The most interesting Christmas songs around

This Christmas, The Boar team have a special treat for you, as they deconstruct the Christmas songs that stand out most to them. Here are some choice stocking-fillers below:

 

‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ – Josh Hatcher, Games

For the longest time ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ gave me the creeps. It’s one of those cosy Christmas classics that you can’t avoid, but the male voice’s insistence that his baby stay a little longer can seem at best grating and at worst predatory. At this point it seems to be the general consensus that this is the problematic holiday hit.

This view takes the song to be the story of a woman explaining again and again why she doesn’t want to stay any longer with her host despite the blizzards raging outside. “What’s the sense in hurting my pride?” the male voice sulks as he attempts to convince his baby to stay longer, entitlement sitting comfortably next to his heart on his sleeve. Later the female voice wonders exactly what is in her drink, and the suggestion that her host is slipping something illicit into her glass hangs over the rest of the song.

Is it just a creepy cat-and-mouse act, best left out of our Christmas mixes?

However, ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ can perhaps be a little redeemed by this line itself. “Say, what’s in this drink?” has been recognised by several listeners as a joke common to the period. Rather than implying that the woman is being plied with alcohol or drugged in order to force her to stay, the punchline is that there isn’t anything in her drink, but the suggestion affords her enough of a façade to excuse her desire to stay. Her protests return again and again to what her parents or siblings might think over any of her own wishes, to the social codes of the time that deny her agency in this situation and stigmatise her desires.

So: is ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ a playful duet that sees a woman subtly defying a society that simultaneously demands she suppress her own desires and avoid rejecting those of a man? Or is it just a creepy cat-and-mouse act, best left out of our Christmas mixes? Either way, the song’s tensions probably mean that this question won’t be put to bed anytime before Christmas night.

 

‘White Christmas’ and  ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ – Reece Goodall, TV

I’m not much into the Christmas season (that’s what comes of living in a house where it starts in August), but I do have a particular soft spot for Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’. The song is best known for its use in the eponymous film, a musical comedy from 1954, sung with the soothing voice of star Bing Crosby.

The song is simple and gentle, and conjures up an image of a long-ago Christmas, where old-fashioned values reigned supreme and happiness was what counted on the day – where the hope that ‘your days are merry and bright’ was what counted . In a world of obsessive present buying, where Christmas has become a chance to feud with your family and stuff your face, the image is one that we could all do with remembering.

They’re such modest little tunes that the impact is, I think, more powerful than much of the pop Christmas guff on repeat in every shop this December

On these lines, I also quite like ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’, and for exactly the same reasons. The Crosby vocals are there, as warm and as delicious as ever, and the song is charming. Again, it conjures up a Christmas of old, and a Christmas that sounds fairly ideal to me – one in which you’re happy, and ‘faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more.’

Sure, neither of them are particularly musically complex – they hark back to a different time in both style and message – but I think the simplicity is what makes them so effective and so memorable as Christmas songs. They’re such modest little tunes that the impact is, I think, more powerful than much of the pop Christmas guff on repeat in every shop this December.

Christmas is meant to be a time of togetherness, of warmth, of spending time with those you love, and no songs encapsulate these feelings better than the two I’ve described. Cosy up round the fire, pop on these songs, and have yourself a merry little Christmas indeed.

 

Mistletoe – Matt Allen, Comment

At the risk of hyperbole, I think it’s safe to say that Justin Bieber’s ‘Mistletoe’ is undoubtedly the best contribution to music this millennium. Contrary to the naysayers, of which there are sadly many, Mistletoe is a piece of musical artistry like no other.

“It’s the most beautiful time of the year”, the song opens – and it’s true, it is. Your boy Bieber taps into the emotions felt by all of us at Christmas time, and gives us a voice. And what a voice it is. Reassuring, cosy, and homely – it’s the vocal equivalent of soothing treacle.

Bieber is practically begging for it with the stripped down vocals, he’s asking to be sung along to

It’s just such a wholesome song. The fact is that the song is about togetherness (“shawty with you, youuu”), which is heart-warming! Furthermore, it’s a very cosy song as well. He’s talking about him and “shawty” (we don’t know who she is, but we can imagine she’s not very tall). The track’s got sleigh bells to lend it a sound that instantly feels Christmassy. Finally, similar to many Christmas songs, it’s a sing along – Bieber is practically begging for it with the stripped down vocals, he’s asking to be sung along to. And we do. We do sing along with him.

 

‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’ – Emma Johnson,  Deputy Editor-In-Chief

‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’ by Chris de Burgh is a sadly overlooked staple of the festive music cannon. This Johnson-family Christmas classic really knows how to make the most of a repeated dramatic crescendo. It will most certainly leave you and your loved ones unintelligibly screaming its chorus before settling back into the early-synth rhythms of the verses.

‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’ mixes all the family favourites; sci-fi, the baby Jesus, an omniscient narrator, wicked guitar riffs and the rhyming of the word “star” with the word “star”. The story is a simple one, yet there is untold complexity in the narrative. Where did the Spaceman come from? Who sent him? What is he wearing? Did he register with customs and the appropriate local bodies after halting his craft? We may never know.

The Christmas appeal of this song is so potent that I advise you to only listen to it once each festive season

However, it does answer the age old question of “What if the Angel Gabriel was actually an astronaut and the star in the sky was a spaceship?”. Well wonder no more, festive friends! Often forgotten beside the likes of “White Christmas” and “All I Want For Christmas”, this song has numerous entrancing covers. Want to hear the Gregorian chant version? Well you can! Fan of a more acoustic vibe? YouTube has you covered.

The Christmas appeal of this song is so potent that I advise you to only listen to it once each festive season. Much like brandy, it is a pleasure to be enjoyed in small doses.

So here’s to the marvel that is Chris de Burgh, and the only Christmas song that will have you’re grandmother shouting “crank it up” shortly before she falls asleep in her armchair at 8p.m. Merry Christmas everyone, and happy listening.

 

‘Christmas Lights’ – Jill Lupupa, Travel

In what seems an oxymoron, Coldplay’s ‘Christmas Lights’ focuses on the joyous, festive décor of Christmas lights whilst Chris Martin hums out sombre lyrics of a broken heart.

The opening conflict of what seems to be a lover’s fight, a string of tears, and poison already sets a solemn scene for what should be a joyous time of year. Martin sings about the “chandeliers of hope” they are holding onto when struck with the Christmas blues. Light piano notes introduce the song, a sound like fluttering, dainty snowflakes.

In typical English fashion, there is a lack of snow in the song, which is set in London, to diminish any chance of getting into the Christmas spirit. This sombreness is, however, a trait of a band known for their all-round melancholy.

…any doom and gloom is gone as all troubles are in the past, with thanks to the power of the Christmas lights that, in fairy tale fashion, keep shining on

Things do take a positive turn after the bridge of the song, as the lyrics “how I always loved you darling / And I always will” send the heart soaring, and the track begins to touch upon optimism. Martin sings of an imagined reunion with his lost love, wishing for the festive time of year to “bring her back to me” and release him of all his troubles, making this the perfect idyllic Christmas ballad and fit for a firework or two.

By the end of the track, happiness seems to be restored and any doom and gloom is gone as all troubles are in the past, with thanks to the power of the Christmas lights that, in fairy tale fashion, keep shining on. The same soft piano notes from the intro are used to fade out the song in a slower pace, so gently, sweetly and romantically.