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My Favorite Christmas Songs (With Lyrics)

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the wonderful music. It’s one of the first things to foretell the coming of the season in department stores. I’m going to take this opportunity to share some of my favorite Christmas songs.

All I Want For Christmas Is You ~ Mariah Carey

This upbeat modern wonder is complete with a Motown sound and Ms. Carey’s vocal acrobatics. I’ve enjoyed this particular tune since it first came out in 1994.

The bouncy tempo of the song is combined with a romantic notion that reminds me of my dear wife. Of course, the original music video features Mariah in a variety of saucy Santa outfits but I have mentally translated those to visions of my wife (who is every bit as curvaceous in all the right places) in the enticing holiday attire.

In more recent years, my daughter participated in a dance number set to this enjoyable song. She was among the back-up dancers as another girl enticed a young man with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Ever since then, we’ve known it as “The Cookie Song“.

For this reason as well as many others, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is among my favorites.

Carol of the Bells ~ Pentatonix

Carol of the Bells was composed in 1914 by composer Mykola Leontovych. I was most familiar with this song as a strictly orchestral piece, but the lyrics were originally written in Ukrainian by Peter Wilhousky. He wrote and copyrighted English lyrics for the song in 1936. He was able to use his role as arranger for the NBC Symphony Orchestra to ensure performance that would reach the widest audience.

In subsequent years, the song has enjoyed a lot of interpretations and styles. People have recorded classical, country, jazz and even heavy metal versions of the song. It is particularly popular for use in synchronized light displays. A comical parody about a guy working at Burger King has been featured on Dr. Demento seasonally since 1994.

Personally, I prefer performance in some semblance of its original form. I like either purely orchestral, classical guitar or even the a cappella version shown above. Regardless of style, I enjoy the soaring and swirling feel of the song. It definitely feels like Christmas to me.

You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch ~ Thurl Ravenscroft

This song is one of the highlights of the classic 1966 cartoon “How The Grinch Stole Christmas!“. Since I was born in 1967, this holiday special has been part of my entire life. The show is based on the book by Dr. Seuss and was narrated by Boris Karloff.

Throughout my childhood, I was solidly convinced that the song in question was also sung by Boris. I wasn’t entirely surprised to discover that the singer was actually Thurl Ravenscroft, who was more familiar to me as the voice of Tony The Tiger from the Frosted Flakes commercials. I didn’t mind discovering my error. You might even say, It’s Great!

Jim Carrey did an enjoyable version of this song in his preparing to be fake Santa montage from the 2000 live action movie, but there’s just nothing like the original to really put me in the holiday spirit.