{"id":32551,"date":"2021-10-27T13:13:33","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T19:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/?p=32551"},"modified":"2024-08-03T14:39:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T20:39:11","slug":"christmas-music-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/christmas-music-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Songs That Are Not Christmas Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music is pretty forgiving stuff. As one loyal listener to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kringleradio.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Kringle Radio<\/em><\/a><\/strong> recently told us, \u201cWhat else besides <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music can take you from country to jazz to rock to choral in under an hour?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But artists abuse the flexibility of <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music by including <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> songs that are not, at least in their original intent, <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest abuser of this most recently is Pentatonix. In 2016 the acapella group released <em>Hallelujah<\/em> as part of their album <em>A Pentatonix <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LRP8d7hhpoQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We admit \u2013 it\u2019s a great song and the performance is spectacular. But it is not a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song. It is a song about a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/sneaking-christmas\/\">love<\/a> gone wrong. There is nothing <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> about it. Zip.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That being said, <em>Hallelujah<\/em> was previously reimagined as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song. The words had to be changed entirely to do it. Check it out:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r_501eXm57M?si=xPGlVkUOCrnD-NKm\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Musically \u2013 it is the same song.<\/p>\n<p>But one is a non-Christmas song you get on a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> album. The other is a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song you can only access on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>Go figger.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music has a long history of such abuse. Consider for example the most famous <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song of all time: <em>Jingle Bells<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The song was written in 1857 and first performed for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/sneaking-christmas\/\">Thanksgiving<\/a> celebration. It does not mention <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> once in its famous lyrics. At it\u2019s core, <em>Jingle Bells<\/em> is about a singularly American thing: driving fast and picking up girls.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not about <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>How did <em>Jingle Bells<\/em> then become a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song?<\/p>\n<p>Back in the day sleighing was a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> sport. In fact, James Lord Pierpoint, who wrote the song, said he was inspired to write the song due to his nostalgic memories of sleighing at <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sleighing was so prolific during the 19<sup>th<\/sup> century that when the song came out it was embraced not only for its easy-to-sing tune but also because young and old could identify with the song as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> activity.<\/p>\n<p>You could argue, in a 21<sup>st<\/sup> century sense, that \u201cbells\u201d have long been a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> theme.<\/p>\n<p>With movies and books like the <em>Polar Express<\/em>, that makes some sense.<\/p>\n<p>But bells were not the thing then that they are now in terms of <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> symbolism.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the argument could be made that <em>Polar Express<\/em> likely could not have been made without <em>Jingle Bells<\/em> having given bells their <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> identity.<\/p>\n<p>Take for example the song <em>Carol of the Bells<\/em>. It was originally a non-Christmas song that was, ironically, sometimes performed around the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>In 1916, a Ukrainian composer by the name of Mykola Leontovich was commissioned to write a song based on Ukrainian folk melodies.<\/p>\n<p>Using the simple four note melody the song told the hopeful story of a swallow flying into a home to proclaim a bountiful new year for the family living there.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine, just as most Russian and European governments of the time, was in upheaval.<\/p>\n<p>The government there was trying to promote Ukrainian music in major cultural centers of the West. Touring across Europe and North and South America a Ukrainian chorus performed more than 1000 concerts featuring this song.<\/p>\n<p>The song was first performed in the United States in October of 1921 to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall.<\/p>\n<p>It was there that it was heard by famed American composer Peter Wilhousky, who felt the haunting tune reminded him of bells \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> bells, in fact. Wilhousky, just as we saw with <em>Hallelujah<\/em> above, repurposed the song, gave it new lyrics and then started performing it at <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> concerts.<\/p>\n<p>Here we are now nearly a century later and the song is only used in a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> context on albums, in movies and perpetually part of <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> concerts.<\/p>\n<p>Again, this is nothing new.<\/p>\n<p>George Handel\u2019s <em>Messiah<\/em> is performed these days at <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> time like it was made for the season. Only it wasn\u2019t. It was written for Easter and, thankfully, that beautiful work still gets some <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/sneaking-christmas\/\">love<\/a> during that Spring season.<\/p>\n<p>Messiah, or more specifically, the <em>Hallelujah Chorus<\/em>, gets <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/sneaking-christmas\/\">love<\/a> because it is a religious work. \u201cFor Unto Us a Child is Born\u2026\u201d is about as Christmasy as it comes.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, we are also seeing a trend where classic Christian hymns are being included more and more on <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> albums.<\/p>\n<p>When Home Free started their <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> tour in November 2016 they had just gone viral with their video of <em>How Great Thou Art<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tXQpDDcrN-w\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>All over social media \u2013 and even here on MyMerryChristmas \u2013 folks raved about <em>How Great Thou Art<\/em> as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song.<\/p>\n<p>And why not? It is a song in praise of God. What do we think the heavenly host was doing when they announced Christ\u2019s birth to the shepherds? Songs of praise are <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music.<\/p>\n<p>Guess who agreed? Pentatonix.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, in a deluxe release of a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> album, guess what song they included? Yup, <em>How Great Thou Art<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music can be sneaky that way.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for example, the song <em>My Favorite Things<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This song is most commonly associated with <em>The Sound of Music<\/em>, for which it was written. Although it was not written as a holiday song, there were lyrical references to sleigh bells, snowflakes, silver-white winters and brown paper packages tied up with strings.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, you could, in theory, get away with it as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song in the same way that <em>Winter Wonderland<\/em> and <em>Baby It\u2019s Cold Outside<\/em> are considered <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> songs.<\/p>\n<p>But check this out.<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, Julie Andrews, who would become famous for singing the song years later in <em>The Sound of Music<\/em>, sang this song for a Garry Moore TV holiday special:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FpKJJBDpUdM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>The Sound of Music<\/em> came out in 1964 but the song <em>My Favorite Things<\/em> continued to show up on <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> albums in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a notable example in a rare video of the song from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass\u2019 only <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> album:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NQoZJLy8utw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Many today continue to share <em>My Favorite Things<\/em> as <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> music: Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and\u2026you guessed it\u2026Pentatonix.<\/p>\n<p>Well, it\u2019s 2021.<\/p>\n<p>New <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> albums are coming out. Including a new one, like clockwork, from Pentatonix.<\/p>\n<p>Look at what they are calling a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> song now:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m4VGPIZ_wwo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now, if you&#8217;ll excuse me, I need a <a href=\"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-20-years-of-the-merry-forums\/\">Christmas<\/a> movie. I think I will go watch <em>Die Hard<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas music is pretty forgiving stuff. As one loyal listener to Kringle Radio recently told us, \u201cWhat else besides Christmas music can take you from country to jazz to rock to choral in under an hour?\u201d But artists abuse the flexibility of Christmas music by including Christmas songs that are not, at least in their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":108,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[904,902,440,901,903,156],"class_list":["post-32551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-music","category-christmas-news","tag-cloverton","tag-herb-alpert-and-the-tijuana-brass","tag-home-free","tag-julie-andrews","tag-kringle-radio","tag-pentatonix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}