Your favourite rock and/or soul one-off CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY songs?

not a one-off, but I love "Merry Christmas from the Sonics, Wailers, and Galaxies." full of great songs, most of them originals. My favorites are "Santa Claus," by the Sonics, and "Maybe this year," "she's coming home," and "christmas spirit," by the Wailers, and "Please Come Home for Christmas" by the Galaxies. I was just wondering if it's too early to start playing it.....

 

Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses is by far my favorite.....so addictive and clever....great lyrics ...disco w sleighbells

 

I don't think they were big enough to have a Christmas LP - The Payola$, Christmas is Coming:

 

Rock or not.... all the ‘Hoos in ‘Hooville went “Boo Hoo!”



Yes I know it is “Who’s”. But this is WAAAAAAAAAAAY more accurate

 

Earlier this year I managed to get this album on CD. It's missing one Sonics track, "It's Christmas", which had to be cut from reissues due to its tune being lifted from "On Broadway". No great loss, though.

 

yeah, my copy is the '84 vinyl reissue, which also leaves it off. paid close to $40 for it on ebay. as it happens, it's my least favorite song on the album, so i don't particularly care.

 

Some of my favorite one-offs (single A or B sides, though some were issued on albums years later):

"White Christmas," The Drifters (1954)
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," Brenda Lee (1958)
"If Every Day Was Like Christmas," Elvis Presley (1966)
"Merry Christmas Darling," Carpenters (1970)
"Step Into Christmas," Elton John (1973)
"Merry Xmas Everybody," Slade (1973)
"I Believe in Father Christmas," Greg Lake (1975)
"Christmas Is the Time to Say 'I Love You'," Billy Squier (1981)
"Home for Christmas," Kate Bush (1993)
"Merry Christmas Eve," Better Than Ezra (1995)

 

Catchy 1964 novelty by a Canadian group.

 

"Purple People," which is not a Christmas song, was the victim of a typographical error that was never corrected.

The CD single containing "Purple People" also contains a version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The title "Christmas in Space" was supposed to be part of the latter track (it's not clear if it was supposed to be a subtitle or the actual title), because the way Tori arranged it, the beginning and end have spooky keyboards that are reminiscent of 1950s-1960s "spacy" instrumentals. Tori herself was asked about it and confirmed the error.

Two further confirmations that the CD single is in error: First, the U.S. Atlantic 45 of "Spark" has "Purple People" (no subtitle) on the B-side. Second, possibly the only U.S. release of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is on the compilation CD Kevin & Bean's Last Christmas, and on that CD, the song is titled "Christmas in Space."

 

Well well well! Two decades on, and I’m shocked to discover this! Thank you for setting me straight, Tim; I never knew that, and it explains why ‘Purple People’ isn’t very Christmassy for a Christmas song!

 

"Run, Run, Rudolph"-Chuck Berry

Not soul or rock, but Buck Owens' "Santa Looked a lot like Daddy" is another decent X-mas tune...

 

Oh yeah, The Chipmunks' Christmas record is alright too...

 

LOL ... thanks for posting. Never knew about this. Unfortunately, I think it was terrible.

 

“Christmas Wrapping” (1981) by The Waitresses

“River” (1981) by Joni Mitchell

“A Christmas Song” (first version, from "Living in the Past") by Jethro Tull

"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues


And, of course, Lennon's "Happy X-Mas (War is Over")


R&B:

“Please Come Home for Christmas” (1961) by Charles Brown

“Merry Christmas Baby” by Charles Brown

“White Christmas” by The Drifters

.

 

Obviously the release date I listed for "River" directly above ^ is wrong, it was actually 1971.

 

The Hold Steady did a super download-only version of this last year.

 

Was this ever on CD?

 

yes, there was a cd re-release in 1991. I spent several months looking for my copy, and it seems like a new one comes up for sale on ebay, amazon, and/or discogs every 3 or 4 months or so.

 

The children were singing....He'll be back at Christmas time. (2000 Miles) - The Pretenders

 

When does everyone start playing their Christmas songs/albums in earnest?

 

I started two weeks ago.

 

Johnny Winter in fine form with both his singing and his playing, bringing the blues at Christmas time.