As December quickly approaches and it becomes socially appropriate to begin celebrating Christmas, I have been preparing my holiday playlists and slowly incorporating my favourite festive songs into the daily rotation.
Since I was raised in a classic Christmas household where the only acceptable holiday songs were performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby or anyone Frank Sinatra adjacent, my taste in Christmas music may be considered slightly outdated. While anything sung by Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, Justin Bieber or Ariana Grande will never appear on one of my festive playlists, a few songs that aren’t likely to have been covered by someone who was a guest on The Dean Martin Show have managed to squeak past my intense holiday song scrutiny.
While some of these tracks are clearly Christmas songs, others are strangely Christmas adjacent. Some were never even Christmas songs to begin with and somehow found themselves relegated to the month of December simply because they mention something vaguely holiday-esque.
Keeping that in mind, here is the list of my top four Christmas songs, even if some of them have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas at all.
“Christmas in Killarney” by The Irish Rovers
As any former highland dancer would tell you, “Christmas in Killarney” is a holiday staple that must be included in your festive playlist if you are the kind of person who intends to perform an impromptu Irish jig at every Christmas party you attend. Even if you would rather die a gruesome death before you ever performed a heel click in front of anything even remotely living, “Christmas in Killarney” is still one of the best Christmas songs to come out of the late ’90s.
This track is steeped in traditional Irish folk influences with fiddle, accordion and tin whistle playing off one another to create the chaotic cacophony of sound this genre of Celtic music thrives on. With “Christmas in Killarney,” The Irish Rovers have mastered the warm, lively and lilting feeling that is typical of Irish folk music, making it impossible not to want to dance at least one flap step when it comes on in the pub.
“River” by Joni Mitchell
While “River” by Joni Mitchell isn’t technically a Christmas song, anyone that’s seen Meg Ryan’s iconic 1998 romcom You’ve Got Mail knows that it has a worthy place on this list. If Kathleen Kelly can make the exception, so can I.
A rich and expressive piano ballad, “River” is haunting. From the very first chord, it carries the heavy emotional weight of losing the love of your life so beautifully that I want to cry every time I listen to it. Its sparse instrumentation skillfully uplifts Mitchell’s ghostly soprano, making it the perfect example of musical simplicity to highlight emotional intensity. While I listen to “River” all throughout the year, I can say with 100 per cent certainty that it is infinitely better when there is snow on the ground.
“Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” by The Irish Rovers
If I had a nickel for every time The Irish Rovers appeared on this list, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s strange that it happened twice, right?
“Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” was originally written by Elmo & Patsy but the version performed by The Irish Rovers is, in my expert opinion, the best take on the song. While it is most certainly a twangy, cheesy ball of ridiculousness, “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” manages to somehow make it impossible for me to change the station when it comes on the radio. It’s a conundrum that I haven’t quite figured out. Still, while I likely won’t actively search out this track anywhere but the inside of a crowded bar in late December, I will happily listen to it in its entirety when it comes on shuffle and giggle to myself the entire three minutes and 25 seconds it’s on.
“Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
While I think that “Fairytale of New York” probably falls into the category of songs that just happen to take place on Christmas rather than actually being a Christmas song, it feels like a necessary inclusion on this list.
I know that this song has become somewhat controversial and people have attempted to cancel it, but I am going to gleefully ignore them and turn up the volume to drown them out. Taking Christmas out of the equation completely, “Fairytale of New York” will forever hold a spot on the list of my favourite songs of all time. In fact, it always makes it into my Apply Music Replay even though I only listen to it during one month of the year, which is a crazy achievement.
Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl have mastered this whimsical swinging tune, its charming and dynamic musicality distinctly Irish and incredibly hypnotizing. The cinematic atmosphere of “Fairytale of New York” is larger than life, leaving me forever wondering if I should be reflecting melancholically on lost love or dancing my heart out with a Guinness in hand.