Top Ten Holiday Tunes: By Alex Arnott

1. “Donna and Blitzen,” Badly Drawn Boy

I think it has everything. Lush orchestration, festive jangly bells, underrated reindeer, and more than a little bit of indie magic.

2. “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey

Yes, I’ll admit that I do enjoy hearing this song at that certain time of year. Especially when particularly soaked in mulled wine. It is cheesy to the point of horror; the lyrics are completely inane, Mariah is still the same crazy, excessively-warbling diva, but that chorus is so damn catchy. Would it be too much to suggest that the harmonies are vaguely Spector-esque? That’s probably desperately clawing at some semblance of credibility.

3. “Please Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk this Christmas,” The Decemberists

I love how anti-Christmas it is, in some respects. It summons a vision of a warmer climate to me, which, living in Scotland, is not at all what the Christmas climate is like. It’s sad, but very toe-tapping, and it contains some instrumentation you’re often less likely to hear on a Christmas song. Despite its musical whimsy, it offers a more sobering (haha) message.

4. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Judy Garland

Why don’t more people love Meet Me In St. Louis? Maybe it’s just the people I know, but I feel like I always have to push that film upon people, even those who are even just remotely interested in musicals. I cannot listen to it without envisaging the heartbreaking scene where Judy’s on-screen little sister is devastated about the family’s upcoming move and thus runs down to the garden to annihilate the snowmen that they have built, because if they can’t take them with them, no one else can have them. The slide into a minor key for Judy’s allegedly hopeful line, “Next year, all our troubles will be far away” is such an effective depiction of wistfulness as each year draws to its close.

5. “Fairytale of New York,”The Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl

No other song encompasses festive gloom, cheer, drunkenness, offensiveness, and beauty in a mere four and a half minutes. This should be everyone’s favorite Christmas song. It’s part of the seasonal wallpaper, and I think it is brilliant that we live in a world where a song like this can be as omnipresent as the likes of dross such as “Last Christmas.”

6. “2000 Miles,” The Pretenders

So many of these songs manage to express the seasonal melancholy that so many of us experience. Walking around in the frost, I find this song to be a rather bittersweet one.

7. “Eternal Christmas,” Magnus Tengdahl

This was a gem that I found randomly on last.fm a few years ago. I know very little about this Swedish musician, but it’s a bitter-yet-cute-sounding song that is well worth your investigation.

8. “Spotlight on Christmas,” Rufus Wainwright

It’s not even close to being one of his greatest moments, it’s not particularly well-known, the lyrics could be more a bit festive, but I love Rufus to death, so for that reason alone, it’s a shoe-in for me.

9. “It Feels like Christmas,” Ghost of Christmas Present from A Muppets Christmas Carol

Sung by the irrepressibly jolly spirit, possibly the cuddliest muppet of all time, which is, of course, saying something. A Muppets Christmas Carol is unbeatable, despite being a post-Jim production. The chorus of, “It is the season of the heart, a special time of caring, the ways of love made clear, and it is the season of the spirit, the message if you hear it, is make it last all year!” tugs at my pathetic little heartstrings.

10. “Intervention,” The Arcade Fire

It’s absolutely not a Christmas song. But there’s something in the glockenspiel that makes me consider it a suitable December anthem.