My Favorite Christmas Songs

It's Christmas Eve and as I laid in bed this morning watching the Dr. Who marathon I began working on a list of my all time favorite Christmas songs. Here are the 15 songs I came up with:


15. Jona Lewie- Stop the Cavalry (1980)
Jona Lewie was an interesting character. He had a few singles on Stiff Records and this one was his biggest hit.

14. Vandals- Oi to the World (1996)
Who doesn't love this song? The No Doubt cover doesn't even compare to the original.

13. Run DMC- Christmas in Hollis (1987)
I always loved this song. It's a great beat (sampled from Clarence Carter's "Back Door Santa") and some great rhymes.

12. Crucial Youth- X-Mastime for the Skins (1988)
This song, from the Crucial Yule single is a punk rock Christmas classic. These guys had a sense of humor and this song's pretty funny.

11. Fishbone- Slick Nick, You Devil You (1987)
This one's from the It's A Wonderful Life vinyl only EP but you can get all 4 tracks from that on the Fishbone 101 CD. It's a funny song about a drunk, unruly Santa Claus.

10. James White and the Blacks- Christmas with Satan (1984)
10 minutes of James Chance singing a song about hanging out with Satan on Christmas while squeaking his way through holiday classics in between the verses.

9. Kinks- Father Christmas (1977)
This is a Christmas classic. Only the Kinks would write a Christmas song about a bunch of kids beating up a mall Santa. It is more of a criticism of the British economy at the time disguised as a Christmas song.

8. Bad Manners- Christmas Time Again (1989)
This is a re-recorded version of "Skinhead Love Affair" with some lyrics about Christmas.

7. Weezer- Christmas Song (2000)
6. Weezer- Christmas Celebration (2000)
Both of these Weezer songs come from a 2 song promo release simply titled The Christmas E.P. Both songs are great Green Album era tunes.

5. Waitresses- Christmas Wrapping (1981)
This one is from the first Ze Records Christmas album. This has been a Christmas favorite since I was young. The Waitresses were an amazing band and should be known better than just by this and "I Know What Boys Like".

4. Fear- Fuck Christmas (1982)
Do I even have to explain why I love this song?

3. Sonics- Don't Believe in Christmas (1965)
2. Sonics- Santa Clause (1965)
These two are from the Merry Christmas album on Etiquette Records and were added to the CD reissue of Here are the Sonics!!! along with a third Christmas tune that didn't make the list called "The Village Idiot". "Don't Believe In Christmas" was also released as a split single with the Wailers' "Christmas Spirit" on the flip. Both of these songs are classic fuzz rock at its finest.

1. Pogues- Fairytale of New York (1987)
It doesn't get much better than this song. This has been a favorite of mine ever since I first heard the album it comes from, If I Should Fall From Grace With God. It's a beautiful duet between Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl (fellow Stiff Records recording artist and daughter of Ewan MacColl who penned "Dirty Old Town" which the Pogues covered on Rum, Sodomy and the Lash).