Most recent additions to the Great Christmas Songbook?
December 21, 2022 10:04 PM Subscribe
What would folks say are the most recent Christmas songs to have become standards on/near the level of "White Christmas", et al (i.e. performed by several bands/singers and not just associated with a single act)?
Plonkee's question got me thinking: what would folks say are the most recent additions to the Great Christmas Songbook, i.e. Christmas songs that have become standards to be tackled on many (or at least several) a Christmas release? (I'm thinking in terms of songs that have become covered by multiple singers/bands (e.g. "Last Christmas") instead of being associated with a single singer/band ("Fairy Tale of New York"). Granted I'm not that familiar with the pop charts nowadays, but has there been anything after "All I Want For Christmas is You" (1994) that has become a Christmas Standard?
Plonkee's question got me thinking: what would folks say are the most recent additions to the Great Christmas Songbook, i.e. Christmas songs that have become standards to be tackled on many (or at least several) a Christmas release? (I'm thinking in terms of songs that have become covered by multiple singers/bands (e.g. "Last Christmas") instead of being associated with a single singer/band ("Fairy Tale of New York"). Granted I'm not that familiar with the pop charts nowadays, but has there been anything after "All I Want For Christmas is You" (1994) that has become a Christmas Standard?
has there been anything after "All I Want For Christmas is You" (1994) that has become a Christmas Standard?
Honestly? Nope, I don't think there has been. I don't have links for you, but I've seen "All I Want For Christmas Is You is the last big holiday hit" articles off and on for years now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:19 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Honestly? Nope, I don't think there has been. I don't have links for you, but I've seen "All I Want For Christmas Is You is the last big holiday hit" articles off and on for years now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:19 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Maaaaybe "You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch." Maybe.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:20 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by deludingmyself at 11:20 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
"What a Wonderful World" (Video is of Louis Armstrong singing, which was interesting to see.)
posted by amtho at 11:36 PM on December 21, 2022
posted by amtho at 11:36 PM on December 21, 2022
Feliz Navidad was written in 1970.
posted by amtho at 11:38 PM on December 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 11:38 PM on December 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
If we're throwing The Grinch out there we may as well drag in Gramma Got Run Over by a Reindeer..
posted by BoscosMom at 12:07 AM on December 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by BoscosMom at 12:07 AM on December 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
Christmas Time is Here by Vince Guaraldi.
posted by miles1972 at 12:54 AM on December 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by miles1972 at 12:54 AM on December 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
Isn't "all I want for Christmas" just performed by one act? If you're willing to consider that one then I would say "Elf's Lament" should count as it is equally popular/common, at least in Canada. And I think it's more recent.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 3:25 AM on December 22, 2022
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 3:25 AM on December 22, 2022
This year, I’ve heard John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War is Over) covered by everyone from Andrea Bocelli to a boy’s choir.
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:00 AM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:00 AM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Nothing is on the level of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” yet, but honestly, that’s a high bar. The previous question asked about whether you’d be likely to hear a given song at a mall, and I suggested “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” by ‘N Sync. But that’s in no danger of becoming a standard, and I think the reason has to do more with how A&R works now than anything. In the Great American Songbook era, the R was as important as the A - you had artists, but they needed something to sing, and a lot of times the easiest way to find that was by finding songs that similar singers had sung. For a lot of the 40s/50s/early 60s songs (Christmas or otherwise), it’s trivially easy to find versions by half a dozen singers. That’s less true in the rock era, which has tended to emphasize the A more than the R. There was never a Rockist golden age where everyone wrote their own songs and played their own instruments, but even pop artists tended to want to individuate themselves. Coming back to ‘N Sync, they were a similar act to the Backstreet Boys - similar influences, same management even - but they and their people were careful to emphasize minor differences in branding. I’m not aware of either of the two acts ever singing a single song first sung by the other. They shared no repertoire. It’s hard to build a canon when everything is so atomized.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:14 AM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kevinbelt at 4:14 AM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
This is future-forecasting, but about 10 years ago Slate made a very good case for "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" becoming such a standard sometime in the future (if you don't recognize it, it's that song that was a Thing on SNL for a while, with Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz doing most of the musical heavy lifting while Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan did minimalist dancing). It's had two covers so far.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:16 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:16 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think that Feliz Navidad from 1970 is the most recent song that is widely covered by a range of artists, in the way that White Christmas is. As Silvery Fish notes, Happy Xmas (War is Over) may be going the same way, and that's from 1971.
There are a number of more recent Christmas songs, but they're still firmly associated with their original recording.
posted by plonkee at 4:20 AM on December 22, 2022
There are a number of more recent Christmas songs, but they're still firmly associated with their original recording.
posted by plonkee at 4:20 AM on December 22, 2022
Agree with kevinbelt on atomized audiences.
I don't have a memorized or easily available timeline for this -- I looked around for a couple of minutes, and the amount of crappy articles on this subject is impressive. Anyway, I think another key (heh) to this question is less "has it been covered" than "can an average person with singing ability sing it?"
Note: I'm not trying to shift the question, but to address the "Great American Songbook" factor, which I personally consider distinct from "Christmas Standards" sung by professional musicians. I think the songs that make it into the former tend toward simpler melodies and less lyrical variation from verse to verse, regardless of arrangement, instrumentation, etc., and generally demand a narrower vocal range to sing it passably than the "Christmas Standards" that can usually be handled by your 3+ octave types.
"All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" has been endlessly covered, and also sung by many people in general who have sung Christmas music. Feels like it meets both sets of metrics.
I have never heard a person who was not a professional musician sing "Do They Know It's Christmas" independently of karaoke, partially accompanying the radio, etc. Maybe a Christmas Standard, though it's so much of a time and place, I rarely hear it covered. Not Great American Songbook.
I love "Christmas Wrapping," and I will stop everything to sing along when it appears on a playlist or radio, but, again, have never heard someone spontaneously bust into it a cappella who wasn't on a stage or in front of a mic. Maybe a Christmas Standard, but not in the Great American Songbook.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" I have heard random people sing, and it's well covered. Feels like both to me.
I can't think of anything post-1994 that fits both sets of criteria. Perhaps others have different thoughts about that, or have had other experiences in terms of spontaneous a cappella-ing. Would be interesting to hear about Christmas standards in other languages and countries post-1994!
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:28 AM on December 22, 2022
I don't have a memorized or easily available timeline for this -- I looked around for a couple of minutes, and the amount of crappy articles on this subject is impressive. Anyway, I think another key (heh) to this question is less "has it been covered" than "can an average person with singing ability sing it?"
Note: I'm not trying to shift the question, but to address the "Great American Songbook" factor, which I personally consider distinct from "Christmas Standards" sung by professional musicians. I think the songs that make it into the former tend toward simpler melodies and less lyrical variation from verse to verse, regardless of arrangement, instrumentation, etc., and generally demand a narrower vocal range to sing it passably than the "Christmas Standards" that can usually be handled by your 3+ octave types.
"All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" has been endlessly covered, and also sung by many people in general who have sung Christmas music. Feels like it meets both sets of metrics.
I have never heard a person who was not a professional musician sing "Do They Know It's Christmas" independently of karaoke, partially accompanying the radio, etc. Maybe a Christmas Standard, though it's so much of a time and place, I rarely hear it covered. Not Great American Songbook.
I love "Christmas Wrapping," and I will stop everything to sing along when it appears on a playlist or radio, but, again, have never heard someone spontaneously bust into it a cappella who wasn't on a stage or in front of a mic. Maybe a Christmas Standard, but not in the Great American Songbook.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" I have heard random people sing, and it's well covered. Feels like both to me.
I can't think of anything post-1994 that fits both sets of criteria. Perhaps others have different thoughts about that, or have had other experiences in terms of spontaneous a cappella-ing. Would be interesting to hear about Christmas standards in other languages and countries post-1994!
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:28 AM on December 22, 2022
I cannot think of anything other than "All I Want for Christmas Is You." However, let's all come back 15 years from now and we can talk about Sia's "Snowman" and "Candy Cane Lane", Ariana Grande's "Santa Tell Me," and Kelly Clarkson's "Underneath the Tree." They're too new right now to be disassociated from their artists.
posted by kimberussell at 6:47 AM on December 22, 2022
posted by kimberussell at 6:47 AM on December 22, 2022
I have never heard a person who was not a professional musician sing "Do They Know It's Christmas" independently of karaoke, partially accompanying the radio, etc
When I was in high school at the Christmas assembly each year the graduating students would all sing a song together. Though the class could choose any song, it de facto alternated between "War is Over" and "Do They Know It's Christmas".
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:04 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
When I was in high school at the Christmas assembly each year the graduating students would all sing a song together. Though the class could choose any song, it de facto alternated between "War is Over" and "Do They Know It's Christmas".
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:04 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
As long as we are listing songs from the 70s, El Burrito Sabanero has been covered quite a few times, and made the Billboard top 100 Christmas songs of all time list.
“El Burrito Sabanero” has been covered by many artists, including Juanes and Aloe Blacc, but it’s the original 1972 release by children’s musical group La Rondallita that endures, almost 50 years later. A simple yet rhythmic Venezuelan folk song has become a timeless staple across Latin American countries and injects nostalgia every holiday season.posted by eckeric at 7:36 AM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears maybe? Wikipedia says it’s been covered in other countries and I’m sure I’ve heard covers of it over the years.
posted by jabes at 8:38 AM on December 22, 2022
posted by jabes at 8:38 AM on December 22, 2022
An episode of the podcast "Switched on Pop":
Why are there no new Christmas songs? One one hand, there's more holiday songs than we’ll ever need. Every year pop stars drop countless holiday-themed album.
But despite the annual glut of Christmas releases, few of these new songs join the rotation of holiday classics. On Billboard's Holiday Hot 100 chart right now, there's only four songs from the past ten years that have made it to the top fifty.
posted by ShooBoo at 1:15 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Why are there no new Christmas songs? One one hand, there's more holiday songs than we’ll ever need. Every year pop stars drop countless holiday-themed album.
But despite the annual glut of Christmas releases, few of these new songs join the rotation of holiday classics. On Billboard's Holiday Hot 100 chart right now, there's only four songs from the past ten years that have made it to the top fifty.
posted by ShooBoo at 1:15 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by PinkMoose at 10:16 PM on December 21, 2022