When the music stops being merry

The most annoying and overplayed Christmas songs

By Caroline Ho, Arts Editor

Walk into any department store or mall at this time of year, and not only are your eyes bombarded with gaudy decorations and twinkling lights, but your ears are also immediately assaulted with familiar festive tunes. Sure, they’re catchy and great for getting you into the holiday spirit, but after the fifth time hearing the same song within an hour, anything gets old. Here are a few of the tackiest, most overplayed Christmas songs.

All I Want For Christmas Is You (1994)

This song is one of the world’s top-selling singles of all time, so it is unfortunately quite inescapable. It might be a nice message about valuing human companionship over materiality, and spending the time of year with your loved ones is special, but that shouldn’t just be a feeling for the holidays—Christmas is more than an excuse to demand and show appreciation for friends and family. Also, it shouldn’t be at the expense of everything else fun and festive about the gift-giving season, which Mariah Carey would have us reject.

Baby It’s Cold Outside (1944)

Let’s face it, everyone finds this song a little creepy. The smooth 2014 recording by Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé at least changes some of the lyrics, including the really questionable line “Say, what’s in this drink?” Still, Christmas shouldn’t be even remotely about coercing or guilt-tripping someone into staying the night.

The Christmas Song (1945)

First of all, you can’t really get more generic as a title, and “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” isn’t much better as a name. Admittedly, it can be a pleasant enough song, maybe sung by classy baritone vocals beside a merrily crackling fireplace, but something about it is too gently, insidiously evocative of everything and anything holiday-spirited. Also, “Folks dressed up like Eskimos” is more than a little dated.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (1963)

The most annoying thing about this song might be how it pops up every once in a while in random commercials, some of which that aren’t even Christmas-related. It’s entirely acceptable to think this is a fantastic season, but this song doesn’t affirm the sentiment so much as shove it with forceful cheer down your throat. That’s if you weren’t already irritated enough about using “mistletoeing” as a verb.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (1957)

The first recording, and probably the one most people know best, was sung by a child (Gayla Peevey was 10 in 1957). So it’s probably not surprising that it makes you think about a whiny kid demanding one specific unreasonable present and not accepting any alternatives, but that doesn’t make this song sound any less entitled. And seriously, hippos are responsible for thousands of deaths a year, so why would you want one as a gift? Crocodiles are better.

Last Christmas (1984)

Written by Wham!, “Last Christmas” sounds like every cheesy ’80s pop hit—which also means it was practically written for the fluorescent lights and tacky decorations framing department store aisles. If bundling all of your affection into one day a year was a bad idea the first time, it’s not necessarily going to be any more successful the second time around. You’re definitely never going to dance again if you have to listen to this song too many times.