Choose your top 5 favourite Christmas songs - The 1970s

While it is unlikely that all 5 of your favourite Christmas songs from the '70s made the poll, I have included some of the most well-known and popular songs of the holiday season that were originally recorded/released between 1970 and 1979.

Of the options in the poll, what would be your top 5 favourite? What others would you include that weren't listed in the poll?

Also, be sure to vote in the Christmas song polls for other decades:
1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1980s • 1990s
(2000s and 2010s polls will be posted in the days to come)

 

David Bowie & Bing Crosby - "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" (1977)
George Harrison - "Ding Dong; Ding Dong" (1974)
John Lennon & Yoko Ono - "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (1971)
Paul McCartney - "Wonderful Christmastime" (1979)
Bruce Springsteen - "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (1975)

 

Why is River in the poll?

 

5 isn't enough!

Carpenters
Elton
McCartney
Slade
Wizzard

Felt bad leaving out Greg Lake, Mud, John & Yoko, Bowie & Bing and, yes, Boney M.

 

Where's "Charlie Freak" by Steely Dan?

 

No love for Elmo & Patsy?

 

River, of course, isn't really a Christmas song. Yet, I hear it gets played on Christmas radio programming.
If it allows people exposure to Joni Mitchell's music, I guess it's not a bad thing.

 

I picked four:

Eagles
Feliciano
John & Yoko
Bruce

Other: Steely Dan's "Charlie Freak"

 

Picked 5, though could've picked Ten.. Just gonna google space man came travelling..can't remember year..

atb



1976

 

I'd take them over Bruce Springsteen any day....

 

Lake
Lennon / Ono
Mathis
Wizzard

 

What a good batch of Christmas songs.

Actually it's kind of hard to pick 5.

 

What a fantastic decade for Christmas music!

 

Carpenters - "Merry Christmas, Darling" (1970)
Jackson 5 - "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (1970)
Slade - "Merry Xmas Everybody" (1973)
The Temptations - "Silent Night" (1970)

Darryl

 

Jackson 5 is my favorite Christmas song of all. Funky ass bass line.

Also chose

Bowie/Bing
John/Yoko
Jose
Paul

 

Only because you asked...

Since the most-played "Christmas" music actually has nothing to do with the actual meaning of Christmas (there are far more Christmas carols than contemporary "Christmas" recordings that sing about the birth of Christ), most songs that you will hear on the radio around Christmas time have to do with winter and its effects (like snow) or things like Santa Claus that people associate with the season.

By all means, I could make just as much of an argument for "River" being a Christmas song as anyone could for "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" or "Baby, It's Cold Outside," but nobody argues that those aren't Christmas tunes.

That being said, I can understand why people might not associate "River" with being a Christmas song, but I think more arguments could be made for it falling into that category than not: the lyrics reference it actually being Christmas, cutting down trees, putting up reindeer, and singing songs of joy and peace, as well as the sampling of "Jingle Bells" in the intro. Any time I've ever heard "River" on the radio, it has been during the Christmas season, and multiple artists who have covered the song did so for a Christmas album.

My criteria for songs included in the poll wasn't the songs that are the most Christmasy (if that were the case, 95% of the tunes I included would have been omitted), but rather the most popular songs that people (perhaps not everybody) associate with the Christmas season. Because so many people do associate the song "River" with the Christmas season, and it is an incredibly beloved song, I think there would be more people disappointed that I didn't include it than those disappointed that I did include it.

 

Lake
Lennon
Harrison
Tull

 

It really lacks the christmas spirit though!

 

Agreed. The River is as much a Christmas song as many. There's a song by Jona Lewie called Stop the Cavalry which made the top ten all over Europe in December 1980. It's basically a song about being away from home, fighting in the second World War and marching in the bitter cold snow. It's a catchy enough 'anti-war pop tune. However, there's the one line at the end of each chorus where Jona opines "Wish I was at home for Christmas" which was of course, enough to make it a 'Christmas song' in the eyes of the general public. It consequently features on all the Christmas compilations in the UK and has been a staple of radio each and every December since.

 

John and Yoko
Slade
Wizzard
Greg Lake
Joni Mitchell

 

This was tough. Lennon, Bing & Bowie, and Greg Lake were easy; my other two were Joni Mitchell and Slade, but I could just as easily chosen Elton John and The Kinks, or Donny Hathaway and the Carpenters.

Missing from the choices:
"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" by Jim Croce (1973)
"Celebrate Me Home" by Kenny Loggins (1977)
"A Spaceman Came Travelling" by Chris de Burgh (1975, already mentioned)
"Gaudete" by Steeleye Span (1972)
"Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas" by the Staple Singers (1970)

I also have a soft spot for the original version of "When a Child Is Born" by Michael Holm (1974), a Hot 100 hit that Christmas season.

P.S. "Silent Night" by the Temptations was first issued in 1968 as the B-side of their version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

 

The 1970s was probably the most crowded decade when it came down to whittling a top 25. There are many candidates I would have loved to include, and would have easily made the ballot in any other decade. Here are some of the honourable mentions that I omitted, but was seriously considering for inclusion:

• James Brown - "Hey America (Christmas)" (1970)
• Carpenters - "Home for the Holidays" (1970)
• Chris de Burgh - "A Spaceman Came Traveling" (1975)
• Dixies - "Silent Night" (1978)
• Merle Haggard - "If We Make It Through December" (1973)
• Jimi Hendrix - "Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne" (1974)
• Kenny Loggins - "Celebrate Me Home" (1977)
• Harry Nilsson - "Remember (Christmas)" (1972)
• Keith Richards - "Run Rudolph Run" (1979)
• The Rolling Stones - "Winter" (1973)
• Wizzard - "Rock 'n' Roll Winter" (1974)
• The Wombles - "Wombling Merry Christmas" (1974)

There were many others that were considered, but this is the tip of the iceberg.

 

Father Christmas, give us some money - we got no time for your silly toys

 

My exact picks too

 

Oops! Thank you for pointing that out!