and cooking Christmas cookies which is a epic thing in the best possible way with my family. I also love Christmas music. Music is a huge part of my life and we had literally hundreds of Christmas songs on CD and cassette tape growing up covering everything from traditional hymns to off-the-wall absurd songs.
So in the spirit of the holiday, I have created a list of my top 12 Christmas songs, with the titles linking to the songs. Hope you enjoy and if Christmas isn’t your thing, have a good Winter Solstice and/or New Year!
Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby
This is my current overall favorite Christmas song. I’ve always loved this song, but it’s taken on extra meaning to me as I’ve grown older. A couple years ago, rather than go home for Christmas, my family decided to meet up in Hawaii for New Years. As a result, my sister and brother-in-law sent me a bunch of tiki decorations as a Christmas present. They are now my not-Christmas decorations, and I listened to this song while putting them up this year.
Elf’s Lament by Barenaked Ladies
Finally, a Christmas song for all of us tired of the scary levels of commercialism. This song is all from the perspective of the overworked, underpaid elves who are agitating for better working conditions and want more from life than their dreary existence. It’s delightful.
Little Drummer Boy by Pentatonix
I never liked this song, any version, for most of my life. And then I heard Pentatonix sing it, and it became one of my top Christmas songs. Just their version mind you, not the other ones. I love Pentatonix, and I seriously love this arrangement of the song. It brings a level of emotion into it that I’ve never heard anyone else bring to this carol.
Animals deserve Christmas presents too.
Christmas Can-Can by Straight No Chaser
I debated long and hard between this and Straight No Chaser’s version of the 12 Days of Christmas. But the Christmas Can-Can won – although you should totally listen to both – because it’s just so perfect. Celebrating the holidays while acknowledging the sheer insanity of it all. And the video is genius.
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing by The Fab Four
The Fab Four are a Beatles cover band who came out with two Christmas albums that set Christmas songs against the melody and/or stylistic aspects of various Beatles songs. There are a number of really good ones, but my favorite is Hark! the Herald Angels Sing which is set to the tune of Help! It’s a perfect synthesis of the two worlds and everything is made better by a little more Beatles.
Last Month of the Year by Kingston Trio
One of the many, many kinds of music I grew up listening to was 1950s and ’60s folk/folk rock. So naturally I grew up with the Kingston Trio’s Christmas Album, and this is my favorite song from that album. It’s folk and religious while still being fun. Also, I know all the words by heart.
Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas by Captain Kangaroo
This is one of those very specific childhood things that holidays create. My dad grew up listening to Captain Kangaroo and we had the Captain Kangaroo Christmas Album on cassette tape. I’m not entirely sure how, but it is tradition to listen to it while opening presents Christmas morning. Including the very important aspect of bouncing up and down with the line “Um-boing, um-boing.” It makes sense if you listen, I promise.
Riu Riu Chiu by Bruce Cockburn
I always assumed this song was in Latin, but nope. Turns out its 16th century Spanish. Go figure. This song was on the Bruce Cockburn Christmas album we had growing up and this was always my favorite song on that album. The cadence of the words, the violin, and the emotionally evocative nature of the music always appealed to me. Even if I have absolutely no idea what the words mean.
I’m a Christmas Tree by Wild Man Fischer and Dr. Demento
This really isn’t a song except under the looses of definitions and it is just bizarre. But so am I and so is my family so it’s something we reference a lot and I wholeheartedly love it.
Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses
An entire rom-com wrapped into a five-minute Christmas song.
We Three Kings is probably my favorite Christmas hymn, but technically it’s for the Epiphany rather than Christmas, so it seemed appropriate for the final song on the list. This is by far my favorite version of this song. I only know this group from their Christmas album, which is phenomenal and a somewhat obscure find. You should listen to all of the album, but if you had to choose just one, it should be this one.
