Top Ten Christmas Songs List 2

Today’s post is the second in our series featuring favorite Christmas songs. (For the first post in this series, click here.) Today we are looking at secular holiday songs that are a little less than classic, but that hold a special place in making the season special for me. My top-ten list grew to an even dozen, but I even left out a personal favorite, “Snoopy’s Christmas” by the Royal Guardsmen. Here are my top favorites and the reasons why. What are your favorites?

1. All I Want for Christmas is You, Mariah Carey

Although I would probably have this song on the list regardless because of its energetic tempo and incredible range, I put this on my list because it reminds me of the gifted voice and gentle spirit of my youngest daughter. Several years ago, the music minister of our church began each Sunday service with someone in church singing a popular Christmas. Rachel was asked to provide a rendition of Mariah Carey’s song and may have been one of the few voices in the congregation that could pull it off. The entire congregation sat silent and spell-bound as Rachel belted out this amazing tune.

2. Merry Christmas Darling, The Carpenters

This song by the Carpenters was the first Christmas record that I searched for. It was released in 1970 as a single even though the Carpenters did not release a Christmas album until 1974. Karen’s brother Richard said that the original recording of the song was one of his sister’s best performances ever.

3. Felix Navidad, Jose Feliciano

This simple Christmas song by the Puerto Rican singer and songwriter might well be on the classic list. With its quaint Spanish chorus and poignant English verse, the message and the messenger touch the heart.

4. Wonderful Christmas Time, Paul McCartney

It would be shameful to put together any kind of musical list and not include something of the Beatles if they had recorded a song in the genre. Although many would have listed “And So This is Christmas” by Lennon, this song captures the sound of the Beatles and the peppy spirit of the season.

5. Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Elvis and others

I struggle with calling this song a Christmas classic, which is why I did not include it in the first list, but this simple song has been covered by some of the most remarkable musicians of all time. Over 200 artists have covered the song, which was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in 1934.

Some of my favorite covers include Elvis, Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons, the Jackson Five, and the iconic presentation by Bruce Springsteen.

6. Twelve Pains of Christmas, Bob Rivers

I believe the first time I heard the song was in the late 80’s on a radio station in Cincinnati; I heard it again while driving in the car this past weekend.

Bob Rivers was an on-air radio personality for an oldies station in Seattle, Washington.  His show has been on stations for decades and was known for his irreverent blend of comedy and puns, humorous news clips, and parodies of famous songs.  In 1987 he produced a Christmas parody CD entitled Twisted Christmas.  The CD sold enough copies to be a certified gold record.

The song that propelled the CD and garnished plenty of air time is The Twelve Pains of Christmas.  Some of the pains mentioned are five months of bills, facing your in-laws, no parking spaces, rigging up the lights, and finding a Christmas tree. Can you relate?

Some of the pains of Christmas are directly related to the busyness of the season, aren’t they? We want to experience the holidays to their fullest, so we plan and schedule and hustle and bustle. We fight traffic and headaches. We impatiently deal with impatient people. We look for the right gift for Cousin Ernie, knowing that it will either be returned or never used.  We stuff dozens of white elephant gifts, many from Cousin Ernie, into the trunk of our car for the office gift exchange.

This year, let’s exchange some of the pains for peace.

7. Christmas Song Chipmunks

This is not the first Christmas song that I ever heard. That question was posed in our Bible Study class one Sunday and I believe that honor would go to “Away in a Manger.” But this is the first Christmas song I owned on a record. I had copies of the Alvin and the Chipmunks as a 78 RPM single and a 33 album.

David Seville is the fictional manager and producer of the fictional Chipmunks. Their first hit “Witch Doctor” and “The Christmas Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” both went to number one on the Billboard Top 100 charts. Seville was actually the persona of Ross Badgasarian, Sr. who master-mined the idea of speeding up his voice to create the singing Chipmunks.

8. Christmas Through Your Eyes, Gloria Estefan

I wanted to add this particular song to the list. I enjoyed Estefan and her music over the years, but it had been ages since I listened to this entire Christmas album. In doing so as I think about the music on this list, I remembered that this entire album really is filled with wonderful arrangements, capturing the spirit of the season and the genre of her unique style of performance.

9. Tennessee Christmas, Amy Grant

Most of the music that I play at Christmas are compilation mixes, either professionally made or personally gathered. But if someone said, “Pick an album and play it for us,” I would simply put on a recording by Amy Grant. The discography of the Christian singer is legendary: 15 studio albums, 11 compilation albums, 6 holiday albums, 4 live albums and 84 singles.

Grant’s 1985 Unguarded became the first Christian album to have a top 40 single on Billboard’s Top 100. Her 1991 album Heart in Motion became her best-selling album and is still the best-selling Christian album of all time.

Tennessee Christmas is a song she co-wrote and is on her first Christmas album, her greatest Christmas songs collection and re-recorded on her most recent Christmas album. Every song on every album speaks the holiday season. The distinct voice of Amy Grant quietly whispers “faith.” Does it get any better than that?

10. Christmas in Killarney, Bing Crosby

This song simply makes me smile. It is a cut buried among the classics on Bing Crosby’s popular Christmas album. My mother-in-law hated this song, or else she loved to “bicker” with me about the song. I had it playing in a mix of Christmas music the first time that she visited our home for the holidays. It is impossible for me to hear this song without thinking about her gentle spirit and cackling smile. We may not be in Killarney, but this song brings the holiday spirit home to me.

11. Miracles, Kenny G

Miracles: The Holiday Album is the first holiday collection and the seventh studio album by saxophonist Kenny G. I grew up idolizing Boots Randolph and soon was enamored by the man with the hair and the soprano sax. This album peaked at number one of the Billboard 200, Contemporary Jazz Albums, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts. It was the overall best-selling Christmas album for both 1994 and 1996. Together it has sold almost 8 million copies in the United States alone. Miracles is a two-and-a-half minute song on this amazing album.

12. Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, Diana Krall

Diana Krall is an amazing jazz pianist. Together with a sultry voice, Krall’s music captures a genre that I love – and that my children make fun of. “Dentist Music.” “Elevator Music.” Music that captures the ability to improvise while still understanding order and structure. Christmas Songs is the eighth studio album by the Canadian singer. I chose this Irving Berlin song because it comes from the musical “White Christmas.”

13. Christmas Island, Jimmy Buffett

For years, several of the places where I worked had professional communication teams come and conduct workshops to build team spirit and develop leadership skills. Each offered the mandatory “break into small groups and discuss” a variety of topics and issues. On the whole, I understood their purpose but operating in that setting is never a favorite pastime for me.

The inevitable question common to all these presentations was “If you were not doing this job, what would you rather be doing?” My standard answer in all the sessions was “I’d rather be playing saxophone for Jimmy Buffett on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”

Buffett’s music takes me to a place I would rather be – on a beach, strolling next to the ocean, smelling the salty air, being with my family.

Christmas Island is Buffett’s first Christmas album and his twenty-first studio album, released in 1996. Ten years later he would record another album, Tis the SeaSon.

Rob O’Connor writes that “this may not be the traditional Christmas fare of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but for those who enjoy ocean breezes and ‘wasting away,’ Christmas Island is exactly what the cruise director ordered.”

14. Must be Santa, Mitch Miller

When I was in second grade, we moved from Terre Haute, Indiana to Plainfield, Indiana, a town just outside of Indianapolis. Because of the location of our new home, we did not attend Plainfield, but a small community school called Avon.

My second-grade year was the most traumatic year of my life. When I was in first grade I walked to school. Our school was about two blocks away from our house. In the new setting, I rode the school bus. The trip was only about seven miles, but under school bus conditions, the ride took a half-an-hour on a good day.

a new school

The second-grade classes were in a hallway above one of the sides of the high school gym. I found my way to the hallway, but I could not find my name on any of the class lists posted outside of the doors. This was how you found out who your new teacher would be for the new year.

My thought was that no one wanted me at this new school. I wandered from room to room between the three or four classrooms to no avail. When the hallway was empty, I am the only child still in the hall. Mrs. McGlothlen took pity on the poor child and ushered me into her classroom, cleared an empty desk and accepted me into her class, even though I was not on her roster. I finally had a place.

For about a week. The teacher who was supposed to have me was Mrs. Davidson. Her classroom was several more doors down past the other second grade classes – separated in space by a janitor’s closet and in and out doors for a restroom. I had never walked past the non-class room doors.

The experience left me sick to my stomach. Literally. Later, a doctor’s diagnosis would indicate that I had formed an ulcer in my stomach. During both semesters of my second-grade year, I walked to the cafeteria each afternoon to drink an extra carton of white milk to sooth my stomach and keep me from throwing up.

a new disease

Things were progressing pretty well through the fall until sometime after the World Series (which by the way was between my favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won in seven games, and the Yankees, perennial American League champs, would not see the series again until I was in college – in Cincinnati – against the Reds.) My feet developed a form of athlete’s foot, cracking the skin in between and under my toes. The doctor – I am sure the same one that diagnosed an ulcer – said that it was the first time he has seen it since he had returned from the Korean War and called it “Jungle Rot.”

My Dad tried desperately to help my circumstance and ease the itching and pain. He did what he thought a Dad was supposed to do – provide the right kind of medicine. His choice was a concoction available at the time called Merthiolate. It was a mercury-containing substance that was once widely used as a germ-killer. Merthiolate poisoning occurs when large amounts of the substance are swallowed. Or when the skin is exposed to small amounts constantly over an extended period of time. Instead of cracks in my skin, I now had the essence of severe burns – totally raw feet. I missed over two months of school.

a new director

That spring, finally back to my second-grade class, I was sitting in music class one afternoon. We were singing a song called “Let a Smile be Your Umbrella” in preparation for the spring concert. I knew the song because it was a song on one of the myriad of Mitch Miller albums that were a part of my grandfather’s record collection. The teacher was working with the girls and I was subconsciously keeping rhythm by keeping the beat the way Mitch Miller used to lead his men’s chorus.

“What are you doing?”

I had no idea what I was doing. I was a pleaser – I didn’t want to be doing anything wrong.

“What are you doing?”

“Directing like Mitch Miller?” The teacher agreed and in the spring concert a little seven-year-old boy “directed” the combined second grade choirs for the performance.

sing along with mitch

For years the only song played on the radio from Mitch Miller’s two Christmas albums was this song, Must Be Santa. The song features the voice of Leslie Uggams. Leslie was just 17 in January of 1961 when she became the only female cast member of “Sing Along with Mitch.” At the time she was the only African-American performer on network television. NBC and its sponsors took a hit from the South, but the show was such a success that soon the issue of the talented singer’s skin color was not even discussed.

Sammy Davis Jr. later said that Uggams was incredibly special. “Everyone identifies with her. The first great step has happened with her … Leslie’s bridged a very important space.”

Today I listen for this song, and if I do not hear it, I play it on my computer.

And I smile.