It’s the holiday season

With the whoop-de-do and hickory dock

And don’t forget to hang up your sock

‘Cause just exactly at 12 o’clock

He’ll be coming down the chimney

Coming down the chimney

Coming down the chimney, down!

These are the lyrics that Bing Crosby and Martha Mears belted out almost 70 years ago on the all too famous “Happy Holiday”. Having worked in retail a good portion of my life I’ve had to hear this song, among many others, countless times in an eight-hour work day. Some may feel inclined to judge me and label me a Scrooge or Grinch. By no means am I one in the same as the Charles Dickens or Dr. Seuss characters. However, I do find something rather creepy about hearing these festive melodies day in and day out from Black Friday until New Year’s Day. Have you ever stood in a store devoid of consumers while “Let It Snow” was playing in the background? If not, I wouldn’t recommend doing so. Maybe I’ve watched A Christmas Story too many times and have been jaded by the cult classic film as well. I don’t think performing in/singing in Christmas concerts since 1987 has helped the situation either.

Despite my annoyance with Christmas music, there are a few holiday tunes that I really look forward to hearing every year. Being from the DMV, there are a few go-go remakes of classic carols that always warm me up inside. The all-female outfit Pleasure Band’s “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, The Go-Go Family’s “This Christmas” and Chuck Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby” have always delivered right on time.

I can’t end this without mentiong Kurtis Blow’s “Christmas Rappin’”, which my memory’s earliest recollection of hearing this song being in 1986. I can thank my mother for this, who every year to this day still says the exact same thing whenever this song plays, “This is one of the few rap songs that I like. You know Sugar Hill Gang made the first rap song, “Rapper’s Delight”". All I can do is just smile and nod.