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Christmas music vs. winter music

frankberry

frankberry

Administrator
Staff member
I've thought about this subject for years.

There are songs which are generally referred to as "Christmas songs" even though there is no mention of Christmas in the lyrics.
A good example is Jingle Bells. It's actually a Winter song rather than a Christmas song.

Care to share your thoughts?
 
I've heard "winter songs" getting significant airplay after Christmas (and sometimes after New Years). Usually, after Christmas, a winter song will in actuality be the most played "Christmas song".
 
Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, Sleigh Ride -- all these melodic salutes to frozen participation get saturation airplay right through Christmas. I don't think I've heard any of them here in the Hartford/New Haven market after the holiday on any of the major signals since WDRC-FM ended its A to Z countdown, which in its final year included Christmas/winter songs and ran into January. I believe WJMJ (the archdiocese's publicity outlet) keeps playing all sorts of seasonal fare right through New Year's Day.

Other than "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?", I don't see the point of playing Christmas-specific songs after the 25th. Most of them deal with the Advent and the actual night of the birth.
 
I was surprised, not having grown up in the church, how many religious Christmas hymns are meant to be played on Christmas Eve or AFTER, throughout the Twelve days of Christmas which begins in the western Church on Dec. 25th.

Something I didn't know: December 25th is the beginning of Christmas, not the last day of Christmas. That period prior to Dec. 25th is Advent in the church Calendar

So before December 25th, the only religious Christmas, rather Advent, hymns that are generally heard in Catholic church services come from a list like this: https://focusoncampus.org/content/10-advent-songs-to-remind-you-its-not-yet-christmas

Given I won't be programming a radio station any time soon, perhaps someone will be brave enough to take this challenge: Be the LAST station still playing Christmas music in your market, instead of the first. I'm not terribly religious, but I know it isn't happening; radio is the secular soundtrack of our lives.
 
CTListener said:
Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, Sleigh Ride -- all these melodic salutes to frozen participation get saturation airplay right through Christmas. I don't think I've heard any of them here in the Hartford/New Haven market after the holiday on any of the major signals since WDRC-FM ended its A to Z countdown, which in its final year included Christmas/winter songs and ran into January. I believe WJMJ (the archdiocese's publicity outlet) keeps playing all sorts of seasonal fare right through New Year's Day.

Other than "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?", I don't see the point of playing Christmas-specific songs after the 25th. Most of them deal with the Advent and the actual night of the birth.
Click to expand...
"We Three Kings" and "Little Drummer Boy" can be played after Christmas. The Wise Men didn't arrive until twelve days later, or at least that's the theory. Also "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Actually, no one knows when Jesus was born. Not the day or the year.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I recently read a "This day in history" that said "Jingle Bells" was written for Thanksgiving.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, you are correct.
The song was written by James Pierpont ... an uncle of J. P. Morgan.

"Over The River And Through The Woods" is another song written for Thanksgiving.
 
Dan Fogelberg's "Another Old Lang Syne" was not considered a "Christmas" song when it first came out (played well into February of the year that it was a hit), but for some reason, is considered a strictly "Christmas" song, apparently only because he met his old lover on Christmas Eve. Wonder how this would have played out if he had met her on New Year's Eve instead?
 
frankberry said:
I've thought about this subject for years.
There are songs which are generally referred to as "Christmas songs" even though there is no mention of Christmas in the lyrics.
A good example is Jingle Bells. It's actually a Winter song rather than a Christmas song.
Care to share your thoughts?
Click to expand...
frankberry said:

As I understand it, you are correct.
The song was written by James Pierpont ... an uncle of J. P. Morgan.
"Over The River And Through The Woods" is another song written for Thanksgiving.
Click to expand...
Frank, the thing that amuses me about all of this is that many of us have sung about how much "fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh," while many of us have never even done so! (Of course, these songs date back to the 19th century, when that was more common, but somehow, the songs have survived, even though the activities depicted in such songs has not! Go figure!)
 
Riding in a "one horse open sleigh" isn't that much fun.
When I was a kid, my dad and uncle rebuilt a horse-drawn sleigh and took me, my brothers, sisters and cousin for a horse-drawn ride.
I have never been colder in my life!
 
There are several songs that I can think of that are played at Christmas, but one of the most over-played is "Baby It's Cold Outside" Dean Martins version is tolerable, but some of those remakes are absolutely terrible, and I quickly reach for the knob when one comes on. Another one is the excessive playing of "My Favorite Things" from the "Sound of Music" which is not and has never been a Christmas song. Even the film has nothing to do with Christmas but is broadcast every Christmas by ABC
 
I'm not sure that seasonal songs are all that interesting, outside of the all-Christmas "format". The "winter" songs there both expand the playlist, and are probably more popular than many of the religious songs. "Up on Santa Claus Mountain" is certainly more fun to sing along with than "The Holly and The Ivy"

It's not like country stations fish out "Red Neck Yacht Club" every May to September (boating season) or anyone digs out Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" just because it happens to be summer.
 
Some country fans may be familiar with a Merle Haggard song that's often played around Christmas: If We Make It Through December. That falls into the winter music song category, and has nothing to do really with Christmas. Yet it's been covered on numerous Christmas albums.
 
Pat3 said:
There are several songs that I can think of that are played at Christmas, but one of the most over-played is "Baby It's Cold Outside" Dean Martins version is tolerable, but some of those remakes are absolutely terrible, and I quickly reach for the knob when one comes on. Another one is the excessive playing of "My Favorite Things" from the "Sound of Music" which is not and has never been a Christmas song. Even the film has nothing to do with Christmas but is broadcast every Christmas by ABC
Click to expand...

Has anyone ever done auditorium testing of holiday season music? "Favorite Things" is an instant tune-out for me, but my opinion alone means squat.
 
This is very interesting. I grew up United Methodist and am familiar with the church calendar. We definitely would sing some Christmas hymns during the 12 days/Christmastide period. Evangelical/fundamentalist churches by and large to not follow aa liturgical calendar.


joebtsflk1 said:
I was surprised, not having grown up in the church, how many religious Christmas hymns are meant to be played on Christmas Eve or AFTER, throughout the Twelve days of Christmas which begins in the western Church on Dec. 25th.

Something I didn't know: December 25th is the beginning of Christmas, not the last day of Christmas. That period prior to Dec. 25th is Advent in the church Calendar

So before December 25th, the only religious Christmas, rather Advent, hymns that are generally heard in Catholic church services come from a list like this: https://focusoncampus.org/content/10-advent-songs-to-remind-you-its-not-yet-christmas

Given I won't be programming a radio station any time soon, perhaps someone will be brave enough to take this challenge: Be the LAST station still playing Christmas music in your market, instead of the first. I'm not terribly religious, but I know it isn't happening; radio is the secular soundtrack of our lives.
Click to expand...
 
As someone involved with programming Christmas music at a mainstream AC for years, I can offer that we used a "sound code" within Selector (music scheduling software), to separate these so-called "winter" tunes with traditional Christmas tunes. Basically, so you would never hear more than 1 in a row, or more than 3 in an hour. However, they certainly offer balance and texture in any Christmas presentation.
 
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A good example of winter seasonal music....1) Baby It's Cold Outside, 2)My Favorite Things , 3) Sleigh Ride and 4) Winter Wonderland.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
I was surprised, not having grown up in the church, how many religious Christmas hymns are meant to be played on Christmas Eve or AFTER, throughout the Twelve days of Christmas which begins in the western Church on Dec. 25th.

Something I didn't know: December 25th is the beginning of Christmas, not the last day of Christmas. That period prior to Dec. 25th is Advent in the church Calendar

So before December 25th, the only religious Christmas, rather Advent, hymns that are generally heard in Catholic church services come from a list like this: https://focusoncampus.org/content/10-advent-songs-to-remind-you-its-not-yet-christmas

Given I won't be programming a radio station any time soon, perhaps someone will be brave enough to take this challenge: Be the LAST station still playing Christmas music in your market, instead of the first. I'm not terribly religious, but I know it isn't happening; radio is the secular soundtrack of our lives.
Click to expand...

Years ago, when I was Music Director of one of the area's FM stations (an AM/FM combo, split programming) i made the decision to NOT program Christmas music until Dec. 21st....
Let's just say....I'm lucky to be alive to tell the story!! The VAST majority of listeners were appalled at this; the station was swamped with calls and letters (this was before the days of e-mail.....!!!)...
The next year we started Holiday tunes the day after Thanksgiving......
 
oldies76 said:
A good example of winter seasonal music....1) Baby It's Cold Outside, 2)My Favorite Things , 3) Sleigh Ride and 4) Winter Wonderland.
Click to expand...

Not only doesn't "Winter Wonderland" say nothing of Christmas, it mentions a preacher -- Parson Brown -- once and immediately makes it clear that he's out of town! This leaves the lovebirds free to "conspire by the fire" to do whatever they please! Tsk-tsk.
 
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