Christmas music can either fill you with the joys of the season, or send you screaming into the night with your hands clamped over your ears. A lot of that has to do with your attitude toward the yuletide season. Some of it has to do with the wide spectrum of quality of the Christmas songs themselves, particularly ones from pop singers. Even with great seasonal tunes, it’s often a case of over-familiarity, when the spirit of the season becomes more of a quagmire as you race to finish your last-minute shopping while a song you may have once loved but now despise rings in your ears.
To help address this problem of Christmas music that’s seriously overstayed its welcome in your psyche, here are 20 great Christmas pop songs that don’t get nearly enough play. Some of them are odd. Some are at very least unexpected given who’s singing them. Some are particularly great takes on old favourites. Others are underrated original gems. Whatever the case, add these to your playlists accordingly, Christmas fans!
***
Must be Santa by Bob Dylan
Few could have predicted that Bob Dylan would put out a straight-up Christmas record. But in 2008, he did just that in the form of his Christmas in the Heart album. “Must Be Santa” was the single, complete with a video of Bob and St. Nick hanging out and getting festive with this rollicking polka jam. And when you think about it, Christmas songs are folk music, learned by ear and passed down the generations. As such, festive music like this is right up Bob’s alley.
Listen: Must Be Santa
Jólakotturinn (Christmas Cat) by Bjork
This Christmas song is based on Icelandic poet Jóhannes úr Kötlum’s tale about a bestial cat who eats old clothes and sometimes the children in them who are without new Christmas threads thanks to bad behaviour. Recorded in 1987 and sung in Icelandic, leave it to Bjork to add a bit of mortal terror to the rich tapestry of Christmas mythology while sounding appropriately wintry at the same time.
Listen: Jólakotturinn (Christmas Cat)
Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight) by Ramones
At Christmas, we just want to bask in the joy of the season, not trade barbs with our baby. Recorded for 1989’s Brain Drain record, Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Marky help us to stay focused on the whole good will toward all vibe. In this case, they do so accompanied by sleighbells, chimes, and requisite buzzsaw guitar.
Listen: Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)
This Christmas by Donny Hathaway
With everything Donny Hathaway sang, he gave his all. And no less for this cut, “This Christmas”. This is a single he cut in 1970 that followed up his hit “The Ghetto”. It would later become a classic of the season, but one that isn’t heard nearly enough today. On this song, Hathaway’s voice is like that of an angel we have heard on high.
Listen: This Christmas
Jesus Christ by The Decemberists
A 2017 cover of Big Star’s 1978 original, The Decemberists remind us of the reason for the season — or at least one of the primary reasons, anyway. With their down to earth and organic delivery, the result is something akin to a warm fire on a cold winter’s night.
Listen: Jesus Christ
Silent Night by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Just because the night is silent, holy, calm, and bright, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be funky, too. Mistress of ceremonies Sharon Jones along with her Dap Kings ensure that very result here. Featured on 2015’s Holiday Soul Party, the much-missed Ms. Jones and the band accentuate the blues as they tell the Christmas story on this traditional song in their own unique and soulful way.
Listen: Silent Night
What Child is This? (aka “Greensleeves”) by John Coltrane
Saxophonist John Coltrane’s playing is infused with spiritual grandeur and tumult on A Love Supreme and other classic records. Here, he applies that same intensity to the Christmas carol “What Child is This?”, a hymn set to the tune of “Greensleeves” and recorded live by Coltrane and his quartet in 1961. Coltrane’s soprano saxophone takes us right into that starlit town of Bethlehem with angels wheeling overhead.
Listen: What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
A Spaceman Came Travelling by Chris DeBurgh
Speaking of that scene in Bethlehem, Chris DeBurgh’s 1976 take on the Christmas story takes on a decidedly science-fiction sheen. Here, the Christmas angel is actually a traveler from another world, his ship lit up like a star floating overhead for shepherds and wise men to see. As out there as that might seem, this is one of DeBurgh’s most affecting songs with a hauntingly wordless chorus that suggests the hopefulness of the season.
Listen: A Spaceman Came Travelling
Three Ships by Jon Anderson
The title track of his 1985 almost-Christmas record 3 Ships (there are non-seasonal cuts on there, too …), Yes vocalist Jon Anderson lends his unique set of pipes to this traditional holiday number. His voice suits the material very well indeed even amidst the very 1985 production — at least in part because of the symbolic (and inscrutable!) nature of this song’s lyrics is similar to a lot of Yes tunes!
Listen: Three Ships
The Holly & the Ivy by Kate Rusby
British folk singer Kate Rusby delivers this slice of pagan-informed holiday cheer as featured on her 2008 record Sweet Bells, one of several Christmas albums she’s recorded. Singing in her own Yorkshire accent, and accompanied by accordion and acoustic guitar, she employs an alternate version of the tune, of which there have been many. But that voice. Rusby could be singing from the Barnsley phone book (“what’s a phone book?”) and we’d be drawn in, yet we’re glad she’s singing this beautiful and slightly mysterious Christmas carol instead.
Listen: The Holly And The Ivy
It’s Christmas, But it’s Not White Here in Our Town by Kishi Bashi
As much as the season is associated with snowfall and sleigh rides, for many that’s not a reality. Despite differences in climate from region to region, what remains is the connection we have to people near us. In 2012, Kishi Bashi wrote this song for a Kickstarter backer who lives in Florida, with the idea that music of the season can connect us to each other no matter where we are. Christmas can be magical even if your town is known more for jet skis than jingle bells.
Listen: It’s Christmas, But It’s Not White Here in Our Town
December Will be Magic Again by Kate Bush
Art rock innovator Kate Bush presents an original and epic-scaled spin on the holiday single, this one released in November 1980. Here she namechecks Bing Crosby and St. Nick, while presenting a song that is uniquely her at the same time; a wintry, whimsical, romantic, and ethereal Christmas card from a singular artist. She performed this song on her 1979 Christmas special televised on the BBC, on which this was the sole Christmas song.
Listen: December Will Be Magic Again
Frosty the Snowman by Fiona Apple
A solid holiday favourite, it’s perhaps unexpected that Fiona Apple could deliver it with such joyfulness here on this 2003 cut. As an artist, she’s more known for her intensity rather than her holiday spirit. Yet, she demonstrates her incredible stylistic range as a vocalist here with jazzy inflection that could have come from any era and with no sign of irony anywhere to be heard.
Listen: Frosty the Snowman
Never Felt Like Christmas by Lizzo
Lizzo speaks for many as she sings about the freedom of kicking traditional holiday obligations to curb in favour of a night in. If not for the love of another that activates the magic of the season, that is! As usual, her voice is the sound of positivity and life-affirmation itself, only made brighter by the yuletide vibe heard here on this December 2020 tune.
Listen: Never Felt Like Christmas
Maybe This Christmas by Ron Sexsmith
Singer-songwriter with a magic touch for melody Ron Sexsmith infuses this original holiday tune with his own personal brand of optimism; a kind of prayer of goodwill that’s entirely believable in its sincerity. This song is featured on the 2002 compilation album of the same name that includes contributions from Bright Eyes, Coldplay, Neil Finn, and others.
Listen: Maybe This Christmas
Everything is One Big Christmas Tree by The Magnetic Fields
Full of ukulele strum with vocalist (and writer!) Stephin Merritt’s normally Eeyore-like voice sounding virtually effusive here, this tune from 2010’s Realism album is just the one you’ll want in your head this year. Come for the tunefulness, stay for the verse sung in German. Also, it includes some useful holiday advice for those resistant to seasonal gatherings: if they don’t like you, screw ‘em.
Listen: Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree
Riu Chiu by The Monkees
Singing in close harmony as a foursome and in Spanish no less, The Monkees’ take on this traditional folk song dating back to the Renaissance is a singular holiday treasure. Their version first appeared in The Monkees TV show — a 1967 episode helpfully entitled “The Christmas Show”. It was later released on record, included in 1990’s Missing Links. Vol. 2 compilation. Their rendition is a ghostly and beautiful take on the Christmas story, while demonstrating The Monkees’ tight musical connection, too.
Listen: Riu Chiu
In the Bleak Midwinter by Cyndi Lauper
Known for her effervescent and sassy pop voice, Cyndi Lauper delivers this melancholic Christmas favourite with subtlety and grace. A highlight on her 1998 holiday release, Merry Christmas … Have a Nice Life, Lauper croons this elemental tune of hope and light coming out of the harsh fury of winter, revealing her formidable skill as an interpretive singer.
Listen: In The Bleak Midwinter
Love Came Down at Christmas by Shawn Colvin
An interpretation of Victorian-era poet Christina Rossetti’s verse, singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin recorded this song for her 1998 Holiday Songs & Lullabies album. The central idea that drove that album was the act of singing a child to sleep on Christmas eve. That’s the effect here for all of us, with Colvin’s voice like a warm blanket comforting us as we lay in our beds, feeling the love that ties us all together, especially at this time of year.
Listen: Love Came Down at Christmas
Joy by Tracey Thorn
Christmas connects us with the people in our lives we love the most, and with the childhood wonder of the season that’s needed more than ever in an uncertain world. Singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn explores this idea on this original song of hers — an expression of Christmas joy to light up the darkness. It’s featured on her 2012 Tinsel and Lights record, on which Thorn covers similarly contemporary holiday songs from Sufjan Stevens, Randy Newman, and others.
Listen: Joy
***
Runners up and Bubbling under
- Taking Down the Christmas Tree by Low
- Father Christmas by The Kinks
- Little Altar Boy by The Carpenters
- Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas by EELS
- Christmas Must Be Tonight by The Band
- Christmastide by Tori Amos
- Soul Cake by Sting
- Jingle Bells by Michael Bublé
- Merry Christmas Baby by Otis Redding
- Space Christmas by Shonen Knife
- Ding Dong by George Harrison
- The Night Santa Went Crazy by “Weird” Al Yankovic
- Thanks for Christmas by the Three Wise Men (XTC)
- Twelve Days of Christmas by The Joseph & Mary Chain (Futureheads, Field Music, etc.)
- Soul Santa by Brook Benton
- Shepherds by Bruce Cockburn
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by She and Him
- That Was the Worst Christmas Ever by Sufjan Stevens
- Donna & Blitzen by Badly Drawn Boy
- Where the River Meets the Sea by The Muppets with John Denver
***
Christmas music can be a double-edged sword, especially those of the pop song persuasion. With every favourite holiday song comes a bunch of tunes you’d happily never hear again. But the field of seasonal tunes is a broad one. There are plenty of gems out there across the stylistic spectrum just waiting for you to discover them — many of them off the beaten track beyond Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey, and the other usual suspects.
Whatever your musical preferences or your relationship to the holiday season in general, may you experience your own version of peace on earth and goodwill to all this year and into the New Year, too.
