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Christmas Music...

Started by thenetwork, December 17, 2024, 09:59:43 PM

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thenetwork

Another week to go this Christmas season and we all have our favorites as well.as the certain songs that make you want to to destroy your radio or listening device.

I'm not here to talk about the proverbial songs you hate, but I'm just curious about one song that has for the most part been re-imagined since it's humble beginning and I want to know if others agree with me.

The traditional "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" song was nice little ditty of a Christmas Tune with a nice melody...

...Until artists like The Pointer Sisters and Bruce Springsteen changed up the chorus a bit (repeating "Santa Claus....to town" multiple times) making it sound like it came off a Broadway show.

To me, the post-80s version sung by the Pointers and The Boss, among others, has never been as good as the original versions of the song.  Doesn't help that the modern version seems to be the one they overkill on stations that play Christmas tunes.

Does anyone else agree or disagree?  It's like someone who has to personalize their version of our National Anthem at a sporting event -- they sing the lyrics, but they have to change or hang onto certain notes longer or shorter than the "traditional version".



Rothman

So, this thread is just about the one song?  Strange thread title for that.

Any version's fine with me.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Henry

Quote from: thenetwork on December 17, 2024, 09:59:43 PMThe traditional "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" song was nice little ditty of a Christmas Tune with a nice melody...

...Until artists like The Pointer Sisters and Bruce Springsteen changed up the chorus a bit (repeating "Santa Claus....to town" multiple times) making it sound like it came off a Broadway show.

To me, the post-80s version sung by the Pointers and The Boss, among others, has never been as good as the original versions of the song.  Doesn't help that the modern version seems to be the one they overkill on stations that play Christmas tunes.
Blame the Jackson 5 for starting this trend in the early 70s.

Also, The Christmas Song was another charmingly simple song with a straightforward plot ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose...") and a heartfelt greeting at the end, but then someone got the bright idea of repeating said greeting several more times ("Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to you"), and it lost any sentimental value that the original version once had. As with Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, the stations that play the newer arrangement tend to overkill it compared to how Nat King Cole performed it. Just say it once and get it over with.
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Max Rockatansky

Eight hours of my wife forcing me to listen to Christmas music going/returning from Solvang has me burnt out. 

thenetwork

#4
Johnny Cash once said, "It's not cool to kill on Christmas. But if you must, make it the guy who sings "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer".  Thanks, and Have a happy holiday..."

https://youtu.be/9ZmQq2TJH7g?feature=shared

My sentiments exactly.

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mgk920

My worst 'holiday' earworm is 'Wonderful Christmastime' by Paul McCartney.

 :banghead:

Mike

english si

Quote from: thenetwork on December 17, 2024, 09:59:43 PMThe traditional "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" song was nice little ditty of a Christmas Tune with a nice melody...
I'm not sure nice is the right word for the song, when you look at the sinister words and ignore the merry tune.

It's full of threats about this creeper: "you better watch out!" "he sees you when you're sleeping"

You've even got to disguise negative emotions (fear, anger, sadness) towards the mean moralist - it's not 'no need' to cry or pout, but 'you better'. Threats again, rather than joy is coming.

It's also not 'be good, or don't get presents / get a lump of coal', but 'be good - for goodness sake!' the singer is imploring you to be good, or else something horrible will happen. Is this song about Santa, or about his Germanic mirrors like Krampus or Belsnickel that give punishments to the naughty as he gives gifts to the nice?

GaryV

And if Santa really knows who's naughty or nice, why didn't he know Rudolph was being bullied?

SectorZ

Bruce Springsteen sounds like he's on the toilet straining in his version.

Fitting for a guy who gave us "cut loose like a deuce" in an early song of his.

PColumbus73

Quote from: mgk920 on December 18, 2024, 10:34:18 AMMy worst 'holiday' earworm is 'Wonderful Christmastime' by Paul McCartney.

 :banghead:

Mike

I heard that song come on in a TJ Maxx and I immediately had to flee the store

LilianaUwU


Of all the versions of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town... I think my favorite one is the one by YouTuber jschlatt.
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Big John

Simply having a two-derful...

SectorZ

Quote from: mgk920 on December 18, 2024, 10:34:18 AMMy worst 'holiday' earworm is 'Wonderful Christmastime' by Paul McCartney.

 :banghead:

Mike

I've heard a worse version of it. In 2000 there was a Christmas album from the casts of NBC shows. Walmart, where I worked at the time, had recently wallpapered the store I was in with giant overhanging CRT TVs all over the place running endless ads for whatever. The ad for that release was a bunch of them from The West Wing singing the McCartney song and they somehow made it worse.

Somehow I found it to re-trigger the bad memories, and my bad memories can now be all of yours.



kurumi

There are a couple of Tiktok versions of "Sleigh Ride" (one just repeats the first 8 beats over and over again; the other has chipmunk vocals) that have rocketed to the top
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JoePCool14

The Drifters' version of White Christmas ruins the song for me.

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Stephane Dumas

It might be worth to mention that now classic Christmas song featuring David Bowie and Bing Crosby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCpXMy5GalI

The Monkees did a cover of The Christmas Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05rUSARpr4g

Bryan Adams-Christmas Time-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amk7AiEI43I

"Driving Home for Christmas" by Chris Rea is a Christmas song who desserve to be more popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDt3u2Ev1cI

Big John

Sleigh Ride by the Ronettes is the only one that does it for me.

Henry

The other night, I watched the remake of Miracle on 34th Street (the one with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson in it), and I recognized one of the songs as basically a slowed-down version of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. Although Dionne Warwick is a fantastic singer, and I love everything she ever did, this is the one dud for her, although it's not her fault. Listen to the song, and you'll see that they took the far more superior Johnny Mathis recording and altered it to fit her range, which was a terrible move, and I'm not sure Mr. Mathis would've approved of it.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Molandfreak

Quote from: JoePCool14 on December 19, 2024, 01:42:11 PMThe Drifters' version of White Christmas ruins the song for me.
That is a good cover to me; it takes a slow crooner classic and transforms it into a fun doo-wop tune. Certainly more creative than the aforementioned trend of speeding up Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which is already an upbeat swing tune.
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PColumbus73

The one Christmas song I enjoy is Carol of the Bells

1995hoo

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thenetwork

Quote from: Stephane Dumas on December 19, 2024, 01:48:50 PMIt might be worth to mention that now classic Christmas song featuring David Bowie and Bing Crosby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCpXMy5GalI

The Monkees did a cover of The Christmas Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05rUSARpr4g

Bryan Adams-Christmas Time-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amk7AiEI43I

"Driving Home for Christmas" by Chris Rea is a Christmas song who desserve to be more popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDt3u2Ev1cI

As far as the Bowie/Bing version of Little Drummer Boy goes, thank goodness there isn't a half dozen of so copycats that have transformed the traditional song like they did making it the new *definitive* version of the song.

You know how to piss off Mariah Carey?  Have Taylor Swift remake All I Want For Christmas Is You note-for-note, and see how quickly Mariah's holiday self-proclaimed "Queen Of Christmas" moniker goes down in flames as her version's popularity vanishes into thin air!!!

wanderer2575

I was stuck in the dentist chair the other day when "Feliz Navidad" came over the radio.  I wanted to grab a sharp implement and stab myself.

What little Christmas music I listen to on my own is instrumental.  Mannheim Steamroller Christmas (their first Christmas album and their best, IMO) and the Vince Guaraldi Trio's original recording of the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas are at the top of my list.  I liked the '80s-era Windham Hill new age compilation A Winter's Solstice and I'm sorry that I misplaced the CD years ago.

Quote from: PColumbus73 on December 19, 2024, 09:13:37 PMThe one Christmas song I enjoy is Carol of the Bells

There's the mashup of "Carol of the Bells" with "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66M8NwkRmew

thenetwork

Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 19, 2024, 10:21:50 PMI was stuck in the dentist chair the other day when "Feliz Navidad" came over the radio.  I wanted to grab a sharp implement and stab myself.

Hey, that was only 3 minutes.  Try waiting for someone in a waiting room for 30+ minutes while their TV is playing Mariah Carey's FULL Christmas Concert!  Happened to me yesterday!



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