Big and Bashful wrote:There are two, no, three Christmas songs which I do like, most others either deepen my Christmas depression or make me vomit!
crfriend wrote:I only have fragmented memories of it, but many, many years ago an old roommate of mine and I worked up a decidedly satirical... derivative of "White Christmas".
While I do like Christmas, I can't stand the way the songs are played in stores beginning in late October, so that by Christmas they are SO tiresome. That plus the over-reliance on standard or sappy versions which are heard year after year for two months. Although I admire some of Bing Crosby's songs I now can't stand his "White Christmas", and probably the worst for me is Rudolph. (Those poor other reindeer are hardly mentioned any more, let alone poor Donder whose name is often misspelled Donner!)
Versions of the old standards can be refreshing if played by, for example, Mannheim Steamroller, music boxes, or mechanical organs. And, Carl, I remember livening things up by altering the lyrics such as "Jack Frost roasting on an open fire, chestnuts nipping at your nose…", "Frosty the Snowman went shopping at the mall, but the hot store lights were very bright and now Frosty's very small…", "You better not shop, you better not drive, don't take your car, I'm telling you why: no more parking spaces in town…" Didn't Tom Lehrer do something with carols?
When I was a kid we never put up Christmas decorations or listened to Christmas LPs until about the second week of December and got our tree about the 15th. That concentrated the season into less than a month and I think that made it more meaningful, at least for me.