TOP TWELVE CHRISTMAS SONGS OF ALL TIME (TLR LIST)

by Don Rose

In honor of the 12 days of Christmas (and of course the 12 disciples, and the fact that 12 is the last innocent year before the teen years kick in and many kids stop believing in, well, the power of believing), and in honor of the 12 hours after 12 noon that make up Christmas Eve on December 24 (12 + 12)), we humbly present the 12 songs that The LA Report considers the greatest Christmas tunes of all time (where "all time" means since the modern musical era began with Handy's "Memphis Blues" in 1912, which happens to be 12x8 years ago).

Now before you write in complaining or contributing (both of which we encourage): sure, there are hundreds of other Xmas ditties out there, and dozens of other great classic songs we could have chosen, but we at The LA Report feel the delightful dozen below stood out most. When we say "greatest" we mean that hard-to-define blend of concepts that mixes "most memorable", "most recorded/covered", "most played on radio", "most popular with a crowd of diverse people", and "most likely to be part of a desert-island dozen" if one had to pick only 12 tunes to live with on Gilligan's Island (once the Professor fashioned an iPod out of coconuts, of course).

Next to each of the twelve tunes below is the person who did the version we like best. Here goes:

WHITE CHRISTMAS (Bing Crosby)
BLUE CHRISTMAS (Elvis Presley)
ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Brenda Lee)
JINGLE BELL ROCK (Bobby Helms)
IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR (Andy Williams)
THE CHRISTMAS SONG (Nat King Cole)
THE CHIPMUNK SONG (Christmas Don't Be Late) (The Chipmunks & David Seville)
CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE (Vince Guaraldi Trio)
HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (The Carpenters)
JINGLE BELLS (Frank Sinatra)
SLEIGH RIDE (Ventures)
HAPPY XMAS (War is Over) (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)

Any alternate/dissenting opinions out there? Write in and let us know: info@thelareport.com.