The Sounds of Christmas

While sitting down to write an article for a newsletter I found myself oddly distracted and unsure as to why. It dawned on me that I was so distracted by the music I was listening to. Then something puzzling crept into my mind. Why am I distracted by listening to the third variation of “O Christmas Tree” (Tony Bennett’s version to be precise) in a single hour? This gets me thinking and so I begin to do a little personal research via my iTunes play log. According to this all of a sudden not-so-irrelevant tab in my iTunes window, I have listened to this version of “O Christmas Tree” precisely 30 times in the past 12 days. This gets me thinking even more and so I dig a little deeper into my Christmas music log. According to iTunes I have listened to Bon Jovi’s “Please Come Home For Christmas” 42 times since the day after Thanksgiving. I’m beginning to worry now. Whitney Houston’s version of “Do you Hear What I Hear”…50 plays. Stevie Wonder’s “One Little Christmas Tree”…52 plays. Andy Williams’ “The Most Wonderful Time of The Year”…you don’t want to know. I’m seeing a pattern emerge here and I’m left with one question. Why can I replay Christmas songs over and over and not do so with popular music. Now don’t get me wrong, I can listen to a non-Christmas song over and over, but not quite in the same way. There’s something about Christmas music that never dulls and continuously captures us. Perhaps its the seasonal aspect of the music.

The fact that we generally reserve Christmas music for roughly one month a year gives it a sort of exclusive quality but I don’t think that’s quite it, not entirely at least. Christmas music began as chants sung during pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. This idea of music (like so many other things) was then adopted by the early church for use in liturgical services. The first specifically Christmas hymns that we know of appear in fourth century Rome. Interestingly enough it was in the 13^th Century that St. Francis of Assisi was the one to usher in the more common use of the popular “carol”. It is however, unclear as to what the very first popular Christmas carol is. Christmas carols did not appear in English until 1426 and the first appearance of venerable carols such as “We Three Kings” and “The First Noel” did not appear in print until 1833.

Regardless of its history, Christmas music has rooted itself in our collective consciousness and it has done so in the simplest way. Christmas songs touch the most basic needs and desires we all share. Love, warmth, togetherness and shiny things. The nostalgia each song carries with it is often renewed by a current artist’s rendition but the old classics still reign supreme. As my Christmas gift to you all here’s a short but spectacular playlist for your holiday parties or quiet evenings this season.

Merry Christmas,

Michael

Essential Holiday Music

The Christmas Song – Mel Torme

Please Come Home For Christmas – Bon Jovi

What Christmas Means To Me – Stevie Wonder

This Christmas – The Temptations

Auld Lang Syne – James Taylor

Carol of The Bells – David Benoit

The Christmas Waltz – Tony Bennett

Do You Hear What I Hear – Whitney Houston

Christmas Time Is Here – Vince Guaraldi

Jingle Bells – Barbara Streisand