The 40 Greatest Christmas Records You've Never Heard

If you're exhausted from that radio station on your presets that switched to all Christmas Eve Thanksgiving and has only played Mariah, Wham!, Brenda and Burl since, here's a tonic: 40 Great Holiday Songs You Probably Haven't Heard. If you know even a quarter of these recordings, consider yourself a true Christmas carol connoisseur, but even that should still leave a discovery that could offer the boost you need on Christmas Eve. .

And nothing against Brenda Lee (pictured above) - we've covered it here, taking just a step back from swinging around that tree. In the meantime, here's to spreading the holiday love and giving Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Aly & AJ, George & Tammy, Sharon Jones, the Killers, Louis Prima, Aimee Mann and others their own due as queens. and Kings of Christmas for a day.

"River", you might be surprised to find out, is just one of two great Joni Mitchell songs that happen to have Christmas as the setting. In this exceptional 1998 issue, Mitchell tells an ironic, tender and epic tale of a middle-aged unmarried couple coming home for the holidays and "going to bed" in defiance of the narrator's disapproving mother, whom the singer beg to try just a smile for Christmas.

2. "Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus", George Jones and Tammy Wynette

This duo takes priority especially in honor of the limited series "George & Tammy " running series, but a song celebrating the joy of being mom and dad on Christmas morning is good for any year, even when the real singers have struggled to stay mr and mrs.

3. "Not this year", Aly and AJ

A million pop punk Christmas records have passed, most drowning in their own self-conscious ironic juxtaposition of season and arrogance. But when it comes to feeling bad about Christmas, Aly and AJ really mean it, man. The eerie but satisfying chord changes make it a musical and emotional rollercoaster, providing a kind of thrill even as the duo sadly record that "it's not snow, it's falling rain".

4. "Winter Wonderland", Chet Baker

This traditional melody sounds like it was born to be a trumpet riff, not inverted - designed this way by one of jazz's greats.

5. "Sleigh Ride", TLC

This TLC track (a) has music video and (b) has music video with over a million views, so maybe it's more of a stretch to put this on a list of Christmas obscurities than with any other material here. But their very, very current version of a holiday perennial still seems to have been unfairly overlooked.

6. "Jing a Ling, Jing a Ling", The Andrews Sisters

This is a "Christmas song" similar to "Jingle Bells" is a Christmas song - it's not, really, just a winter song that's kinda bad to listen to after December. But while we're talking about "Jingle Bells" - is it possible that "Jing a Ling, Jing a Ling" is actually a better song? And that the only reason it has never been popularized as such is because...