26.



Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Someday soon, we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

If we were to compose a list of tear-jerker songs, this would be one of them. The original and definitive version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is sung by one of the most talented women that has ever worked in Hollywood. Garland's voice is just stunning.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g4lY8Y3eoo

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25.



It Feels like Christmas - the Ghost of Christmas Present (from The Muppet Christmas Carol)

It's in the singing of a street corner choir
It's going home and getting warm by the fire
It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas

Now this is Christmas in a song - it's watching this film every Christmas for as long as I can remember, from at home with my family to with my housemates this term at university. It's full of joy and love and it's wonderful.

Listen to it (and watch Michael Caine dancing) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlRpGj7LWS4

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24.



Last Christmas - Wham!

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart.
A man under cover but you tore me apart

I don't care what anyone says, I love this song. It's just a great pop song - nothing complicated and really catchy. And I find the video hilarious.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

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23.



Stop the Cavalry - Jona Lewie

Hey, Mr. Churchill comes over here
To say we're doing splendidly.
But it's very cold out here in the snow
Marching to and from the enemy.
Oh I say it's tough, I have had enough,
Can you stop the cavalry?

This is a great song, set in an ageless WWI (what with the mention of the nuclear fallout zone) - Lewie described the narrator as "a bit like the eternal soldier at the Arc de Triomphe". It's only vaguely Christmas, mentioning the holiday in passing, but it's still fantastic.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOe18JcatZo

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22.



Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Repeated ad nauseum

I don't hate this song, but I don't like it either. It's just really annoying sometimes - for some reason, it irritates me. Though, I do quite like the story about the her and the guy and the fact they keep just missing each other - that's one of those situations a lot of people can relate to.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzjDOk_u9I

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21.



Run Run Rudolph - Chuck Berry

Run, run Rudolph, Santa's got to make it to town
Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down
Run, run Rudolph, I'm reelin' like a merry-go-round

Really cool and hip, this 1958 song is yet another from our list found in Home Alone. It's a really good Christmas bit of rock n' roll, the kind that you dance around the kitchen to.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l849CulLhGQ

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20.



Must be Santa - Bob Dylan

Who's got a big red cherry nose?
Santa's got a big red cherry nose
Who laughs this way, "ho, ho, ho!"?
Santa laughs this way, "ho, ho, ho!"

Bob Dylan's reworking of a 1960s song has made one of the best Christmas songs of recent years, creating an awesome Christmas polka. It's just a lot of fun, and the bit with the presidents is really, really cool, for reasons I don't know. And the video is brilliant, especially Dylan's look at the end.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus

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19.



Carol of the Bells - Mykola Leontovych

Mykola Leontovych's 1920s carol is based on an Ukrainian folk chant, and was first seen with English lyrics in the 1930s. It's gorgeous, especially in the original Ukrainian (which is in the link).

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejU1lK-3C4U

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18.



Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt

Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me.
been an awful good girl, Santa baby,
so hurry down the chimney tonight.

What an attractive song. Eartha Kitt - Catwoman, the "most exciting woman in the world" (said Orson Welles) and Yzma from the Emperor's New Groove - sings this gorgeously. And it also has one of my favourite lines of any song in - "I want a yacht, and really that's not a lot" is just wonderful.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeNhjPaP53I

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17.



Troika - Sergei Prokofiev (from Lieutenant Kijé)

I am so happy this is so high up. It's glorious. It's a shame that one of Prokofiev's other wintery wonders, Peter and the Wolf, didn't make the list too, but this is just brilliant.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsRDpsItq0

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16.



Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! - Dean Martin

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
Since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

A comfortable, warm and damn catchy song. Martin's vocals are so slick and charming.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7LW0Y00kE

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15.



December Will Be Magic Again - Kate Bush

Ooh, dropping down in my parachute
The white city, she is so beautiful
Upon the black-soot icicled roofs

She's brilliant, isn't she? Kate Bush, she of the amazing voice and one of the Greatest People Ever, is at number 15, with this magical song. Her voice never fails to amaze me - it's otherworldly and unique and just gorgeous.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZiadb3bpOI

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14.



Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

The moon is right
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough

Of all the songs you could have voted for for number 14, it had to be this. I do not like this song at all.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls4ef937WCI

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13.



The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said many times
Many ways, Merry Christmas to you

Probably the most famous rendition of Mel Tome's 1944 classic is Nat King Cole's recording (in fact, the fourth of four he made). He's got such a beautiful voice, so smooth and clear. It's lovely.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOszvL9lgSs

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12.



Lonely this Christmas - Mud

It'll be lonely this Christmas
Lonely and cold
It'll be cold, so cold
Without you to hold
This Christmas

I adore this festive homage to Elvis-esque music - it's such a fun song to sing. It's a great song in it's own right, cheesy but still somehow moving.

Listen to it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH_ddpVBFYQ

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11.



It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near

I hear this song and feel happy - it's so joyful and happy and wonderful. Conjuring up images of Christmas lights and mistletoe and red and green, the song is a classic, and really isn't played as much in the UK around Christmas as I'd like.

Listen to it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFtb3EtjEic

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10.



Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

This song has grown on me over the years. I used to really dislike it, but now I quite like it. Lennon's seventh single after the end of The Beatles is an anti-war (Vietnam) song, using the "War is Over" line previously seen in other anti-war songs. It's far better than Imagine will ever be.

Listen to it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg

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9



I Believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear.

"But instead it just kept on raining" seems appropiate for this Christmas, though the sky outside my window has begun to clear as I type this. Greg Lake's 1975 hit is a wonderfully 70s song against the commercialisation of Christmas. It also features bits of Troika, which appeared earlier on our list.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXCEdrnaFlY

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8.



All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you

Goddamn, this woman had a voice (she may still now, but I can't think of anything she's sung recently) - it's stunning. Described by The New Yorker as "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon" and the third best Christmas love song, All I Want for Christmas is You is four minutes of uptempo glorious joy. It's a brilliant song - everything about it works.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY

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7.



White Christmas - Bing Crosby

"I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!" - Irving Berlin, 1940 (or thereabouts)

Oh that voice - Crosby's crooning is just delicious here - this is just such a lovely song. Allegedly, Crosby's "White Christmas" single has sold 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yg5g_Xl-uU

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6.



Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade

So here it is Merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun.

Like many Christmas songs, Merry Xmas Everybody is simultaneously bad and brilliant. However, I do dislike the word xmas - it's silly.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A8KT365wlA

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5.



Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby and David Bowie

Peace on Earth, can it be
Years from now, perhaps we'll see
See the day of glory
See the day, when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again

On paper this shouldn't work. It's so very wrong - the Goblin King and C. K. Dexter-Haven just shouldn't duet. Yet they do. And it works. It's wonderful.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADbJLo4x-tk

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4.



Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen

You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry
You'd better not pout, I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

Oh Bruce, how do I love thee. I find it interesting which covers of songs become the definitive version, and this, for me, is the version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It's fantastic - Springsteen's voice, the music, all of it is just wonderful.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSgEDKjmT5o

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3.



Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love

The snow's coming down
I'm watching it fall
Lots of people around
Baby, please come home

My favourite Christmas song. Ever. Darlene Love's vocals have never been better - the emotion and sheer power of her voice are stunning. It's just a phenomenal song, and boy am I glad it made it to number three.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8x7H3DD8Y

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2.



I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard

Well I wish it could be Christmas every day
When the kids start singing and the band begins to play
Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day
So let the bells ring out for Christmas

Beaten for the Christmas No. 1 of 1973 by Merry Xmas Everybody, Wizzard have won our number two spot (in this year's chart, it reached number 29). It's a great song.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoxQ4Ul_DME

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1.



Fairytale of New York - The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas Day

And here at number one is Fairytale of New York. Although perhaps no suprise it topped our chart, it does deserve it. Bittersweet and beautifully sung, the song follows a dysfunctional couple in New York. Lyrically, it's wonderful - the contrast of insults and romance perfectly staged within New York (it's one of those songs with such a clear sense of place and setting, you can see the streets and the cars and hear Sinatra swinging). MacColl's voice is beautiful, whilst MacGowan does what he does best, and the two voices work wonderfully together. And the music, a soaring celtic tune that fills up the heart and makes you want to sing. It's a beautiful, moving and great song.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8

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