BY SAMUEL COTTELL
Each year December rolls around and the feeling of Christmas creeps in (or, if you happen to step foot into a shopping centre, it seems to happen around October, but I won’t get into that now). It is the period of time known as the ‘silly season’, filled with Christmas cheer, tinsel, lights and that awkwardness of trying to wrap presents without actually sticky-taping yourself to the wall (or maybe that’s just me…?). Besides that, we are also present with the endless playing of Christmas tunes. From loudspeakers in public places to our home stereo systems, through our headphones or from that local Salvation Army brass band and their umpteenth chorus of We Wish You A Merry Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas (especially the whole tree part), and in particularly Christmas music. But I begin to wonder why I love some versions of Christmas songs, and why I loathe others. I find it remarkable that one version of Jingle Bells can put you in the brightest of spirits, while another can send you on what I like to call a ‘festive rampage’ in which you may or may not visualise a sword fight with a candy cane (again, maybe that’s just me). Alas, I digress: I was simply wondering what makes one version of a Christmas song so lovable or so annoying.
Many of us grew up listening to Christmas songs, and we’ve all seen those famous Christmas movies. So what is that makes a Christmas song so great that we listen to it every year a dozen or so times? Fear not: here at CutCommon, we’ve done the digging for you and come up with the five elements that make a good Christmas tune, so that you too can go in search of the perfect festive track for your playlist.
- It has to have a message we can relate to
Christmas means something different to everyone, but it is the one time of the year that we can come together and spend time with friends, family or loved ones. We certainly know a Christmas tune when we hear one, and we can tell right away that it is Christmas time. It was hard to pick a song that had the most universal message, so here I picked It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Christmas. It’s about the beginning of the Christmas season and lists all of the things that make Christmas. I think we can relate to these points in the song, no matter who we are. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Soon the bells will start. But, the thing that will make them ring…is the carol in your heart.” Because we are all different, a Christmas tune has to appeal to all of us and this tune talks about a general feeling of Christmas, but to each of us it is personal. Here’s Michael Buble’s version.
- It has to make you have that ‘feeling’ of Christmas, with a touch of nostalgia
And, of course, you have to let the song make it feel like you are in the North Pole or New York City to give us that warm, fuzzy feeling. Here in Australia, Christmas is a hot occasion, and nothing fulfils this better than thinking of snow and fireplaces and Christmas lights as we stroll down that famous street in NYC as snowflakes start to fall from the sky (are we there yet?). Well, when Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), it was a sweltering hot July afternoon in 1945 and Torme saw a little poem on Bob’s piano. When Wells finally walked in the room, dressed in tennis shorts and a T-shirt, Torme asked him about the little poem that read: “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like eskimos”. Wells explained: “It’s so damn hot today, I thought I’d writing something to cool myself off. All I could think of was Christmas and cold weather”. The image of chestnuts was a memory from Wells’ childhood in Boston, when there’d be vendors on street corners at Christmas, serving up paper cones full of roasted chestnuts. “I think you might have something here,” Tormé said. Sitting down at the piano, he flashed on a melody idea for the opening lines. Wells grabbed his pad and pen, and the duo was off and running like a bobsled down a snowy hill. It was recorded by all the top artist of the day, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and was a smash hit.
For extra listening, check out Dean Martin singing Walking In Winter Wonderland:
- It generally helps if it is performed by a classy musician
We’ll avoid the Andre Rieu Christmas DVD this year, unless you’re at my house and my Pop has it on repeat. I think we have established that Christmas tunes are great, but it also helps when they are performed by world class musicians who just know how to do it. Most artists have released a Christmas album (Kylie Minogue has one, and I recently saw a Justin Bieber Christmas album in the $2 sale bin at Big W). However, the tradition of releasing a Christmas album started in around the 1940s/1950s when record companies knew they could get a commercial hit out of tunes that everyone loves (remember, I mentioned the whole universal message thing earlier). The iconic performers of this time all recorded Christmas albums. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole. They have immortalised the humble Christmas tune and as stand-alone recordings, they are great! I had a lot of trouble in picking one of the best, so here is Ella Fitzgerald singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town from her iconic and swingin’ album Ella Wishes You A Swingin’ Christmas.
- It has to have a classy arrangement and orchestration
In their raw from, Christmas tunes are pretty simple. There’s a few complex ones, but they generally are a few chords (I, IV and V) and a simple melody. It’s those arrangements and orchestrations by the greats that we have come to love and have become ‘standards’ in their own right. When Frank Sinatra recorded his Christmas album in 1957, he knew the importance of the arranger and how to encapsulate the feeling of Christmas. He called on Gordon Jenkins, who he thought had the best approach for this style (it set the standard for all Christmas albums that followed). Without these great arrangements (and, of course, the great performers), these tunes might be a little dull. Here is Natalie Cole performing The Christmas Waltz with the London Symphony Orchestra (it’s those lush strings and a choir that work every time. There’s even a hit on of Ravel in there!).
- It has to have bells. In every. Single. Bar. Jingle all the way!
Bells are the essence of Christmas music. They are the tinsel to your tree, the stuffer to your stocking – and when it comes to a Christmas song, you can never have too many bells. In fact, on every single beat of every single bar of music, you can never have too many bells! Oh, and did I mention the bells? Check out this iconic version of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Bells from start to finish. And the great thing about bells? We can all play them.
So, there you have it, folks. The top five checklist for a top Christmas tune to get you through the rest of the silly season.
Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday- see you in the New Year! xoxox
Bonus Christmas spirit:
We all secretly love a bit of Andre Rieu; he ain’t that bad, and after all, it’s Christmas. So, here he is (bells and all) doing a swell job of Jingle Bells.
What’s your favourite Christmas carol? Let us know in the comments below.
Image Amanda Munoz via Flickr/CC2.0.
