100 Greatest Christmas Downers of All Time
by 
Jennifer on December 8th, 2007
Entertainment Weekly has a great list of holiday bummers posted — just in time for holiday cheer I suppose. Just kidding. This list isn’t meant to help you celebrate the season but rather dwell and mope in it. I like a jolly season myself but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to hang with some downer classics.
Joni’s on their list with River — a perennial favorite of fans of winter depression everywhere. To be honest there are about five Joni Mitchell songs I don’t like (I know; gasp) and River is one of them. I never liked it.
How did songs make the downer cut? Some points at EW include:
- Emphasis on “Emotional realism over obvious novelty songs.”
- Avoidance of any sort of, “Windows of hope.”.
- Banned optimisms. They focused on tunes, “Where you’re pretty sure the person in question ain’t coming back — either because he or she is dead or because the singers so convincingly convey loser-dom that you know they’re going to be in hell for the holidays.”
Ha. This criteria alone makes the list worth reading. Following are the top six…
1. Judy Garland, ”Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (1944 soundtrack version): I agree, this song is a total bummer when viewed in the 1944 classic Meet Me in St. Louis. If this portion of the movie doesn’t make you seriously sad I have to wonder where your soul ran off to.
2. Merle Haggard ”If We Make It Through December”: Hmmm, have I heard this.
3. Dwight Yoakam, ”Santa Can’t Stay”: Cannot stand country music so no opinion. I will say that EW’s review is smashingly funny.
4. Joni Mitchell, ”River”: See above — although, yes it is fairly sad.
5. Bing Crosby, ”I’ll Be Home for Christmas”: Not so upbeat as you think according to EW.
6. The Who, ”Christmas”: I LOVE Tommy. Almost everything about the rock opera makes me happy but I’ll give them a thumbs up on calling out this as sadder than most holiday tunes.
Make your season a little brighter and see the whole list at EW.
What’s your favorite holiday downer (tune wise) — no mistletoe and MIL visit rants.
Tags: Entertainment-weekly, hippie-sounds, Joni Mitchell, sad-holiday-music, sad-tunes| 2.8 |
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POSTED IN: Fun, Happy Irrelevance, Holiday Music
4 opinions for 100 Greatest Christmas Downers of All Time
Dec 8, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Pretty decent list, probably cause they mentioned Pearl Jam’s “Let Me Sleep” : )
I always get depressed when listening to Weezer’s “Christmas Song” and Sufjan Stevens’ “That Was The Worst Christmas Ever”.
Dec 10, 2007 at 4:26 am
I haven’t heard either of the two you mention. I don’t listen to too many holiday tunes. But yes, it’s good that they mentioned your recent PJ obsession.
Dec 10, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Oh, you should check those songs out. It’s a classic Weezer song, you know, Rivers Cuomo crying about how he’s alone. The Sufjan Stevens song is just chill, but depressing.
Mar 18, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Wow you still have this post so late in the year of 2008.
I do agree some songs can bum you out at Christmas, I love the real christmas gospel songs, also I love what Brian Setzer does live and on his DVD Christmas Extravaganza. It’s awesome, maybe the best show I have ever seen.
Well Take care all
Thanks Jordan Rivers
If you get a chance stop by my blog site and say hi.
http://jordanriversguitarforum.blogspot.com/
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