Tournament of Carols – The 16 Songs that Didn’t Make the Cut

So I read with some amusement the choices for the Times-Union’s “Tournament of Carols,” an NCAA-style single-elimination bracket to determine the best holiday song.

First off – with hundreds of hundreds of carols, we can only limit this to a top 16, a “Snowy 16” if you will?

For those who aren’t aware of what 16 songs are selected, here’s the list:

• “Winter Wonderland” Eurythmics
• “Feliz Navidad” Jose Feliciano
• “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” Brenda Lee
• “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo” (”Carol of the Bells”) Trans-Siberian Orchestra
• “The Christmas Song” Nat King Cole
• “White Christmas” Bing Crosby
• “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
• “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Frank Sinatra
• “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Burl Ives
• “Frosty the Snowman” Gene Autry
• “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” The Chipmunks
• “Christmas Time is Here” (A Charlie Brown Christmas) Vince Guaraldi
• “Happy X-Mas (War is Over)” John Lennon
• “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” Bing Crosby/David Bowie
• “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” Bruce Springsteen
• “Blue Christmas” Elvis Presley

Not to take away from any of those, but there’s definitely some missing tracks here.  And I came up with an additional “Snowy Snubbed by Santa Sixteen” that, if the TU ever does this again, should allow for expansion into a “Tree-Trimming 32” competition.

In no particular order, I give you:

• “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms (in other words, Bobby Helms’ “other” hit besides “My Special Angel”)
• “Sleigh Ride” (I kinda prefer the Ronettes version, but the Boston Pops instrumental version is nice as well)
• “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
• “Christmas Time is Here Again” by Ringo Starr (I wanted to add the Beatles version to this post, but there’s something about the Beatles not being commercially available through iTunes for some reason or another…)
• “The Chanukah Song” by Adam Sandler
• “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” by Elmo and Patsy
• “Deck the Halls” by Mannheim Steamroller
• “Variations on the Kanon by Johann Pachelbel” by George Winston (or any other track from his excellent December album)
• “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Eagles
• “Santa Baby” by Madonna (or by Eartha Kitt, if you prefer)
• “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives (this gives Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer back to Gene Autry, who really had the hit with it – and then Autry can give the “Frosty the Snowman” version to Jimmy Durante).
• “Christmas Rappin'” by Kurtis Blow (selected over ‘Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC)
• “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder (probably one of the best original Motown holiday songs, right up there with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” by the Supremes)
• “Jingle Bells” by the Singing Dogs (you want Chipmunks?  I got real dogs that can bark in tune to the song!)
• “The Night Santa Went Crazy” by “Weird Al” Yankovic (it was this one or “Christmas at Ground Zero,” and I flipped a coin)
• “Merry Christmas, Darling” by the Carpenters (who as far as I’m concerned, did three of the TU’s “Snowy 16” songs much better than the persons who received the final credit).

Even with this list, I had to leave out a lot of songs.  I wish I could have put in songs that have Christmas themes but were actually popular Top 40 tracks, like Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” or Kenny Loggins’ “Please Celebrate Me Home.”  I wanted to list songs that contained a more somber Christmas mindset, including Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “An Orphan’s Christmas” and Powersource’s “Please Mr. Jesus.”  And if I really wanted to get obscure, I could have pulled in some “rare as you would never believe” stuff like Bob Seger’s “Santa’s Got A Brand New Bag” or Bon Jovi’s “Back Door Santa,” or I could have gone seriously old school and selected Harry Humphrey’s “Santa Claus Hides in Your Phonograph” or Frieda Hempel’s “O Holy Night” (legend has it she recorded nine different takes for Thomas Edison, over the life of Edison’s record company he released every take).

Oh well… maybe next year the TU will consider a full-fledged 64-song tournament to name the best holiday song of all time.

Or if it’s truly like the NCAA’s, they need to have a play-in track for that 64th bracket.  Maybe they can put John Denver and the Muppets’ “Twelve Days of Christmas” against Red Peters’ “Holy [expletive deleted], it’s Christmas!”