Certain festive pop songs have become as big a part of the ritual as fairylights and Santa Claus costumes, but will any of this year's releases join them in the Christmas canon? writes Kevin Courtney
IF YOU walk into a high street shop this season, and you hear someone complaining about the Christmas songs blasting out of the PA system, just hit them over the head with a Yule log. Because Christmas songs are cool again. We may have become jaded by the sound of jingle bells over the years, but this year it seems those jolly old pop classics are enjoying a resurrection.
Blame the downturn: as the nights draw in, the frost sets in and the bank balance caves in, we seek solace in a good, old-fashioned festive hit. In these troubled times, we look to Paul McCartney to reassure us that Christmas time is still wonderful, and Bruce Springsteen to confirm that, yes, Santa Claus is still planning to pay a visit to our little neck of the woods. We need something to take our minds off those Scrooges in the banking sector who have turned us into a nation of Bob Cratchits. Haunted by the uncertainty of Christmas future, we have begun to yearn for the comfort of Christmas past, and when Chris de Burgh's extraterrestrial makes his annual visit, we pray that this time he's brought a mothership-load of cash.
The UK Performing Rights Society (PRS) has just compiled a Santa list of the 10 most-played Christmas songs of the past five years. The PRS collects royalties for songs played on the radio, television, online and in public places, and distributes them to the 60,000 composers and performers who are members of the society. Those who have penned a Christmas hit can expect a spike in their royalties at this time of year.
The number-one festive tune on the list is Last Christmasby Wham! This is good news for George Michael - the troubled singer seems to have spent more time in public toilets than in the studio of late, and will probably appreciate the dig-out.
Number two is Band Aid's 1984 charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?,although the song has been so ubiquitous, it's doubtful there's anyone left on Earth who doesn't know it's Christmas. Number three is The Pogues and Kirsty McColl's A Fairytale of New York, which reached Number 2 in the Christmas charts in 1987 and has accompanied many a drunken Yuletide celebration ever since.
Mariah Carey's 1994 hit All I Want for Christmas Is Youis at number four. The song, co-written by Carey, has been covered by Shania Twain and Samantha Mumba, and featured in the festive movie Love Actually. Santa Claus Is Coming To Townis at number five - not the horrible version by Michael Bolton but the powerful 1975 live version by Bruce Springsteen.
Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalrycharges in at number six, though it was never originally intended as a Christmas song - it just took a wrong turn on the way to Trafalgar. Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, at seven, is the perfect theme tune for Dublin's retailers, who have been trying to get those till bells ringing since early November.
Slade's Merry Christmas Everybodyin eighth position opens with Noddy Holder shouting "It's Chriiistmaaas!" to which a million cash-strapped shoppers shout back: "We bloody know!" Mud's Elvis parody, Lonely This Christmas, limps in at nine, and rounding out the top 10 is what many would consider the definitive Christmas song - Bing Crosby's White Christmas, which has notched up 50 million sales since its release in 1942.
ODDLY, CLIFF RICHARD, the singer most associated with Christmas, isn't on the list. But he's released so many Christmas songs over the decades that he's probably the overall winner in terms of royalties. Also absent are classics by John and Yoko, Shakin' Stevens, Mike Oldfield and - disappointingly - The Wombles.
This year's crop of Christmas songs betray a yearning for the good old days of seasonal escapism. Veteran rockers Status Quo are releasing their first-ever festive single, It's Christmas Time, which faithfully follows the band's trademark 12-bar boogie. Terry Wogan and Aled Jones, both of whom have had past Christmas hits ( The Floral Danceand Walking In The Air, respectively), have joined forces for a version of Bing Crosby and David Bowie's Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth. Even George Michael is throwing his Santa hat back in the ring with his first festive release since Last Christmas. December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)will be available as a free download from his website and from digital record stores on December 25th.
And modern bands are cranking up the nostalgia too. The Killers have teamed up with portly old geezer Elton John on a song called Joseph, Better You Than Me, while The Feeling's new single, Feels Like Christmas, reveals festive spirit to be their drug of choice.
"I'm the opposite of the 'bah humbug' Christmas grump," says the band's singer, Dan Gillespie Sells.
"I've always loved Christmas and the surrounding hullabaloo - especially the songs from Bing to Slade to Wizzard to Bing and Bowie." So forget the frosty financial outlook - seems like those old Christmas hits are the perfect antidote to the credit-crunch blues.