Our Most Excellent Christmas Tunes – Lovesail’s Festive Picks
It’s Christmas! (to coin a Sladetastic Christmas song). Well pop pickers, here is our take on the best top ten Christmas tunes for your festive listening. A few from the 80’s (my teenage years) but also some golden oldies. Enjoy!
First in at Number 10 is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (1943), written by Hugh Martin and Lyrics by Ralph Blane. This song was written for the film Meet Me in St Louis with Judy Garland. Garland objected to the lyrics she would have to sing, so they were re-written to be more upbeat. Our version is by Ella Fitzgerald.
Number 9 on our Christmas tunes list is All I Want for Christmas is You written and performed by Mariah Carey. This song was written in 1994 by Mariah herself and Walter Afanasieff. The song has, to date, sold 16 million copies making it one of the best singles of all time.
Number 8 is the Irish folk-style ballad by the Pogues Fairytale of New York. Written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan (1985), the song is a duet with Shane and the late singer Kirsty MacColl in the form of a call and response. It is always a firm favourite in the UK and tops many a Christmas music list.
Stepping in at Number 7 is the fabulous Elton John with Step into Christmas. Written in 1973 by the prolific songwriting partnership of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Step into Christmas was mixed to sound like a Phil Spector production with his trademark wall of sound technique. It is a homage to all the Christmas songs from groups in the Phil Spector stable.
Number 6 sees Nat King Cole and The Christmas Song (1945). Robert Wells and Mel Tormé wrote the song. Tormé has said the song was written during the exceptionally hot summer of 1945. He was trying to stay cool by thinking of cool things like Jack Frost nipping and Yuletide carols. The rest is history.
Back into the 21st century now, Number 6 is Christmas Lights by Coldplay (2010). This has all the hallmarks of a good Christmas tune, written in a major key with an upbeat tempo, the song talks of love lost and Christmas nostalgia; all it’s missing is a few sleigh bells.
One from 1980 now. At Number 4 we have Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewis. A favourite song for me played at many a Christmas party in my youth. The song was meant as an anti-war song but when the record company picked up on the line “wish I was at home for Christmas” some tubular bells were added and it reached number 3 in the charts that December.
Still in the 80’s and pulling into the Number 3 spot is the happy, jaunty Driving Home for Christmas (1986) by Chris Rea. Chris wrote the song’s lyrics whilst driving home from the iconic Abbey Road Studios to his home in Middlesborough at Christmas. His wife had come to drive him home because it was cheaper than catching the train. As he sat in heavy traffic, he composed the lyrics.
Number 2 on the list and my favourite is I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake (1974). It was never Lake’s intention for the song to become a Christmas song. In fact, it was written as an attack on the commercialisation of Christmas. It reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1977, after being beaten to the top spot by Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Who is our Number 1 choice? Well it has to go to that 1980’s classic Last Christmas by Wham! (1984). George Michael wrote, recorded and produced the song in the August of 1984 and was convinced it would be the Christmas number 1 that year. Then, in November of that same year, Michael was asked to sing on the Band-Aid single, Do They Know It’s Christmas. Michael knew then he would not get that number 1 spot. Last Christmas was held at number 2, with Band-Aid taking the top spot and raising £8 million for the Ethiopian famine relief fund. Michael then decided to give the royalties (£250,000) from Last Christmas to the fund. Today, all the royalties from Last Christmas, thought to be around £300,000 a year, are given to charitable organisations.
For more facts about Last Christmas there is a great documentary on BBC iPlayer at the moment Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped
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