A recurring topic on this blog is popular culture depictions of winter and snow, so I have written about here before. Over this year’s holidays I looked over a 2013 book, Ronald D. Lankford Jr.’s Sleigh Rides, Jingle Bells & Silent Nights: A Cultural History of American Christmas Songs, and enjoyed the chance to follow an extended set of reflections along those lines! I was motivated to write up a blog post on this, what I will call ideas following Lankford; in some cases responses to him, in others ramblings in directions his book suggested to me.

The ’carnival’ element of Christmas songs is one that has, as Lankford notes, deep roots in earlier celebrations (including those pre-dating when Charles Dickens changed our sense of what Christmas might mean). I think Lankford could’ve spent more time on this topic, and its one that only has become more significant since he wrote his book. The list of most popular Christmas songs he used does not appear to have had the most popular such song, Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” on it, a song that has surged to become the most popular Christmas song written since the 1950s.

Lankford subtitles his chapter on this topic “Beneath the Mistletoe,” and Carey’s song indeed heralds the recent success of Christmas songs which are really songs about romance; Wham, Kelly Clarkson, “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses which has worked its way into the rotation. The same goes for the most popular song released since 2010, Arianna Grande’s “Santa Tell Me.”

Not only that, but check out the older songs which were successful on the Billboard singles charts at the end of 2023: “Rockin around the Christmas Tree” hit #1, “Jingle Bell Rock” stuck around at #3, Mariah and Wham also up there, with “Holly Jolly Christmas” following close. For whatever reasons, the songs that got played the most clearly are in that vein. (Helms and Ives actually mention mistletoe.) Two other 1970s additions – “Wonderful Christmastime” and “This Christmas” – also fit there, one focusing on celebration and the other on romance.

I wonder what it means that we are seeing more of the carnival element, less of the nostalgia element, in the recent songs which make it big, and why that might happening. Songs nostalgic for eras *long* out of date stuck around quite a while – the era of sleigh rides was already generations past for most listeners in the 1950s and onward – so it doesn’t seem automatic that people would’ve turned away from that. But maybe its just enough time, at this point. Or maybe what generations after the boomers are more nostalgic for when they think of Christmas is something having more to do with parties. And also a nostalgia for pop songs themselves, which of course are so heavily focused on romance?

 “Christmas in Hollis” has elements of the carnival song, actually providing more glimpses of family togetherness at Xmas than most songs do. It also, based on the ages of Run-DMC’s members, appears based in celebrations from the late 60s and the 1970s, moving far forward in time. It also reminds us that valuing family and Christmas have a strong presence in the US in urban culture – too often Lankford appears to assume that such values are primarily coming from rural places.

Lankford relies heavily on a discussion of not that many songs. Which in many cases would seem awkward, limiting the evidence… but I think it’s the right choice here? The number of Christmas songs which get heavy airplay actually IS pretty limited. Which means we hear a small number of songs a LOT, they make a big impression. Meanwhile, third-tier Christmas songs are ones we might barely here in a given year, or not at all, so its not as helpful to analyze them. These songs do have a presence in the average listener’s life which not a lot of songs do… and as the return of Christmas songs (but not non-Christmas songs) to the charts now that things are calculated differently suggests, they do have a place as part of our shared common culture.

Two recently popular winter songs focus on a somewhat atypical subject – loneliness not of the romantic or economic variety. So I don’t know if “Let it go” and “Do you want to build a snowman” would fit in his ‘Blues and Hard Times’ genre. In that world of “Frozen” [which I discussed in Frosty Fun and Fear in “Frozen:” How “Frozen” Depicts the Beauty and Experience of Winter Weather], snow is a source of comfort. That definitely is a very wintry sentiment. It also is one that… isn’t really present in the more traditional songs as much, where snow tends to be the backdrop to romance, or an excuse to stay inside with one’s lover. Building a snowman is a source of bonding in one song, and at the end of the film. In the other, earlier song (but also the more iconic one), snow is linked to freedom, freedom of expression of one’s true self without needing to hide it. These aren’t really ‘Christmas’ songs, and I don’t think they show up on many ‘Christmas playlists’ (though I think they should!), so it is not that surprising that they don’t follow the same tropes, but they do cover unusual ground for winter songs.

Two other recent Christmas songs with more of a focus on hard times suggest a potential broadening of perspective, although they remain outliers at present. “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” could be considered a blues song about war, which holds out hope even though it opens on a moody tone. “Fairytale of New York” probably won’t find a place on most playlists, but it has become very popular as an ‘alternative’ favorite Xmas song choice. This is a blues song that does have a hopeful romantic feel, even as it takes place in a drunk tank and begins with an old man reflecting on how he might die before the next Christmas.

To move more onto movies, we see a quite different version of Christmas than in older generations – much less sentimental and more anarchic. “Elf” and “Christmas Vacation” might be the most ‘Christmasy’ of recent decades contributions… while those who would add “Die Hard” and “Home Alone” to the Christmas canon also appear to be pushing the genre in new ways, with less interest in traditional Xmas culture tropes. (Not to mention “Nightmare before Christmas,” “Trading Places,” or “Bad Santa.”) These focus more on satire, or having the Xmas feel as a perhaps ironic backdrop to other types of stories. Or in “Elf”’s case, Ferrell’s intense commitment to Christmas cheer and tropes that is both played straight, but also so over-the-top that its hard to imagine people seeing it as a role model.

Of course, something of particular interest to me is – where is the snow in these songs? Well… there isn’t a lot to say. The romance and festive songs tend to focus more on romance, less on traditional Christmas signifiers. And definitely less on snow and wintry weather. Carey literally declares “I won’t ask for much this Christmas / I won’t even wish for snow.” Clarkson repeatedly notes that “Snow is falling as the carolers sing.” Grande has an even more glancing connection, since she just notes that she is *hearing* a song about snow.

The non-Christmas “Frozen” of course has snow in it, and “Elf” features a few scenes at the North Pole. But the songs are more focused on people staying inside, with passing references to weather when they even mention them at all. There *could* be songs about people, particularly couples, enjoying themselves outside – “Winter Wonderland” and “Sleigh Ride” are good examples. But this appears to be a sign both that people are less interested in outdoor winter activities where they live, and definitely less interested in hearing about them in song. We *could* have more songs, Xmasy or not, which mention skiing. Or skating. We could have, say, country songs where people use snowmobiles. Kids still go sledding and make snow sculptures. But in the limited sample of very popular recent Christmas songs, winter cities activities don’t really show up.

Where does this leave us? I am not sure, but we have seen signs of the continued popularity of Christmas songs and Christmas culture, even as some of the proportions of different themes change. Santa Claus does remain a presence – and there’s a series of films and other media that keep retelling those stories – though on the radio, we don’t hear new songs about him. We might well be headed for ‘new nostalgia’ as Lankford suggests (“Elf” might be a part), but that might be accompanied by a slow moving on from pre-1950s culture (75 years old at this point, of course). As Lankford implies by placing his satire chapter where he does, that element is becoming a larger part of how we make culture about Christmas and our celebrations of it. (Also, you might check out Lankford’s personal list of less familiar Christmas songs worth checking out.) Happy Christmas songs to you, whichever kind you prefer!