Action Mary Calls the Tune: A List of our Favorite Holiday Music
It's the season for music. Whether it's a traditional Christmas carol or a modern Holiday rocker, music moves our emotions, brings memories and reflections, and gets the party started.
Your faithful Action Mary team has come up with a list of their favorite traditional and modern holiday songs. The selections prove we're a team of rank sentimentalists. It also shows we have a lot of heart.
Chelsea: My favorite modern Christmas songs are "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Mariah Carey and "Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande. My love for pop divas is showing!
I honestly love all Christmas carols, so it was hard to choose just one. The two that stand out are the songs I grew up hearing at Christmas Day mass such as "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Both of these carols remind me of being a kid and spending time with family at church.
Alexa: For my Christmas carol I have to pick “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby. It’s my all time favorite. It always reminds me of sitting by the fire in my childhood home and hanging out with my family. As far as a more modern take on Christmas music, I like a lot of covers like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Michael Bublé. I am also a big fan of country music and enjoy “Glow” by Brett Eldredge. I usually have a mix of classic Christmas songs, covers, and Christmas songs by country artists on rotation during the holidays.
Melanie: Ditto on "White Christmas”! I just love Bing’s baritone. I also love the hopelessly romantic end scene from Holiday Inn where, after moving from the big city for the country, Bing is all set to be lonely for life. Luckily, Margaret Reynolds (as Linda) realizes where true happiness lies, and she returns to Bing and they sing White Christmas together. The song is a double entendre – first about wishing someone well even when they’ve broken your heart, and then imagining a future of merry and bright Christmases with someone you cherish. How heart-wrenchingly emotional is that? On the modern side, I love “Last Christmas” by George Michael. There’s a trend here. This song is also about being heartbroken at Christmastime, pining for lost love while being hopeful about new love. The subtext is, how long does new love last? Is love just transitory? There’s something bittersweet in the song given that it became a hit while he was still in the closet. So, there he is singing about love when he is unable to fully express his own. It’s not a super complicated song, but it’s a classic because it’s a catchy, ultimately upbeat tune that everyone can relate to.
NOTE: "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby is the best-selling song of all time with more than 60 million copies sold or downloaded. Also, it's one of the most covered songs of all time, with more than 500 artists taking a stab at it. For a fantastic cover, check out the version by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters. It is absolutely heartbreaking.
Patrick: My favorite carol is "Ave Maria." There have been many thrilling renditions of this traditional hymn through the years. My favorite modern Christmas song is "Run Rudolph Run" by Chuck Berry. Best line? “Said Santa to a girl Child, ‘What would please you most to get?’ A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet!”
NOTE: Patrick isn't kidding about the many great versions of "Ave Maria" readily available on wax, CD, or digital. You won't be wasting time by checking out the stunning version by Barbara Streisand and the soulful and honest version by Stevie Wonder.
Robin: For me, it's all about Vince Guaraldi. His version of the traditional song, "What Child is This?" is wonderful. "Linus and Lucy" is a now a jazz standard and instantly calls up memories of Christmas past. Both are from the marvelous soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas. On the modern side, I love Madonna's version of "Santa Baby." And I have a fondness for Adam Sandler's hilarious "Hanukkah Song."
Melanie: Oh Robin, Adam Sandler??!!
Robin: Hey! That song was for kids like me! "Dreidel, Dreidel" just doesn't cut it.
Heather: As "untraditional" as I purport myself to be in many areas, I LOVE traditional Christmas music. It transports me to a little snuggly sentimental cocoon that the rest of the year's routines and preoccupations don't touch.
My favorite traditional Christmas carol has to be "O Holy Night.” It immediately conjures up memories of watching Kevin walk into the church in Home Alone, only to be approached by his "scary neighbor" who of course smiles and says, "Merry Christmas!" This scene exists as an allegory to remind us that we sometimes see things as we are (paranoid, distrusting, fearful), and not necessarily as they are (not as big and scary as we make them out to be!). It reminds us that things and people are often much better than we imagine. So, the song is attached to nostalgic childhood movie memories, feel-good-Christmas-season-symbolism, and the song itself is a beautiful combination of choral voices singing just the right harmonic progression to hit a special spot in my brain!
And sorry, I'd be lying if I say I have a Favorite Modern Christmas Song! To me Christmas is all about the time-honored Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" and Handel's "Messiah." They deliver the combo of the cozy Christmas cocoon, hauntingly beautiful music, and childhood memories of Christmas Eve dinners at the grandparent's and getting dressed up in my patent leather Mary Jane's to go downtown to the Nutcracker ballet.
Jameelah: I love "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole and rollicking version of "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Jackson 5. Two other favorites are "Let it Snow" by Boyz to Men and the lovely "This Christmas" by the great Donny Hathaway.
Shawn: Not sure I have a favorite carol, but my favorite rendition of a Christmas song is when the goddess Grace Jones sang "Little Drummer Boy" on PeeWee’s Playhouse. It’s unexpected, well done, and a definite counter-culture moment in time.
NOTE: Christmas music is rife with unexpected, head-scratching mash ups. Check out Bing Crosby and David Bowie throwing down their own version of "Little Drummer Boy." Trust us, you won’t be disappointed.
Pat: OK, I am a huge choral music nerd and probably have more Christmas music than any other genre, so it is really difficult to choose. Here are a few that I have to hear every year or it’s just not Christmas:
· “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) – Nat King Cole (of course)
· "Huron Carol” – Chanticleer
· “Ah Bleak and Chill the Wintry Wind” – Singers Unlimited
· “Little Tree” – Dale Warland Singers (based on the ee cummings poem)
· "Mary & the Baby/Jerusalem in the Morning” – Chanticleer[1]
NOTE: Pat is an actual chorister!
Bianca: Confession time - modern Christmas songs are not my jam. Give me the old school, romanticized holiday carols any day (edit, any day after Thanksgiving and before December 26th). My two favorite songs of all time are "White Christmas" and "Silver Bells" by Bing Crosby. I love "White Christmas" because it perfectly captures the nostalgia we have for the holidays, and the pure joy of waking up on Christmas day to see snow on the ground. I grew up in Pennsylvania, and the line from "Silver Bells," "it's Christmas time in the city..." reminds me of driving to NYC with my family to see the holiday lights and window displays. Ah, sweet memories.
Kasia: My Favorite Modern Christmas Song is "Glittery" by Kacey Musgraves and Troy Sivan. Am I allowed a second one? Because I also love "Christmas In Cabo" by Jessie James Decker. Honestly, it is hard to pick which one I like better. My favorite traditional Christmas song is "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas."
Tara: I really struggled to narrow down a list of my favorite Christmas tunes. I've concluded that my favorite traditional Christmas song is "Sleigh Ride," both the jazzy version by Ella Fitzgerald (which is featured in my favorite holiday movie Elf), and the Leroy Anderson version. Either way, I love that song. As for my favorite modern Christmas song, I couldn't decide between Michael Buble's rendition of "Jingle Bells " and "The Man With the Bag" by Kay Starr. Clearly, I'm someone who really loves a good jazz version of holiday song.
Roger: I love Christmas music and I have collected hundreds of great holiday songs over the years. But every year when the holiday season rolls around, I must listen to “Christmas” by the Posies. This lovely indie pop song by the legendary Seattle band speaks to the sadness that can sometimes overpower the holidays. It’s a rocking, upbeat musical jam that soars to greatness. For a traditional Christmas song, I always love “The Little Drummer Boy.” The two versions I have in regular holiday rotation are the Harry Simeone Chorale and the great Jazzman Duke Pearson’s version with some hot jazz drumming.
Lacie: I'm going to agree with Melanie. For a modern Christmas jam, I choose "Last Christmas" by Wham. George Michael has no peers when it comes to the emotion he puts into a song. I also love to hear "Underneath the Tree" Kelly Clarkson. For a traditional Christmas classic, I love Frank Sinatra singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and Nat King Cole crooning "The Christmas Son.” But, if I have to pick just one, I'd take "Silent Night." It always makes me and all the women in my family cry. Especially if it is accompanied by a sign language translation.
NOTE: Lacie and family aren't the only ones who have cried at a version of "Silent Night."
Composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber with lyrics by Joseph Mohr, it has been a popular Christmas song for more than 200 years. It was first recorded in 1905 and it is impossible to know how many recordings of the song exist. A list of great and popular singers that have recorded it includes Frank Sinatra, Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Weezer, and hundreds of other singers. In 1976, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, those famous producers of memorable children’s stories, released an animated movie of the song's 19th Century creation entitled Silent Night, Holy Night. A great version of the song worthy of seeking out is Simon and Garfunkel's "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night." Their 1966 song is a sound collage of the duo singing an elegant version of "Silent Night" against the backdrop of a news broadcast. And, if you love great holiday music check out the Temptations version of “Silent Night,” and feel your own tears flow.
All these songs bring out the full range of emotions that come with the season. The Action Mary Team hopes the joy of holiday music finds its way into your life this year.