What Are Good Christmas Songs? 5 Festive Favourites Compared
Are you hanging up a stocking?
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What makes good Christmas songs? Is it pop? Rock? Gospel? So many artists have rallied together to have their shot at the Christmas No.1, but are they any good?
Key Information About Christmas Songs
- Christmas carols focus on on religious and historical themes. Whereas modern western Christmas songs span genres such as rock, pop, soul and even punk; helping to reach wider audiences.
- Good Christmas songs tend to focus on nostalgia. Looking at winter, family celebrations, gift giving and togetherness as themes.
- A song’s popularity is largely driven by chart success, but realistically the song’s longevity overtime determines its overall success.
Good Christmas Songs by Type
Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) – The Darkness
For our first pick of good Christmas songs, we’re with The Darkness for this slice of early 2000s rock! With an unmistakable Thin Lizzy-style guitar harmony intro, this one has it all.
So, why does this make the list? For most of us rockers, we don’t usually like the traditional carols and the like. However, this one slips through the net and is a breath of fresh air. Sure, it still has all of the Christmas imagery; it even has a children’s choir to sing the final chorus.
Pumped full of Marshall drive and *Custom Les Pauls, you could listen to this at any time of year. Oh, and we can’t ignore that it is in Drop D. Merry Christmas, you filthy animal!
Lonely This Christmas – Mud
From upbeat, jovial rock to something a little softer. This Mud classic tries so hard to emulate Elvis that it’s comical. Despite this, the track really does highlight a depressing reality of Christmas that we all want to avoid.
While many festive tunes celebrate togetherness, Mud really focus in on the darker side of the season. Being alone during the most wonderful time of the year. The simple chord progression and swung feel do the job perfectly. I mean, can you imagine all of the loneliness, and emptiness, and an unlit Christmas tree?
Although sombre in feel, this has become one of the most memorable Christmas songs out there. It is a genuine and powerful attempt at a Christmas hit.
I Believe In Father Christmas – Greg Lake
Right, enough of that. Cheer up! Now it’s time for a nostalgic trip to when we were kids. Well, depending on your age. This one really captures that childhood excitement of the festive period. I’d also argue that it’s the guitarist’s favourite.
Another entry from the 1970s, Greg Lake’s attempt reached No.2 in the charts. Likewise, there is a deeper meaning with this track: honing in on the loss of childhood innocence when it comes to Christmas. A want the end of commercialisation of this holiday period. Oh, Greg, that’s only got worse.
There is a real magic about the instrumentation in this song. From the twin acoustic guitar parts in the intro to the epic timpani percussion. The whole track is one giant crescendo in the key of D. Musically, it’s complex, but we don’t even realise. As far as good Christmas songs go, this is up there.
All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
Good Christmas songs are sometimes just outright pop successes. This 1994 hit holds the record for the most time spent at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100! It’s always battled with Wham’s Last Christmas, but Mariah Carey seems to be in the hearts of many.
Unlike a lot of songs in this look of good Christmas songs, this is a very complicated track. Firstly, it’s in the key of G major, plus a few drops into Eb. Therefore, it is extremely hard to sing, so much so that Carey usually performs this live a couple of semi-tones lower for vocal ease. Moreover, the band behind the track are on fire! Just listen to the bass line and the awkward timing of the 50-second intro. It’s a hard one to get right.
Overall, though, this song has become the most associated with the holidays. From the Celesta intro to that big, long note at the end, this is guaranteed to have everyone boppin’ around the Christmas tree.
Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade
Concluding our look at good Christmas songs is this typical Dad Rock favourite. It could just be a UK thing, but Slade’s 1980 hit is always guaranteed to have everyone singing and on their feet at the work’s Christmas party. Even Janet from HR likes to let loose.
Lyrically, this just about captures all of the usual festivities: hanging up stockings, waiting for family, hoping for snow, all of the good stuff. Musically, it’s your typical 1970s/1980s glam rock band kind of thing. Bridge pickup, big chords, massive vocals.
There isn’t much to say about this one. Aside from this Christmas song, Slade gigs are full of bald middle-aged men in band t-shirts and leather jackets. That’s not a bad thing! It’s just great to know that, through this song, they’ve reached a global audience.
Conclusion
Overall, good Christmas songs are all around us. Every year, we get them out to defrost and stick them in our playlists. Sure, there are some bad ones, but they’re all great, really, because we associate them with everything else that goes with Christmas time.
Honourable Mentions
- Last Christmas – Wham!
- Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon
- Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid
- Fairytale of New York – The Pogues
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Further Information
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