Great (Mostly) Overlooked Xmas Songs!

My Ghod! It's almost Dec! Which means Xmas will B along in just a few wks, & the Holiday Season is officially underway, w/ Thanksgiving last wk & the even-more-stressful-&-perilous "Black Friday" kicking-off this past wknd. (U didn't really GO OUT in2 that madness, did U?)
So even tho it Cms like it was just New Yr's Eve a few wks ago, it's time 4 my list of Great (Mostly) Overlooked Xmas Songs!
I've bn wanting 2 do this list 4 over a yr. I've spared no Xpense 2 bring U nothing but the beast in (mostly) fairly-obscure Xmas hits. I gotta million of 'em. So, w/o further ado....
* The Carpenters: "Merry Christmas, Darling" & "It's Christmas Time" (1971) -- These R my 2 favrite trax from my fave Xmas album ever, the Carps' CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT. I can't hear this album w/o Bing flooded by tons of holiday memries, & I've gotta have it playing if some1 Xpects me 2 help decorate a tree. "Merry Christmas, Darling" got lotsa airplay when it came out & still gets played on-radio during the season, & is still 1 of Karen's best vocal per4mances ever. Even w/ the overly-lush production, it's very moving -- & there's some great sax in the middle-break!
But. When I 1st heard PORTRAIT, I wasn't ready 4 "It's Christmas Time," which at 1st is a sorta perfect miniature, Karen & a piano, at 1st it almost Cms like she's taking it 2 fast, but as the song gingerly moves 2 its subdued finish, it's a perfect moment, so sweet & quiet -- so beautiful it'll send chills down yr spine. BUT THEN the choir takes over & repeats the whole song. At 1st it Cms like it's overkill, but it's not -- their version turns out 2 B just as moving as Karen's solo vocal. (OK, in the space of a wk I've come outta the closet on both The Carpenters & Abba. I'm done.)
* The Royal Guardsmen: "Snoopy's Christmas" (1967) -- Wait, mayB I'm NOT done. This is a treasured piece from my childhood, the 1st real rock-opera (or pop-drama NEway), w/ a back-story that features a vivid picture of the battle-scarred WWI front line, an intrepid pilot fighting 4 freedom, Xmas in a foxhole, a villain who turns out 2 B not such a bad guy after all, & much more. The best thing these folks ever did (w/ LOTSA help from producers Phil Gernhard & John Abbott), & the choruses R SO joyous U can't help singing along. I haven't heard it played on the radio since 1972....
* John Lennon: "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" (1971) -- Xmas is all about getting sentimental, & this is John at his mushiest, w/ a gorgeous tune, great choral vocals, a perfect Phil Spector wall-of-sound production, & -- I swear 2 Ghod -- Yoko Ono's best singing ever. A beautiful plea 4 world peace that effortlessly gets the msg across (unlike some of John's other efforts in this area). I bot this on an Apple-green-vinyl 45 in the winter of '71 & I've still got it, & it still sounds just as great as it did back then.
* Peter, Paul & Mary: "A'Soulin" (1962) -- This hypnotic # works 4 either Halloween or Xmas, cos clearly the kids in this song R doing something like trick-or-treating, but during the holiday season. It's not Xactly a happy song (the kids R begging 4 food), but the intertwining vocals R gorgeous & the acoustic-guitar work is superb. The song closes P,P&M's '62 album MOVING.
* The Pretenders: "2000 Miles" (1983) -- I always loved Chrissie Hynde's softer side ("Birds of Paradise," "I Go to Sleep"), & this could B the most beautiful thing she ever wrote, the gorgeous bittersweet closer 2 her/their album LEARNING TO CRAWL. It's perfect, w/ the chiming gtrs that sound like snowflakes falling, the distant chill in the air....
* The Beach Boys: "Little Saint Nick" & +"The Man With All the Toys" -- "Little Saint Nick" is basically a rewrite of "409," Santa as hip drag-racer, complete w/ period gearhead jargon, & what could possibly B wrong w/ that? "Man With All the Toys" is less charming & has a less-developed tune, w/ a closing vocal "bump" apparently borrowed from Nino Tempo & April Stevens' classic "Deep Purple."
* Darlene Love/The Crystals/Phil Spector/etc.: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" -- I'd like 2 rate this higher, but the only time I've ever heard it was during the opening credits 4 the movie GREMLINS, where it sounded just like NE of those great Crystals/Ronettes classics of the early '60s. I understand Spector's Xmas album is pretty brilliant, but I've never Cn a copy....
+ Barbara Streisand: "Jingle Bells?" -- Well now. Bet U weren't Xpecting THIS. In less than 2 mins, Barbara totally revamps "Jingle Bells," taking it at a screaming, breakneck pace, en route turning it in2 something like "Flight of the Bumble Bee." She spits the words out like a possessed woman -- she makes fun of the lyrics! It's hilarious. & tho I learned when I heard this again a coupla yrs back that it isn't quite the Lost Gem Of The Ages that I'd thot, 1nce U hear it there's nothing U can do Xcept play it again & hope 2 catch a little more of the many things this song zings right at U....
+ The Jackson 5: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (1971) -- Charming, joyous rendition from back in the days when Michael still Blieved in Santa. I understand Bruce Springsteen borrowed this arrangement when he did this song at seasonal concerts.
= The Smothers Brothers: "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle" -- When I was growing up, everybody in the family had Smothers Bros albums. I thot their singing was almost the weakest part of their act, the stuff that connected their comedy bits. But this cute, modest little # is pretty charming in its cozy early-'60s sorta way.
= Andy Williams: "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" -- My Mother is 2 blame 4 this. His voice is actually pretty good, & I think the song should B played on an Ndless loop during all those ugly "Black Friday" sales....
BONUS TRACK:
* Jose Feliciano: "Feliz Navidad" -- The best thing he ever did. It's so joyous, how can U resist it? & the emotion in his voice on the choruses -- he means it.
BONUS CLASSIC:
It's probly no suprise that my favrite Xmas song ever is "Carol of the Bells." But it's important 2 find the Right version. Trans-Siberian Orchestra does a version that's just 2 much, 2 overblown -- Phil Spector w/ super-heavy gtrs. When I was a kid, I think it was the version by Eugene Ormandy & the Philadelphia Orchestra that my Mom always played. But I have yet 2 track this 1 down....
...I'm sure there's plenty I'm missing, like NEthing from the past, oh, 30 years....
...The Beatles' annual Xmas msgs 2 their Fan Club were always hysterical, & Apple released a limited-edition album of them in the early '70s -- but where can U find them now?
...I also Cm 2 remember a kitschy # by Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme called "Hurry Home for Christmas" that my Mom was a sucker 4, & that I liked enuf that I can still recite the choruses from memry -- but after including Barbara Streisand & Andy Williams in this countdown, I'm not gonna push my luck.
...Dolly Parton did a song called "Hard Candy Christmas" that was pretty great....
...I'm also aware there's no Elvis in this list -- "Blue Christmas" has a certain kitschy charm (love those swooning-Gulf-breeze backing vocals -- by The Jordanaires?), but it ain't Xactly obscure, & I've never heard "Merry Christmas, Baby."
...The Harry Simeone Chorale's "The Little Drummer Boy" is such a Xmas Classic it won't fit in2 this list either, but I'd agree it's a timeless piece of brilliance, still moving after all these yrs. Joan Jett's flat rendition of it can't come close (& I like her).
...The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull & The Beach Boys have all released Xmas albums, but I've only heard bits & pieces of each....
OH CRAP, I ALMOST 4GOT: *Cheech & Chong's "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" (1971) -- This isn't a SONG, but it sure is hilarious, among the Very Best things they ever did, & 4 a lotta yrs, trying 2 obtain a copy of this 45 woulda cost U about $2K (tho U can now get this on C&C's 2-CD best-of anthology WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...). Why didn't I grab a copy of THIS 45 back in '71 when I picked-up Lennon's "Happy Xmas"? Musta bn part of that early-onset Alzheimer's that I'm now suffering-from WAY WORSE....
...& I really DID 4get: *Jethro Tull's "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" (1977) -- I must REALLY B losin it, or I haven't had enuf coffee.... This is a cute little folk-dancy-style holiday song, w/ great singing, acoustic-gtrs & lutes, flute of course, jingling & clanging bells, jumpy handclaps & lots more. It's gotta really nice, lite folky feel that I thot Tull hadda superb touch 4 (WAY better than mosta their heavier stuff, I still can't take mosta AQUALUNG), & U can probly even Riverdance 2 it, if that's yr thing.... SONGS FROM THE WOOD is probly still my fave Tull album....
...MY SON (ADD) REMINDED ME THAT I 4GOT A REAL CLASSIC:
* Kate Bush: "December Will be Magic Again" (1980) -- Told ya the Alzheimer's was gettin me. Basically a series of sorta-goofy surreal images of summa the things that make Xmas special, sung w/ a bright, childlike innocence & absolute confidence that All Is Right w/ the world, this is 1 of the most gorgeous songs Kate has ever done, & woulda topped the above list if I had NE brain left AT ALL. It's so pretty, & so crystal-clear, that w/ the jangling bells U can hear the snow falling on the city's black-soot-icicled roofs. It's on her 2-CD THIS WOMAN'S WORK best-of, along w/ a lotta other great stuff -- go get it. U won't B sorry. & Many Thanx 2 ADD 4 reminding me about it. Talk about saving the best 4 last....
YEEZUS, HERE'S ANOTHER 1:
* The Pogues: "Fairytale of New York" (1983) -- This really is a modern-day Xmas song, Mphasis on the "modern." & it's hilarious. Starts out as a sweet, mournful, nostalgia-packed ballad. Sorta. & then the verses get a little (more) twisted.... Singer Shane MacGowan's vocals R his usual slurred stuff, tho U can almost follow the words 4 a change, & the backup vocals by the late Kirsty MacColl R wonderful, even when she's swearing. I won't spoil the fun 4 U, but 1nce it gets going, the verses R hysterical. Probly not 1 4 the kids. The song's been used recently in the great romantic-comedy movie P.S. I LOVE YOU, & possibly some others. Right up there w/ "Lorelei" among the very best things the Pogues did....
Your thoughts?....