But I have to put forward River by Joni Mitchell. It floors me.

Not heard that Joni track, but will seek it out cheers. I am hoping to compile a class compilation, about 15 tracks in all, no stocking fillers.

Billy McKenzie's version of 'The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot'. Gets me every time.

If We Make It Through December - Merle Haggard

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=1...

This might an opportune moment to introduce the Word Magazine Advent Calendar. Over the month it'll become stuffed full of delicious, Christmasy goodness.

Christmas Card from a hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits (Not so much joy!!)

I pray on Christmas- The Blind Boys of Alabama

I was born on Christmas Day - St Etienne
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses, the best ever Xmas song bar none.
Winter Valley Song - Fountains of Wayne (not specifically seasonal but a lot of snow in there)

So Much Wine - Handsome Family

January song by Lindisfarne is bloody great but guess you could also have Winter song from the same band.

from "Scarlet And Other Stories"

1. More or less anything off Christmas by Low, but particularly the first track, Just Like Christmas.

2. Most of the Phil Spector Christmas Gift album (though I could live without The Bells of St Mary's and the last track!).

3. Fairytale of New York, must be in there with a shout too? Despite its recent over-exposure it's still a glorious song.

4. I have a soft spot for the tracks on the Cocteau Twins' Snow EP: Frosty the Snowman & Winter Wonderland performed in the usual Cocteau Twins' style.

5. Like Ben Milne above, I love Christmas Wrapping & I Was Born On Christmas Day.

6. Blue Christmas by Elvis.

Christmas Must Be Tonight

Long Ryders - Christmas In New Zealand

Neil Young - Star Of Bethlehem

Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve

Half Man Half Biscuit - It's Cliched To Be Cynical At Christmas

Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

And all the REM Fan Club Christmas singles.

Frosty the Snowman by the Cocteau Twins, obviously
For predictable festive cheese: I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake
For an Olde Tyme Chrystmasse: Gaudete by Steeleye Span
For Christmas Eve down the pub: The Pogues Fairytale of New York
For opening presents round the tree: Merry Xmas (War is Over) by John and Yoko
For early childhood Christmas nostalgia: The Horse Song by Mike Oldfield

And I'm sorry, but until I've heard Noddy yelling "It's Chriiiistmaaas!" I cannot feel remotely festive.

Cristina's very un-merry no-wave ditty, "Things Fall Apart" , co-written by Don Was. From the selfsame Ze Records xmas collection that gave us "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses and "Christmas in the Motor City" by Was (Not Was). A Dorothy Parkerish portrait of the darkness at the heart of the holiday season. Key phrase: "Good morning, Midnight. It's Christmas." It never fails to move me and I quite like it as a chaser to "Blue Christmas" by Low.

But for sublimely daft holiday cheer, I highly recommend National Lampoon's 1974 blaxploitation spoof, "Kung Fu Christmas". It was written by Paul Schaffer and Christopher Guest, and sports lines like "Santa Claus is making the Soul Train scene/Slickin' down his beard with Afro Sheen…".

Jimmy Webb has written a couple of Christmas classics if you can find them:
Christmas Will Return from The Santa Claus movie
Whatever Happened To Christmas recorded by Frank Sinatra and more recently by Aimee Mann and Joe Cerisano (on iTunes)

Also there are a couple of fabulous seasonal Chieftains' albums that are well worth checking out.

I reckon to buy a Christmas CD every year, last year Sufjan Stevens which is lovely but very inconvenient, all those CDs to change over!

I've seen no votes for Child's Christmas In Wales by John Cale, which has to be worthy of mention. Some others:

Suddenly It's Christmas by Loudon Wainwright III
Cora Jones - Neal Casal
Christmas In Prison - John Prine
Christmas - Jim White

Happy yule to all Word contributors.
Mark

In about a weeks time I will select my 15 festive favourites and will post the results. Thanks for the great suggestions, keep them coming please, no cheese.

but how about December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface by Stars of the Lid?

Although it's not Christmas themed, R.E.M.'s At My Most Beautiful sounds like late December to me.

I imagine Billie Mackenzie's version of the Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot is a good 'un, but the best version of that song I've heard (and my favourite Xmas song) is by A Girl Called Eddy. Probably shouldn't say this but I think it was recorded especially for a covermount Xmas compilation given away in 2004 by a rival publication beginning with M. Incidentally anyone who hasn't heard A Girl Called Eddy's splendid self-titled album, produced by Richard Hawley, is in for a real treat.

Other favourite Xmas songs of mine include:
Low 'Just Like Christmas', John Cale 'Child's Christmas in Wales', Tom Waits 'Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis', Stina Nordenstam 'Soon After Christmas', Fountains of Wayne 'The Man in the Santa Suit and The Fall 'Jingle Bell Rock'

It's probably cheating because he released an album (if that word does justice to the product) of Christmas songs, but I like Sufjan's 'Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!', and it has the advantage of not being too saccharine.

Gets my vote too. In fact, their Christmas Album/EP is all good. It definitely has the same feeling as Through December by Laura Veirs. There's also great stripped back versions of Blue Christmas and Little Drummer Boy on there.

is another winner. Of course there is his great version of The Little Boy that Santa Claus forgot, but my favourite is Frosty the Snowman, complete with speeded up Pinky and Perky type backing vocals. It hits a suitably plastic tinsel, tacky note for Xmas.

the Lightning Seeds did a cover of Be My Baby as a b-side for some single a few years back. In the same way that 'Stay Another Day' wasn't remotely evocative of the time of year this manages the exact same thing; it's Christmassy (ooh - how does one spell that?) without (obviously) mentioning anything like Angels, peace, goodwill, children, bethleham or elderly relatives farting like the bejaysus after a feed of Brussels sprouts.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=2...

it's the bells, innit?

In Dulce Jubilo/Mike Oldfield
Oi To The World/No Doubt
Winter Wonderland/Macy Gray (or is it Marge Simpson?)
Christmas Wrapping/The Waitresses
Fairytale of New York or course
Wombling Merry Christmas always gets me in the mood
Silver Bells/Jim Reeves
Stop The Cavalry/Jona Lewie

Of course, this is the season when musicians do unexpected things.

"Christmas song" by Jethro Tull - an examination of your concience by one of our best songwriters.

Winter off Goat's Head Soup by The Stones

What about Burst Noel by Malcolm Middleton. Not the most upbeat Christmas song you'll ever hear but what a great one. Contains the semi-famous opening line 'Last year I got knives for Christmas.' From his album Into The Woods which I cannot recommend highly enough.

I'm going to offer...

Jingle Bell Rock - Randy Travis (the version where he goes "Hey that was great wasn it? Can we do one more" and the engineer says "OK, we're rollin'")

Christmas on Riverside Drive - Kid Creole And The Coconuts

And another vote for Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses - featuring ex-Television drummer Billy Ficca, I do believe.

And another thing. Wonderful though it is, I don't class "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" as a Christmas record. Just having "Christmas" in the title doesn't mean it is a Christmas record, does it?

On heavy rotation chez Vincent this yuletide will be:

"What A Wonderful Christmas" by Louis Armstrong and "friends" including Eartha Kitt, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and Peggy Lee. Plenty of cheer, and virtually cheese-free.

"Winter" by Steeleye Span for a folk-rock Christmas.

"The Carnal And The Crane" by the New Scorpion Band, getting back to the pagan origins of Christmas, English-style.

...and not forgetting the excellent single "Where Do Jamjars Go At Christmas Time" / "Psychedelic Christmas" from the wonderfully barmy Misty's Big Adventure - available from their MySpace site.

...oh, and heretical to mention it here, but the "Blue Christmas" that came free with the festive issue of MOJO a few years ago remains one of the finest festive compilations ever. Probably knocking around on eBay if you look.

These are a few of my fave' Christmas crackers

Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa (sampled by Run DMC)

The Greedies - A Merry Jingle (Thin Lizzy and the Sex Pistols)

The Damned - There Ain't no Sanity Clause

The Three Wise Men - Thanks for Christmas (XTC in disguise)

T Rex - Christmas Bop

"Christmas Morning" from Social Studies - no christmas better defined. Google the lyrics, I'm sure they're out there somewhere. And "Leroy The Redneck Reindeer" - why not ring your local radio station and request it? Or Bob Harris - I know he's got a copy.

All from last year's Christmas Theme Time Radio Hour, with your host, Bob Dylan...

Christmas Is A Comin'/Leadbelly
Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas?/The Staple Singers
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=2...
Please Come Home For Christmas/Charles Brown
Jingle Bells/Johnny Paycheck
Christmas Morning/Titus Turner
Poor Old Rudolph /The Bellrays
Don't Believe In Christmas/The Sonics
Silent Night/Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns
Must Be Santa/Brave Combo
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=2...
Merry Christmas Darling/Hop Wilson & His Buddies
Truckin' Trees For Christmas/Red Simpson
Christmas In Jail/The Youngsters
I Want A Casting Couch For Christmas/Kay Martin & Her Bodyguards

Ring out Solstice Bells, anyone?

"Sleigh Ride" off his "My Gift To You" album. It's essentially "Fake", with Jam & Lewis' trademark flywheel riffs and lyrics namechecking Santa, Rudolph and all the other reindeer.

the whole of a charlie brown christmas by the vince guaraldi trio. gets me every year.

Ray Charles "The Spirit of Christmas"....goes down particularly well in the late hours with a glass of brandy and a mince pie,with the lights low and the tree lights twinkling.This can lead into...
Low - "Just like Christmas"...a classic.

Billy May - "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Mambo"

Smashing Pumpkins - "Christmastime"
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=5...

Blues Traveler - "Christmas"
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=3...

Darlene Love = "Christmas (baby please come home)" Her Christmas appearance on last David Letterman Show before the 25th is a must (Note to TV companies,please bring it back to the UK)

Tom Petty - "Christmas All over Again"...wait for his guitar wish list to Santa at the end

The Raveonettes - "The Christmas Song"
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=3...

Zigo feat Joan Rochette - "Sleigh Ride" A chillout tune for those who have over indulged...hey that's like ALL of us!

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=3...

For fans of "River" check out the Sarah MacLachlan version on the "Wintersong" album, that also contains a beautiful "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day". James Taylor has also done a version of "River". Have to say that "Christmas Card From A Hooker" IS a Christmas song. Not everybody has an enjoyable time. For many, as the new year approaches, it's a time of reflection of things that were or might have been. Have to nominate Simon & Garfunkel's "Silent Night" sung over a soundtrack of the news report - sounds a little dated now, though. "2,000 Miles" by The Pretenders does it for me every time. On the subject of Everything But The Girl, "Come On Home" contains the classic line, "Every day is like Christmas Day without you, it's cold and there's nothing to do. Finally, for December songs, include "A Long December" by Counting Crows.

How about some blues for Christmas with the classy Merry Christmas Baby by Charles Brown?

Bring the party mood right down with Lightning Slim's Wintertime Done Rolled By.

Or you could really go tasteless with Bugger My Buttocks For Christmas by Howlin' Wilf (now better known to us as James Hunter).

Here are a very small selection of my favorite Christmas tunes.

Eddie Cochran - I want Elvis For Christmas
(Absolutely Perfect for those people who like to do Elvis impressions - You know who you are!)

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Sleigh Ride
Dada - My Baby Fell For Ol'St Nick
Tom Waits - Silent Night
Robert Earl Keen - Merry Christmas From The Family
The Raveonettes - I Wish That I Could Stay (The Christmas Song)

And if you'd just prefer to scare the kids this Christmas you're
gonna need,
Henry Rollins - T'Was The Night Before Christmas.

I always think Your Star Will Shine by the Stone Roses (off Second Coming) is very Christmassy. Likewise, Drop in Time by Mercury Rev (off All is Dream).

Bing Crosby - can't beat it!

If I have to go for something more recent, Josh Rouse's Winter In The Hamptons would do nicely

Aimee's christmas album is great especially her version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which reminds me of the jungle book.

Agree with others regarding John Prine's Christmas in Prison, on a similar but lighter and tackier note - Dale Watson's "You can call me Nick" from the Christmas in Texas album.

Brian Setzer Orchestra have done a couple of Christmas albums which between them make one good one. Check out the instrumental "Angels I have heard on High"

I tend to buy one new christmas album each year, this year is Sufjan's turn but am looking forward to the final 15

Nina Simone juxtaposed a weird Rodgers & Hart song, 'Little Girl Blue' with 'Good King Wenceslas' to create a wonderful melancholy Christmas record (see

but be warned, the poster has accompanied it with a home video of his daughter looking a bit grumpy). Definitely in my Top 5 along with The Waitresses, The Pogues & Kirsty, Davitt Sigerson's 'It's A Big Country' (David Hepworth's excellent recommendation from last year) and 'Another Old Lang Syne' by Dan Fogelberg, which always transports me back to a miserable post-Christmas Cwmbran in 1981. Why do we feel warm about such things?

Everybody should check out the Bob Rivers' albums of spoof Christmas songs. "Twisted christmas", for instance, features such classics as "The Most Fattening Time Of The Year", "Toy Sack" (a festive version of "Love Shack"), "Yellow Snow, Yellow Snow, Yellow Snow!", "Sled Zeppelin" and "Heh You! Get Offa My House!" etc.

Three years ago, the Word sampler gave us the brilliant "Wonderful Christmastime" by Tom McRae, turning Macca's sentimental tosh into this sad lament. From the moment he lights up his cigar and the ice clinks in his glass, you just know he's all on his own (again) and that the wonderful Christmas is just in his imagination. Fantastic - but not one to listen to if you really are spending Christmas alone.

And can I just throw in a mention for Fountains of Wayne's "I Want an Alien for Christmas".

There's also a charming version of Joni's melancholic classic by Daniel Binttii on the Rough Trade CD Comp - A Constant Source of Interruption.

My namesakes also have an intersting but lyrically ripe track called Christmas Time Is Here, if you can track it down.

Cheers!

but how about "Snowbound" by Donald Fagen?
Ace video as well:

on the bizzare tip you could try William S Burroughs and The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy doing "The Junkys Christmas" which is really quite affecting...

I'm quite fond of the Dandy Warhols version of 'Little Drummer Boy'.

Gaudete is, of course, a must.

I've just received my copy of Word and am deeply troubled that someone in the Word office thinks that Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas is one of the best - you even use the word 'great' - Christmas songs ever released. I mean, come on! Seriously. It's surely one of the most irritating, banal and offensively inoffensive of the lot. Come on, own up...was it just a sick joke or was it one of those 'Dido on the cover' moments?

Pretty much all of the above work for me but I really do have a soft spot for "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt.

"Roasting Chipmunks on an Open Fire" by Bob Rivers provides a bit of sour to balance the sweet and almost anything (but particularly "Chritsmas Eve in Sarajevo") by the Trans Siberian Orchestra gives a delightfully overblown edge to familar seasonal tunes.

Big Star - Jesus Christ

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, The Crystals
Christmas Card from a Hooker In Minneapolis, Tom Waits

So Fountains of Wayne would win by sheer volume alone:

"Valley Winter Song"
"The Man in the Santa Suit"
"I Want an Alien for Christmas"

But then look at the quality...The only Christmas songs worth listening to in August - if only for great lyrics like:

"Mommy quick come here
Santa's sweaty and he smells of beer"
He says "kid shut your mouth, you give me a headache"
And he's jolly and hairy
But it's hard to be merry
When the guys at the bar all say he looks like a fairy
But he's doing it just for the loot
The man in the Santa suit

Just perfect.

I'd like to weigh in with support of the Waitresses (check out the previously unreleased tracks now available on the website) and Cristina but I think my favourite on the Ze christmas comp is It's A Big Country by Davitt Sigerson (I bought one of his albums on the strength of it but was sorely disappointed).
I don't think anyone has mentioned "Merry christmas (I don't want to fight tonight) by The Ramones either. If you want a sad christmas song to complement Cristina's Things Fall Apart then you need look no further than Thank You Dreaded Black Ice, Thank You by Giant Sand.
I also agree with muttnjeff - FOW are not just for christmas!

'Remember (Christmas)' by Harry Nilsson, from 'Son Of Schmilsson'. It's lovely, doesn't mention Christmas once, but does have sleigh bells in the middle eight.

And a general yearning for childhood, with it's opening lines 'Remember, long ago and far away, life was clear. Close your eyes and you can see.'

Aaah, lovely.

Little Girl Blue - Nina Simone
Not a christmas song as such but uses Good King Wenceslas melody to open the song - stunning!!!

Just to put in a word for the Maybe This Christmas compilations. You can get them from

http://www.werkshop.com/store/compilations.action

They're called

Maybe This Christmas
Maybe This Christmas Too
Maybe This Christmas Tree (of course!)

They make for nice alternatives to the tradition compilations. You can download them as MP3s from there (or FLAC if you prefer) and I believe that the money goes to charity.

Also, David Ford's "Have Yourself A Bitter Little Christmas" is worth seeking out. That was on a charity compilation last year.

It's not a Christmas song, but, from "Deserters Songs", Endlessly always makes me think of Christmas and start to sing "sleep in heavenly peace" from Silent Night.
But another good one is Badly Drawn Boy's "Donna & Blitzen"

Old favourites include:
I believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake
Time of the Year by Moses (The line 'Let it go, just this once' speaks volumes of the joy of family Christmases)
December will be Magic by Kate Bush
And shamefully that one by Chris de Burgh from before he made a full-time career out of being odious.

My brand-new faves for this year is the startlingly named Christmas Song by The Hornblower Brothers. It mentions Cliff Richard, aunties and the MFI sale, what more do you want?
http://www.myspace.com/thehornblowerbrothers
Also This is the Universe by Paul Mosley - a classic Christmas robot song which there just aren't enough of!
http://www.myspace.com/paulmosley

Fountains of Wayne: I Want An Alien For Christmas
Field Music and Kathryn Williams: 12 Days of Christmas
Pullover: Last Christmas (it is the Wham song, but brings a tear to even this obsidian heart.)
Six By Seven: I Believe In Father Christmas
Steve Earle: Jerusalem (not strictly festive, but cheers me up)
Peter and the Test-Tube Babies: (I'm Getting) P*ssed For Christmas (the true meaning of Yuletide)
Low: (That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace (even a grizzled atheist has feelings...)

And, er, didn;t Slade or Wizzard have a Christmas song or two....

My all time favorite Christmas song from the Ego Tripping at the Gates of hell EP

This can't be very good......surely?

http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Holidays-Special-Christmas-Album/dp/B000LMOG...

No.

P.S. Another from Everything But the Girl: "25th December" off Amplified Hear, the album they made before they went techno.

Red Simpson - Truckin' Trees For Christmas

I do love a good truckin' song.

(download it from The Aquarium Drunkard blog)