koganbot | 'Cause it's never too early

Have any Christmas songs written after 1960 become standards? By "standard" I don't mean "people listen to Mariah's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' every year," but rather that it's regularly performed and recorded by other performers as well. The only one I can think of is the Greenwich-Barry-Spector "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," which is still pretty old, and I'm not sure it is a standard, just something that David Letterman has Darlene Love reprise every year. (Allmusic lists 31 covers, including Mariah Carey's, Death Cab For Cutie's, Hanson's, U2's, Kidz Bop's, and a freestyle version by Brenda K. Starr. A quick look at Google video indicates that the U2, the Mariah, and the Death Cab are the only non-Darlene versions to get any traction.)

The two interpolated lines of rock 'n' roll that Spector sticks into the Crystals' version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" have become a bit standard, or anyway the Springsteen version that includes the interpolation gets played a lot.

Allmusic actually gives uncertain results for the Carey-Afanasieff "All I Want For Christmas Is You," since the same title has been used by other songwriters too, and there are a bunch of compilations with no songwriter or performer listed by Allmusic so you can't tell if it's Mariah's or some other version or some other "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (though presumably it's not Mariah's version on the zydeco collection, though maybe it's her song). I'm only getting ten for certain, including the likes of Jive Bunny and Kidz Bop, though the number could be far higher. But it won't be within an order of magnitude of, for instance, "I'll Be Home For Christmas," which runs into hundreds upon hundreds.

h/t Tom Ewing

EDIT: I think we've got a winner, but you'll have to check the comments to find out what it is.

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oh, it's the cover versions bit that is making this tricky, as all the classic modern (if you see what i mean) UK christmas songs don't tend to get covered (or at least only rarely, and usually atrociously. yes ronan keating, it is your version of fairytale of new york about which i speak). but is this not a general function of the market, that there are less cover version now anyway? and i guess pre-dylan's childhood standards are now public domain and thus better value to record?

it is very odd discussing this today, as after a fortnight of rather autumnal weather, london is very hot and sunny today...

Yes, there are fewer standards altogether in the way I'm defining "standard," and that for sure will be a big reason why there seem to be no new Xmas standards. But there are some songs that a lot of people will take a shot at, "Louie Louie" and "Yesterday" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit," for instance, yet no Xmas song I can think of has cracked that lineup. And Christmas albums are exactly where performers are encouraged to break the practice of not recording covers.

hmmm, maybe it's that fewer UK artists do christmas albums (girls aloud snuck one out as a bonus disc with chemistry that had the slade and wizzard songs on) so our more recent Chirstmas standards don't get the attention?

Mark brings up "Merry Christmas Everybody" over on Tom's Blue Lines tumblr, and again Allmusic doesn't give many covers, but it's hard to tell not only because of all the compilations but because Allmusic doesn't cover British-only stuff, and it's Britain where the song might be a standard.

HOLD UP, wait a minute!

surely "last christmas" by wham! is the answer to this question? there were about 50 versions of it on spotify when i was messing around last year:

http://carsmilesteve.livejournal.com/81360.html

admittedly most of them were boshing rave or ironic punk, but STILL.

xpost!

Yes, there are a lot, including Hilary Duff, Taylor Swift, and a panpipe Xmas album, the last I'd think being definitive. It may not be firmly established, but it's up there. So we may have a STANDARD here.

(The Taylor Swift version is a lot better, but I can't be posting Taylor vids on every thread.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzPNrK9l-ZE

I can't be posting Taylor vids on every thread

OH YES I CAN!

P.S. Please listen to this. It's a quiet killer, beats everything on Fearless except "You're Not Sorry."

Written by Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose, and Taylor Swift.

don't be silly now. nice tune, though, I like the added line in the final chorus bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HnU--Nn8Ug

What about that Wham! one? I know it's been covered by Taylor Swift.

Xpost!

Much as I hate to say it, I think "A Wonderful Christmas Time" by Paul McCartney qualifies.

I have never heard of this song.

Allmusic has 44 covers for sure, which it makes it significant, but hardly a standard.

What about Fairytale of NY?

32 for-sure covers on Allmusic. Not enough, I'd say.

Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here" from "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" gets more love every year, and it's from 1965.

Hard to tell from Allmusic, since there are several different songs called "Christmas Time Is Here," but I believe you are right, that this runs up to a couple hundred.

So, to sum up so far, we have located two Christmas standards written since 1960:

"Last Christmas," written by George Michael.
"Christmas Time Is Here," written by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson.

I'm thinking John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)". I began wondering the same thing a couple years ago at work, when I heard Pavarotti singing the song day after day and wanted to shoot myself. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly which Allmusic stat we're using, but there's 279 recordings listed and what looks like a bunch of different performers. A whole gamut of styles, too.

Actually that should read "I'm unwilling to tabulate the Allmusic stat I think we're using," but it TOTALLY looks like a bunch of unique performers. At least 50?

A speed runthrough gives me an estimate of 110 or so (combining entries for "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)," except some are duplicates), which makes this borderline, but getting both Winger and panpipes is impressive.

'Cause it's never too early

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Maybe I've got one

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Christmas standards?

Re: Christmas standards?

To sum up so far

John + Yoko

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Re: John + Yoko