Christmas Holiday Songs
Christmas Holiday Songs are songs played and sung only during the annual Christmas holiday season. They consist of Traditional Christmas Songs, Holiday Christmas Songs, and Non-Christmas Holiday Songs.
Traditional Christmas Songs are songs celebrating the birth of the Christ child. They originated in the 4th Century as Catholic hymns written in Latin, and developed into regional native language songs by the 13th century under the influence of the Catholic Saint, Francis of Assisi. In the Middle Ages, the Italians combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a priest and poet, who lists 25 "caroles of Cristemas". Possibly the first two popular traditional Christmas songs were from this period in the 1500s: “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen” and “The First Nowell”.
In the mid 1600s the practice of singing Christmas carols was deemed as Pagan and sinful by the English Parliament, and most Christmas songs of that period were composed in Europe. A renewed Christmas celebration in the 1700s saw a modest increase of songs and produced the traditional songs “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, and “O Come All Ye Faithful”. The Victorian Era of the 1800s saw a surge of Christmas songs associated with a renewed admiration of the holiday. This included the famous songs "Silent Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "O Holy Night", “Joy To The World”, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “What Child Is This”, and “Away In A Manger”.
The most popular Traditional Christmas songs along with the composer and year are listed as follows, most being written in the 19th century.
Holiday Christmas Songs refer to songs celebrating the secular Christmas holiday season. They originated with the Christmas Carols of the middle ages which eventually came to mean songs in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. These were originally sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house to spread Christmas cheer.
The first published popular Holiday Christmas song occurred in 1780 with “Twelve Days of Christmas”. The 1800s brought a few more such as “Here We Come A-wassailing”, “Deck The Hall", "Up On The House Top", and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”. The floodgates opened in the 1900s with dozens of popular holiday songs, one after the other, starting with the 1924 “O Christmas Tree” (“O Tannenbaum”) and continuing with many songs written during the golden age of stage and screen in the 1940s and 1950s such as “White Christmas”, “The Christmas Song”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, “The Christmas Waltz”, "Blue Christmas", "Silver Bells", and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. Modern Christmas Songs appeared in the last half of the 20th century and included "Christmas Time is Here", "Feliz Navidad", “It Must Have Been the Mistletoe", “Grown-Up Christmas List” and “All I Want for Christmas is You”.
The main Holiday Christmas Songs along with the composer and year are listed as follows:
Non-Christmas Holiday Songs refer to those popular songs heard during the Christmas Holiday Season but in reality have nothing to do with Christmas. Such songs are mainly about the holidays and not about Christmas. In fact, “Jingle Bells” was written to celebrate Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Nevertheless, they are an important part of the Christmas Holiday season and must be included. These songs include
Traditional Christmas Songs are songs celebrating the birth of the Christ child. They originated in the 4th Century as Catholic hymns written in Latin, and developed into regional native language songs by the 13th century under the influence of the Catholic Saint, Francis of Assisi. In the Middle Ages, the Italians combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a priest and poet, who lists 25 "caroles of Cristemas". Possibly the first two popular traditional Christmas songs were from this period in the 1500s: “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen” and “The First Nowell”.
In the mid 1600s the practice of singing Christmas carols was deemed as Pagan and sinful by the English Parliament, and most Christmas songs of that period were composed in Europe. A renewed Christmas celebration in the 1700s saw a modest increase of songs and produced the traditional songs “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, and “O Come All Ye Faithful”. The Victorian Era of the 1800s saw a surge of Christmas songs associated with a renewed admiration of the holiday. This included the famous songs "Silent Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "O Holy Night", “Joy To The World”, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “What Child Is This”, and “Away In A Manger”.
The most popular Traditional Christmas songs along with the composer and year are listed as follows, most being written in the 19th century.
- God Rest You Merry Gentlemen - English - 1500s
- The First Nowell - Cornish - 1500s
- Angels We Have Heard On High - French - 1650
- O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - German - 1710
- O Come, All Ye Faithful - John Francis Wade - 1751
- Silent Night - Franz Gruber, Joseph Mohr - 1818
- Joy To The World - Isaac Watts - 1836
- O Holy Night - Adolphe Adam - 1847
- It Came Upon The Midnight Clear - Edmund Sears - 1849
- We Three Kings Of Orient Are - John Henry Hopkins - 1857
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Felix Mendelsohn, Charles Wesley - 1865
- O Little Town Of Bethehem - Philips Brooke, Lewis Redner - 1865
- What Child Is This? - William Chatterton Dix - 1865
- Away In A Manger - English - 1884
- Do You Hear What I Hear - Noel Regney, Gloria Shane Baker - 1962
Holiday Christmas Songs refer to songs celebrating the secular Christmas holiday season. They originated with the Christmas Carols of the middle ages which eventually came to mean songs in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. These were originally sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house to spread Christmas cheer.
The first published popular Holiday Christmas song occurred in 1780 with “Twelve Days of Christmas”. The 1800s brought a few more such as “Here We Come A-wassailing”, “Deck The Hall", "Up On The House Top", and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”. The floodgates opened in the 1900s with dozens of popular holiday songs, one after the other, starting with the 1924 “O Christmas Tree” (“O Tannenbaum”) and continuing with many songs written during the golden age of stage and screen in the 1940s and 1950s such as “White Christmas”, “The Christmas Song”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, “The Christmas Waltz”, "Blue Christmas", "Silver Bells", and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. Modern Christmas Songs appeared in the last half of the 20th century and included "Christmas Time is Here", "Feliz Navidad", “It Must Have Been the Mistletoe", “Grown-Up Christmas List” and “All I Want for Christmas is You”.
The main Holiday Christmas Songs along with the composer and year are listed as follows:
- Twelve Days of Christmas - French - 1780
- Here We Come A-wassailing – English - mid 1800’s
- Deck The Hall - John Thomas, John Talhaiarn, Thomas Oliphant - 1862
- Up On The House Top - Benjamin Hanby - 1864
- Jolly Old St. Nicholas - James Pierpont, Emily Miller - 1865
- O Christmas Tree - Melchior Franck, Ernst Anshutz - 1924
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie - 1934
- Happy Holiday - Irving Berlin - 1941
- White Christmas - Irving Berlin - 1942
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane - 1943
- I'll Be Home For Christmas - Walter Gent, Kim Gannon - 1943
- The Christmas Song - Mel Torme, Robert Wells - 1946
- Blue Christmas - Billy Hayes, Jay Johnson - 1948
- Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Johnny Marks - 1949
- Silver Bells - Jay Livingston, Ray Evans - 1950
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Meredith Willson - 1951
- Suzy Snowflake - Sid Tepper, Roy Bennett - 1951
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Tommie Connor - 1952
- Santa Baby - Joan Javits, Phil Springer, Tony Springer - 1953
- The Christmas Waltz - Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn - 1954
- Home For The Holidays - Robert Allen, Al Stillman - 1954
- Jingle Bell Rock - Joe Beal, Jim Boothe - 1957
- Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Johnny Marks - 1958
- The Chipmunk Song - Ross Bagdasarian - 1958
- It's The most Wonderful Time Of The Year - George Wyle, Eddie Pola - 1963
- Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson - 1966
- Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano - 1970
- Happy Xmas (War is Over) - John Lennon, Yoko Ono - 1971
- It Must Have Been The Mistletoe - Justin Wilde, Doug Konecky - 1979
- Last Christmas - George Michael - 1985
- Because It's Christmas - Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, Jack Feldman - 1986
- Grown-Up Christmas List - David Foster, Linda Thompson-Jenner - 1990
- All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff - 1994
- As Long As There's Christmas - Rachel Portman, Don Black - 1997
Non-Christmas Holiday Songs refer to those popular songs heard during the Christmas Holiday Season but in reality have nothing to do with Christmas. Such songs are mainly about the holidays and not about Christmas. In fact, “Jingle Bells” was written to celebrate Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Nevertheless, they are an important part of the Christmas Holiday season and must be included. These songs include
- Jingle Bells - James Pierpont - 1788
- Winter Wonderland - Felix Bernard, Dick Smith - 1934
- Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! - Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn - 1945
- What Are You Doing New Year's Eve - Frank Loesser - 1947
- Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson - 1948
- Frosty The Snowman - Steve Nelson, Jack Rollins - 1950
- Our Winter Love - Johnny Cowell - 1962