(Not carols, I hasten to add...)
Thought I'd post my thoughts on the best 3 Christmas songs ever released. Well, in my lifetime anyway, which isn't very long in the grand scheme of things but it does at least have the merit of spanning most of the pop era.
So to begin...I thought I'd mention in this post some of the songs that are definitely NOT the best Christmas songs ever. Like (Simply having) A Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney. I love the guy (kindof) but he has released some dross in his time, mainly hidden on albums but, now & again, sneaking into the light of the singles charts. This song probably heads that list (yep, even worse than the Rupert song).
Honourable mention ought also to go to Shakin' Stevens - he's Welsh, which is a good start, and enjoyed some worthy success in the early 80s for his hard work but Merry Christmas Everyone must have happened during a slack moment or three.
This list could be endless. I won't mention the numerous Cliff Christmas efforts, mainly because, to be fair, they're ok. Honourable mention probably ought also to go to Johhny Matthis and Boney M (not a collaboration but for their two efforts) which, again, were OK.
Did someone shout out 'Slade!'? A stomping singalong for every party...but is it? Yes, we bopped to it at the school disco in 1972 but it seems to me it's been rather degraded since then, perhaps through overexposure. Some songs can take the exposure, others can't. I think this is one of the latter.
Anyway, enough of the dross. There are 3 songs I think ought always to top the list. I'll post about them in turn over the next 3 Wednesdays (10th, 17th, 24th) in reverse order.
So stay tuned, pop pickers!