MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
’Tis the season. In fact, tomorrow’s the big day, and everywhere we’ve turned for the past month we’ve been hearing Christmas songs and songs of the season, not to mention some folks complaining about it, which I don’t get, but whatever blows your skirt up.
The only complaining about having to hear Christmas songs I am willing to concede comes from bartenders; not because I believe bartenders to be among the most skilled and important members of this or any community – and, I do – but because from the day after Thanksgiving to the first week of January, bartenders hear the same cycle of Christmas songs being pumped into their establishments non-stop – day-in, day-out, night-in and night-out.
Many of the bartenders I have talked to about this have nothing against Christmas songs, or Christmas, but when anybody hears the same cycle of music and songs of any genre every day for over a month, it can grind you.
There are, of course, those of us who don’t look forward to the Christmas holiday, and for a number of reasons, with stress and not having anyone to share the holiday with being at the heart of it.
Hearing Christmas songs play constantly does nothing to ease their feeling on the matter.
I understand. We all do, but I have found fighting the inevitable only creates more stress, so why fight it at all? Open our hearts and embrace what’s to come, because it’s Christmas and Christmas stops for no one, and thank God for that.
Not being a bartender, but having spent a great deal of time with them over the years, I enjoy hearing the Christmas songs of all styles and from all time periods – “Silent Night,” “Joy to The Word,” “White Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” you name it.
And other than the serious carols and hymns that sing about the true meaning of Christmas (I killed “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” in Glee Club), to me, since college, it is officially the Christmas season the first time of the year I hear Bruce Springsteen’s famous live version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
If the happiness of that song and the performance of the E. Street Band, with The Boss at the peak of his powers, and the great sax and ho-ho-ho of The Big Man can’t stir the Christmas spirit within me, nothing can. And I believe the spirit of Christmas lives in all of us no matter how hard some of us try to humbug it to ourselves.
I am also very partial to “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who entered into the spirit of Christmas in their own way with an anti-war sentiment, as Lennon was reported to have said, he was “bloody-well fed up with ‘White Christmas.’”
I love the song for a number of reasons, some of them personal, and I am always touched by it. It has offered the most appropriate wish for us all since it was released in 1971– peace on earth.
There are others: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, “Christmas Canon” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg, “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Eagles and the “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie are favorites as well.
Of course, when it comes to Christmas songs, there are also some real dogs out there, and as much as I love dogs, any Christmas song done by barking dogs or the Chipmunks represents the worst in songs of this or any season. And truthfully? I’ve never cared for “Jingle Bell Rock” if you must know; or, for that matter “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” but that’s just me.
And by the way, I still await an explanation as to why “My Favorite Things” is a Christmas song. Why do we never hear this song on the radio around the fourth of July?
It’s a great song and it’s appropriate for all seasons. Where is the specific mention or the message of Christmas in it – “brown paper packages tied up with strings?” Isn’t that why we have UPS year-round?
Sleigh bells, snowflakes and silver-white winters? Ever been to Buffalo in the fall? Come on, this is not a Christmas song.
Unless, of course, it puts you in the spirit of Christmas; in which case, who are we to fight it?
We need to lighten up, and do ourselves a favor and enjoy the beautiful and joyous music of the season. Allow ourselves to love Christmas, because, as we always come to realize, Christmas will love us. Ask George Bailey.
Never lose the spirit of Christmas. Be nice to others and realize how blessed we are to be here.
Always keep in spirit, to paraphrase the old Irish wedding toast, “May our days be long and full of happiness. May our children be many and full of health. And may we live in peace and in freedom.”
Merry Christmas.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT