Holiday music is a double-edged sword. A Christmas carol can be as welcome as a souped-up iPad or as reviled as wool oven mitts crocheted by Aunt Sadie. With just a few days ’till St. Nick arrives, several noted performers reveal which songs turn on their Christmas lights — and which tunes make them want to push grandma under the hooves of killer reindeer.
Ronnie Spector, rock ’n’ roll singer and frontwoman for the Ronettes
“My mom loved it when I sang ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,’ because it was a true story — except we didn’t have a chimney — I had humble beginnings. It was a small apartment [in Spanish Harlem], but it was ours. [Phil Spector] my producer back then, would come to my house and ask me about Christmas, because he was Jewish, so he knew nothing. And I knew everything!”
YOUR MOST-LOVED AND MOST-HATED XMAS SONGS
Scott Weiland, bad-boy rocker who’s fronted both Velvet Revolver and Stone Temple Pilots
“I was a choirboy when I was young; I was in the choir all the way through senior year in high school. I was in the main a capella and the madrigal ensemble with my bass player [Robert DeLeo] . . . I don’t wear a halo, nobody’s perfect, but the whole idea of Christmas is: Everybody’s welcome. My manager is Jewish, for instance, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t think these songs are great. Christmas songs inspire me on a spiritual level as a Christian, and there are songs like ‘A Christmas Song’ that remind you of being young and with your family at a holiday gathering. That’s the vibe I aimed for on my Christmas album.”
Jose Feliciano, singer and guitarist whose “Feliz Navidad” remains an international holiday classic
“It was the summer of 1970 and RCA asked me to do a holiday album. I was working on it at my home [in Southern California] with my producer, Rick Jarrard. We were in a midsummer heat wave and we were struggling to muster up a little Christmas spirit. Rick told me about his childhood Christmases in the North, with tons of snow, and I reminisced about Las Fiestas Navideñas [in Puerto Rico] and all the traditional holiday foods. I’d just returned from a visit home where my Uncle Millo had given me a beautiful Cuatro that he had made himself. I picked it up and started playing a little riff on it, singing the words “Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felicidad” [Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness]” and before we knew it, ‘Feliz Navidad’ was born. I added the English lyrics so that everybody would understand my message.”
Sting, singer and songwriter
“It was once suggested [by a record executive] that I do a Christmas record. I was ready to march out of the office, because I’m not going to sing about Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph. But then I thought, ‘What about a winter album?’ When you sing about a season, it doesn’t have to be all light and happiness — it could reflect my ambivalence about the whole holiday thing because it’s cold and it’s uncomfortable. For a lot of people it’s the worst time of the year, and yet, at the center of this sometimes dark season, is this wonderful festival of joy and happiness. So when I made [“If on a Winter’s Night . . .” in 2009], I wanted to create something that balanced those two notions. That’s why the record has its roots deep in the DNA of English music, with a mix of sacred songs, some pre-Christian ideas, some folk songs and a few secular songs. In the end I think I created an album that was very spooky. I think that fits, because winter is the season of storytelling, the imagination and magical events.”
G. Love, blues belter for roots-rock bands G. Love and Special Sauce
“There isn’t a Christmas carol that I don’t like, I really do love ’em all. [Except] ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.’ I mean, what kind of person wants to think about their granny getting mashed up by reindeer? So I could do without that one. My favorite is a tie between ‘Jingle Bells’ and “Silent Night.” Me and my brother-in-law, Juan, have a little Christmas band we call Los Dos Hermanos, and we sing for the family every year. “Jingle Bells” is the song all the kids go crazy for, and it’s pure fun. And I love ‘Silent Night,’ because that one packs so much Christmas emotion. It really unites the family, including my grandma — who isn’t going to get run over by no damn reindeer when I’m around.”
Emma Kate Tobia, Irish soprano who reprised the Pogues’ holiday classic “Fairytale of New York”
“ ‘Fairytale of New York’ has a huge history with anyone who’s Irish and is old enough to remember the 1980s. My brother and sister were both immigrants to America then, and I was the one left at home. Those were sad Christmases alone without them. This is the iconic Irish Christmas song about those times when so many of the young people left home to go to America. The Pogues spoke about the land of dreams and at the same time reminded everyone that some dreams don’t come true. I’ve always related to this song. It isn’t as much of a duet as it is a conversation that I sing with George Murphy. It’s about caring for someone even if that someone is down and out or as the song says “a scumbag and a maggot.” No matter how bad that person is, they still deserve love. That’s the Christmas message that makes this song so special.”
Jack Johnson, folk-rock singer-songwriter
“A while back, I did a cover of a song that Stevie Wonder did called ‘Someday at Christmas,’ and even though it was really fun to record and I think it was good, I hope nobody hears Stevie’s version. Because once they do, they’ll never listen to mine again. As for the best holiday tune I’ve heard in years, that has to be [the band] Bahamas’ ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight.’ It’s the kind of song I’d want to listen to even when Christmas is over. It has a really nice slow rhythm to it, almost like a Neil Young rhythm track.”
John Waters, film director whose 2004 “A John Waters Christmas” CD collected the best of the holiday’s worst
“This year, I’m obsessed by the Justin Bieber Christmas album. I even love his version of ‘Little Drummer Boy.’ That song inspires loathing. It was [Richard] Nixon’s favorite Christmas carol, and as I understand it [English murderer] Myra Hindley played that one as she tortured children in that horrible murder case in the UK — even she knew the torture of having to listen to “Little Drummer Boy.” So I’m happy Justin has a new spin on that tune. When it comes to Christmas songs, it’s the ones I hate that I really like.”