Christmas soundtracks

So which is the Christmas song that does it for you – that let’s you know Christmas is here?  Do you need to stand up and bellow “It’s Christ-mas!” to get in the mood?  Do you need some sleigh bells to jingle in the snow?

I am intrigued to know, because I am attempting to listen to Christmas-related music while Dan writes Christmas cards – and clearly, Christmas songs are a broad church.

Admittedly, I’m listening to an Ultralounge Christmas collection, which makes it a slightly more chi-chi experience, but there’s certainly some stuff there that I struggle to relate to Christmas, apart from the slight note of cheese, which probably has to accompany many seasonal song collections.

Clearly, it’s something people take seriously, because otherwise, why would there be so many Christmas compilations on sale in the shops?  And admittedly, if you give lots of parties at that time of year, it could be handy to have a collection of songs to put on that help your guests get in the mood.

Dan points out at this point (clearly he’s not concentrating that hard on the cards) that you could have a variety of Christmas collections, according to the various groups you might be dealing with at the meet and greet time of year.  The subsets appear to be: cheesy, carols, classical music that makes you think of Christmas, rock Christmas.

So, for your entertainment, we present some of the music that helps us start to feel a bit more ready for/interested in Christmas.  Mine combines classical and cheese, as I grew up listening to James Last German Christmas carols and classical music most years, while decorating the Christmas tree with my family.

I downloaded it recently, and now the cheese factor does come through more than it did when I was 7, shall we say.  But heck, German Christmas carols are really good, and bring us close to the second entry, which is Christmas related choral music.

When I was at secondary school, and getting into singing, we attempted our first oratorio type stuff in school choir: Vivaldi’s Gloria, plus Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols.  Not hugely well known, but a good excuse to sing a bit of Latin, bit of medieval English.

The older the carol, the more it’s likely to challenge what you think the season is about.  “This little babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s hold…”  Not a crowd pleaser chorus, no mention of figgy pudding, but one that sticks in the mind.

While I’m at it, I’ll add my favourite carol, the Coventry Carol (Lullay, thou little tiny child).  It does that great thing of being mysterious, beautiful, a bit scary (Herod the king, in his raging…), and uplifting (the wonderful change to a major key at the end of the piece).

We have to even the score at this point, and let Dan have an entry.  His Christmas album is Take 6’s ‘He is Christmas‘, which has probably become our joint ‘getting ready for Christmas’ album to put on.  Lots of joy, lots of peace.  I have also just consulted Dan on his favourite carol, which is Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

So there you have it.  Feel free to add your own faves below.  I’ve just realised that I have to add Mike Oldfield’s “In Dulci Jubilo” for a bit more cheese but good quality jingling.  Moreish, these Christmas tunes.