Older readers of this blog might think back to their childhood Christmases and remember church services, particularly the Christingle service, carolling in the local area, singing in the school carol concert and hearing them on radio and television at regular intervals during December. For example, on Blue Peter, the final programme before Christmas used to finish with a choir and the presenters singing Christmas carols. Although they may not be so common now, Christmas carols are for many, young and old, still the real sound of Christmas.
Where do carols come from?
Originally, carols were simply religious songs that could be attached to any time of the year. They started to become specifically associated with Christmas sometime around the 17th or 18th century. At least that’s the best guess, but to be honest nobody knows exactly when that happened. Many carols have been completely lost to the mists of history, and some have had earlier words set to later tunes, for example ‘While Shepherd’s Watched Their Flocks By Night’. Perhaps the earliest carol with both tune and words intact is ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ or ‘Adeste Fideles’ in Latin. ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ may have a much earlier history than any of the others given the fact that both plants played important roles in the pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice in pre-Christian times. The verses reflect the appropriation of pagan culture by associating the Nativity to those two plants. Clearly, then, the apparently simple songs of praise are the result of a long and complex history.
Favourite Christmas carols
Everyone will have favourite carols, but I will introduce you to my Top 5. They are my favourites for a variety of reasons, but what they have in common is that hearing them is like hearing a distillation of the whole season.
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
This was the carol that became inextricably linked with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, mainly due to a small incident in the first stave of the book where a young carol singer starts to sing at the door of Scrooge’s office, only to be chased off by an irate Scrooge with a ruler! In the first version I saw, the Richard Williams cartoon, the tune of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen was a powerful motif that captured my imagination. It’s a marvellous tune with evocative words and a regularly misunderstood title. You may have noticed the important comma. That is because it means God make you mighty, gentlemen in old English. It is a prayer for determination and an exhortation to keep the faith. Perhaps the best version is the instrumental treatment in Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony.
Once in Royal David’s City
For many people, me included, the sound of the single chorister singing the first verse of this carol on Christmas Eve in Carols from King’s is the real start of Christmas itself. An interesting fact about the soloist is that there is a choice of three boys who are told to be ready to sing. Just before the choir enter the chapel the musical director points to one of the three boys who then delivers the solo. When the whole congregation joins in, it is a marvellous communal experience, one that definitely benefits from the hushed congregation listening to one voice singing that first verse beforehand.
In The Bleak Midwinter
As a child, this was one of the carols I loved to sing because of the beautiful words. The descriptive power of ‘Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone’ always struck me as particularly resonant. I suppose it fits in with my love of lyrics that I have had from my earliest days of listening to music. The other important aspect was the tune, which I just loved. When I first heard it with the alternative tune, seemingly more popular these days, it didn’t have anything like the same appeal, and to this day I only sing along with the version I first heard and loved. Here is a gorgeous version from the fantastic Christmas album sung by the Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir.
I Saw Three Ships
For anyone who loves the sea, this carol is definitely a favourite. I feel as though it has a sea shanty style tune, albeit more muted, but is believed to have originated in landlocked Derbyshire! It dates from the 17th Century, but the familiar words weren’t added until 1833 by William Sandys. There are nine verses in the full version and they follow the journey of Christ and Mary as they sail into Bethlehem – 20 miles away from any body of water! However, the ships of the title may refer to camels, known as ‘ships of the desert’. Whatever the truth of the matter, it is an eminently singable carol, but one that is very different from the other carols that we are familiar with. For that reason it is a very welcome addition to any carol service.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Leaving the best till last is the way to go, and Hark The Herald Angels is the best carol of the lot. Why? It has the fantastic tune by Mendelssohn and marvellous lyrics by Charles Wesley, updated by George Whitefield, but the other four I’ve mentioned also have great tunes and strong lyrics. It is the best because it is the carol that you can really ‘belt out’! The enthusiasm of a congregation in any carol service definitely goes up a notch as soon as this carol is announced. It is a carol that rewards enthusiasm, not just ability, which puts it above other carols like O Come All Ye Faithful for me. I know many of you might disagree, but I will never be dissuaded from that point of view.
I hope you have enjoyed my choices. If you have a favourite Carol I haven’t mentioned, then why not tell me in the comments. Happy listening and singing!
Following on from yesterday’s choice of five favourite Christmas songs, I now turn to Christmas hits. They are the tracks that were nothing to do with Christmas but which have that festive quality. They might be reflective songs, or they might be party tunes, but whatever they are you can’t imagine the festive season without them. As with yesterday, they are not necessarily the pinnacle of the Christmas hit, but they are tracks that I love to listen to during the festive season.
A classic Rock ‘n’ Roll track from Leicester’s finest
In 1976, one song was positioning itself to be the Christmas Number One, having already been at the top for 3 weeks. It was from the eight piece band who had more hits than any other UK act in the 1970s. Yes, it’s the brilliant Showaddywaddy, who were occasionally considered unfashionable for their 50s style clothing and glam reworking of old hits. I, however, would never hear a word against them from their first appearance on New Faces, and in the mid to late 70s they were unchallenged as my favourite group. They came to the Central Hall in Chatham every year, and every year I went along. Under the Moon of Love was, and is, a festive party classic. What happened in the chart race? Oh yes, When a Child is Born happened! It took me years before I forgave Johnny Mathis for stealing the Christmas Number One from under their noses. https://youtu.be/mDvsaMqQVvQ?si=ByfHlIKiBPOtmVk8
Paul’s Pop Pinnacle? Possibly!
Everyone knows that in 1984, the Christmas charts were a procession with Band Aid outselling everyone by 2 to 1 at least. Last Christmas by Wham was, at the time, the biggest selling Number 2 single ever. Shakin’ Stevens even quietly shelved Merry Christmas Everyone when he saw the competition to give himself a clear run for the following year! The Number 3 record that year was also the biggest selling Number 3 record ever, and it had a real magic to it. Paul McCartney’s song with the Frog Chorus, We All Stand Together, divides opinion like few other records in his career. However, for me it was simply a song that could appeal to anyone’s inner child at Christmas. I remember playing it at a house party that year, and hearing everyone singing along. We were in our teens but we definitely found our inner children thanks to the alchemy of the one and only Paul McCartney.
It’s a Slade song, but not the one you might be expecting!
In 1983, Slade looked odds on for their second festive chart topper, but in a very close battle they lost out to the brilliant Only You by The Flying Pickets. As I loved both songs I didn’t care who won the battle, but I would love to have seen both get the Number One they so richly deserved. My Oh My was a perfect festive singalong that could be heard being belted out in church halls, house parties and pubs throughout the Christmas season. You didn’t need to dance, you just swayed in time to the music holding aloft, usually, imaginary scarves. It is a song of reflection, togetherness and optimism, so it was a perfect Christmas hit and would have been a worthy Christmas chart topper in its own right.
A pachyderm inspired punk classic!
In December 1984, the big dance craze wherever I went was the pogo. It was the result of one song, whose far more restrained original version had me singing along on Junior choice over a decade earlier. Nellie the Elephant was a frightfully posh song with immaculate vowels and complete restraint. When punk band The Toy Dolls got hold of it, the verses were delivered with similar restraint, but the chorus became a frenetic thrash which was frankly impossible to dislike. I had had a very hard time in my first few weeks in the RAF, so this was a cathartic release of energy, frustration and anger. Altogether now ‘Oooooooooooohhhhhhh’!
A Beatles inspired ballad that sounds like a Christmas classic
My final choice brings the tempo back down as I finish with Freiheit, a German band and their single Keeping the Dream Alive from 1988. Like Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Christmas song, I was sure this would be in the mix for Christmas Number 1. Like summer hit Beach Baby by First Class, I convinced myself it was at least Top 10 if not Top 5, where in fact, 14 was its highest chart position. At the time, many listeners swore it was Paul McCartney under a pseudonym, and when you listen you can understand that. It has that air of melancholy that fits the season so well, but it also swells the heart as the chorus kicks in and the singing is simply beautiful. It is another brilliant track that did not get the success it deserved, but it always reminds me of Christmas whenever I hear it.
So there you have it, five more festive songs that, although not about Christmas, very much belong in the seasonal mix of memories we all have when we look back to our younger days. Hope you rediscovered an old favourite or discovered a new one.
So, what is a Christmas song? My definition can be found at the start of the entries I wrote on Christmas Singles of the 1970s and 1980s for h2g2 The 70s entry is here and links to the 80s entry. Happy reading!
You can find every detail you ever wanted about Christmas hits, but for this entry I am simply going to concentrate on five Christmas songs ranging from the instantly familiar to the much more obscure. I hope you will take a listen to the tracks, especially if you don’t know one or two of them. These aren’t necessarily the best five Christmas songs in my extremely wide collection, but they are five songs that I really enjoy for a variety of reasons.
A 70s classic that stands the test of time
To be honest I could have chosen any number of songs from the first heyday of the Christmas record. However, as I have mentioned (on more than one occasion!) I am a die-hard Wombles fan. For that reason, much as I like Slade, Wizzard and Mud, it is to Mike Batt’s furry phenomenon that I look for my first song. It is a song that has as uplifting a chorus as any Christmas classic, a fantastic sax solo and lyrics that are shot through with an air of longing. This is not a hastily thrown together kids song, but a lovingly crafted homage to the season that epitomises Mike Batt’s brilliance.
https://youtu.be/AcQ-2CX4w1Y?si=doqFUVQ_Cug21EAo
A Christmas song full of meaning
The same year as The Wombles reached the Top 5, there was a song that captivated me as a nine year old and continues to capture my heart every year. It is called The Christmas Song, but perhaps is better known by its lyrics, ‘I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas’. Gilbert O’Sullivan had already had two number ones and a number of other Top 10 hits, so when this beautiful record came out, it looked like a certain contender for the Christmas Number 1. Bafflingly, the public decided to consign it to the mid-teens in the Christmas chart and a very undeserved obscurity. If you take a listen you will realise this is a song that has an almost ethereal quality and which speaks to the listener anew, particularly this Christmas.
An all time classic of love and loss from the 80s
My third choice is another beauty from the prolific Mike Batt. I had always thought that A Winter’s Tale was a hit at Christmas rather than a fully fledged Christmas song. However, when I went to the Mike Batt concert at the Bush Hall he mentioned that this massive David Essex hit was always a Christmas song despite never mentioning Christmas. You can’t get a more authoritative statement than that, so it is a Christmas song and earns its place in this list rather than tomorrow’s list. As always, the tune has a melancholy beauty that few other composers can match. The lyrics are achingly beautiful and David Essex’s performance is simply sublime. When I hear it every year its beauty and poignancy affect me anew. It is an amazing track that is 40 years old but sounds as fresh as ever.
A cover version that surpasses the original
In the 1980s, one of my favourite groups were the Welsh rock band The Alarm. They were one of the most unlikely bands to venture into the Christmas market, but for their fantastic greatest hits collection, Standards (a must listen by the way, especially if you don’t know how brilliant they are) they re-recorded Happy Christmas (War is Over) originally released by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band. Mike Peters made a great job of lead vocals, but what lifted this version way above the original was the Welsh Male Voice Choir to replace the discordant children on Lennon’s version. It gives the whole song a huge touch of class. Take a listen and I pretty much guarantee you that it will become your new favourite version.
A modern favourite with that 70s twist
Cats in Space are one of the best rock bands in the UK at the moment, not that you would know about them unless you are a die hard rock fan. They are a six piece band who bring Queen, ELO, Sweet, Slade and a whole host of other bands together in their songs but they do it in a way that makes their own sound. They have released two Christmas songs, a cover of I Believe in Father Christmas in 2021 and their self penned My Kind of Christmas the year before. My Kind of Christmas is an absolute joy, full of 70s references and the spirit of Christmas in abundance. Listen to it 2 or 3 times and you are bound to be singing along with the chorus!
I hope you enjoy at least a couple of these tracks and that you have a Christmas full of fun and music.
I mentioned Christmas traditions yesterday, and deliberately left one out. Every year, from my childhood I waited for the arrival of the Radio Times in the house. Armed with pens or highlighters I would go through the 2 weeks of television goodies – and baddies! – and decide what I wanted to watch. One year, I decided it wasn’t worth buying it and it was a decision I regretted throughout Christmas week! It is the cornerstone of our viewing plans as it goes from one person in the family to another to highlight in different colours. Now, the method was not exactly fool proof as you had to remember to look at the Radio Times every morning to plan your day ahead, but generally it worked. So, what programmes were likely to be highlighted? Well, I have chosen five of my all-time favourite Christmas programmes that will, undoubtedly, be available on some channel or package somewhere – or YouTube if you are really desperate!
The Good Life (1977)
This is a programme that I thoroughly enjoyed anyway, but the Christmas episode is an absolute classic. In this Boxing Day treat from 45 years ago, Margo is unhappy because her Christmas, which she has delivered in a van, does not measure up. After an argument with the delivery man, Margo sends the whole lot back but finds out that re-delivery before Christmas Day is impossible. Faced without Christmas, the Leadbeatters accept Tom and Barbara’s invite to their own, very different, Christmas. The four regulars are on top form, clearly enjoying themselves enormously, and the frisson of sexual tension between Barbara and Jerry always there as an undercurrent was brought to the surface extremely cleverly. It is also the funniest episode of the entire run in my opinion, with the self-sufficient Christmas of the Goods taking Margo well out of her comfort zone. The Christmas crackers – homemade by Barbara and filled by Tom – are revealed to have some jokes that are not entirely clean. Margo takes exception to a party hat for a very Margo reason, and Tom gives her a good talking to that leaves her open-mouthed!
Morecambe and Wise (1977)
Eric and Ernie were Christmas gold at this time of the year, but for many people watching in 1977, and for those who have discovered it since, this was perhaps their absolute pinnacle. Two musical numbers that have stood the test of time, and gone down in the annals of television history, were first seen in this show. First of all, Angela Rippon, then a newsreader, got out from behind her desk in a way that left viewers astonished. Then, the assembled cast of newsreaders, presenters and commentators gave Eric and Ernie sterling support in a rendition of There Is Nothing Like a Dame from South Pacific. Both songs were the subject of discussions in homes and pubs for days afterwards. With nearly half the UK population tuning in, you could guarantee that in any setting there would be others who had watched it. The rest of the show, since overshadowed, was also superb with Penelope Keith being an excellent comic foil in Cyrano De Bergerac, a play wot Ernie wrote! For those of us of a certain age Eric and Ernie will never be matched, and there’s no answer to that!
The Snowman (1982)
OK, I admit that this was not a programme I watched at the time. I was 17, and the idea of watching a cartoon on Boxing Day was the furthest thing from my teenage mind! I didn’t settle down to watch it until many years later when I had children of my own. They, and I, were immediately captivated by the story with its hand drawn animation and lack of dialogue. It was those two elements that gave it an indefinable magic that no-one has ever been able to replicate. When my younger son discovered it, he became obsessed with it. We had the video, the original book, the Ladybird book version and a much-loved Snowman soft toy. I spotted something new every time I watched it, and it has become a family favourite. 40 years on it still casts its spell on everyone who sees it, young or old.
One Foot in the Grave (1990)
The Christmas special of this increasingly well-regarded programme was tucked away on December 27 in 1990, in a clear indication of its place in the comedy pecking order, with Only Fools and Horses in the Christmas Day slot as befitted a ratings juggernaut. Boxing Day saw Back to the Future precede the ever-popular Bergerac. None of these shows or films contained a moment to compare with the hysterical scene where Victor Meldrew finds out that he has a problem with a delivery due to a mistake when he filled out the form. I won’t spoil it but suffice to say I could barely breathe for about 5 minutes as I laughed as hard as I’ve ever done at any comedy moment. The genius of David Renwick’s writing was his ability to switch from comedy to tragedy to philosophy in one programme. Who’s Listening is the best example of this writing genius and remains one of my favourite shows of any series in any genre. If you haven’t seen it before, do yourself a favour and seek it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Top of the Pops Christmas Special (Annual)
For decades, the Christmas Top of the Pops has been one of the two mainstays of BBC1’s Christmas Day afternoon. Usually shown at 2pm with the Queen’s Speech at 3pm (more about that on Christmas Eve in my Blogmas post that day) it meant that I always scheduled lunch for about 1.15pm so that we had finished in time. The appeal was simple. It had acts in the studio who were responsible for the biggest hits of the year, and it gave us song after song that we knew. Even if we didn’t like one or two of the songs, we knew that there were others on their way that we loved. Despite the parent programme being axed, the Christmas TOTP has survived, but this year I see it has been moved to BBC2. I fear that spells the beginning of the end as streaming makes the charts ever more remote from many people and makes the Number 1 at Christmas ever more unimportant, especially when it has been ruined by 4 of the worst songs to ever take the Christmas top spot in the last four years. Sadly, I doubt I will watch it this year, but at least the repeats are still around to remind me of the days when I loved it!
Although our Christmas seasons share many common features, what makes a Christmas ‘our Christmas’ is the family traditions that we build up over many years. Some of us may decide to keep many of our parents’ traditions, whilst others may decide to create an entirely new Christmas for themselves as they move away and set up their own lives. I am very much in the latter camp, so let me introduce you to our family traditions.
Christmas music and films
An interesting question, because different aspects start at different times. Christmas music starts on December 1 and goes through to December 31. I have a ton of music on various formats and never enough time to play it all, but that’s OK as I look forward to the Christmas tunes and never get bored of them. My own Christmas DVDs and Blu-rays also get their first outings around December 1. There are certain films we watch most years, but only one that has become a true family tradition. The film is Love Actually, and this year will be the 19th year in a row my wife and I will have watched it. The children started watching it when they were still young enough to be appalled by the naughty scenes! Once we get them together, on goes Love Actually and we laugh at the same scenes, cry at one scene in particular and feel thoroughly festive. It wouldn’t be December without it. Other films that get regular plays include at least 2 or 3 versions of my favourite story, (See Day 2 of Blogmas, A Christmas Carol and Me) and invariably The Polar Express, a particular favourite of my wife and daughters.
Christmas Decorations
In this category, we have the carefully treated decorations that have come back from school over the years from all of our children. They never fail to give me a warm glow, although the glow they give the children is sometimes mixed with a helping of embarrassment! Still, I know they appreciate the fact that their creativity still means a lot to us. Our nativity scene is housed in a stable made by my two daughters one year when they were much younger, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. Many of the decorations are now 15 years old or more, but they will continue to be put on the tree for many, many years yet.
Advent and cake toppers
OK, odd category, but they are a reminder of harder times, financially, that led to two of my favourite bargains. Probably 15 years ago, I walked into our local Sense charity shop and saw an Advent calendar of Santa coming down the chimney and I bought it on the spot for £2. It’s a very simple idea. Under Santa are a series of 24 numbered rods that are removed one at a time. At various stages, Santa will move down the chimney, reaching the bottom on Christmas Eve itself. We always made sure that each of the children moved Santa down the chimney twice each Advent, and it was a highlight of the season. 16 years later, it is still our main family Advent calendar, and we still love watching his journey down the chimney! The other bargain was a pack of 3 Christmas Cake toppers which I picked up in our local supermarket for 13p in January one year. As they will be on the Christmas cake for the 16th or 17th year in a row soon, I think I can say I got my money’s worth out of them! When I see those reminders of the poorer times that many still face, I reflect on the fact that I should be grateful for what I now have and never forget those who still struggle more than we once did.
Stockings and Presents
When did we stop putting out stockings for the children? The answer is that we didn’t! Our youngest daughter will be 22 this year, and she still has her stocking to wake up to every Christmas morning! Even our children who no longer live with us find their stockings when they come over for Christmas lunch, due to a mix up that caused Santa Claus to leave their gifts with us! Even now, if they ask about stocking presents, I remind them that it’s not up to me, it’s up to Santa what they get! To make it even more special, the children still have their original stockings – from 1998 for the oldest 3, and 2001 for our youngest. One year, one of the stockings went AWOL and we had to buy a replacement, something that upset our younger son more than he would let on. Luckily, we found it in the wrong box, and he still has his original stocking 24 years later! One thing that always amused me and made my heart grow three sizes was the insistence by our youngest daughter that her beloved teddy bear, Barnaby, have his own Christmas stocking. Well Santa couldn’t disappoint her, could he?
Presents are not put in a pile and opened before Christmas Day is a few minutes old! One thing we were very strict on from the start, was making sure that the children finished breakfast before opening their first present. After that they opened one present each at regular intervals until Boxing Day, or even the 27th depending on how many presents they had. That remains the rule to this day for the children. My wife and I realised after our first few Christmas Days with a growing family that our presents for each other were not being appreciated enough, so we moved our own present opening, first to the very start of Christmas Day once we had seen Santa delivering the stockings, and then to Christmas Day night after the children had gone to bed. It’s still our time together to appreciate the gifts we have given to each other
What does it all add up to?
As I said before, every family has their own traditions, and I am sure that yours are different to ours in many respects. What all these traditions add up to is the feeling that December 25th is more than a simple date on a calendar. It is everything that makes us a family, however near or far from each other we may be. I know that our children will have their own traditions when they settle down in homes of their own, but they will know that it’s a special day, because for our family it always has been.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 