There are lots of great Christmas songs.  I could probably write more than a few articles about my favorite songs.  Of course, there is the greatest-selling song of all time, White Christmas by Bing Crosby.  An unexpected hit, it was one of many Bing Crosby songs featured in the film Holiday Inn.  In the movie, Bing’s character opens up an Inn, that only is open for holidays.  The film features a specific song for each respective holiday.  Easter Parade was the song for Easter, Let’s Start The New Year Right for New Year’s, I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For for Thanksgiving, and so on and so forth.  While White Christmas was written for the film, another song was anticipated by the movie studio experts to be the expected big hit from the film.  Be Careful, It’s My Heart was the Valentine’s Day song in the film, and was thought to have that hit quality.

 

In between the time that the movie was actually filmed and its release date, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  The film was quickly re-edited, adding a few more patriotic scenes.  Suddenly, White Christmas took on a slightly different meaning than its original intention.  Instead of merely being an homage to a crisp, cold New England Christmas Day, it became a daydream of simpler times.  The times before WWII came to America’s shores, before the youth of America was being drafted into war.  It came to encapsulate the romantic notion of being safe at home for a nation that was about to send its sons and daughters to Europe and the Pacific.  With north of 50 million physical records sold back in an era of much less population and wealth, it was a massive blockbuster, and became a worldwide phenomenon. 

My personal favorite Christmas song is Nat King Cole’s A Christmas Song.  For me, there is something about the picture this song paints that seems to describe the perfect Christmas scene.  I’ve had chestnuts roasted on an open fire, and I genuinely dislike the taste very much.  But I still will try to eat them each holiday season, as the smoky, rich, smooth voice of Nat King Cole convinces me once again that this chestnut treat epitomizes the perfect holiday snack.  

 

My personal favorite Christmas album is The Sinatra Christmas Album, featuring The Christmas Waltz.  Every year in my childhood, my dad would either put Brenda Lee’s Christmas album, for Frank Sinatra’s Christmas album, on the antique hi-fi record player, as we put up the tree.  Sorting the branches of the artificial tree, trying to get the pedestal perfectly level, putting the branches up, then the lights, ornaments, and garland.  There were newer ornaments, then some homemade wooden ones, and then the most precious one, ornaments that came from the old country, from Poland.  Those were fragile, I was not allowed to touch those.  Under the tree, was a little Christmas village.  All the while, first we would hear Brenda Lee sing Rocking Around The Christmas Tree, and then the smooth sounds of The Voice, Francis Albert Sinatra as he sang A Christmas Waltz, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, and all the rest.  

 

I seriously could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about my favorite Christmas songs.  Dean Martin and his Marshmallow World or Baby It’s Cold Outside.  Johnny Mathis lending his dulcet tones to Sleigh Ride or Do You Hear What I Hear.  I guess I am partial to older artists, as a fan of that era of music, but I also think Christmas lends itself to the nostalgia of the bygone era.  The reminiscence of a happier and simpler time, a warmer time in our memories for a cold time of the year, makes the older artists more appropriate.  So yes, count me as a fan of all those classic Christmas songs from artists that otherwise do not appear very often on our musical radar the rest of the year.  Perry Como, Andy Williams.  Bobby Vinton.  Ray Coniff Singers.  Yes, I am a fan of all of them.

 

However, my Christmas music listening is not entirely monopolized by old crooners.  I love Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney.  Celebrating the simple pleasures of the holidays, being with friends and family for a nice dinner, I think Sir Paul’s song is underrated in its simple genius.  I’ll listen to All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey.  Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus is Coming To Town.  Stevie Wonder’s What Christmas Means To Me.  Darlene Love’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Wham’s Last Christmas, Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas, Band Aid’s Do They Know Its Christmas.  Barenaked Ladies even have a couple of Christmas songs I love, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and an original, Elf’s Lament.  I feel as though I could list 100 Christmas songs, newer or older, that I love.

 

But my heart belongs to the crooners, and to the modern crooner of Michael Buble.  I am very much a Michael Buble fan, and love his non-Christmas music very much.  I’ve seen him three times in concert and he does not disappoint.  I love his regular hits: Haven’t Met You Yet, Home, Everything, Feeling Good, etc.  But this is a Christmas article, and Buble has a Christmas album.  Surprisingly, only one album, as his songs fill the airwaves this time of year, it sort of seems like he must have multiple albums.  Like Pentatonix or Mannheim Steamroller do, but no, Mr. Buble only has the one holiday album.  It just seems as if every song off of that album gets a significant amount of airplay.  Although, I honestly think the best song on the album is on that does not get enough airplay, if any airplay at all.  It’s an original song, Cold December Night.  The album, released in 2011, often returns to the top 10 in album sales each and every Christmas season.  It also led to an almost annual tradition of having an hour-long Christmas TV special every year on NBC.