......to want to rip out the speakers every time I hear this Christmas song?

[PutDownThatLaptop]

It's when that wretched song comes on... "Walking in the Air."
I can't stand it. It gives me Christmas aisle rage.

How has no-one mentioned Saviour's Day yet? That's about the only one I really can't stand.

And I thought there was a cleaned-up version of Fairytale of New York - think it replaced 'slut' with 'slob' and something like "you scumbag, you maggot, you're cheap and you're haggard". (Although I like to pretend that the Ronan Keating cover version never happened)

Fairytale isn't supposed to please you, it's about a dysfunctional, codependent relationship FFS it's supposed to be like that. I can't hear the line "and the boys from the NYPD choir still singin' Galway Bay" without getting a lump in my throat, but a lot of Pogues lyrics get me that way.

Thats as may be but you ask most people who bang on about how much they love it, why they love it and they will all invariably sing "You scumbag you maggot etc" and then laugh their heads off. They love it because of the fact that its full of bad language and insults. I would bet that for every person who claims to appreciate it for its inner message there are 999 who just like the swearing.

My ringtone is santababy .
That's because when I hear it in July I might just realise it's my phone and answer the darn thing.

I like Emerson lake and palmer
Thankfully shops have got the message and start playing them later.

Perhaps all the folks who hate the Christmas tunes would prefer this one....

I'm a committed Chrismasist but DS and i love this song.

Who is that guy with the late, great David Bowie wittering on about stuff before starting little drummer boy? It always makes me wonder if the teen relatives have slipped something in to my sherry.
It's just bizarre, wrong and rather wonderful all at once.

Errrrr....do you mean the legendary Bing Crosby?

Dubba dubba dub dub dubba dubba dub dub
Wish I was at hooooome for Christmas
Blaaaaaa blat-blat-blatta-blat blaaaaaat bla-blat

I can't cope.

Amandahug It's Bing Crosby! and he sang one of the best Christmas songs of all time! All together now :

"I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know......"

Also love the late great Judy Garland singing "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

But don't get me started on Cliff - Mistletoe & Wine - aaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!

followed by a at people too young to have heard of Bing Crosby being old enough to use the internet

Oh someone mentioned Christmas shoes upthread... Big pile of steaming schmaltz... there is even a movie.
Away in a manger sung by my infant class always has the power to move me.

What annoys me is that we are stuck with the same shitty songs every year! Why can't we make new memories? "War is over" is that the sing title? Makes me feel sick. So depressing and not Christmassy at all.

that's the guy!

I remember when the Xmas number one was the biggest excitement of the year. It would start about a month before and they contenders would gradually climb the charts until you listened on the chart day before the 25th to find out who it was.

Of course what you youngsters probably dont know is that this was when a song didnt need to go straight in at no 1, it could go in at no 36 and gradually work its way up.

Then of course the X Factor single handedly killed the Xmas number one and now its all just a bit.....meh...whatever :(

Bring back camp, bring back terribly schmaltzy songs. Sure they are cheesy crap but thats the fun of it!

Oh and although I love all Xmas song (FTONY excepted!) the one that really screams Xmas for me is Step Into Xmas by Elton John. Dont know why tbh, it just feels like the theme tune for Xmas!

I can take anything except Mariah and Cliff. Though my personal favourite is from South Park

I love the Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics episode of South Park. Hidey Ho!

Do you all work in retail and are forced to hear these for weeks on end?

It makes me sad that people don't like WITA though, it's so beautiful and magical.

Can't believe no one has mentioned the creepy rapey Baby it's cold outside.

Regardless of the song it's the carol singers at the tube that get me. Especially 'gloooooorooooroooooria' the crecsendo and then they start screaming again and shaking their money tins even harder and all in synchronised motion. Terrifying.

I think the meanings of slut and faggot have changed over the years though.

My 90 year old grandmother regularly uses the word faggot - " Be quiet, you noisy faggot" and we grew up with the word being used in this way; not a derogatory term for being gay. Obviously it's now homophobic but that's a fairly recent/ American thing. Not sure how it was originally meant in Fairytale of New York.

And slut used to mean slattern rather than whore/ slag.

Yes, faggot in Ireland means lazy and is not a derogatory word.
I love Mariah at Christmas!
Do we have to put 'the late great' before dead famous folk now?

Baby it's cold outside isn't creepy rapey, it's about two people who would like to spend the night together. The man can, with no consequences, the woman can't because her father will be pacing the floor, her brother will be at the door, the neighbours will find out etc.

Bogeyface I love Fairy Tale of New York.
It brings a lump to my throat.
I think of all those Irish forced to go abroad because there was nothing for them in the Ireland of the of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Some succeeded in their new country but others sank into alcoholism sadly.
I'm sure loneliness was a factor.

I love Fairytale of New York! It is poetic and beautiful.

I do get a bit bored of the old favourites (slade etc) but I mix it up with a bit of classical (like Handel's Messiah) and by discovering new stuff. I downloaded an album called "Blue Grass White Snow" last year which was great and has definitely entered my permanent Christmas tunes selection.