The 10 best Christmas songs

10. Happy XMas (War is Over) – John and Yoko
Sure, it’s a little hokey, but who cares? It has endured where so many other ephemeral songs have faded in part because the message remains just as vibrant and necessary as ever, and in part because…well…John really knew how to write a tune that would last. It’s worth noting that it starts out with a rather pointed question: “And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?” It’s not just a platitude about the power of the imagination to end the war, it’s a call to action. I’m always skeptical of the simplistic way that people categorize John and Paul as songwriters, but I suppose it’s worth mentioning that John’s contribution to the Christmas canon as some real depth to it, while Paul’s…well, it’s probably best that we just don’t talk about “Wonderful Christmastime.”

9. Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming – Sufjan Stevens (traditional)
I grew up listening to a lot of the classic Christmas carols – a few of which make the list – but I have to admit I don’t ever remember hearing this one as a kid. Thankfully, I got a late introduction through those Sufjan Christmas EPs. He has two versions, both of which are absolutely magical.

8. Jesus Christ – Big Star
Maybe the finest song from the great Alex Chilton. This song was recorded in the pits of despair and I honestly have no idea whether it’s meant to convey hope for the possibility of redemption, or if it’s cutting mockery of precisely that dream. I like to believe in the optimistic take, but I suppose it’s part of the song’s beauty that we can’t ever really know.

7. The Christmas Song – The Raveonettes
6. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love
There are so many great Christmas songs from Phil Spector, but Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is absolutely the best. Oh my that voice, and oh my that wall of sound. Meanwhile, The Raveonettes are doing their best to provide a modern interpretation on the Spectorian dream, and do a mighty fine job with it.

5. The Christians and the Pagans – Dar Williams
A pagan niece comes to visit her Christian aunt and uncle for Christmas, awkward questions are asked, and people come to realize that beneath it all the only thing that matters is that they love each other. It’s pretty much the classic Christmas story.

4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Super Deluxe (traditional)
The melody of this song is dark and almost eerie. It feels as though it were composed by some Arthurian minstrel in the dark night of a cold winter. I love how that feeling is necessary counterpoint to the central message: “tidings of comfort and joy.” Accordingly, this interpretation of the song as an alt-rock dirge only clarifies its underlying beauty. If you’d like something a little more traditional, try this wonderful pairing of Joshua Bell on piano and Alison Krauss singing:
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Joshua Bell and Alison Krauss

3. Christmas Unicorn – Sufjan Stevens (traditional?)
He has done so many wonderful Christmas songs that I couldn’t stick with just one. Where his take on ‘Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming’ was everything quiet and beautiful, this is everything glorious and majestic. It’s huge and crazy and weird and absurd. And, after about eight minutes, you suddenly realize that the synths that have started to take over the song are now providing the melody of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” And you say to yourself: “Oh my god, of course it has always been a Christmas song. I just never knew it until right now.” It’s a piece of pure genius.

2. Oh Holy Night – traditional
Of all the classic Christmas carols, I believe this is the best. It has so many amazing lines and such a haunting, beautiful melody. The ‘fall on your knees’ line is just so overwhelming. Performers always run a risk doing versions of this song. It doesn’t lend itself to halfway measures; you’re looking for something fervent, not just something pretty. For two very different takes on that hurdle, try out these:
Oh Holy Night – Vanessa Peters

1. Fairytale Of New York – The Pogues
How could it be anything else?

It open with Shane MacGowan singing as no one else can: with a tenderness only matched by its raggedness. And then, even though you’ve heard it so many times before, you’re still completely unprepared for the way Kirsty MacColl’s voice emerges, triumphant, joyful, alive beyond words. As the verse unfolds and their voices intertwine you can almost see them, dancing together under the falling snow. It’s all there: the joy, the pain, the anger, the lost dreams, the hope, and the love. And on the final verse, when he sings “can’t make it all alone, I’ve built my dreams around you” there’s nothing left to do except weep for the sheer beauty of it all.

The tension in the song is, of course, whether to believe in the hope that they start out with, or whether to accept the pain of their conclusion. It would be a lie to pretend that you can simply wish away the bad stuff, but the sheer beauty of the song is the living proof that there must be something more.

What we hear in this song is the truest possible meaning of Christmas: a lament for the long winter, an expression of all the pain and suffering, the enduring human spirit.  It speaks to our need to share the darkness with those that we love and the hope that this will somehow renew it, and allow another year to be born in the ashes of the past. One brighter, nobler, happier, and more secure. The need to believe, to hope against hope. That tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms farther…And one fine morning…

Honorable mentions:
11. Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
12. Silent Night – traditional
13. All I Wanted Was a Skateboard – Super Deluxe
14. Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby and David Bowie
15. The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole