Tribute to Christmas
Seven Fun Christmas Song Facts
Learn seven interesting facts about your favorite Christmas songs! These will add extra joy to your holiday playlist.
Welcome to a new feature where Let’s Talk About the Music steps away from the current independent music industry to pay homage to the legacy of music from the past. Today’s musicians owe their presence to those who came before them, paving the way.
Seven Fun Christmas Song Facts
It’s the holiday season; in case you haven’t been clued in by the Christmas music playing on the radio. Over the past few years, I and others have perhaps gained deeply mixed opinions about Christmas songs. Some we really like, others not so much. A lot of people hate Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” while I can’t stand Ertha Kitt’s “Santa Baby.”
Many folks may not be having the best Christmas and may find the chipperness of certain lyrics or melodies off-putting—or worse, when a depressing holiday song comes on. It’s also not helpful that radio stations seem to only play variations of the same ten songs. Like, how many covers of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” do we need? For myself, I find the backstories of many of these Yuletide favorites often more interesting than the songs themselves. So here are seven interesting facts about seven different Christmas songs that may (or may not) renew one’s interest in these memorable melodies.
1. “A Patrick Swayze Christmas”: I’m sure the Mysties will relish me starting this article off by discussing the show’s first holiday song, while those unfamiliar with Mystery Science Theater 3000 may have no idea what in the world this is. MST3K (its abbreviated title) is about a janitor who is held captive in outer space and is forced to watch the worst movies ever made. As the films play, he and his robot pals make jokes and other humorous comments, along with host segments before and after commercial breaks.
Near the end of the show’s third season on Comedy Central in 1991, our heroes were subjected to the campy B-movie Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. During one of the host segments, they unleashed this loving seasonal tribute to the film Roadhouse (which reportedly is the favorite film of the show’s head writer Michael J. Nelson).
I think it’s great when a celebrity enjoys something that parodies them or their work, and in this case, Patrick Swayze reported liked the song. According to MST3K fans, Swayze guested on a radio show in Minneapolis, and the song was played for him. He thoroughly enjoyed it.
Also, R.I.P. Patrick Swayze.
2. “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”: It may have originated as a “memory and forfeits” game. If a player made an error, the penalty was offering to kiss someone. If true, it sounds like it originated as a more convoluted, theatric version of “Spin The Bottle.”
3. “Happy Xmas, War Is Over”: You know the parts of the song that sound like a children’s chorus? According to author Lindsay Ellis’ video essay “Yoko and the Beatles” (which, if you’re a Beatles fan, I highly recommend) that’s actually Yoko Ono singing. Ellis makes special note of this due to Ono’s frequent depiction of being a terrible singer. There are other examples of Ono singing quite well, but this might be a noteworthy example, as it may be the one Lennon-Ono song people are most familiar with.
4. “The Little Drummer Boy”: A couple of years ago, I looked up the original version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” performed by the Von Trapp family (yes, that Von Trapp family), and couldn’t help but notice one lyric was a bit different.
If you didn’t catch it, we’re mainly familiar with one of the lyrics being “the ox and lamb kept time,” but here it’s “the ox and ass kept time.” While you sit there snickering, I’m sure you know “ass” is a term for donkey, which means originally an ox and donkey are supposed to be the two animals keeping time during the drummer boy’s performance. At some point though, through subsequent covers, “ass” was swapped out for “lamb.” I can’t imagine why that would happen though….
5. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”: This song has gained quite a reputation over the past decade, perhaps rightfully so. We’ve all heard people discuss the creepiness of the lyric’s scenario, but I’m not here to talk about that. I’m going to talk about the song’s origins because I find that more interesting than the song itself.
This 1944 duet was co-written by Frank Loesser, who might otherwise be more known for writing the musicals Guys And Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. His co-collaborator on the song was his wife, Lynn Garland. Initially, there was no intention to sell the song officially; it was merely something they sang at parties they hosted. The duet eventually became so popular that they would get invited to other high-functioning parties just to perform their song. That ended four years later when Loesser sold the song to MGM for their film, Neptune’s Daughter.
If you think Lynn Garland was upset about this… you are correct. In an interview years later, she said, “I felt as betrayed as if I’d caught him in bed with another woman.”
6. “Do You Hear What I Hear?”: This song is another staple around the holidays, but amazingly, it was never intended to be a Christmas song. Written in 1962, the lyrics are a war protest over the Cuban missile crisis. Co-writer Noel Regney served in World War II and was understandably fearful of another conflict starting up.
Regney has admitted that the Christmas aesthetic surrounding the song was likely due to it being written before the approaching holidays. Christmas is supposed to be a time of love and friendship, but a potential war loomed on the horizon. He was initially hesitant to make it Christmas-themed because, like Charles Schultz, he felt Christmas had become too commercial. In the end, Regney decided it was too important, given the circumstances.
7. “Same Old Lang Syne”: I think some of the most interesting songs are the ones based on events that happened in the singer-songwriter’s life. This is one of them. Dan Fogelberg recounts the time he encountered an old flame of his from school while grocery shopping on Christmas Eve, 1975. (The song itself came out in 1980.)
(see image)
What I like most about this song is that while it’s considered a Christmas song, the holiday isn’t the focal point. The song is about someone reconnecting with an old flame. I typically hear the song play on the radio in December. But once I heard it aired during October and it didn’t feel out of place. Also, I think many of us can relate to running into someone we knew in school, may have dated, or were friends with, along with how both our lives have changed and how it’s hard to reconnect the way we did when we were younger. The woman who is the subject of the song, Jill Greulich, has even acknowledged this in a couple of interviews.
So there you have it, seven fun Christmas song facts that might make you look at these songs a bit differently. Perhaps the trivia helped you gain a new or different appreciation for the music. Whatever the case, have a happy and safe holiday season, and I’ll see you in 2025!
7 Christmas Music Videos to Watch
1. “A Patrick Swayze Christmas
2. “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”
3. “Happy Xmas, War Is Over”
4. “The Little Drummer Boy”
5. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
Cover by K.J. Wippy
6. “Do You Hear What I Hear?
Cover by Home Free
7. “Same Old Lang Syne”:
Same Old Lang Syne took place
The grocery store seen at the beginning of the video is the one where the encounter took place. Here it is on Google Maps at 1302 E Fry Ave, Peoria, Illinois.
Missioned Souls
Missioned Souls is a family band formed in 2022, playing various pop and oldies hits
Yoko and the Beatles
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