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Christmas songs that sound like non-Christmas songs

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    Christmas songs that sound like non-Christmas songs

    Having had the "pleasure" of hearing Whigfield's abysmal cover of Last Christmas on several occasions today (oh, the joys of working in retail), it sounded like it was going to turn into Set Adrift On Memory Bliss at any moment, which would have been preferable in the same way that winning the lottery is better than being shot in the face.

    #2
    Elton John's "Step Into Xmas" sounds much like the rest of his stuff from that year.

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      #3
      It's got that Christmas tambourine/bells sound going on, so that's Christmassy.

      Fairytale Of New York and Stop The Cavalry are not really Christmas songs. The latter mentions Christmas tangentially, so its inclusion on lists of "greatest ever X-Mas songs" irritates me.

      And if you remove the seasonal lyrics from them, standards like White Christmas or The Christmas Song don't really have a Christmassy feel either, other than our association of them with Christmas. Try it with White Christmas on karaoke:

      I'm going, to the greengrocer
      just like I do 'most every day,
      where the spuds are rotten
      and peas forgotten
      and swedes all mashed up on the floor

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        #4
        If you remove the words about Christmas from Christmas songs they are no longer Christmas songs? You have to have sleigh bells?

        What about carols? Take all the words out of "Away in a Manger" and it's just a bit of organ music

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          #5
          Originally posted by G-Man View Post
          Fairytale Of New York and Stop The Cavalry are not really Christmas songs. The latter mentions Christmas tangentially, so its inclusion on lists of "greatest ever X-Mas songs" irritates me.
          Stop the Cavalry mentions Christmas and was a major hit at Christmas 1980, so I think it qualifies. As for Fairytale of New York, it bears the oft-repeated line 'the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day', so how isn't that a festive tune?

          Both songs tell stories not especially associated with the season, but nonetheless applied to it. Another is 2000 Miles by The Pretenders. They all count - it doesn't all have to be about Santa Claus, snowmen, holly and ivy, etc.

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            #6
            Peter And The Test Tube Babies' "I'm Getting Pissed For Christmas (Just Like The Rest Of The Year)".

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              #7
              All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit only utilises the Christmas part in a titular reference to the 'AIWFCI me two front teeth' song.

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                #8
                Xmas songs often have a big chorus and hook, which the sleigh bells then enhance. The ballads began as a specifically Forties thing connected to the war: nostalgia for peacetime Xmas. Jonah Lewie backdated his to the First World War. Macca somewhat jumped on that formula with Pipes of Peace, which is in the latest Chart Music podcast; entered the chart at Xmas but No. 1 in January.

                But you can turn a singalong or ballad into a Xmas song just through the lyric. Slade's anthemic hit builds on the formula of their four previous Number Ones. Roy Wood already had a template in See My Baby Jive and the Phil Spector Xmas album, and he was the British Spector in production terms. I still think Elton John did the least musical tinkering with his usual formula; just sprinkle some Xmasy overdubs.

                Sometimes a romantic ballad gets a Xmas association just from when it was released: e.g. The Power of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Flying Pickets cover of Yazoo.

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                  #9
                  Add East 17's Stay Another Day to the latter list.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                    If you remove the words about Christmas from Christmas songs they are no longer Christmas songs? You have to have sleigh bells?

                    What about carols? Take all the words out of "Away in a Manger" and it's just a bit of organ music
                    Well, yeah, exactly. It's all about association.

                    And I'd say "Away in a Manger" is more children's rhyme music than organ music.

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                      #11
                      Does The Stranglers' Don't Bring Harry count as a Christmas song? It was released in late November 1979 and had a turkey on the cover.

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