This weekend on 92.9, we are bringing you the Top 10 Christmas Songs! Enjoy!
10.
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa
John Mellencamp
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by Jimmy Boyd in 1952. The song has since been covered by many artists, like John Mellencamp. John Mellencamp also filmed a music video to promote his recording for the 1987 Special Olympics charity album, A Very Special Christmas.
9.
2000 Miles
The Pretenders
First released in 1983 ahead of the album Learning To Crawl, ‘2000 Miles’ was written by Chrissie Hynde. It reached no. 15 in the UK singles charts in December 1983. The subject matter is distinctly un-festive, but the official music video for the song sees Chrissie Hynde dressed up in a Salvation Army uniform, snow falling, ski-ing, a nativity, a polar bear and Santa Claus. And the words reference Christmas, Silent Night, bells and snow.
8.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Bruce Springsteen
A rock version by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band was recorded live at C. W. Post College in Brookville, New York on December 12, 1975. This live version borrows the chorus refrain from the 1963 version by The Crystals. This version was eventually released first in 1982 as part of the Sesame Street compilation album In Harmony 2, and again in 1985 as a B-side to "My Hometown", a single from the Born in the U.S.A. album. Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years.
7.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
U2
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a rock song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 seasonal compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The song was recorded by U2 in July 1987 during a sound check in Glasgow, Scotland during their Joshua Tree Tour. Darlene Love provided backing vocals. The song was released on the A Very Special Christmas compilation in 1987, and on the Unreleased & Rare album in The Complete U2 digital box set in 2004.
6.
Driving Home For Christmas
Chris Rae
This perennially popular Christmas tune was originally recorded by Chris Rea in 1986, peaking at #53 on the UK single chart two years later. Since 2007, the song has re-entered the UK Top 75 each year around Christmas time as well as several other European country's listings. Rea wrote the song many years before he first recorded it. The idea came to him when he was stuck in heavy traffic heading out of London in his wife's Austin Mini with the prospect of a long drive to his home town of Middlesbrough ahead.
5.
How to Make Gravy
Paul Kelly
The title track was written by Kelly and earned him a 'Song of the Year' nomination at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards of 1998. It tells the story of a newly imprisoned man writing a letter to his brother, in which the prisoner laments that he will be missing the family's Christmas celebrations. The gravy recipe is genuine – Kelly learnt it from his first father-in-law.
4.
Merry Christmas - War is Over
John Lennon
This is a very unusual Christmas song. Instead of evoking sleigh bells and mistletoe, it asks us to think about those who live in fear, and collectively bring about the end of war. The call to action is the refrain "war is over, if you want it." John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971, at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas, but didn't chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #4. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.
3.
Last Christmas
Wham!
Written and produced by George Michael, this song actually has very little to do with Christmas - it's about a failed relationship. Only the phase "Last Christmas," when the relationship comes to a head, refers to the festive season. Despite this, it has become an annual Christmas standard, especially in the UK. This was released as a charity record with its proceeds going to famine relief in Ethiopia. Apart from "Do They Know It's Christmas," which prevented it from reaching #1, "Last Christmas" is the biggest selling Christmas song in the UK. George Michael features on both songs.
2.
All I Want For Christmas
Mariah Carey
This Motown-flavored song has a simple message: Mariah Carey is not concerned about all the paraphernalia of Christmas - she just wants to be with her man. All I Want For Christmas Is You" was not released as a commercial single, serving instead to drive sales of Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas album. On airplay, the song made #12 US in 1994 when it was first issued to radio stations as a promotional single. It returned to the Airplay chart at #35 each of the next two years, establishing a place on holiday playlists. By 1999, the Hot 100 no longer stipulated that a song had to be sold as a single to be eligible, and with airplay now a factor, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" made the chart at #83.
1.
Do They Know Its Christmas
Band Aid
This is a charity single organized by Bob Geldof, who was the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats. He got the idea after watching a BBC documentary on famine in Ethiopia. Geldof wrote the lyrics and Midge Ure from the band Ultravox wrote the music and produced the track, which was no easy task since so many voices were involved. The performers who sang verses were, in order: Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Simon Le Bon, and Bono. The chorus included David Bowie, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Geldof, Ure and many other artists who weren't given a verse but sang the "Feed The World" part and lent their images to the effort by appearing in the promotional photo.