The Annoying Christmas Songs

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Over the past few years it seems to me that there's an ever-increasing annoyance over Christmas music. Ever wondered why? I have a few theories as to why people are ready to pull their hair out when they walk in a store and hear the Christmas music. 1. It's CHRISTMAS Music, Not LABOR DAY Music! Okay, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I've noticed that the music starts earlier and earlier and earlier every year. Certainly by the time Halloween is over the orange and black lights come down and the red and green lights go up, and with them the volume on the holiday music. 2. Could we have a new song or two? I think it's not just how early you begin hearing the music, but the fact that it's the same freaking songs!!!! I did a Google search when I started this article, just to see how many Christmas albums were released this year. Answer: sixteen. And guess what? Same old songs: "Winter Wonderland," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (don't know when that became a Christmas song, but hey, "Jingle Bells" is also about cold, not Christmas), "Jingle Bells," and "The Christmas Song" are on more than one of these releases. C'mon, people, give us something new! Elton John has put out one Christmas song, and he wrote it! Yeah, "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney isn't great, but at least it's not the same 12 songs. But get a song and beat it to death seems to be the mantra of Christmas music. Even a relatively new song, "Mary Did You Know" (originally recorded in 1991), has been recorded nearly 30 times over the last 25 years. Wowza. 3. Recognize the limited power of novelty songs. After two months of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" you're probably ready to run the old blue-haired lady over yourself!! Novelty songs have a short shelf life (which is why you really need to appreciate the popularity and staying power of Homer & Jethro and Weird Al Yankovic, the respective country and pop rulers of parody), so they don't need to be programmed as much as 630 different versions of "Silver Bells." (I mention "Silver Bells" because I heard it as soon as I walked into a restaurant today.) So maybe we need to lighten up on the length of time we are force fed Christmas songs. And maybe we need a new song or 20 a year. Here's the Elton John holiday song, "Step Into Christmas" (which is cool because the normally shy lyricist Bernie Taupin makes an appearance at the end of the video):