Day 38: Awesome Music

I’ve been working through my list of awesome ideas offered by some of my Facebook friends, and just in time for the holidays I see the next topic is “Awesome Music.”

Where do I begin to describe my love/hate relationship with Christmas music?

First let me say that there was always music in my home when I was growing up. My father was a recording engineer with Capitol Records in the Big Band era and beyond, and our house was filled with the sounds of the great singers of the 40s and 50s: Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and the like. And just about every one of them recorded one or more Christmas songs that have become American standards.

So when I think of Christmas music, I think of Nat and Frank and Peggy. Not church choirs, not doo-wop, not rap, and certainly not doltish ditties about grandmothers being run down by antlered animals.

It would be way too easy to say that no good Christmas music has been composed since World War II, but that would be a lie. Some of my more recent favorites include “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, “Another Auld Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg (that one has made me cry every year since it was released in the early 80s), “My Grownup Christmas List” by Kelly Clarkson and “Santa Baby” by the irrepressible Eartha Kitt. (I spent long, tedious, pointless hours making that last one into a ringtone for my iPhone.)

Then there are Christmas songs that should never have been made, such as that travesty by Paul McCartney & Wings, “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time,” the agonizingly grating version of “Silent Night” crooned by barking dogs, and of course the previously referenced “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” by those one-hit wonders, Elmo and Patsy Shropshire. (To my dismay, while researching the artists’ names, I discovered that this horrid tune had actually been made into an animated TV special. I can’t make this stuff up.)

Although I do not appreciate hearing piped-in Muzak Christmas songs in the supermarket and the mall in October, and have no desire to listen to 24/7 radio broadcasts of holiday music from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, I do enjoy hearing my old favorites while decorating the house, trimming the tree, baking cookies and opening gifts. But somewhere around 4:00 on Christmas afternoon, enough is enough. I’m holly-jollied out, overdosed on mirth and merry-making, and want nothing more than to hear the usual assortment of forgettable hits on top 40 radio.

So jingle your bells, make your list and check it twice, and be good for goodness sake. And whatever you do, tell Grandma to be careful! It’s a jungle out there!