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Favourite Christmas songs

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

When I was little and heard the line "You'll go down in history ...." I didn't know what History meant, and worked out it meant cellar steps!! For ages I had the vision of Rudolph falling down the steps!
 
One of mine is Bing Crosby's " I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" so nostalgic with his distinctive voice :singing:
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

When I was little and heard the line "You'll go down in history ...." I didn't know what History meant, and worked out it meant cellar steps!! For ages I had the vision of Rudolph falling down the steps!
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Aawww poor ole' Rudolph,

It is a lovely upbeat song :)
 
For me and my generation it has to be Slades ever magical Christmas song!
 
Elvis singing Blue Christmas & little children singing Away in a Manger, both get me every time

Smartie xx
 
My grandmother loved Away in a Manger. - when my mum was little, she was a proper little choir girl with a gorgeous voice. On Christmas Eve, she'd be sent to stand in the middle of the close and sing Away in a Manger. My Grandfather called it a paid gig, - She got sixpence.
When I was about sixteen or seventeen, my grandparents were down for Christmas. I got a call asking me to go play with a brass quintet made up of my brass teachers, in the big church in the middle of Swansea, on Christmas Eve. As well as all the usual stuff, we played an ensemble piece which had a massive horn solo in the middle, - you guessed it - Away in a Manger. My gran burst into tears! I thought she'd hated my playing and that I'd wrecked the whole thing until Mum told me the story.
My Grandparents lived a long way away and very rarely got to hear me play, - even less often when I lived in London. I did a lot of TV gigs, which they saw, but it isn't the same as live. I can't play Away in a Manger now, or that quintet piece without thinking of them.

I like the traditional carols, especially the ones with descant parts, although I really do love In The Bleak Mid Winter. I don't think there is any sound as Christmassy as a brass band playing carols on a street corner. In my mind, the modern Christmas songs just can't compete.


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I love Fairytale of New York and the video that goes with it. If I want to p*** people off I put Bob Dylans Christmas in the Heart cd on. It's so bad .it's good :hilarious:
 
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Christmas Songs - A spaceman came travelling Chris De Burgh, All of Phil Specters A Christmas gift for you.
Christmas Carols - See amid the winters snow, In the bleak midwinter, The zither carol, The Coventry carol. Im a Christmas baby and my mum tells me my 1st lullabies were Christmas Carols
 
Winter Wonderland, as a little girl at my grandparents for Christmas and looking out of the window wondering if my parents would make it through the snow, the tube had stopped running and they had to walk from Leytonstone to Woodford.
 
For modern/pop songs: Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses. It's just so festive and reminds me of when I was a teenager.

For a traditional song: O Holy Night - I accompanied the choir (on organ) at many a Mass as a teen/early 20's (last time I attended Mass! ;) ) I'm no longer religious, but the song still gives me chills.
 
The Holly and The Ivy and O little Town of Bethlehem, I'd been ill with Scarlet Fever and my Granddad took me to the local Sally Army center to deliver some shoes that had been donated in his shop and I was transfixed by the band, It still brings a tear to my eyes when I hear the Sally Army band playing those tunes.
 
Where do I start? Mike old fields in dulce jubilo, baby it's cold outside (Tom Jones and Cerys) - I have now Christmas music when I put up tree!
 
Of the hymn variety I like Oh come oh come Immanuel and We three kings. Have a bit of a soft spot for Last Christmas - especially the cover version by I Like Trains- dour indie post rock meets cheesy eighties pop.
 
One of my all time favourites is a 16th century French carol "Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabella (Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella)" which I discovered years ago when searching the web for Christmas music to use on a web site. I found a lovely recording on YouTube here, and information about the carol plus lyrics in both languages are here.

I also love the Cherry Tree Carol (especially when sung by Joan Baez), and the Coventry Carol.

A rather special carol which is very appropriate this year is Silent Night, which was was one of the carols sung by the British and German soldiers in the trenches during their Christmas truce in 1914, 100 years ago - in its way a very special Christmas miracle, which always brings me close to tears.

I Saw Three Ships is another one brings back very special memories of a visit I made in December 1993 to Jamestown, Virginia, USA, while attending a needlework seminar in nearby Colonial Williamsburg. Jamestown was America's first English colony, predating the Plymouth, Massachusetts colony by thirteen years. The Americans honour these early pioneers with a reconstruction of the settlement on the original site, and replicas of the three tiny (and they were tiny!) gallant ships that carried them on their long voyage are moored in the harbour there. They sailed from London on 20th December 1606 and they were still sailing off the coast of England on Christmas Day. Their voyage took over four months and they arrived in what was to become Virginia in April/May 1607. In memory of my Jamestown visit, I designed and stitched a sampler combining details of the three ships with words from one of my favourite carols.

Robbity
 
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