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22 Dec 24 - 01:05 PM (#4213894) Subject: Most hated Christjas music From: Dave the Gnome All subjective of course as one man's meat etc. But I shall start the ball rolling Compared to Eartha Kitt's version, all other renditions of 'Santa Baby' are pants. Chris de Burgh's (known in our house as crispy burk) spaceman song just makes me shake my head in disbelief I've hated 'Away in a Manger' with a passion after sitting through umpteen school nativity plays Any more for any more? :-D |
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22 Dec 24 - 01:31 PM (#4213898) Subject: RE: Most hated Christjas music From: keberoxu I can live without "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". |
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22 Dec 24 - 02:09 PM (#4213901) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Wonderful bloody Christmastime. Give over, Macca... Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (little? "LITTLE"???) That terrible Yorkshire pub version of While Shepherds Watched Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas - I mean, "They said there'll be snow this Christmas, they said there'll be peace on Earth - "they"? WHO said?! Mistletoe and Wine (with children singing "Christian rhymes" fer chrissake!) |
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22 Dec 24 - 03:23 PM (#4213904) Subject: RE: Most hated Christjas music From: Doug Chadwick What a twat! I'm not familiar with that one. Do you have a tune to go with it? DC |
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22 Dec 24 - 03:31 PM (#4213907) Subject: RE: Most hated Christjas music From: keberoxu And then there was "Dear Santa, Have You Had the Measles?" |
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22 Dec 24 - 04:03 PM (#4213908) Subject: RE: Most hated Christjas music From: Helen No Doug, that is Guest, Groovy's autobiographical song, based on every single comment I have read by him/her/them on Mudcat. :-D My song for the list is Little Drummer Boy. par rump-a-pum-pum |
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22 Dec 24 - 04:17 PM (#4213909) Subject: RE: Most hated Christjas music From: GUEST,Ray Hate ‘em all - apart from this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N2o6MAxecA |
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22 Dec 24 - 04:28 PM (#4213911) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: JennieG Definitely "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus". Hate it with a passion. Actually, that goes for all the mawkish over-sentimental 'happy family' Christmas songs. Can't stand "Little drummer boy". Our son Stephen The Drummer loathes it. "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" is another, and the various follow-ups to it as well. Songs about winter but not about Christmas. That includes "Jingle bells", "Sleigh ride" etc. As for "Winter wonderland".... That will do for a start. Bah humbug, and thank you for listening. |
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22 Dec 24 - 04:39 PM (#4213912) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Stilly River Sage I'll offer a palate cleanser to GUEST, Ray's dreadful movie scene with a background story by David Pogue about Handel's Messiah. Though it's my impression that more people like than dislike this one. |
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22 Dec 24 - 05:29 PM (#4213915) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen Yes, JennieG, being in Oz it's not easy to relate to all the winter songs at Christmas. I don't think I have ever heard anyone sing The Little Drummer Boy and manage to drag it up out of the gloomy depths. The worst renditions are sung flat, with no feeling, no sense of rhythm, and really, really painfully slo-o-o-o-o-wly. Depressing! |
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22 Dec 24 - 05:46 PM (#4213918) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Sandra in Sydney I once saw snow! 30-something years ago a friend moved to Cooma & the weekend I visited was the week before the snow season officially opened, so we made a day trip to one of the resorts an' I saw a snowman!, an' we threw snow balls!! wot fun. Strangely enough my Sydney winter gear wasn't warm enough, so my friend lent me a winter jacket, & my leather soled boots were good for being pulled (briefly) over the snow, more fun, then we went home to a lovely fire. My sneakers were better for walking around. |
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22 Dec 24 - 07:32 PM (#4213923) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: JennieG Having just (finally!) gotten baby Jesus off to sleep, Mary was understandably less than thrilled when that kid turned up with his drum. |
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22 Dec 24 - 09:00 PM (#4213929) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen Funny! Although not funny for Mary. Sandra, I saw snow on the ground once at the aptly named Snowy Mountains many decades ago but I didn't see it falling. We arrived after it fell. |
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22 Dec 24 - 09:31 PM (#4213930) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,PHJim GUEST,Steve Shaw Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is one of my favourite Christmas songs. How can you hate a song with such beautiful changes as this? Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Nora Jones |
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22 Dec 24 - 09:37 PM (#4213931) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Guest Anything played in shopping outlets. The increased prices (read profits) are bad enough without the sentimental twaddle. Some seem to have their own specially written stuff saying how wonderful they are. Bah humbug!!!!!!!!!! |
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23 Dec 24 - 12:52 AM (#4213942) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Stilly River Sage That's a nice one, PHJim. (A local girl - she went to school at the University of North Texas, known for its excellent music program). |
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23 Dec 24 - 04:26 AM (#4213943) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome I must look up the Grandma got run over song. Sounds fun :-D |
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23 Dec 24 - 04:30 AM (#4213944) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Big Phil Any kind of Christmas music done by any "RAP" artist. |
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23 Dec 24 - 05:00 AM (#4213946) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Acorn4 Come Back, Ebenezer |
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23 Dec 24 - 05:35 AM (#4213947) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Hmm. I'd say that Nora almost made a silk purse out of a sow's ear there. All she has to do now is call in the piano tuner. ;-) To get quasi-philosophical about all this, I suppose we should concede that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas were it not for its own particular breed of terrible music. And no-one has yet to tell me why a "little" Christmas. Perhaps "little" was the only word the songwriter could think of to make that line fit his tune. :-) |
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23 Dec 24 - 06:20 AM (#4213948) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick A quick Google search comes up with several sites that say "Little Christmas" is another name for Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, on 6th January. It is celebrated by a number of different cultures around the world, sometimes as "Women's Little Christmas" (presumably because it was a well deserved rest after the busy holiday period). ..... but I suspect that Steve is right - that "little" was the only word the songwriter could think of to make that line fit his tune DC |
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23 Dec 24 - 06:54 AM (#4213949) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw I don't think you'd be singing things like "Make the Yule-tide gay" or "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough" if the song were about Epiphany on January 6, Doug. Regrettably, I had to sift through all the awful lyrics of the damned thing to pick out those adorable snippets... Good old Irving Berlin, eh? :-( It wasn't the only awful Christmas song of his, was it? God bless America, but just remember that this land is your land... |
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23 Dec 24 - 07:32 AM (#4213951) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Sol Whenever any of my favourite singers release a "Christmas album", I get sick to my stomach. It's just a cheap money grabber. I could maybe accept one Christmas song from them, but that's just me being charitable. Well, it IS Christmas ;-) |
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23 Dec 24 - 08:43 AM (#4213953) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MudGuard hm. I always thought Jazz was written with two zeds, not one s. Be it as it is: I hate everything jazz/jas song, be it Christmas or not ... |
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23 Dec 24 - 09:40 AM (#4213961) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw And I hear that George Michael has bagged the UK Number One spot with his God-awful, buttock-clenching "Last Christmas." Add that to my list of shame... |
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23 Dec 24 - 10:39 AM (#4213963) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick Good old Irving Berlin, eh? I don't think you can blame Irving Berlin for "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". The songwriters were Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. DC |
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23 Dec 24 - 12:17 PM (#4213970) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Quite right, Doug I got two lots of googles mangled. :-( |
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23 Dec 24 - 12:29 PM (#4213973) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,The Truth Will Out 'And I hear that George Michael has bagged the UK Number One spot ' Not bad for a man who'll have been dead since 25/12/2016! Jayz, you're a bit of a tit, Shaw. |
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23 Dec 24 - 12:38 PM (#4213975) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: John MacKenzie God Messed Ye Jerry Rental Men While Shepherds Washed their Socks by Night No Hay in a Manger |
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23 Dec 24 - 01:04 PM (#4213977) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor We three kings of Orient are, Smoking on a big fat cigar, It was loaded, it exploded, Off to yonder star. |
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23 Dec 24 - 01:13 PM (#4213980) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Thompson Saccharine takes the courses of most Christmas songs. But I like the Australian classic How to Make Gravy. |
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23 Dec 24 - 02:34 PM (#4213986) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: robomatic My pet peeve is a 'version' of Little Drummer Boy they play at my coffee shop which has a little repetitive drum beat which hammers its way into your noggin. But this year I've become sensitized to the lyric of "I'll be home for Christmas" which appears to be a sad shaggy dog style tale where the singer goes "you can count on me" and waxes poetic with detail but the final wods are: "if only in my dreams." which for me subtracts all the promise and hope of the entire song. Now, for a couple of songs I really like: "Christmas Dream" written by Andrew Loyd Weber and only available so far as I know in the opening credits of movie: The Odessa File. Stan Rogers: "First Christmas Away From Home." |
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23 Dec 24 - 02:51 PM (#4213988) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor Yeah, I'd much rather talk about Xmas/Seasonal tunes I like- Christmas Day Ida Mornin' Christmas Eve (Tommy Coen's Reel) A Rovin' on a Winter's Night to mention a few |
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23 Dec 24 - 03:18 PM (#4213990) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Yeah, Christmas Eve... It is the song that George Michael recorded decades ago and it's made Number One again, oh Truth Will Out. That's the glory of records - they don't necessarily die with you. Perhaps the word "will" in your moniker is the operative bit. Let us know when that truth of yours finally emerges! |
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23 Dec 24 - 04:06 PM (#4213993) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome Chris Rea is from Middlesbrough so "Driving home for Christmas" is about being stuck on the A1 :-D |
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23 Dec 24 - 04:34 PM (#4213994) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw At least he's got the sense to be FROM Middlesbrough and not IN it! |
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23 Dec 24 - 05:14 PM (#4213997) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,henryp "That terrible Yorkshire pub version of While Shepherds Watched" No doubt there are some terrible Yorkshire pubs! And, I believe, more than 30 settings of While Shepherds Watched have been collected in Yorkshire and over the border in Derbyshire. So lots more pubs and carols to give a try! Many of them compare quite well with those found in other counties. |
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23 Dec 24 - 06:53 PM (#4214001) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw OK! As I'm spending this fraught (in our house!) pre-Christmas being picked on for my errors (and fair dos, guv), and even bonked by the powers that be, I'll correct meself! Ahem: "That terrible version of While Shepherds Watched, as sung in some Yorkshire pubs which, in many cases, are excellent establishments..." Howzat, Henry old son? :-) |
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24 Dec 24 - 03:48 AM (#4214013) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Backwoodsman I’m very surprised, on a music forum on which I’d guess many of us are musicians and/or singers ourselves, to read sneery, ‘superior’ posts about a hugely successful Christmas record on which, not only did the singer write the song himself, but also played every instrument on the track. And George Michael could actually sing, that’s not something that could be truthfully claimed about everyone who has had successful Christmas records. |
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24 Dec 24 - 04:20 AM (#4214014) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome Everyone, even musicians, are allowed to dislike some music! Bear in mind that the title of this thread is "most hated (not bad) Christmas music" and, in the spirit of that, give us the one you run from BWM! |
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24 Dec 24 - 04:59 AM (#4214017) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick ... the title of this thread is "most hated (not bad) Christmas music" and, in the spirit of that, give us the one you run from ... I know that was directed at BWM but as I have already made comments upthread but not identified my "most hated":- I would go along with GUEST,Guest with "anything played in shopping outlets" but the one I most dislike is 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'. Why? Because it is the one that 'carol singers' blurt out when you open the door and they expect you to give them money. It's quite likely that they don't know the 2nd verse of any carol, if they know any other carols at all. DC |
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24 Dec 24 - 05:17 AM (#4214021) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,paperback Anything by Gene Autry |
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24 Dec 24 - 05:33 AM (#4214022) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw "And George Michael could actually sing..." Hmm, tricky. Depends what is meant by "sing," I suppose. I love Shane McGowan more than almost any other pop/folk (etc.) singer, but I'm not getting into fights as to whether or not he could "sing." Many people revere Bob Dylan (I'm not one of 'em, not by a country mile), but ditto. Sinatra could hold a tune with exquisite timing and imbue songs with a certain character, but I can't be doing with him at all. I admire but do not remotely love those clever jazz singers who do that "scat" thing. In fact, I can't listen to that at all. If you say that "well, at least he could sing..." you're sort of implying that many others are just charlatan pretenders who couldn't, which is a bit of a shame, because the bottom line is that it's all a matter of wot lights yer personal fire... Anyway, I'm an atheist and I love Hark The Herald and In the Deep Midwinter (the Holst one) and Maddy singing the Holly and the Ivy... |
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24 Dec 24 - 05:44 AM (#4214024) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Tattie Bogle My carefully written post last night wouldn’t send, and has now disappeared, so this is a test before I re-write it! |
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24 Dec 24 - 05:53 AM (#4214025) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Tattie Bogle Ok, that sent, so here y’are: Agreed with Keberoxu and JennyG about that awful “Mommy” song. None to partial to “Frosty the Snowman “ either. If you think carols in December are bad, you might not like “Carols in August”, an annual workshop at Whitby Folk Week, led by Dr Ian Russell, and featuring many of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire pub carols. Massed choir, small band, just fabulous! I usually play in the band and help out the altos. And Christmas fail: played for a “Christmas Bonanza” in our local library (ssshh!) very recently. Loads of kids present, happy to dance, and sing along with the usual stuff, but then requested “Jingle Bell Rock”: oops, not in the repertoire - yet! Project for next year. |
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24 Dec 24 - 06:12 AM (#4214027) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey Just for the record. When I first asked Ian to do the Carols in August (my idea) he was against it, saying it would not work. He took a bit of persuading but thankfully I talked him round. We are still good friends but I do gently pull his leg about it occasionally. |
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24 Dec 24 - 08:37 AM (#4214030) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Backwoodsman TBH, Dave, I don’t ‘hate’ any Christmas song(s) - there are some I can take or leave, and some I wouldn’t necessarily choose to hear, but none I can truly say I ‘hate’. Even the ones I wouldn’t choose to hear are other people’s favourites, and their gaining pleasure from hearing them is a plus AFAIC. |
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24 Dec 24 - 08:50 AM (#4214031) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome Yea, hate may be too strong a word but I think everyone understands that 'hate' in this context is shorthand for ones that you would be happy to miss :-) I always say, and I think the sentiment is well represented by all in this thread, that I try to never say any music is good ar bad - simply that I dislike it or, on occasion, do not understand it. I am told that if I want to get more out of, for instance, Jazz, I need to work at undertanding the nuances. But I have turned 70, I know what I like already and there is enough of the style of music I like to last me the rest of my life so I am reluctant to spend whatever little time I have left in trying to get to grips with something I dislike! Anyroads, back to the thread... |
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24 Dec 24 - 09:05 AM (#4214033) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw "I try to never say any music is good or bad - simply that I dislike it or, on occasion, do not understand it." Can I borrow your Freddie and the Dreamers box set, Dave? :-) |
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24 Dec 24 - 09:07 AM (#4214034) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: John MacKenzie Hah Bumhug |
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24 Dec 24 - 10:02 AM (#4214037) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: G-Force No-one's mentioned that godawful Slade record. |
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24 Dec 24 - 10:25 AM (#4214038) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Backwoodsman Might that not be because a significant number (of which I'm one) do actually quite like it? |
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24 Dec 24 - 10:39 AM (#4214041) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor More favorites- Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry Galician Carol by Carlos Nunez Stella Splendens (I especially like Jordi Savali's version). |
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24 Dec 24 - 10:41 AM (#4214042) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor and Don't Shoot Me Santa by The Killers |
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24 Dec 24 - 11:21 AM (#4214044) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MaJoC the Filk Right, folks, you asked for it --- I hereby take "hate" as "will leave the room" or "will throw the radio against the wall", and nominate White Christmas as the worst-ever earworm fodder. To me it's so repulsively dire that only the commissioning execs in Hollywood could have had the bad taste to extract it from one film and build another round it. Hollywood in general, and said atrocity in particular, are part of the reason that English people, for whom getting snowed in is headline news, believe Something Is Wrong With The Universe if there's no snow on Christmas Day. .... End of rant. |
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24 Dec 24 - 11:22 AM (#4214045) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Groovy Helen's also a twat. |
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24 Dec 24 - 11:27 AM (#4214046) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Backwoodsman Oh dear, and it was going so well. There’s always one… |
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24 Dec 24 - 11:29 AM (#4214047) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor ...fly in the Christmas Punch. |
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24 Dec 24 - 11:39 AM (#4214049) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Rain Dog "Yea, hate may be too strong a word" It is but unfortunately too often found on the internet these days. |
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24 Dec 24 - 12:10 PM (#4214053) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick I don't know if this qualifies as Christmas music, but it is a part of the festive season. If I never hear Auld Lang Syne again, it will be too soon. DC |
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24 Dec 24 - 12:17 PM (#4214054) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,! And Doug Chadwick's the biggest twat of the lot! |
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24 Dec 24 - 12:18 PM (#4214055) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick Flattery will get you nowhere! |
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24 Dec 24 - 01:10 PM (#4214062) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen Yay, DC and I have been granted a Twathood! What a lifetime achievement! |
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24 Dec 24 - 01:14 PM (#4214063) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Doug Chadwick I'm going to add it to my CV. DC |
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24 Dec 24 - 02:41 PM (#4214065) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen One of the other reasons I have to leave the room when The Little Drummer Boy is played is the boring, repetitive, unimaginative melody line ("melody line", quote unquote). It is like water torture. On the opposite side of the fence, the interesting melody, its twists and turns, and the harmonies in O Holy Night for me are sublime, IMHO. And yes, I know some people cringe when they hear it, but it stops me in my tracks when it is beautifully performed. IL DIVO - O Holy Night Mahalia Jackson And of course, again IMHO, there has to be a version with harp: Celtic Trio and Choir - Emer Barry and Affiniti |
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24 Dec 24 - 04:37 PM (#4214078) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave Sutherland Robomatic - didn't Isla St Clair record "Christmas Dream" some 40+ years ago? |
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24 Dec 24 - 05:00 PM (#4214083) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome Just remembered the Bob Dylan one. Well, I say remembered but my auto immune system has actually blocked out the title. All I can really remember is "Must be Santa Claus". I guess it is ironic? |
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24 Dec 24 - 07:11 PM (#4214086) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Tattie Bogle Thanks for the “Carols in August”, Malcolm! |
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24 Dec 24 - 08:39 PM (#4214094) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey Cheers Tattie My favourite modern festive song incidentally is Nat King Cole's chestnuts roasting on an open fire Best wishes to all! |
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25 Dec 24 - 05:26 AM (#4214101) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Richard Mellish "That terrible version of While Shepherds Watched, as sung in some Yorkshire pubs which, in many cases, are excellent establishments..." Which version (of the 30-odd) have you in mind? One virtue of the multiple versions is that no brain power needs to be expended on remembering the words, so there's more brain power left for the parts. But I do hate one that is often sung in the pubs, the one about Kris Kringle with his sleigh; largely because KK is otherwise unknown in Britain, where the person on the sleigh is Father Christmas / Santa Claus himself, not "Santa Claus's man". |
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25 Dec 24 - 11:46 AM (#4214108) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MaJoC the Filk *Disagree*, Helen: O Holy Night has, much to Herself's very audible disgust, just been voted Classic FM Carol of the Year for the Nth time running (for a staggeringly large value of N). For her, that really does have the "leave the room" nature, largely through the ceaseless repetition of it right through December. But then she can't see why I complain about the endless repetition of (*akkh* *phht*) White Christmas. |
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25 Dec 24 - 01:33 PM (#4214114) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen MaJoC, I was betting that at least one person here would vote against O Holy Night. I recall reading that when it was first performed there was a lot of negative criticism. There are some performers' versions that I can't listen to, but there are some others which are amazing - again, IMHO. A Canadian man who is a member of the music session group here has, on a number of occasions, tried to convince me to listen to the Celine Dion version, but I can't bring myself to do it. Also, it has taken a few years for the session group to finally get their heads around playing the tricky rhythm of the song - but they only play it for a couple of weeks before Christmas in preparation for our annual Christmas carol busking and then they forget about it for another 11 months. |
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25 Dec 24 - 04:23 PM (#4214118) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen Until recently I was our music session group tsar but ... well, other events have occurred. That's another story. Anyway, a few years ago I managed to impose my choice of Christmas carols on the busking list: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (aka Washed Their Socks), We Three Kings of Orient Are, Ding Dong Merrily on High, Good King Wenceslas, O Little Town of Bethlehem (to the Lewis Redner tune), O Come All Ye Faithful, The Holly and the Ivy, The First Nowell, O Holy Night (surprise, surprise!), and Silent Night. I deliberately chose traditional carols and not modern songs and I left Jingle Bells and (the neverending) Twelve Days of Christmas off the list. I would have liked to add a couple more, e.g. Once in Royal David's City but we had to be realistic in putting together a busking list. Added to a previous comment I made about the BEST carol ever, i.e O Holy Night, I refuse to listen to Mariah Carey's version too. It is possible I could be pleasantly surprised by her version or Celine Dion's version, but I'm not brave enough to give it a go. Also, I never "got" In the Bleak Midwinter, until I heard Charlotte Ritchie's gentle solo performance with piano accompaniment on the amazingly clever and funny UK TV show called Ghosts. (Even the US version of the show is amazing, mainly because the Brits assisted with the production. Normally US versions of Brit or Oz comedy get lost in translation. Sorry, that's a fight for another day!!! :-D ) So, in summary, there are some carols I absolutely love and others I can't listen to, and a big bunch in between, and mostly my response to them is dictated by the musical interpretation of the performers. |
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25 Dec 24 - 07:12 PM (#4214126) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Tattie Bogle I love “O Holy Night” but the stand-out version for me is one that was recorded at my daughter’s school all of 30 years ago, with a senior school pupil with a very good voice taking the solo, and the school choir doing the rest, and one of the music teachers accompanying on piano. Not available commercially, but I still have the CD the school made of that and other carols, and did make it into a private video, featuring the very deep snow we had here in the winter of 2010-11. Definitely the best version! |
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25 Dec 24 - 08:44 PM (#4214133) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Neil D I don't hate "I'll Be Home for Christmas" per se, I hate that nobody gets that it's a very sad song. It seems like a pleasant if sentimental song till the very last line which says I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams. You suddenly realize this is coming from a soldier in WWII (released in 1943) who will definitely not be home for Christmas. It's like a gut punch. |
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26 Dec 24 - 12:08 AM (#4214140) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Pappy Fiddle Sometimes, a sad song helps me feel and understand the depth of sorrow I might be having trouble with. Say I'm stuck on some assignment in the Far East at Christmas time, and I miss my family back home. If I were to listen to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" it would doubtless trigger some strong sad emotion. Yeah, my situation sucks but I'm facing and feeling that fact, which gets me thru it. Sometimes bad things happen to people and they avoid the emotional impact, which can turn them into wierd, shallow people. |
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26 Dec 24 - 12:18 AM (#4214141) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST Home Alive by ’45 |
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26 Dec 24 - 01:00 AM (#4214142) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,paperback The song that saved Christmas The Story behind "The Little Drummer Boy" Harry Moses Simeone "Little Drummer Boy" Migraine headache may result |
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26 Dec 24 - 03:30 AM (#4214144) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Dave the Gnome Bert Janch does a great version of In thr bleak Midwinter but the words are wrong! |
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26 Dec 24 - 10:35 AM (#4214151) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Tattie Bogle Barbara Dickson's version of that is pretty nice. |
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26 Dec 24 - 12:16 PM (#4214155) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MaJoC the Filk So is Breezy's rendition. Genuinely moving. |
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26 Dec 24 - 05:05 PM (#4214162) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen I just found the short video clip of Charlotte Ritchie singing In the Bleak Midwinter on the UK Ghosts TV show, but my memory was incomplete. The ghosts sing with her in gentle harmony. Beautiful! |
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26 Dec 24 - 05:20 PM (#4214163) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: gillymor I'm partial to the version by The Lower Lights |
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26 Dec 24 - 05:57 PM (#4214165) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST Helen (a year ago) said " I was betting that at least one person here would vote against O Holy Night. I recall reading that when it was first performed there was a lot of negative criticism." She must be older than I am, which is saying something. Back in the 1950s we used to stand round grandma's piano sing it from an old book of songs. Don't know modern versions of it, except the one our choir MD arranged for us. I very much agree with Steve Shaw. The one that makes me cringe is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I thought Christmas was supposed to be a big religious festival. (though not for me now). Heard that streaming has made a difference to the Christmas Charts. People downloading their old favourites |
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26 Dec 24 - 06:24 PM (#4214166) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: Helen A year ago? From: Helen - PM Date: 25 Dec 24 - 01:33 PM |
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26 Dec 24 - 08:30 PM (#4214179) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw As you don't really have to hate Christmas music because you can just turn it off, I think that the thing to hate most could be the constant bombardment with it that starts on Dec 1. A huge culprit in that regard in the UK is Classic FM. From that date until New Year, tune to Classic FM for even just a little while and you'll hear all the recycled/regurgitated/refashioned/rejigged old Christmas chestnuts over and over again, ad nauseam. Now when I'm driving along, and Radio 3 is playing some God-awful Second Viennese School atonal string sextet or something, my resort is to retune to Classic FM for a bit. But that cannot be done in December. If my choice in December is between the Schoenberg, Classic FM or to staple my left tit to an angry beehive, the latter wins hands down every time. |
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27 Dec 24 - 04:47 AM (#4214186) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MaJoC the Filk Methinks we should distinguish between real Christmas carols and Xmas music/muzak. These are agreed to be the extrema on a spectrum from Holy to Wholly Awful, but Classic FM (for one) seems to collapse the entire spectrum to a single point. By the bye: Has anybody else noticed the discordant blare of trumpets in the third repetition of the minor theme in Sleigh Ride? It sounds to me that the sleigh is about to be overtaken by a girt big articulated lorry. |
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27 Dec 24 - 07:10 AM (#4214198) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Yes, I know that piece and share your distaste. But even Mozart descended into kitsch with his Sleigh Ride complete with jingles... |
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27 Dec 24 - 03:17 PM (#4214213) Subject: RE: Most hated Christmas music From: MaJoC the Filk No, Steve: I actually don't dislike Troika (it's the only part of Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé suite that I hear at all regularly). Apologies for the confusion; I get parity errors in my wetware. |