Yes indeed, I hear where you are coming from, Will, as that Wonderful Christmas Time song is hard to escape during the holidays to say the least. It is on many most hated Christmas song lists, but I am sure there are many Beatles fans who love it. It is catchy in the most irritating way to me. I think the cheesy synthesizer is what really gives it a bad reputation. Some think the lyrics are too banal as well.

I have a similar love/hate relationship with Last Christmas by Wham (George Michael). I mean it also has a pretty catchy melody, but it is played so often as a sort of modern Christmas standard that you can get very tired of it quickly. It has been covered a lot too by almost every young female pop star of the day, so it is now quite over-exposed to say the least.

On the other end of the spectrum, I find a song like Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You, which every year is now lsited by Billboard Magazine as the top Christms song based on sales, airplay and streams, to be an interesting song and pretty great too, but I really fell in love with Michael Bublé's stellar remake of the classic from his greart Christmas album, whereby he slows the song down quite a bit and turns it into a beautful ballad of longing and romance. It is amazing how a great singer and arranger can totally change the feel and style of a song completely and in this case for the better in my opinion.

Best holidays to all and especially to our fearless leader, Chip,

Steve

Thanks, Steve, for pointing me to Michael Buble's cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".  I just listened to it on YouTube and it really got to me.

Is that the same version you posted about?

I'm embarrassed to confess it, but I actually enjoy that Wham! "Last Christmas" song. 

And Taylor Swift's version too!

I hope you won't hold that against me ;o)

In the meantime, I they just played a song on the radio that I think is even more annoying than "Wonderful Christmas Time," and I think I'll have to change my vote and instead nominate "Snoopy's Christmas" by the Royal Guardsmen for the booby prize for Worst Christmas Song of All Time.

Hello Will,

Actually, I love the remake of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) that you posted as well. The most famous version of that wonder was the Phil Spector produced Darlene Love track from his iconic Christmas album that featured an array of music groups under his guidance.

The Bublé remake I was refering to was this one that Mariah Carey first wrote and recorded and this is the one he completely re-imagines in his own style. The one above he closely follows Darlene Love's original great version. Here is the Bublé version I was first talking about in my original post:

Michael Buble All I Want For Christmas Is You Lyrics - YouTube

Oh yes and I really can appreciate Last Christmas, and even Taylor Swift's version, which my daughter really likes too!

 Steve, glad you mentioned Darleen Love. We've had the pleasure to see her live a number of times and she is still amazing . Because  she spent a good part of her career as a back up singer, she will always highlight one of her back up singers during her show. Check out Milton Vann "O Holy Night" on u tube  . Darleen always lets him do a solo during her Christmas show .

Will, since I'm married to Beatle Girl , I can't comment on Wonderful Christmas Time .

I can deal with "Wonderful Christmas Time".  The two I can do without are "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and "The Singing Dogs" barking to Jingle Bells!  So far, I haven't heard them this season, probably because I'm listening to streams where those two wouldn't fit.  

Hi again, Steve!

Yeah, I got the wrong song when I looked for the Michael Bublé song you described in your message.  Chalk it up to my aging brain.  These days when I walk from one room to another to do something, there's a 50/50 chance that when I get to the other room I'll forget what I went in there for.

Thanks for the link.  I see what you mean about how he transforms it into a completely different kind of song.  Reminds me of back in the 70s when Neil Sedaka re-recorded a slow version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do," or when James Taylor recorded a slow version of Jimmy Jone's "Handyman."   Or Jackie Gleason's oh-so-sad rendition of "Jingle Bells." 

Bublé's version of "All I Want for Christmas is You" is really touching and brings a tear to your eye, in contrast to Mariah Carey's upbeat, get-up-off-your-butt-and-dance original version.

Darlene Love's original version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is on my top ten list of all time favorite Christmas pop tunes.  And for some reason, the intro to Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" reminds me of it.  Maybe there's something similar in the chords or harmonies.

BIGBILL52:  Say no more ;o)

log_fan: Which two streams are you listening to this year? 

Hello again Will,

I totally get what you say about memory issues these days. I now see why my mother always wrote down her grocery list on paper before she went to the store. Now if I go without a list, I always forget at lesst one or two things that I really needed.

I love your example of the Neil Sedaka song, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, and comparing it to the way Michael Bublé re-imagined All I Want For Christmas Is You. I really love Darlene Love's original version of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) too! I still miss those days when she would go on David Letterman and sing that chestnut right after Jay Thomas would tell his Lone Ranger story and Paul Shaffer would do his imitation of Cher singing O Holy Night. Darlene Love's great voice has really held up well even after all these years.

I really do love that whole Michael Bublé Christmas album as I think it is one of the very few that I would even compare to the great albums of the Golden Age. The fact that it was recorded in the great Capitol Records Tower probably has something to do with its great sound as well. 

Merry Christmas,

Steve

CluelessInSeattle:  I've been listening to Holiday Traditions and Hallmark, but the majority of the time it's Holiday Tradtions.  

Most of the songs I don't like are based on them just being overplayed, like the McCartney song.  Still have a soft spot for it though as my nephew loved it when he was really young.  As he did for lots of Beatles songs.  

The person who hates Snoopy's Christmas...know that on this day you made a powerful enemy in yours truly ;-) ;-) 

Shocked no one mentioned the Christmas Shoes.  Maybe because it seems, in the NY/NJ area at least, radio stations have finally caught on to how sacchrine and fake it is,  and rarely play it now?  

Last Christmas is overplayed, but can't hate on it with the verve I used to since George is no longer with us.  The Band Aid song is repetitive too, but a girl I see now likes it a lot.  Somehow I want to go easy on Mariah too.  

Any Santa Baby that isn't Eartha Kitt, ESPECIALLY the ear abuse that is Madonna's.  I will similarly only accept Darlene Love's C(BPCH), aka the Gremlins song :-) Melissa Etheridge's is pretty good, but I think the only ME Christmas song you'll have a small chance of hearing the radio play is her Christmas in America.  

And I can tell you that Baby-It's-Cold-Outside-gate is not a nationwide trend, as we get bombarded here in Jersey with a dozen or so versions of it each day.  

Don't like Faith Hill's song as it reminds me of the Jim Carrey Grinch (where it comes from).  And A Baby Changes Everything is better.  

I have to say that the WORST Christmas song I ever heard was "Something about the Holidays" By Elizabeth Chan. She manages to create a song even more repetitious than "The 12 days of Christmas" by singing the hook 32 times! (Yes I counted.) Music Choice played it once, and once was enough.
Was never a big fan of The 12 days of Christmas either, also too repetitious.
The one about the Christmas shoes is too sappy for me.
The only problem I have with holiday soundtracks is the heavy rotation given to some songs. I like variety.

James, I love Snoopy's Christmas. I feel the same way.   I have one of The Royal Guardsmen albums on Laurie Records SLLP 2042 and it has The Story of Snoopy vs The Red Baron -Snoopy vs The Red Baron.  The Story of The Return of The Red Baron - The Return of The Red Baron and lastly The Story of Snoopy's Christmas - Snoopy's Christmas.

It is one of my most played albums.  i actually now have 2 copies.