Not So Holly Jolly Christmas Music – 英会話・英語　アミック

Christmas music usually has themes of spreading holiday spirit, merrymaking, and peace on Earth. While that’s good and all, sometimes you just want to feel an emotion besides sweet saccharine joy during the holiday season. Mariah Carey, Nat King Cole, and any “Carol of the Bells” rendition will always have a soft spot in my heart, but when I want to explore other feelings the Christmas season gives me, I put on these not-so-jolly and less well-known Christmas songs. 

“Christmas for Cowboys” by John Denver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejLQSpVBxBE

Growing up, my parents had a well-worn mix tape of Christmas songs that would live in our family mini-van’s tape player every Christmas season. Sandwiched between Dolly Parton and Burl Ives was this gem from John Denver that I’ve never heard played anywhere else. While most Christmas songs celebrate being together with friends and family, this ballad highlights how even when you are completely alone on the holiday (which I have been) that doesn’t mean the day has to be any less special. 

“Christmas at 22” by The Wonder Years

When you’re young, Christmas is about spending (even more) time with your family. But when you grow older and move away to college, the holiday becomes a time when you get to go back to your hometown and see your best friends from high school and how much everyone has changed (or hasn’t). Some may roll their eyes at the song because it hits about every pop punk cliche imaginable (pizza, AIM away messages, hanging out with my friends), but I think it perfectly captures what that point in your life—Christmas at 22—feels like. 

“The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues 

Somehow I managed to go almost 30 years of my life without ever hearing this song (despite it apparently being the UK’s most played Christmas song of the 21st century), but after discovering it last year I don’t think I’ll ever go another Christmas without it. The song has dark themes–drug abuse, gambling, domestic disputes, homophobic slurs–and yet still presents an air of hope for a better life in the way only Christmas can.

“Won’t Be Home For Christmas” by Blink 182

Let’s be honest: as an adult, Christmas can be a giant pain. Whether you are working at Toys R’ Us and getting sworn out by deal-crazed grandmothers or are spending hours cutting paper stocking decorations that are going to get thrown away in two weeks, Christmas can you make you feel like a big Scroogey-Grinch at times. There’s nothing profound in the lyrics of Blink 182’s Christmas contribution, except that yeah, you’re not alone in sometimes wanting to grab a baseball bat and send carolers running from your front door.