A Quick Xmas Song count

[Gojirob]

Way too many for a poll, so :

Your favorite Christmas songs as counted by :

1 - Secular

2 - Religious

3 - Version of a classic (let's say better than 20 years as the mark)

4 - Just as soon not hear

Mine :

1 - Secular - Snoopy's Christmas - Bonus points for evoking the WW1 Christmas Armistice

2 - Religious - O Holy Night - Any version, with a soft spot for one by Lou Christie with a choir in his native Pittsburgh. When I hear this in my sleep, I dream I'm in Bethlehem, standing on a hill overlooking the event. It hits home that hard.

3 - Home For The Holidays - Perry Como cover - In the middle of the song, the back-up singers add in a silly but fun extra verse that really jazzes it up

4 - The Christmas Shoes - I don't mind a pull on the heartstrings, but this one tears the whole thing out more effectively than a Black Lantern zombie. I can only hear it once per season. Not a denunciation--just my POV.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Secular: The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). Runner-up: Cocteau Twins' version of 'Frosty the Snowman'.

Religious: O Holy Night (the best version I ever heard was the way the former pastor at my grandparents' church sang it. He was the best.)

Version of a classic: Mannheim Steamroller's version of 'Deck The Halls'

Just as soon not hear: Quite a lot...

1. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer .
2. That lame version of 'The 12 Days Of Christmas' with the %$()*^ MacKenzie brothers ("And a beer...in a tree").
3. The Bob Dylan Christmas album (the whole thing).
4. Any version of 'Blue Christmas'

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

1 Secular: "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway

2 Religious: "We Three Kings of Orient Are"

3 Version of a classic: "White Christmas" by Otis Redding

4 Just as soon not hear: "Another Lonely Christmas" by Prince, in which he sings about drinking banana daiquiris until he goes blind.