Holiday Music

There are a lot of words to remember in this classic holiday song, but on the sixth day the gift was six geese a laying.

Originally, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) was meant to be a protest song against the Vietnam War. However, over the years it has helped define the holiday season. The lyric is based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The couple rented out billboards around the world that read “War Is Over (If You Want It). Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.”

To date, it’s estimated that White Christmas by Bing Crosby has sold over 50 million copies and it a runner-up to the best-selling song of all time, Elton John’s 1997 tribute to Princess Diana, Candle in the Wind. The movie White Christmas was released in 1954 and became the biggest grossing film of that year.

The Kinks was formed in London in 1964, and the band’s breakout hit was the catchy single You Really Got Me. In 1977, they recorded the holiday ditty Father Christmas, which tells the tale of a man who is beaten up by a gang of poor kids and is told to give them money instead of toys. Green Day later recorded the song too.

In case you forgot the words to Frosty the Snowman, the line goes: “There must have been some magic in the old silk hat they found. For when they placed it on his head, he began to dance around.”

In 1990 Macaulay Culkin helped make Home Alone one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. In fact, it’s listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest grossing live-action comedy ever. The theme to the movie, Somewhere in My Memory, was written by composer John Williams, who also wrote music for ET, Jurassic Park and the Harry Potter films.

Run-D.M.C. was one of the most popular and influential hip-hop acts of the 1980s. They were the first act in hip-hop to be nominated for a Grammy, and in 2009, the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Their song Christmas in Hollis can be heard in the action film Die Hard.

Do They Know It’s Christmas? was released in December 1984 and sold over a million copies in the United States. In the U.K. it became the biggest-selling song of all time until Elton John’s Candle in the Wind 1997 beat that record. The chorus of the song repeats over and over again “Feed the world. Let them know it’s Christmas time again.” Members of Band-Aid included, Bono, George Michael, Boy George, Sting and Phil Collins.

Like The 12 Days of Christmas, there are a lot of details in this tune. Do you remember this line from the 1951 song: “There’s a tree in the Grand Hotel. One in the park as well. A sturdy kind that doesn’t mind the snow.”

Actor Bill Nighy became known around the world as aging rockstar Billy Mack who performs Christmas Is All Around in Love Actually. The film boasts an all-star cast, including Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and many more.

In 1994, Mariah Carey wrote what some music critics refer to as one of the few songs in recent years to be considered a holiday classic, All I Want for Christmas Is You. Mariah recently released an updated version of the tune on her new holiday album, Merry Christmas II You.

That man in the 1954 song Home for the Holidays was made famous by singer Perry Como, who was heading to Pennsylvania for a little homemade pumpkin pie.