The Songs Are Old, but the Message Gets Across

Why aren’t there any new Christmas songs? There are probably millions of new songs written every year. I know there were tens of thousands of songs recorded and released commercially in 2012, because they were all on the list of 2012 Grammy nominees. Yet there aren’t any new Christmas songs. Or perhaps I should say there aren’t any new Christmas songs that we’ll likely want to hear again next year.

I have 322 songs in the Christmas Music playlist on my i-Pod. I’ve got albums with titles like A Jazz Christmas and Jazz to the World, A Crescent City Christmas, A Scottish Christmas, A Celtic Christmas and A Smoky Mountain Christmas, A Very Special Christmas, Vols. 1-3. I’ve got Christmas albums by Dave Brubeck, Joe Pass, Etta James, Dwight Yoakam, The Roches, The Chieftains and She & Him, to name a few. And then there are single cuts by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Dean Martin to Run-DMC to Jethro Tull.

Sure, that’s a lot of music, but it’s not a lot of songs. My collection includes 13 renditions of “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting), 10 of “Oh Christmas Tree” (“O Tannenbaum”), 8 “O Come All Ye Faithful” (“Adeste Fidelis”), 7 “Silent Night”(s) and “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”(s) and a half dozen takes each on “We Three Kings,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Jingle Bells.”

That last song, by the way, was originally written for Thanksgiving but since that’s now the official start of the Christmas season, I guess it’s appropriate. Which brings me to another point—my list (and what you hear on the radio at this time of year) includes quite a few of the tunes we consider holiday music are really winter songs than Christmas ones. I’m speaking of songs like “Winter Wonderland” (8 versions), “Sleigh Ride” (6 versions), “Let It Snow” (5), and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (4).

Some of the songs we listen to at this time of year have religious origins and are hundreds of years old, but an awful lot of them were written between 1900 and 1960. With the exception of a few gems like John Lennon’s “Happy X-Mas (War Is Over),” Steve Earle’s “Nothing But a Child” and of course that ‘80s new wave favorite “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses, there’s not much really interesting that’s been written in the last 50 years. Or that comes easily to mind, and I guess that’s really the same thing.

The album I chose to add to my collection this season, Holiday’s Rule includes the obligatory version of “The Christmas Song,” this time around by Paul McCartney, who true to his vegetarian principles changed the reference to turkey to holly. It also includes a version of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by the Fruit Bats, an indie rock band from Chicago. That’s an old chestnut (roasted on an open fire, of course) that serves to illustrate how dated much of this material really is. The lyric urges us to, “take a look at the five and ten,” and in naming potential gifts for good little boys and girls includes “Hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots” but Woolworth’s closed the last of its “5¢ & 10¢ stores” in 1997 and feelings about toy guns aside, who really remembers Hopalong Cassidy. Those are anachronistic lyrics to say the least.

At this point I was going to transition to talking about how as communications professionals we work with our clients to keep their messages fresh, up to date and contemporary. My plan was to try and make a point about the challenge of keeping the core messages of “Peace on Earth. Goodwill to Men,” but making them relevant in the 21^st Century.  

But recent events have turned my thoughts in other directions. In the last few days these old songs of faith and family have been a reminder of continuity and community. The familiar hymns, carols and pop tunes that have been around all our lives bring people together. They get individuals who would under ordinary circumstances never open their mouths in public to sing with joy and gusto. They make us feel better. And that’s a good thing.

So while I’m still going to looking for new holiday music every December, I’ve developed a renewed affection for the timeless music of the season. I realize the same songs keep getting recorded, not because they are the only ones available, but because they’re great songs. It’s the same reason so many artists have recorded the songs of The Beatles or Cole Porter.

I was going to end this post by facetiously suggesting that we all resolve to write a new, clever and/or meaningful Christmas song and upload it to YouTube before this time next year. But perhaps the best resolution for 2013 would be for all of us to commit to doing whatever we can to spread a message of peace, love and good will toward all men (and women) throughout the year, not just in the holiday season.