Songs of the Season

Music takes the front seat, in most people’s lives, at this time of the year.

And on top of the charts of world ‘Billboard Holiday 100’, this Christmas season, is Mary Did you know by Pentatonix. Immediately after that, at number two, is All I Want For Christmas Is You  by Mariah Carey.

These two songs have been vying with one another to stay on top, for the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, people are also digging up old favourites on YouTube where the season’s music is available more quickly today.

If you belong to my age-group, or of my parents – because taste in music didn't change so fast then - you would have definitely heard that rich booming bass voice of Jim Reeves from his famous album Twelve Songs of Christmas.  

These songs of Gentleman Jim, I think, will not lose their magic for years to come, and will keep reverberating in the ears and minds of many.

And who can forget Mary’s Boy Child by Boney M? Or Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee? Or the Christmas Portraitalbum by the Carpenters?

Elvis, Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. All the mainstream musicians knew that a lot of moolah will come their way if only they can release a Christmas album, in its season.

And they did. And the moolah came.

Which is why in the recent past, Mariah Carey, ‘N Sync, Justin Beiber, and even Susan Boyle, did not spare the season. They belted out their own versions, adding to the already dense Christmas music rain-forest.

We must agree, however, that there is something special about Christmas carols which bring out a special warmth inside, and some strange goose bumps on the outside, for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Good music that lifts up our spirits and rejuvenates our minds is always welcome.

But over the years, from a sequence of rhymed stanzas that the 10th century European monks probably uttered in a liturgical style, to a highly upbeat Christmas Rock of the 20th Century, it is clear that music has meandered into some un-trodden paths.  

Paths that could shock those angelic choirs which started it all!

Rock bands like Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Hollywood Undead, Linkin Park, and Phantom Planet have all come out with their own Christmas singles, in the rock genre, beating drums – the ear drums, I mean – to a very heady banging of vocal chords and guitar chords together. 

I have some other personal grouses too. Like, for example, I strongly disagree with Wham’s Last Christmas being listed among Christmas Songs. It is not!  Apart from the word Christmas, there’s just nothing related to it. 

Just like Jingle Bells! Which we know is all about a Sleigh ride. Or of Winter Wonderland, or of Let it snow, which are all about snow, and nothing to do with the main Christmas story.

But let me not get too clinical and cynical. And let me not rob you of that special spirit of the season. Or of that particular joy to the world which the big fat man in red, who is coming to town, brings.

So, be of good cheer. It is not all humbug. Download and listen. 

And silver bells will ring in the cash-registers of online music companies. And musicians’ pockets will jingle all the way… to the banks.