Is there a holiday song for which you harbor an irrational hatred? Here’s why I’m asking. I received Faith Hill’s Christmas album, Joy to the World, in the mail a few weeks ago but held off listening to it until yesterday. (I blame the snowflakes I saw in Happy Valley, PA last weekend with weakening my resolve to wait until after Thanksgiving.) It turns out, I kinda hate "Joy to the World." Nothing against Faith (who does particularly lovely versions of "Away in a Manger," "Silent Night, Holy Night!" and "O Holy Night!," by the way), but I just can’t get it up for a song that is neither as sweet and/or stirring as those previously mentioned, nor as naughty as Elvis’ "Santa Claus is Back in Town" (which I still maintain is the sexiest holiday song ever). The only people I actually want to hear sing "Joy to the World" are Clark W. Griswold, in Christmas Vacation, and my sister, who sings those four words sarcastically whenever the Bierly family Christmas takes a turn for the worst.
So, which holiday song can’t you stand? My mother refuses to listen to "The Christmas Song," even when Nat King Cole is singing it. That’s just wrong.
More on holiday songs:
100 Great Christmas Bummers
Must-Hear Holiday Tracks
Worst Christmas Songs Ever!
Favorite Christmas Karaoke Songs
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I don’t know if this counts since it’s not a traditional Christmas song, but I cannot STAND Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time.” Atrocious.
I also loathe everything that Manheim Steamroller has done to perfectly good Christmas carols.
I don’t have any that I necessarily hate, but there is one that I wish I wasn’t attached to: “Last Christmas.” It doesn’t matter what version. The lyrics are the verbal equivalent of a wet noodle. But I admittedly end up singing it gleefully throughout the season.
I have a bit of an aversion to “Sleigh Ride,” but only because we played it endlessly in my high-school band and the French Horn part is basically four pages of oom-pahs.
OH! I can’t believe I forgot Celine Dion’s glorious contribution to holiday songs: “Gawd Blesh Ush Ev-uh-ry-wurne.” If you don’t understand the latter half of my previous sentence, then I successfully proved my point.
1. “Christmas in Hollis” – It may be classic hip hop, but it’s tacky and annoying. This means that any other hip hop xmas song is bad, too.
2. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – This song is just in poor taste. It makes me cringe every time I hear it.
I echo the loathing for “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmastime” and raise it with John Lennon’s version of “Happy Xmas(War is Over)” Yoko’s voice in the chorus is PAINFUL
Mariah Carey… “All I Want for Christmas is You”. I just heard it yesterday and wanted to vomit.
so this is christmas- ugh
simply having a wonderful crhistmas time -yuck
I hate the nana getting boffed by the reindeer. There is no such thing as a bad Nat King Cole, or Rat Pack christmas song. The greatest bad christmas song is “Father Christmas” by the Kinks. Joy, greed and honesty all wrapped up in an excellent beat.
Aw, come on! Manheim Steamroller ROCKS!!! And so do all those cheesy ’80s Christmas songs like Bryan Adams “Reggae Christmas” and Billy Squier “Christmas is a Time to Say I Love You.”
It’s not a “traditional” Christmas song, but I hear it every year: The Chipmunks’ Christmas Song. Drives me insane. A friend of mine got married last December and played a lot of Christmas music at her reception. When Alvin & Co. started up I thought I would kill her.
Um… all of them? Since they now play Christmas music in all retail locations from Halloween to Valentine’s day, I officially hate it all.
I know what you’re thinking: would I just stop already? But I have just one more, one that I used to love as an 8-year-old, but now in adulthood I look back and cringe. That holiday song is “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses.
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.
I can’t say anymore.
I’m a Christmas song lover, but…I can’t stand that Paul McCartney song…and Ave Maria, it’s just so loooooong…
I HATE THIS SONG!! “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”
Hate hate HATE Mannheim Steamroller. And apparently I’m the only one here who actually enjoys the trifle that is “Wonderful Christmastime” (take a listen to the B-side, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae” sometime, though…)
Oh come on, Dennis! That Waitresses song is my favorite! How can you hate that??! You must’ve been too young to fully appreciate the ’80s Christmas genre.
And by the way, I LOVE Wonderful Christmastime. As a matter of fact, I’m listening to it right now.
If anyone pah-rum-pum-pum-pums within earshot, i shudder. Even Bowie. I so want to love Bowie & Crosby’s version, but when they get to the pah-rum-pum-pum-pum part, I have to turn it off.
I’ll second “Sleigh Ride” (another band nerd), Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime” and will add “Feliz Navidad” to the list.
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” has got to be the all time WORST excuse for a Christmas song ever!!!! — I actually tune to a different radio station whenever I hear it and any of it covers.
I cannot stand any of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music. Ugh! It’s as if they’re trying to pound the crap out of it. All I hear is noise. Also, I live in the south so every radio station plays the gawd-awful “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” at least 50 times a day. I can’t escape it!
Not to hate on the late Dan Fogelberg, but I always have to change the station when his song comes on (can’t even think of the name of it). It’s just too depressing.
I hate “It’s the Most Wonderful time of the Year”. I have no idea who sings it, but it makes me want to stick a spoon in my eye.
“Its the most wonderful time of the year”
and I will nth the “simply having a wonderful christmas time”
McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” is definitely NOT wonderful. I also hate “The Little Drummer Boy” because it goes on and on and ON. Ditto “Do You Hear what I Hear.” I’ll second “Feliz Navidad” because Taco John’s has co-opted it for their commercials, which play endlessly. (Right now, I’m hating the “Six-Pack and a Pound” which is guaranteed to air twice every commercial break.)
I also hate “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” although I usually find myself singing along with a chorus or two before coming to my senses and changing the station.
I also hate “Ave Maria,” although I actually enjoy John Denver’s version. And, okay, the only version of “Deck the Halls” that I really want to hear is the one on “A Christmas Story.”
My sister likes to torture me with “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” I don’t care if it was recorded for charity. Uggh.
I’ll also nominate “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time.” My sister blasts that one too.
Let me start off by saying I’m a total Christmas song dork. I’ve even got a Christmas playlist that’s going on my MySpace the day after Thanksgiving. That being said, there are some Christmas songs I absolutely loathe. They’re mostly the ones that are supposed to tug at your heartstrings, but actually make me want to run for the nearest trashcan. Christmas is an emotional time anyway, who needs a bunch of overwrought schmaltz on top of it?
*Anything by Mannheim Steamroller
*Anything by Mulberry Lane (this really putrid girl group who puts out some of the most nonsensical songs known to man, but they have “Christmas” in the title so they still get airplay around the holidays)
*Olivia Newton-John’s Christmas song–can’t remember what it’s called
*Some song I think is called “A Cup of Christmas Tea”–don’t recall the artist, but it’s uberschmaltzy
*THE CHRISTMAS SHOES!!!
(My list is so specific because one of the local stations plays nothing but Christmas songs all through December, and we listen to it at work. The crappy-song-to-good-song ratio is about 3:1.)
The freaking Little Drummer Boy.
Pah-rum-pum-pum-pum my @$$.
Worst song lyric ever, and it’s repeated a million freaking times.
Runner-up: I know it’s a novelty song, and I don’t even know how widely it’s played, but Dominick the Christmas Donkey is really annoying, and the accent, fake or not, is slightly insulting.
P.S. I listen to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You all year round, and I’m Jewish. I love that song to death.
christmas bells, especially the electric guitar version. Bleh!