As the holiday season rolls around, stores are filled with Christmas apparel and the air is full of festivities. But as the loft of spices fades and your eyes adjust, you hear it, those thirteen bells begin to chime, indicating that the most overplayed and iconic holiday song of the modern age is about to play. Yes, you guessed it: “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey. The infamous Lovecraftian horror fills the air and you start to hear the person next to you hum the melody; you can run but there is no escape. It’s December, and Mariah Carey has found you.
Music has been rightfully called “the universal language” for ages. People who can’t speak English listening to songs in English and vice versa. This is extremely apparent in the December of 1914, Christmas Truce. According to The Imperial War Museums, during WWI, the “British Expeditionary Force heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs and saw lanterns and fir trees along their trenches” (The Real Story of the Christmas Truce).
That does beg the question… What is the best Christmas song?
After all, on Spotify alone the original song by Mariah Carey has 1,985,171,724 listens. If this were a popularity contest this would be the clear victor. However, we are looking for the song with the best “ring”. So, after finding a massive sixty-eight-song playlist made by Spotify I began listening. Before we do that, however, I should mention the listening device I’ll be using:
A pair of Grado SR60x’s with an accompanying Fiio K11 DAC.
-Honourable Mentions-
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams
“Silver Bells” by Bing Crosby & Carol Richards
“My Favorite Things” by Tony Bennett
“O Tannenbaum” by The Vince Guaraldi Trio
V – The Nutcracker, Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
A wonderful complex and classic symphony with the accompanying songs providing a vivid story through music.
IV – Carol of the Bells – John Williams
Again symphonic with a lovely flow surprisingly provocative in its storytelling.
III – Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
Needing no introduction, a classic to be sure.
II – Jingle Bells 1999 Remaster – Frank Sinatra
However, not the oldest is the most iconic classic in this list. While not as popular, it is truly one of the greatest ever made.
I – Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
From the time of Elvis a classical rock song that to this day is highly renowned. The song currently has 1,074,771,445 listens. It’s not hard to see why it is truly a wonderful song.
So this Christmas, don’t forget about these songs among the sea of “All I Want for Christmas is You.” While I only had space for five songs, they are, in my opinion, gems. The next time you hear one of them, remember how the holidays are meant to bring us together, no matter the conversations had at the dinner table or the music we put on for the background.
Now, where were we with that Lovecraftian horror story?
