ADVERTISEMENT

OT- Non-holiday songs that are misappropriated as Christmas/ holiday songs

LadyRU09

All American
Jul 3, 2007
5,197
299
83
I'll start:

Ave Maria. It's a generic Christian song, not necessarily about Christmas.

What else?
 
River - Joni Mitchell. Absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking song.

Yes, River is beautiful. The first verse refers to Christmas, so I guess that's how it happened. And there is an apparent shortage of Christmas songs. One Philadelphia station plays Christmas music all the time this time of year, and and every three or four hours the same song comes around with a rendition by a different performer.

Other possibilities: Jingle Bells
Baby It's Cold Outside (as another poster noted, this song is a little creepy, e.g. "Say . . . what's in my drink?")

Although I am not a Christian, I would prefer the stations played more traditional carols e.g. We three kings of magi."


BTW, how do I get this type face to go back to normal??
 
Jingle Bells is pretty traditionally a "winter" song - just like Sleigh Ride and Winter Wonderland - that just gets a lot of play on or around Christmas. They're also all hugely popular as "Winter Concert" fare for public schools avoiding religious music.

Deck the Halls also often has no reference to Christmas specifically (depending on whether the song mentions Christmas or Yule).

Baby Its Cold Outside is actually from the film Neptune's Daughter (1944), which has nothing to do with Christmas - and actually centers a lot around swimming / pool themes, rather than winter/holiday ones. Doesn't look like it really started to get associated with Christmas until the 1990s.

Greensleeves also often gets lumped in with Christmas, though it has nothing to do with it. Probably because "What Child Is This?" is set to its tune, and people just associate that tune with the holiday. (Not really much recently, though)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RUgrad75
"On the Banks of the Old Raritan" isn't about football
Sinatra's "New York, New York" isn't about baseball
Emma Lazarus "huddled masses" poem isn't original to Statue of Liberty and was added 20 yrs later.
General Tso's chicken was made up in 1970s NYC and isn't from China.
"Danny Boy" was written by an Englishman

The list is very long for anyone needing to clean up the outlines of historical provenance. Don't strain those rotators reaching too hard lol
 
I never heard of anyone who thought "New York, New York" was a baseball song -- it's just one more song about how New Yorkers allegedly are better than anyone else.
 
You know, come to think of it, any song that doesn't specifically mention events described in the Bible is on some level misappropriated (based on elements adopted/taken from other cultures/religions). Pretty much everything from the Christmas tree to Santa to every decoration short of the nativity scene has nothing to do with "Christmas", per se.

So, "Jingle Bells" has about as much to do with Christmas (Christ's mass) as "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".
 
Somebody should tell that to those students in Ohio or are all up in arms over the lack of cultural expression in their cafeteria food.
^Oberlin folks are gonna be pissed when they see this. Or is it Oberman?
 
"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" lyrics makes no mention of Christmas or any other holiday.
 
Last edited:
Most of the songs cited in this thread at least are clearly set in winter. To me the biggest Christmas song "stretch" is My Favorite Things, from the musical The Sound of Music. By my count, the song cites exactly fourteen favorite things. Only four of them have anything to do with winter. And of course none of them have any direct linkages to Christmas. Yet the song is included in many Christmas albums.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LadyRU09
Most of the songs cited in this thread at least are clearly set in winter. To me the biggest Christmas song "stretch" is My Favorite Things, from the musical The Sound of Music. By my count, the song cites exactly fourteen favorite things. Only four of them have anything to do with winter. And of course none of them have any direct linkages to Christmas. Yet the song is included in many Christmas albums.

This is probably because The Sound of Music is frequently aired around Christmas. It's why some people associate King Kong with Thanksgiving, too.
 
Most of the songs cited in this thread at least are clearly set in winter. To me the biggest Christmas song "stretch" is My Favorite Things, from the musical The Sound of Music. By my count, the song cites exactly fourteen favorite things. Only four of them have anything to do with winter. And of course none of them have any direct linkages to Christmas. Yet the song is included in many Christmas albums.

Yep, came here to post this.

Transiberian Orchestra's "Christmas Canon" is also bullshit. It's just Pachelbel's Canon with "Merry Christmas" said over and over.
 
I've heard the Peanuts cartoon theme on holiday stations. I'm not talking about "Christmastime Is Here," just the plain old series theme.
 
I've heard the Peanuts cartoon theme on holiday stations. I'm not talking about "Christmastime Is Here," just the plain old series theme.
That one makes some sense, as that ubiquitous piece (formally known as "Linus and Lucy") made its debut on A Charlie Brown Christmas and the associated soundtrack album by the Vince Guaraldi trio. It is the dance music for the iconic Happy Dance. Schroder on piano, Pigpen on bass, and Snoopy on guitar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RUChoppin
Sleigh Ride has no mention of Christmas, and actually speaks of going to a birthday party at the home of farmer grey, not a christmas celebration.

Rock of ages is a big christmas song in our house.....but zero mention if xmas too!
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT