The Farr Side: It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

There’s something special about Christmas and holiday music. Whether you like to admit it or not, it does put a little love in your heart. 

Some people start to play their favorites the day after Halloween. Even some radio stations change formats to play holiday songs 24/7. I’m among those who would rather wait until at least Thanksgiving weekend to start playing the songs of the season. 

I have my seasonal favorites that I must play every year. “The Christmas Album” (Elvis Presley), “Merry Christmas” (Mariah Carey), “Breath of Heaven” (Vince Gill), “Let It Be Christmas” (Alan Jackson), “Joy: A Holiday Collection” (Jewel), “Christmas Portrait” (Carpenters), “These Are Special Times” (Celine Dion), “Wrapped in Red” (Kelly Clarkson), and any of the Amy Grant Christmas collections and Trans-Siberian Orchestra masterpieces are only a few of more than 300 Christmas albums in my collection.  

It seems like each year a different song sort of emerges to become my new favorite. As a kid, it was the fun songs about Santa that I loved most. Now, I’m more in tune with those with a deeper meaning.

“A Very Special Christmas” album series changed things for me. Various singers contributed favorites to make a collection to sell for charity purposes. U2’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Bob Seger’s “Little Drummer Boy” and Eurythmics’ “Winter Wonderland” are awesome. It puts a whole new feeling into the music and forever changed the landscape of what Christmas music can be.  

I once readthat artists want to make the best Christmas album ever when they make one. It sounds silly but it’s more than an ego thing. Christmas albums, if done right, will be played and celebrated for  years to come. It also can translate into big bucks in royalties and sales. 

Perhaps one of the best examples of this is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” from her 1994 holiday collection, “Merry Christmas” 

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” was an instant hit that year. It’s fun, upbeat and infectious. You couldn’t help but get engrossed into the song and get it stuck in your head for days. She was brilliant for penning such a timeless treasure. Until then, it had been difficult for a perfomer to bring forth a new classic and it be accepted on such a grand level.  

Carey’s song seems to get bigger as time goes on. In fact, the song’s success is still prevalent as it sits comfortably atop the Billboard Top Holiday Songs Chart again, currently sitting at No. 24 on the Hot 100. 

It’s rare anymore for a modern day song to do what Carey has done. But, that doesn’t stop others from caroling in the recording studio. This season we are gifted new holiday albums including “Santa Baby” (Alicia Keys), “Winterlicious” (Debbie Gibson), “A Very Backstreet Christmas” (Backstreet Boys), “Merry Christmas, Love” (Joss Stone), “Milk & Cookies” (Crowder), “The Estefan Family Christmas” (Gloria Estefan and family), “Ice Storm” (Lindsey Stirling), “Everybody Knows It’s Christmas” (Chris Isaak), “This is Our Christmas Album” (Switchfoot) and “One More Christmas” (Girl Named Tom). Kane Brown and Lizzo also have released Christmas singles in time for the holidays.

What holiday songs stir the spirit in you? 

— David T. Farr is a Journal correspondent. Email him at farrboy@hotmail.com.