So here it is, merry Christmas, everybody's having fun. [Watch it - everyone]

It's that time of year again where sleigh bells ring - are you listening? ARE YOU?! Good. Anyway... back to the thread, and hopefully without any more song references: What are your favourite Xmas songs, be they carols, more traditional songs, or modern seasonal classics? Or, for that matter, your least favourite, tackier than that tacky present you try to return to the in-laws the following Christmas?

It's Christmas time. There's no need to be afraid. [You're fired - everyone]

Personally, these are some of my faves of the modern era, in no order:

"Happy Xmas (War is Over)" - John Lennon and Yoko Ono (doesn't get much better than this - and somewhat appropriate even in these troubled times today)
"A Fairytale of New York" - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl (it's just so jolly! and more popular than ever, sadly following the tragic death of Kirsty some time ago)
"I Believe in Father Christmas" - Greg Lake (one word sums this song up: epic! A little cynicism never did anyone any harm... )
"Lonely This Christmas" - Mud (sums up my feelings at this current moment in time... )
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" - Band Aid (i.e. the original and best)


And ones I don't like:
"Last Christmas" - George Michael (aaarrrggghhh!)
"All I Want For Christmas" - Mariah Carey (a.k.a. the festive Red Dwarf theme )
"Do They Know It's Chirstmas" - Band Aid 2 [i.e. the second version from 1989] (another contribution to crazy music events for which the excuse is "It seemed like a good idea at the time".)
"Wombling Merry Christmas" - Mike Batt (no God, nooooo!)

"A Christmas Carol" -- Tom Lehrer

Fanboy Christmas by Luke Ski

It's a fanboy christmas
and outside it's a blizzard
so go curl up by the fire
with your copy of Wizard
Lara Croft's new Yule Raider
It just might over sex us
And Wolvering is here to wish us all a Merry X-Mas

"The Little Drummer Boy"
"Do You Hear What I Hear?"
"A Totally Ridiculous Twelve Days of Christmas (Or a Cat Caught In a Pear Tree)" - Frank Welker
"Christmas With the Devil" - Spinal Tap
"Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" - Savatage
"Ho Ho F***ing Ho" - Kevin "Bloody" Wilson
"I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" - Kip Addotta
"Father Christmas" - The Kinks
"Christmas Wrapping" - The Waitresses
"All I Want For Christmas" - Timbuk3
"The Lonely Jew On Christmas" - Kyle Broflofski
"Ria Chia" - The Monkees
"Deck Us All With Boston Charlie"
"Christmas" - The Who
"Santa Claus and His Old Lady" - Cheech and Chong

And don't forget the seasonal classic "Christmas in Heaven" by those Monty Python boys (and girls... if you see that scene in the movie you'll understand ).

Would that be the Joan Jett version of "Little Drummer Boy"?

I hope it's the Bing and Bowie version.

Another song I heard recently was "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" by Spike Jones. Not exactly ROTL but nevertheless LMAO.

"Cry of a Tiny Babe" by Bruce Cockburn is my personal favorite.

That's a great one. It has the added bonus of being a track that you could play throughout the year. I'm not entirely sure if it was meant as a Christmas song or not, though it does resonate quite well during the season. (For those unfamiliar with it, "Cry of a Tiny Babe" is the retelling of the birth of Jesus with modern colloquialisms: i.e. Herod is described as a "paranoid man" who sends out "death squads" etc.) "Redemption rips through the surface of time, In the cry of a tiny babe."

There was a great Christmas disc that Rhino put out in 1989 called Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Lots of cool stuff, I must've played it 10 times this year. Dr. John doing a New Orleans style funk version of "Silent Night", Eastern Bloc doing a very loud and aggressive "Jingle Bells", but the best is Nicolette Larson's touching version of Steve Earle's "Nothing But a Child". I wonder if it's still available...highly reccomended if it is.