[78-L] The Christmas Songs

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Kristjan Saag wrote:
>> Mike Biel answered:
>>> Sleigh Bells do not a Christmas song make. Perhaps in Sweden which is
>>> one of the countries which is generally homogenic and overwhelmingly of
>>> one ethnic and religious background, anything relating with winter is
>>> considered to be relating to Christmas.  But I would tend to think that
>>> even there, people stop singing "Silent Night", "Oh Tannenbaum", "Adeste
>>> Fidelis", "Little Drummer Boy", "Good King Wenceslas", "Oh Holy Night",
>>> "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "White Christmas", and other REAL
>>> Christmas songs around December 28 or so, while "Sleigh Ride", "Winter
>>> Wonderland", "Let it Snow", "Jingle Bells" etc will continue thru
>>> January, February, and maybe even March (depending on the weather, not a
>>> holiday).
>> ---
>> I've yet to see record companies starting to issue "Best Of Winter"
>> compilations with Santafree songs, good until March in Massachusetts and 
>> All
>> Year Round in Alaska.
>> I assure you: "Sleigh Ride" is as dead as a doornail after December 26 
>> even
>> in the iciest parts of Northern Norway.
>
> Horsefeathers, Kristjan..Sleigh Ride and other winter songs will be played 
> on
> radio stations well into January. And I have seen several LPs of winter
> compilations, going back to a Jo Stafford one in the fifties, a Skitch
> Henderson one that was half classical, quite a few others. They'd usually 
> be
> filed with the Christmas LPs but they provided a nice buffer for building 
> up to
> Christmas and moving away from it, AND they filled the requirement of 
> playing
> seasonal music without ramming Jesus down everyone's throat even back in 
> the
> 60s when (a) far less of the stuff was required, programmed or even 
> available
> and (b) nobody gave a rat's ass about political correctness.  Ooh, I said 
> a bad
> word.
>
Up here in "Canuckistan," Winter is something to be ENDURED...remaining
indoors until a dearth of something neccessitates actual exposure to the 
out-
door climate...?!

With luck, I shall survive the remainder of December...AND January...without
death-by-hypothermia, or bankruptcy from paying my gas bill?!

Christmas I can (sort of) celebrate...but freakin' WINTER?! Highly unlilely
(Haile Selassie's less-known cousin...?!)

Steven C. Barr