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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2006 > December > 18 > Entry
What are the best and worst Christmas songs?
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why: Christmas posts are coming to town.
Yes, the big day is coming fast, and since my post about the must-see Christmas movies went over so well, I thought I’d make this whole week Christmas-y. Today’s topic: the best and worst Christmas songs ever.
I may be stepping outside of the cinematic parameters of this blog a bit, but not by much. So many of the great holiday tunes come from movies, like the aforementioned “White Christmas” from “Holiday Inn,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from “Meet Me in St. Louis” and so on. In fact, those are two of my favorites right there.
As for least favorites, that’s a hot topic in the blogosphere. Just today, a site called Retrocush named Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” as the worst yuletide tune ever. As a major Macca fan, I take umbrage at that. Sure, Paul’s song is dippy, but I find the repeated “I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas” and “Feliz Navidads” of that Jose Feliciano tune FAR more annoying. Ay yi yiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
(However, in the interest of being a good sport, I will give credit to this site for saying ‘the instrumentals in (McCartney’s song) makes it sound more like ‘A Clockwork Orange Christmas Time.’” That’s pretty funny. And hey, it’s a movie reference!)
All that said, the one Christmas song that makes me reach for the off button faster than any other tune is “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” by Elmo & Patsy. I’d like to destroy each and every copy of the song, use the master tape as a skeet shooting target, and put Elmo and Patsy in cold storage, just to make sure they don’t inflict anything else on us. Humbug!
Also coming up this week: The best scenes from Christmas movies, and the best Scrooges and Santas. So get your thinking caps on, but for now tell me: what are your favorite and least favorite holiday tunes? Comment away!
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Ask the Audience
Comments
By Hillary
December 19, 2006 1:36 AM | Link to this
“I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” by Gayla Peevey is my favorite. But I’m also a big fan of (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays. Worst thing about Christmas songs: Remakes of “I’ll be Home for Christmas” that change the lyrics from ‘presents ON the tree’ to ‘BY the tree’ or ‘UNDER the tree’. Drives me nuts!By Erica
December 18, 2006 10:01 PM | Link to this
One of my favorite Christmas tunes is “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Totally fantastic and fun Christmas song, even if it doesn’t actually mention anything about Christmas, winter or the holidays in general. As for one that drives me crazy, I’d definitely have to agree with Retrocrush on “Wonderful Christmastime.”