8 Christmas Songs I Only Heard After Moving to America
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- It's a fact: Both Britain and America have a variety of Christmas songs not recognized by the other. Here are eight Christmas songs I only encountered after moving to America.
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Gayla Peevey was from Oklahoma City. The city's zoo and the local newspaper launched a fund raiser to actually buy Gayla a hippopotamus for Christmas, with the one catch that she let the zoo take care of it. And that's how Gayla got Matilda the hippo for Christmas. Matilda lived at the zoo for 30 years and had nine baby hippos along the way. 🥰
I hope Gayla was aware that if she had tried to pet the Hippo, that it likely would of eaten her.....Merry Christmas!!!
To me it's very sad that Matilda the hippo had to live out her life trapped in an enclosure. And that her nine babies were doomed to the same fate. Those animals should roam free.
Sadly, Oklahoma's second greatest Christmas tune, the BC Clark Anniversary Sale jingle, didn't make the cut.
Actually, it wasn’t Gayle…the zoo was fundraising for a hippopotamus. The song made them enough money to feed and build a place for it. And for some reason I thought the zoo was on St. Louis. Spike O’Dell used to play it in the morning show on WGN radio. Gayle was not a pro, just a kid who had the voice that the producers thought sounded right.
Sadly, the OKC Zoo isn't showing the hippocampus this year, or any 3/4 of the other animals. It's a nearly empty zoo, full of disappointment.
36 years ago today, I was at the hospital in Muncie to have a non-stress test, the results of which required an immediate C-section. There were several people prepping the OR while I was being given the epidural. I sing when I'm nervous, and I started to sing Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer under my breath. One of the staff heard me, and then they all started belting it out. I don't remember getting the epidural, but every time I hear the song, I'm reminded of that day and how wonderful the nurses and docs were.
Happy birthday, Madeline!
Wait, WHAT happened?
@user-kw7mr6xt9n While I was getting my epidural, the OR staff sang with me to help assuage my nerves. It worked! I now have pleasant memories of the procedure instead of how uncomfortable it was.
@@jenniferbeardtrusty1671 no, I mean what were you there for in the first place? I don't understand
@@user-kw7mr6xt9n"A nonstress test is a screening test used in pregnancy to assess fetal status by means of the fetal heart rate and its responsiveness" basically seeing if her baby was responsive or if they needed to be born*right away*
@@Polopony20. Oh okay
You forgot “All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”.
Mom always said she hated “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer”. So, naturally, I always found a way to make sure she heard it every. single. year. Lol
She passed away August last year. If I hear the song this year it will be bittersweet
That's because we have that song in the UK
One year I actually got my two front teeth knocked out shortly before christmas.
That is a horrible song.
How about "Osama got run over by a reindeer"?
@@misterwhipple2870 there’s one out there about a redneck reindeer too
"I'll Be Home for Christmas," always puts a lump in my throat. A WWII-era song, in memory of all those young Allied soldiers who never made it home.
Truly great song, very sad.
This song can be sung in several different ways, the sad Christmas crooner version is the best and most meaningful. It is so much better than the looking forward to hanky panky under the tree version.
Look up Oliver Sacks TH-cam video where they play elderly people in homes who come back to life after listening to music. The old guys rendition of I’ll Be Home for Christmas is the saddest thing ever.
@@119Agent will do!
The whole A Charlie Brown Christmas album is excellent. Worth a buy if you've got the cash.
Vince Garibaldi was a musical genius.
I was distraught when I thought I had lost my copy in a recent move. It just ain't Christmas without several listens.
LOL @ you for thinking people still "buy" music.
Snoopy's Christmas is awesome!
@SchvennMeister
Ah, yes!
I heard about this new thing called......
Napster!
Just kidding!😂
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer is so darkly humorous I can't help but love it. The possible implication that grandpa was somehow involved, and the family barely caring is so funny.
Me too
My sentiments exactly! How can anyone not love this song?!?
😂 There was a cartoon Christmas special written about too. 😂
Is it just me, or does the song sound like Grandma got tipsy and had a spill on the way home but was embarrassed and blamed Santa?
@@Levacque Nah, I think grandpa might have caused it
My mother obtained seasonal employment selling victrolas at a department store back in the 50’s. Realizing she had all these record players to sell but nothing to demonstrate how they sounded she went to a nearby five and dime store and bought the just released Jimmy Boyd’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. Throughout the Christmas season Jimmy crooned about his mother’s flirtation with Santa and by Christmas Eve she had sold her entire supply of 45 rpm record players. The store detective came over to her counter lifted the record off the spindle, tossed it on the floor and stomped on it.
Victrolas?! How old was your mother? Was she watching movies on Edison Kinetoscopes?
@@garryferrington811 Victrola record players are still sold
😁
@@garryferrington811Not only are record players still sold I know people who own record stores and do well.
Maybe he was upset that your mommy never kissed him.
My sophomore dorm was next to a frat house. The fraternity had a tradition of singing raunchy parodies of Christmas songs on their roof at midnight during dead week (the week before finals) of fall quarter. Our dorm had just had a party, and the sound system was still set up. So when the raunchy songs started, we pointed the speakers at the frat house and blasted them with the Chipmunks Christmas song. The song ended, they started singing again, and we blasted them with more Chipmunks Christmas. Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually, they gave up and let the tradition die.
And there was much rejoicing...
Instead of a frat house, it was a trash house.
Why the HELL would you sing RAUNCHY parodies? I thought that might put you on THE NAUGHTY LIST.
SANTA WOULD NOT LIKE THAT!
"Hippopotamus maintenance: It's daily shits that are probably the size of a dog,"
and
"Alvin and the Chipmunks make Barry Gibb sound like Barry White,"
are two of the funniest lines I've heard for weeks! Well done, Lawrence.😊
Ha I came here to say exactly this. Well done… well done 👏
I love both of those songs
Apparently Larry has never the magic sound of The Singing Dogs and "Jingle Bells". Or the Jingle Cats.
You have a "bah humbug" attitude, Lawrence, so you're "getting nuttin' for Christmas"!
There are some old funny Christmas songs that I remember from my kiddo days that my parents taught me to sing when I was kindergarten age - "All I Want for Christmas" and "Nuttin' for Christmas".
There is also "The Chimney Song" which may be my favorite funny holiday tune of all time which I first heard at my youngest son's preschool Christmas program. The three-year-olds sang it. Half of the parents were laughing out loud while the other half were gasping and/or frowning. One of my bestest memories ever!
I can honestly say this video is the first time I've ever heard of Dominick the Donkey. This comes from a lifelong American who enjoys Christmas, and whose wife keeps the car radio on the 24/7 Christmas station two months of the year.
Same - I'm in my 50's and listen pretty much nonstrop to Christmas music in December and have never heard that one before. I would think it might be regional, except Lawrence is in the midwest and so am I and I've still never heard it. A quick check in with a couple friends and family members this morning revealed that they have never heard it either. I had never heard that Kenny Loggins song either. I'm playing a "classic Christmas" playlist from Spotify right now and neither one is on there.
Same here
Never heard of it as a kid, but hear it all the time now that I’m an adult. It’s so so.
Heard it first in 2022
Mandela effect?
Dominic the Donkey is a regional song. I grew up on the East Coast (Italian-American) and this is my favorite. My wife (I refer to her as my “Mick Kraut Friend” - you get the lineage) grew up in Southern California. She had never heard the song before our first Christmas. Her and my girls now wish they could still say that as I played it like a 4 year old with their first 45 record every Christmas - over and over and over. But playing it full blast as I dropped our oldest off at High School now remains an issue between her and her therapist. 😂
THIS. Exactly the same here.
The music in the Charlie Brown 1965 TV special has a curious story. It was composed by a San Francisco jazz musician at the request of the producer of the TV special who, himself, wrote the words for the jazz-style music. The voices in Christmas Time is Here are the children from a church choir who were paid $15 each for singing it.
If I remember correctly, the entire production was produced with quite a low budget. It was not expected to do very well yet it has become an enduring classic.
The jazz musician was Vince Guaraldi who sadly passed away at 38 after giving a concert.
The child actor that voiced Charlie Brown killed himself.
@@kirbyculp3449 yes, but not exactly relevant. He was 65 (it was in 2022) and had struggled with mental illness. I doubt it had anything to do with his part in Charlie Brown.
I mean it could have, maybe he's one of those child actors that struggled ever since to become famous just because of the success of that one thing he did when he was little, but nothing ever happened which only sent in deeper into depression? probably not though. covid was tough on a lot of people, especially in the entertainment business... a lot of actors and musicians were hit hard emotionally and financially by not being able to perform
So I’m from Oklahoma and ‘I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas’ was written for Peevey who is an Oklahoman and used as a fundraiser to bring a hippo to the OKC zoo. And in Oklahoma you can’t go an hour out in public at Christmas time without hearing it… I agree it should only be played once but if you live in Oklahoma you don’t get that choice 😂😂😂
I live in Oklahoma too, and I can agree. I love the song! 😂
Ugh my Highlander ex wife loved that song, it's like nails across a chalkboard toy ears and it's played in Ohio, the better O state 😏
I am just a few miles from Oklahoma in Arkansas and they play that song all the time here too
Several years ago I heard "Christmas in Killarney", sung by Anne Murray. Then Bing Crosby later on. It's one of my favorites.
You're right, "The Christmas Shoes" is one of the saddest songs ever. Makes me tear up every time!
If you like Christmas songs that make you tear up, try Old Tin Star. It's making me tear up just thinking about it.
Never cared for this one. It's so blatantly, intentionally maudlin. It's as if the writer thought "Let's come up with a song that will be depressing and manipulative."
@@christopherturco197It's still more tasteful than Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer, though I'll never understand why Southerners have an obsession with the maudlin, the morbid, the macabre, and the depressing!
Kenny Loggins is the guy who appeared on the soundtrack for every 1980s movie. (Danger Zone in Top Gun; I'm Alright from Caddyshack, Footloose from, well, from Footloose).
All I want for Christmas is a 10 minute video with outtakes of you saying “Ooooooo Lawrence “.
Absolutely! I love the way he says that!!!
Oooh, that Peanuts one is amazing. I love how they incorporate jazz into the soundtrack. Great choice !
PS: The "makes Barry Gibb sound like Barry White" comment is gold ! Merry Christmas, Lawrence !
"...but as for me and grandpa, we believe." I loved that song when I was a kid, haha. But I've actually never heard of most of the others on this list. lol
"christmastime is here" has been my favorite christmas song for years, specifically the instrumental version. i feel like it's a little bit underrepresented in the larger christmas song canon, but perhaps that's a good thing; it means way less awful cover versions of it exist compared to most other holiday standards!
Pentatonix just released a mash-up of “Christmastime Is Here” and “Pure Imagination “ that is simply sublime.
@@kathyastrom1315 i'll believe it when i hear it. every year they are the worst part of my christmas music experience lol. so annoying
I'm totally burned out on that Mariah Carey song. Been hearing it since November.
"Christmas Time is Here" was tastefully covered by the popular TH-cam band, Foxes and Fossils.
I don't really find the mariah carey song to be festive at all. All she does is mention christmas in passing while talking about her desire for a significant other. It could take place any time of the year and still be the same pop song.
For your edification and enlightenment, the lyrics to "The Christmas Song".
Christmas, Christmas time is here.
Time for joy, and time for cheer.
We've been good, but we can't last.
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast.
Want a plane that loops the loop.
Me, I want, a hoola hoop.
We can hardly stand the wait.
Please Christmas don't be late.
Merry Christmas. 🎄
🫡🙄🎄🎁🎅🎶🐿🐿🐿🎶
My grandma loves "Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer. So much so that at my brother's (October, so not seasonal at all) wedding he played it for the (grand)mother- son dance. Everyone looked horrified, only our family understood why he chose that.
lol oddly enough, when it first came out and my grandmother heard it, she was furious 😂
@Teressa1183 most would take offense!
First "Chipmunk" song was just David Seville and one voice on #1 hit "Witch Doctor" in 1958. Later they did the Christmas song, then had the animated show c.1962. Interesting they had two #1 songs in the 1950s, while Chuck Berry had none. Ross Bagdasarian ("David Seville") also wrote "Come On A My House" for Rosemary Clooney (with his cousin, William Saroyan), and played the jazz musician in Hitchcock's "Rear Window".
The Yoopers (from the U.P. of Michigan) did a song called "Grandpa got run over by a beer truck"....
She's gonna keep the hippo in her two car garage. It's in the song, pay attention man!
That's what I was about to say!
She’ll feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage 😂
Never heard of that Kenny Loggins tune before, but as a music teacher I am required to know them all lol.
I've never heard of it either
I'm 55 and never heard it in my life. But the worst Christmas song EVER, by far, is The Christmas Shoes.
Me neither.
Me either!
Same. Also the donkey one. I’ve barely heard of the hippo one. But it’s hard to find a worse one than Last Christmas.
My favorite less known Christmas song is Christmas Wrapping. I can't say why I find it so charming but I absolutely love it.
The Waitresses. One hit wonder
One of my go to songs as well.
Lesser known!? That's one of the ones you absolutely can't escape from here in the UK! I think I've heard it more times this year than Mariah Carey.
If you want catchy songs from American Christmas specials, then check out “The Year Without a Santa Claus” and its “Heat Miser”/“Snow Miser” songs. They will teach you literally nothing about the true meaning of Christmas, but you will remember them until the day you die.
Brenda Lee’s Rocking ‘Round the Christmas tree “ is the best
I understand how you feel about the chipmunk song, but I have to mention, that's where the chipmunks started - with the song "Christmas Don't be Late." It sold so well that he was able to get the TV show started - and several more songs, as well.
That isn't strictly speaking true. Ross Bagdasarian started the gimmick with "Witch Doctor" before further developing the known characters with an album.
"The Chipmunk Song" was a follow up. Though it was the first to name Alvin, Simon and Theodore.
@@MorinehtarTheBlue The Witch Doctor song wasn't by the Chipmunks. It was just Ross speeding up the tape. He then developed that idea to come up with the Chipmunks.
@@TheAzmountaineer He released it under the name David Seville. The bands been billed as David Seville and the Chipmunks, Alvin and the Chipmunks or simply the Chipmunks.
As Dave is a character that's part of the whole gimmick it doesn't get discounted.
The really dumb thing is the whole conceit is that of a band. So it's kind of silly for Laurence to say he likes Alvin and the Chipmunks but that they shouldn't sing.
I enjoyed those when I was young. First Armenian name I ever encountered, it prepared me to live in Glendale for twenty years. My cataract surgeon was Dr. Hovanessian.
Feliz Navidad is a Christmas favorite for me. A few years ago I was at a bar when they were having an open night on Christmas eve. A patron who was way too drunk decided to sing Feliz Navidad. He may have been a competent singer, but that night, he couldn't hold, let alone find the correct note with a pair of Vise-Grips. ANYWAY, a buddy of mine who was a choir director at a church saved his drunk butt by finishing the song. And then he went on to sing Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire that made you think Nat King Cole Who?!?
Dominic the Donkey is unironically in my top 3 of christmas songs. its so fun! I appreciate songs that are fun and upbeat, so i also like the chipmunk songs, and some of the others you disliked. i get really tired of the slow 'classics' like silent night/jingle bells/little drummer boy/etc so i need it to get mixed up
I am so happy that someone else has finally said it aloud: despite being a staid Beatles fan, I cannot stomach "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime'. It has to be the laziest ,most ridiculous premise for a song I have ever had the misfortune to hear. Thank you for your honesty, Lawrence. Keep on keeping on. We love your content. Merry Christmas!
I only enjoy it when imagining that they’re space aliens, trying to convince the humans that they totally understand the holiday and are completely normal humans.
Same. When I worked at The Body Shop, that song was played on our holiday playlist no less than 7 times during my 8 hour shift. I hate it with every molecule of my being.
It is pretty and pretty lame, at the same time!
That's ok, it wasn't even a Beatles song. Just a Beatle's song.
Everybody says it. It's one of the most reviled songs ever.
The Chipmunks Christmas song always reminds me of college. It was blasting from the dorms during fall Finals Week.
What kind of hell is that?
I got Chipmunk Punk one year (as an adult!) For Christmas. Never played it.
@@Paul_Halickilol sounds like a very particular kind, still hell nonetheless 😂
It is amazing that you are still alive to confess your horrible offense.
I was little when the cartoons came out, so I loved them!
My oldest daughter keeps "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" in our minds all year long bc she has it as the ringtone for when my Mother-in-law calls her cell phone! 😂😂😂
And then there's various regional songs! Having grown up in Maryland, there's a song from my childhood called "Crabs for Christmas" that - though absurd and silly - it's not Christmas until I've belted this song out at the top of my lungs. The song is about a man lamenting to a department store Santa Claus in Houston, Texas that he's homesick and just wants some authentic blue crab to feel like he's "home back in old Balt-i-more!." We moved away from that region when I was barely a teenager, and the nostalgia over the decades has kept this song cherished in the family!
I thought it was about somebody with a STD. 🤢
My God! With a 3,000 song Christmas collection, you actually came up with one I've not heard of, and will now have to track down! Thank you!
Houston of all places 😂 Why there
Laurence, another classic Christmas song i bet you've never heard before moving to the USA is "Same Auld Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg. It's a love reunited song that hints about the season in the beginning to establish the setting, but doesn't fully reveal itself as also a Christmas song until the last 30 seconds before it ends. It's a MASSIVE Christmas/New Year's classic here in the States that gets played on holiday themed radio stations daily every year during this season.
Actually, you know it's a Christmas song from the very first few words, "I met a lover at the grocery store. The snow was falling Christmas Eve."
@@micheledeetlefs6041"Met my old lover..." And you're right. Christmas Eve is mentioned at the very start. 😎
Love this song so much!! Jonathan Coulton has a beautiful cover of it.
I first heard that song right after the breakup of a long relationship. So it's always been sad to me.
The title is "Same Old Lang Syne" though I was always under the mistaken belief that it was a James Taylor song.
And it's definitely a story set at Christmas time but somewhat questionable as to whether or not it's actually a Christmas song.
Actually, when I was a kid, I had a whole album of songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, and it included “The Chipmunk Song.” I probably drove my parents crazy listening to it so much. So the song has nostalgia value for me, though I wouldn’t want to listen to it all the time anymore.
Ross Bagdasarian cartoons.
Might be the same cassette tape I had with Christmas chipmunk songs on it.
Well to be honest any album could be chipmunks if you turned the speed on the turntable up to 78 😊
Did you just say you like the Charlie Brown song because it doesn't have lyrics while playing a clip of the lyrics being sang? Anyway, Charlie Brown Christmas is one of my favorite pieces of Christmas entertainment, i relate to Charlie Brown so much lol
I think that was added in as a joke after the video was edited later and he found out his mistake.
I'm pretty sure that moment was sarcasm to cover his flub. Lol
0:57 When I was 18 I worked in the mall. Right outside my store was a carousel. At Christmas it played nothing but the Chipmunks Christmas Song on a loop, all day.
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is one of those songs I love for the nostalgia.
Listen to the entire Dr Elmo CD. The best version of "Grandma..." is by Home Free, watch the video.
@@robertpeacock1635I was wondering if anyone would bring up Home Free’s cover. So darn good!
"Feliz Navidad" is very popular in the UK, im yet to go into a shop that isnt playing it this year, we also have "i saw mommy kissing santa claus" and "i want a hippopotamus for christmas" and we have "dominick the donkey" though that one isnt as popular as the rest, "grandma got run over by a raindeer" is a thing here too, though unpopular too
Funny but I'm an American who has never heard of Dominick the donkey until just now. 🤔
@@Mick_Ts_Chick Same!!
Dominik the Donkey reached #3 in the UK in 2011!
Lawrence is going by popular UK Christmas songs from more than a decade ago. Feliz Navidad is popular in the UK but probably only in the last 8-10 years, it wasn't a growing up Christmas song
Well it is now @@clairec1267
New Yorker here: we heard The Pogues' Christmas in New York constantly on the radio every holiday season. I can't vouch for the rest of the country, but it was definitely played here on the east coast. I listen to a progressive rock FM station on my work commute (in Connecticut) and I've already heard it once this year.
Ohioan here: Heard of it and love it.
Maybe it gets play in New York because, well, the song is about New York. And Connecticut is where people who work in New York live. It's not as well-known elsewhere in the U.S. I only heard it after getting into Irish music in my 20s, not through any radio airplay. It's gotten a bit more well-known over the last 10 years, though.
I can’t imagine not hearing Slade & Wizard etc at Christmas time, especially Slade. To me, they’re part of a British Christmas.
The song I hate is Do They Know It’s Christmas? It makes me feel so guilty for putting decorations up & having fun.
Happy Christmas to you, your family & TH-cam fans. x 🎄
“Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you!” Such a Bono thing to say.
@joeconcepts5552 didn't he once pay for a plane seat for his hat because he left it behind on tour? Yeah I don't want that guy patronising me on my privilege.
Yes, "Christmas Time is Here" DOES have lyrics...😊
I've never heard the hippo song. But it sounds fun...😅
I've heard the hippo song but not the Kenny L song or the donkey song.
@@LeesaDeAndrea Dominick the Donkey is hilarious.
Yes. We sang both those songs in a choir I used to sing in.
I only heard the Dominick the Donkey song for the first time yesterday when at the Doctor's office. Neither his assistant or I had even heard of it, so he pulled out his phone and played it for us! It was truly hilarious!@@KenTrosper
The hippo song is fun
I love all of those songs! Another one that used to play on the radio but I don't hear anymore is The 12 Pains of Christmas. Fun one!
Oh yeah, Dr Demento played that every year!
@@mistertor Dr Demento gets credit for all the parody songs even though he didn't do many of them. Bob Rivers did The 12 Pains of Christmas, along with other favorites of mine including Walking Around in Women's Underwear, the Buttcracker Suite, Didn't I Get This Last Year, and O Christmas Tree (beautifully done played by a chainsaw).
Yes, that's a great one! I also love Allan Sherman's "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas."
🎵5 months of bills!🎵
Talking Charlie Brown - you need to listen to Snippy' s Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen. It was a huge hit here in New Zealand when it came out in the late 60's and is still a popular Christmas song but it seems to be unheard of in the UK and US
I love this story and I'll tell it any chance I get:
When I was a kid, my mom and my grandmother didn't get along at all. Every year for Christmas when we were kids, she would have my sister and I sing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" to my grandmother over the phone, and we did because we liked the movie. I only realized as an adult what a real shitty thing that is lmaooo
Prior to 1976, it was Loggins and Messina who had quite a few hits. Then , Kenny Loggins had more than a few solo hits , including the theme songs to 1980's iconic movies, Footloose and Top Gun. His Celebrate Me Home (1977) was played a lot in the late 70's and into the 80's.
Don't forget the best movie he did a theme for- Caddyshack!
So glad I'm old enough to have missed all that crap.
@@garryferrington811 what? The 70s?
There’s also his cousin Dave Loggins. Great songwriting and singing.
Fairytale Of New York is much more popular than you realize! That and "Christmas In LA" by The Killers are the two most depressing Christmas songs I listen to.
Give a listen to "Christmas in Cape Town" by Randy Newman. It might fit the bill.
@@bobstopa4590 Not a bad tune, though it didn't make me feel depressed like the other two. Thanks for the recommendation!
Yeah, I hear from a lot of Brits that Americans are not familiar with the song, and while it's not as popular here, it's a Christmas staple among all of my friends and always played in the local bar's jukebox this time of year.
Speaking of depressing Christmas songs by the Killers, have you ever heard "Don't Shoot Me, Santa"?
Love that song, but I see a theme here.
@@leafbelly I'm thinking it's about what group you hang out with. In the 80s, I was into punk and new wave ("Alternative" in today's language). So, I was familiar with English acts like The Damned, Kate Bush (pre Stanger Things!), Siouxsie And The Banshees, and The Pogues...people normal Top 40 listeners would never hear about but those of us listening to college radio stations were familiar with. So yeah, Laurence and your friends got a good point there.
"Celebrate Me Home" is definitely a great song! Check out the 1992 live version from The Grand Canyon. Marc Russo has an incredible sax solo.
American here. Almost 50 years old and never heard Dominick the Donkey. Where has he BEEN all my life? 🫏❤️
Merry Christmas, Lawrence Brown! You're my favorite channel discovery of 2023. Thank you for all you do, especially for the much needed laughs.
I'm guessing you have yet to hear "All I want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" or "Yust Go Nuts At Christmas". Search out the latter, a comedy duo named Stan & Doug put out a whole Christmas album.
I like ‘12 Gifts of Christmas’ by Allen Sherman
The original 'I Yust Go Nuts' was by a guy named Yogi Yorgenson.
Fun fact The Chipmunk Song was a fav of my favorite music teacher. He wanted two solo parts where you HAD to sing sounding like a chipmunk.I was the ONLY one who was able to pull it off." I DIDN'T want to do it I MADE the whole class try out TWICE" There was a FULL auditorium ,Almost two thousand people...I was twelve yrs. old at the time! The lines were ...Me I want a hula hoop & I still want a hula hoop ...also I was quite thick or some would say stocky... soo yea!
"Grandma was Run Over by a Reindeer" is one of my favorite X-Mas songs. The other is "Little Drummer Boy," but you probably heard that one in Britian.
For religious ones my favorite is O Holy Night.
"The Little Drummer Boy" is beautiful, but "Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer" needs to be burned!
What do you mean, you never heard "I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus" in Britain? I'm in my 8th decade and grew up hearing that every Christmas. And it's still played. Bah Humbug! Keep up the good work.
Barry Gordon,a former child sctor and the one who was Gary Rabinowitz on Archie Bunker's Place,recorded a song entitled Nuttin' For Christmas, which had a sample played on The New $25,000 Pyramid.
...cuz I ain't bit nuttin' but bad!
I have a 45 record of that song ❤
...Mama and Daddy are mad...
Thirty years ago I was singing in a coffeehouse and I did Fairytale of New York a couple of times at Christmas. Second time sang it the owner paid attention and banned it.
Owner also required me to do Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.
lol!
rip Shane MacGowan
@@a697ag Kirstie McColl (did I get that right?) too. They sang it at the funeral, and I played it at least twice.
@@thecryptofishist9565 Yeah, Kristy MacColl too. Very sad way to go. :(
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is one of my favorite Christmas songs!
I agree with most but I actually love the one about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer. I first heard it when my children were around 7 or 8 or so and they thought it was the funniest thing they ever heard so I have fond memories
I will proudly say I love most (not all) pop Christmas music. Back when local radio stations where I live would change to all Christmas music for the rest of the year I was so very happy. I even found one that did the switch-over right around Halloween and I was even happier! I worked someplace that played Christmas music and I loved that too! Seven to ten hours a day listening to it didn't bother me. UNLESS it was a CD that kept repeating. Also about 10 years ago I started hearing Driving Home for Christmas on the radio in a state on the East Coast of the US! I had to google it when I got home that night because I thought it was a new song from someone I didn't know. It was but is certainly wasn't new!
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever heard this before, but I pulled it up on YT, and I love it❤!
I used to work in the office at Sears and they played that 3M Cantata tape machine that took 12-hour cartridges, much like a giant 8-track player. They had the best elevator music you ever heard, and their Christmas tapes were great. I used to hear them through the whole 8-hour shift.
When I was a kid, we had a Telefunken record player/radio cabinet (with a bar on the other side of the cabinet from the record player side), and we played the Chipmunk Christmas song on 16 & 2/3rds speed. We just heard that Dave Seville guy talking. My childhood ended that day.
😂😂😂That's classic! I love it!
Oddly enough here in Northern Ireland, the hippopotamus song, Dominic the donkey & grandma got run over by a rain deer are regularly played on local radio over the Christmas period
I can’t believe you included Slade in your list, I absolutely love that song. First heard it in middle school in the mid eighties, our choir teacher was awesome, and it’s been a favorite ever since.
First off, Merry Christmas! Second, the classics are always the best. I'll admit that there are newer artists who sing the classics very well but Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole will forever reign supreme.
John Legend is Nat King Cole resurrected, the vocal resemblance is THAT amazing.
@@Exiled.New.YorkerDisagree but to be fair I've only heard one or two of his songs, so maybe I'd need to hear a cover of a Nat song.
I LOVE that Michael Ball song, Driving Home for Christmas! It always makes me feel good. 😃
Dominic the Donkey is my husband's favorite song to play in bars. The looks on everyone's face is priceless.
Ooh Laurence! I hope you're simply having a wonderful Christmas time!!
Merry Christms to you , your wife your family and to all those youtubers!
Laurence, I am a subscriber to your channel. I love your videos, partly because a dear friend of mine is from England (she is 102 years old, and still speaks the King's (formerly Queen's) English). That said, being Jewish I have no special connection to the Christmas holidays, and so my favorite Christmas songs are "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (plus the music video of it), "Christmas Don't be Late" (Chipmunk's Christmas song), "Dominick the Christmas Donkey," and "Snoopy and the Red Baron" Christmas song (not on your list but I enjoy it). Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and Tara.
"Merry Christmas, my friend!"
Amusing. The first time I heard "Dominick the Donkey" was on The Chris Moyles Breakfast Show back when he was on BBC Radio One.😂
"Fairytale of New York" got a little more noteriety last year as it was used as the opening song in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special". A couple of recommendations for you in case you haven't heard them, both by "Weird Al" Yankovic: "Christmas at Ground Zero" and "The Night Santa Went Crazy" (two versions of that one, regular and "extra gory"). I would also recommend the deluxe version of "Christmas Party" by the Monkees (will have 15 tracks compared to the standard album's 13).
Christmas at Ground Zero absolutely sleighs(slays) me. I could play it for an hour or more!!
Check out "Suzie Snowflake". It's an oldie but was my Dad's favorite. It's catchy and upbeat.
Hard rock, coco and Joe also.
Susie Snowflake is from my early childhood. Great memories.
When I was first starting my massive 3,000 Christmas song collection, the only Christmas song my roommate insisted HAD to be on it was Suzie Snowflake, which until that time I'd never heard of.
@@DisneyBatchman he must have been from the Chicago area. That and Hardrock, Coco and Joe are classics.
Have you heard the "Twelve Pains of Christmas"? It's a parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" Very funny.... in my opinion.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from CT.
NOW WHY THE HELL ARE THEY BLINKING?!
Or walking around in women’s underwear a parody of winter wonderland. (Thought now it it would probably be main stream)
@@KCKingdomCreateGreatTrekAgain Well, it was mainstream enough for me to hear it on a classic rock station, but then that station did occasionally indulge in FCC-friendly ribald humor.
@@JamesRamsey-rg4ty I meant it would be mainstream because of the subject and the times we live in.
"Fairytale of New York" is pretty well- known in the US at least among my friends who all did college radio in the late 1980s.
Chris De Burgh, A Spaceman Came Travelling. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Power Of Love.
My favourites.
In 28 years, I've never heard them played in the US.
Merry Christmas Laurance, Tara and your furry family. Just a on two of the songs on your list;
My grandfather (my mom's father) used to sing Lou Monte's Dominick the Donkey when I was a baby, and while still very young, every Christmas passed. My mom would play it every Christmas after he died to keep him a part of holiday celebration, for years, until she passed. I miss my parents and sets of grandparents.
And as far as "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer", you should listen to the response song to it; "Grandpa Got Run Over By A Beer Truck" 😄. Not only funny, but quintessentially American.
Oooo Lawrence, you forgot that other Elmo and Patsy hit, Percy the Puny Poinsettia.
OK I went and listen to the beer truck song. Thank you for destroying three minutes of my life. 😊
@@marieroberts5664 What about Peter Cottenclaus?
@@DisneyBatchmanseriously? never heard of it.
I've also never heardvthe Kenny loggins song or the Dominick the donkey song. Grandma got run over by a reindeer is one of my favorites. I also really like do they know it's Christmas.
Are you going to do a list of Christmas songs that are only in England and not in America?
Augie Rios - ¿Dónde Está Santa Claus? I know you’re swinging your hips every time that Amazon commercial comes on.
I love one of the most hated/overplayed Christmas songs: "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses. Gets a lot of play because of genuine quality, a modern classic that gets me dancing every time.
But the bittersweet melancholy yet transcendent joy of the Charlie Brown music captures the feel of the holiday perfectly.
Love watching your videos, Laurence! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year🎄
Fairytale of New York IS my favorite Christmas song EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm 53 and born and raised in Ohio. Then again I'm Gen X. LOL!!!!
Laurence introduced me to the song via his channel. A similar song came out earlier this month, Fairytale of Philadelphia.
Dominick the Donkey is my wife’s favorite. She loves to sing along. 😂
Merry Christmas. Play Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” which I believe was written for service men during WWII, and cry you eyes out.
In our house we sing Feliz Navidad with different words, instead we sing "the fleas have my dog...."
😂😂
Fleas Navidog.
I'm never heard of that Kenny Loggins song and I'm 47. What do you mean the Chipmunks should not be singing? That was the WHOLE point of Alvin and the Chipmunks... they SANG! And the Chipmunks Christmas song was what STARTED the Chipmunks!
I'm 55, never heard that one, the hippo song or the donkey song. I suspect Tara.
I almost peed myself at the Chipmunk section... "Under no circumstances should they be singing" - yes, yes and yes. I'm still laughing...
When I listened to the Dr. Demento radio program, I enjoyed hearing "I saw Daddy Kissing Santa Clause".
Visiting Wales in December, I saw a lot of Walkers (Lays in America) with Christmas Mariah Carey all over the packaging. I realized THAT Christmas song is most likely playing all around the world and galaxy at this point.
Not a fan
@@Lorrainecatsme either!! It’s overplayed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Tara ❤️
"All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" seems to have disappeared, but it was my favorite as a child. Danny Kaye sang it. Maybe other people did too, but Danny really smashed it.
I was born and raised here in Georgia and until right now I had never heard the Donkey or Hippo songs. (I found them on TH-cam.) However, I once got a Hippopotamus for Christmas, but I divorced her 15 years later.
I can relate! Merry Christmas.
I've never heard of, nor heard, most of these songs. I guess I've never had the radio on at the right time - or maybe that's a good thing, considering how many of the songs you don't like :)
I am very tickled by the fact that the Christmas stockings for you and Tara are less than half the size of the other two, which I assume are for Kafka and Arthur.
I am 55 years old and had never heard Dominic The Donkey until about a week ago when when a “friend” played it for me. I would have been perfectly happy to have gone another 55 years without ever having heard it!
I grew up in the 60s and 70s and the most common version of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause on the radio was the version by Jimmy Boyd. At least in our part of the country it's the classic.
The version I hear most often is by the Ronettes (I think?)
You could write and record the very first boxing day song, because none exist now.
Good King Wenseslaus (However spelled, Vaclav is so much easier to spell) which is older than all these put together.
There are songs that reference "Boxing Day" (aka St. Stephen's Day)
@@reginabillotti I looked up the lyrics to the song ‘Good King Wenceslas’, and there are no references to boxing day.
Other than sometimes occurring on the same day, St. Stephan’s day and boxing day have nothing to do with each other.
I’ve hated the hippopotamus song since I was a kid! The only other Christmas song that drove me mad was the “All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)” song 🤣
If you want a kind of niche Christmas song, I highly recommend “Sammy the Christmas Snake”! My dad used to play it for us when we got a little older and it’s a lot of fun!
My understanding is that it played as a kind of gag song around here in North Carolina on a few stations when I was a kid, but it must not have played often because even among other Carolinians if I bring it up usually no one else knows what I’m talking about.
(The singing voice could perhaps be a bit divisive, though. It does range a little more towards high pitched, funny sounding than normal human.)
"Sammy the Xmas Snake"...X-rated?
@@garryferrington811 Nope! He’s just, well, a snake. And since snakes aren’t usually known for being cuddly and merry his snake-ness does not make him a popular guy in the North Pole 😂
Best Christmas songs are the fun ones: Nick Lowe “Christmas at the Airport”, Bob and Doug MacKenzie “12 Days of Christmas”, and there’s plenty of parody songs that mock some of these (Bob Rivers “Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire”).
Bob Rivers' The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen is one of my all time favorites. Brilliant parodies.
@@cate9540 As a non-Catholic it took me a while to understand the two black guys reference. Once I was educated, the song made more sense.
In NY state we definitely play the Pogues', Slade's and to a lesser extant Wizard's Christmas songs, and even the Kinks' one too. Maybe they're played more on the classic rock radio stations than the 24 hour Christmas stations.
Here's a few more you may not have heard: "The Tree" by Peggy Lee, "East Tennessee Christmas" by Chet Atkins (also check out his version of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas"), and "The Toy Trumpet" by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops