xkcd. <3

Trans Siberian Orchestra FWT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGz2QbIBRBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45wmyMgyZuY

the 80's brought us last christmas by Wham! God I love that song ^^

My 2 favorites are "The 12 Pains of Xmas" and "All I Want for Xmas is You"

yay, more xkcd

THANKS, Moon.... now I've had that song in my head ALL DAY!!

For me, I put on the Johnny Mathis album, "Merry Christmas" and suddenly it IS Christmas.  I went to see him in concert a few years ago (he's in his mid-seventies now and MAN has he still got pipes! amazing singer!) and I was sooo disappointed that he didn't do ANY of his Christmas songs! (could it have something to do with the fact that the concert was in July?? -but hey, he sold tons of Christmas albums, I thought he should have put some of that material in his concert!)

*walks off, quietly singing to myself, "last Christmas, i gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away... this year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special...doo doo doo doo..." *

I'd like to point out that some of the songs listed are not Christmas songs, but generic winter songs, such as "Winter Wonderland" or "Let It Snow."  The lyrics in these songs are about winter in general and mention nothing specific to the holiday of Christmas--nothing about Santa, Jesus, presents, or anything of the like.  What's worse, Christmas itself occurs 3 or 4 days after the first official day of winter...we have nearly three whole months of winter left for such songs to be sung.  But try singing "Jingle Bells" in January, and people will whine at you that Christmas is over.

Then there are songs that barely mention winter or Christmas at all and yet are played, such as the one Zelda quoted at the end of her post here.  Other than the second word of the song, the lyrics have nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas or winter, yet it's treated as a Christmas song.  If the lyrics had been "Last April" instead of "Last Christmas," we'd be hearing it sporadically throughout the year as just another break-up song.

"My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music" is another one that has been misappropriated for Christmas, though it mentions only a few things that are seen or experienced in winter (and potentially other seasons, depending on your specific climate).  In the movie, Maria sung the song to calm the children during a rainstorm in SUMMER.  If anything, it's a summer song, not a winter one.

Don't get me wrong, though--I like the songs just fine.  I'm a musician and I have a deep love for music in general, and I like a lot of the songs that are played.  I just don't think they should be played or seen as being exclusive to Christmas when their lyrics obviously give otherwise.

Oh, and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is about date rape.  Just sayin'.

Yeah, what the heck is up with "Favorite Things" being considered some kind of Christmas song?? That's bothered the heck out of me for years, too, Malcolm.

And, yep, gotta agree on "Baby it's Cold Outside," too. I listened to it for years, thinking it was a cute song about the girl that doesn't really want to leave even though she should, so she wants to be talked out of her excuses, and then she does decide to stay. No problem there, right? Then on one listen I noticed the line, "say, what's in this drink?" and now I can't even listen to that song anymore, ick!

As for non-Christmas-themed winter songs, it can certainly be a Christmas Tradition to listen to Winter songs, even if they aren't about Christmas. But then you are right, why not listen to them in January or February? Perhaps because in December, people are getting excited about the charms of the winter season and the fun of the holiday season and the songs add to that excitement and anticipation, but further into winter they don't want to sing about it anymore?

Actually, I think it's sort of engrained the other way.  We've been taught not to sing non-Christmas winter songs throughout the rest of winter, so we see the rest of winter (winter post-Christmas) as having lost its charm, and just being bitter and cruel with its relentless cold, snow, ice, etc.  If we had kept the custom of singing non-Christmas winter songs throughout the entirety of winter, we might see that same charm of winter of which you spoke in relation to Christmas throughout all three months of winter and not the few days of winter (and too many days of autumn) leading up to Christmas.

oooh, ahaaa, veeeerrry interesting! I think you may really be on to something here!