Christmas Songs That You Think Are Overplayed Or Not Played Enough

So, here's a question for the Christmas Season. What Christmas songs do you hear too much of from Thanksgiving to Christmas and what songs do you think need to be heard more often? I'm pretty sure that given the diversity of people who celebrate Christmas, some songs would end up on both lists.

We have a few radio stations here in Northern Virginia that do all Christmas music, or rather, Holiday music, 24/7 between the end of November and Christmas Day. But it seems as though some songs get played over and over while other songs are extremely rare.

Here are my choices for songs played way too much:

1. Christmas In Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I find nothing cheery about this piece and every time I hear it, my mind is filled with images of an airborne assault in the Vietnam War.
   
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen. Let's face it. The Boss is passé. He may be a classic rocker but this version of this song is not what any rationally thinking person would consider "classic."
   
3. Christmas Shoes by NewSong. This song is depressing. So depressing that I would rather hear Christmas In Sarajevo than this.
   
4. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms. Helms has the same problem that Springsteen does. Someone tried to take a commercialized song and call it a Christmas classic. Didn't work.
   
5. Any version of Santa Baby. This has got to be one of the biggest Christmas barf songs of all time. How can you explain to a child that Christmas is a time of celebrating peace and brotherhood when you've got Eartha Kitt or Madonna asking Santa to bring all this cash and jewelry?
   

Now, here are some songs that I don't get to hear enough:

1. Christmas Eve In Washignton by Maura Sullivan. This is probably just a local favorite here in the D.C. area, but it has a Christmassy feel and is fairly patriotic too.
   
2. Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen. This may seem like a cheesy pick, but if you've ever listened to the words, you find that in the end, the Christmas Spirit overtakes the Red Baron and he shows mercy to his adversary.
   
3. Christmas Rapping by The Waitresses. Okay, this pick oozes with cheese as well. But, the song is a story about a year filled with bad luck and ends in a sort of Christmas miracle.
   
4. Christmas In Killarney by John Redmond, James Cavanaugh and Frank Weldon. What separates this song from Jingle Bell Rock is that instead of a commercial jingle, Christmas In Killarney captures the feel and sensation of spending Christmas in a close-knit small town.
   
5. Sleigh Ride, the original instrumental version by Leroy Anderson. Okay, I know this was never meant to be a Christmas song, but it has become one. I like it because I actually played it in the band back in High School. It brings back some very treasured memories for me.
   

There are other songs that I am sure can go onto either list. Another Auld Lang Syne by the late Dan Fogelberg could go either way here. The Hallelujah Chorus by Handel is the same way but it is really an Easter song.

CNN's Dishonesty During GOP YouTube Debate

Okay. I saw about fifteen minutes of the GOP YouTube debate last night on Headline News. Fortunately, the programming switched over to Nancy Grace shortly thereafter but it would not have mattered. I was getting ready to turn it off anyway. Not because of what the candidates were saying, but because of how CNN was treating the candidates in general and how biased CNN was in it's coverage.

I happened to catch the part about gays in the military and was stunned by what I saw. The one guy that was responding admitted that he was a U.S. Army retiree and was gay. I thought, "How convenient is that?" Pretty convenient as it turns out.

CNN also had a live panel of "Registered Republicans" that were participating in a tracking poll during the debate. The CNN newsreader covering the panel just happened to pick one woman "at random" and asked who she would vote for. The woman responded, "John Edwards." At that point, the gay guy became too convenient and it was clear that this woman on the panel was also planted there by CNN.

There is no way a true Republican would choose a liberal like John Edwards over the entire field of GOP candidates. Further, if John Edwards were to their taste, the field of Dem candidates would certainly be more palatable than any in the GOP field. The woman was definitely a plant.

But about that gay guy.

Check this out from NewsBusters:

Like Rudy and Romney going after each other over immigration last night at the GOP debate, MSNBC was taking some jabs at rival CNN this morning on the issue of the gay questioner who turned out to be a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign. "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough scoffed at the notion that no one at CNN was aware of retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr's involvement with the Clinton campaign. JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is twice now in a couple of weeks that CNN has been ensnarled in a Clinton controversy. Before with James Carville sitting there giving his opinions despite the fact that he's contributed to Hillary Clinton, obviously worked for Bill Clinton, he sent out letters saying we really need to fight hard for Hillary Clinton. They didn't even mention it. And again, the damndest thing. And last night, not only do they have this guy delivering a YouTube video, they also had him there sitting in the audience, they had a shot with him [more than a shot. Anderson Cooper asked whether he was satisifed with the answers he had received and grilled Romney over his answer. Kerr himself made an extended comment from the floor]. It's Bill Bennett [who was a CNN post-debate panelist], it is up to Bill Bennett to explain to CNN, and don't tell me that CNN didn't know, that some people at CNN did not know, that he was part of the Clinton campaign. Don't lie to me. Maybe Anderson Cooper didn't know, but somebody at CNN that put this guy in the video knew that.

Somehow, I knew my suspiscions from last night were correct. It was too convenient.

CNN needs to acquire some integrity and admit that they are in reality pro-Dem and anti-Republican. At least then, they won't look like such complete idiots when they pull a ridiculous, irresponsible stunt like this.

You can access the NewsBusters article on-line here:

Scarborough: 'Total Crap' CNN Didn't Know Gay Questioner Is Hillary Campaigner
Mark Finkelstein
NewsBusters.org
November 29, 2007

The Washington Times has this:

Clinton Plant Infiltrates CNN Debate
The Washington Times
November 28, 2007

It is yet another reason why fewer rationally thinking people trust Old Media anymore.

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And Michelle Malkin has more about the plants at the debate:

Concerned Undecided Gay Military Retiree Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr = Hillary/Kerry supporter and anti-”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” activist Keith H. Kerr Concerned Undecided Mom LeeAnn Anderson = Activist for the John Edwards-endorsing United Steelworkers union LeeAnn Anderson Concerned Undecided Log Cabin Republican supporter David Cercone = Obama supporter David Cercone Concerned Young Undecided Person “Journey” = John Edwards supporter “Journey”

How many others could there be? Maybe CNN would like to come forward and admit to engineering this whole farce, that is if they learned anything at all from Dan Ra^ther's fakery.

You can access Michelle's complete article (with photographic evidence) on-line here:

Digging Out More CNN/YouTube Plants
Michelle Malkin
MichelleMalkin.com
November 29, 2007

Be sure to check back at Michelle's site for updates. I'm sure more plants will come to light.