donny most

Christmas music is joyful, but a few of these classics are really overplayed
Two critics disagree on 'White Christmas'

By Malcolm X Abram and Rich Heldenfels Beacon Journal staff writers

Published on Sunday, Nov 25, 2007

Christmas music has been available on the local airwaves for more than a week now. Need we add that we're sick of it already?

Not all of it, of course. We are definitely not mocking the baby Jesus. (Editor's note: Whew!)

When we were discussing holiday songs, good and bad, Malcolm spoke up immediately for Donny Hathaway's This Christmas and James Brown's Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto.

But there are some holiday songs that are so overdone, so over-covered, so glutinous in their attempts at holiday cheer that they have the feel (and taste) of a sticky bun left on a radiator until it has melted into ick and goo.

Let us offer a few examples.



Sleigh Ride.

Why It's Popular. Written by composer Leroy Anderson (with lyrics later added by Mitchell Parish), it's one of the most relentlessly cheery songs of the holiday season.

Why We Hate It. It's one of the most relentlessly
cheery songs of the holiday season! Also, it has a tick-tock beat that remains in most covers of the song, and a ting-a-ling sound that recalls a cash register opening and closing with holiday purchases. (This may explain its seemingly endless plays in stores.)

Are There Bearable Versions? TLC reworked it fairly well, and there's a version by guitarist Rick Holmstrom that makes the original tune almost unrecognizable. Which is a good thing.



Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Why It's Popular. Elmo & Patsy's tune was a refreshing antidote to artificial holiday fun the first few times it was played.

Why We Hate It. It got a lot less interesting as the plays began to run into the billions. Kind of like a McDonald's burger.

Is There a Bearable Version? No, a thousand times, no.



Happy Xmas (War Is Over).

Why It's Popular. It's John Lennon, for one thing, and boomers can't let him go. The antiwar sentiment fit with its original release in 1971. And, alas, it's relevant again.

Why We Hate It. Covers are one big reason. Like Hathaway's This Christmas, or the Pogues' Fairytale of New York (with its ode to the drunk tank), Happy Xmas is basically uncoverable. Yet people keep trying to do it, only to sound like wan variations on Lennon.

Also, there's the kiddie chorus.

Is There a Bearable Version? Only Lennon's, and even it has been heard too much for too long.



The Chipmunk Song.

Why It's Popular. Because people think those doggone Chipmunks are cute, especially Alvin. And the little scamp is a holiday-song tradition. (See Nuttin for Christmas.)

Why We Hate It. After you've heard it in your supermarket and retail store and office and on the radio and in TV specials and your worst holiday nightmares and the drunk tank, it starts to grate a little.

Hey, it's been around for almost 50 years. It's about as fresh as the Hula-Hoop in the back of the garage. Your grandpa's garage.

Ever bearable? Well, Justin Timberlake had some fun with it on Saturday Night Live. And didn't need a box to do it. Other than that, nope.



White Christmas.

(Rich Heldenfels, clutching a Bing Crosby LP to his chest, wanted to abstain from this one. Too bad.)

Why It's Popular. It's Irving Berlin. And Bing Crosby. It has longing and nostalgia and snow.

Why We Hate It. Rich ― returning briefly ― notes that most singers don't do the first part, where we learn that the singer is in California. But it's a slowwwwwwww song. And it seems easy to sing. So everyone tries to cover it, and the covers are so reverent that they make it seem even slowwwwwwer and routine.

Are There Redemptive Versions? Yes. The Drifters. Elvis Presley (who borrowed liberally from Clyde McPhatter's lead on the Drifters' version). The Temptations. Joan Morris.

In fact, there are enough that Malcolm is rethinking whether White Christmas should be on the list at all.

We're going to the mall to clear his head ― and clog his ears. Can't wait for all those string arrangements.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malcolm X Abram writes about popular music for the Beacon Journal and in the Sound Check blog for http://www.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3758 or mabram@
thebeaconjournal.com.


Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://www.ohio.com. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.


Christmas music has been available on the local airwaves for more than a week now. Need we add that we're sick of it already?

Not all of it, of course. We are definitely not mocking the baby Jesus. (Editor's note: Whew!)

When we were discussing holiday songs, good and bad, Malcolm spoke up immediately for Donny Hathaway's This Christmas and James Brown's Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto.

But there are some holiday songs that are so overdone, so over-covered, so glutinous in their attempts at holiday cheer that they have the feel (and taste) of a sticky bun left on a radiator until it has melted into ick and goo.

Let us offer a few examples.

Sleigh Ride.

Why It's Popular. Written by composer Leroy Anderson (with lyrics later added by Mitchell Parish), it's one of the most relentlessly cheery songs of the holiday season.

Why We Hate It. It's one of the most relentlessly
cheery songs of the holiday season! Also, it has a tick-tock beat that remains in most covers of the song, and a ting-a-ling sound that recalls a cash register opening and closing with holiday purchases. (This may explain its seemingly endless plays in stores.)

Are There Bearable Versions? TLC reworked it fairly well, and there's a version by guitarist Rick Holmstrom that makes the original tune almost unrecognizable. Which is a good thing.

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Why It's Popular. Elmo & Patsy's tune was a refreshing antidote to artificial holiday fun the first few times it was played.

Why We Hate It. It got a lot less interesting as the plays began to run into the billions. Kind of like a McDonald's burger.

Is There a Bearable Version? No, a thousand times, no.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over).

Why It's Popular. It's John Lennon, for one thing, and boomers can't let him go. The antiwar sentiment fit with its original release in 1971. And, alas, it's relevant again.

Don Most
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Don Most (born August 8, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor best known for his role as Ralph Malph on the long-running television series Happy Days. He is also known for his voice roles on several Saturday morning cartoon series. Among them, Ralph Malph on Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980); Eric the Cavalier in Dungeons & Dragons (1983); and Stiles on Teen Wolf (1986-1989).

Film credits include Edtv (1999) and most recently, Planting Melvin (2005). He also made guest appearances on many TV shows, including CHiPs, the Love Boat, Sliders, and Star Trek: Voyager. He is sometimes credited as Donny Most.

Don Most is married to actress Morgan Hart and is a graduate of Lehigh University. He has two daughters and lives near Los Angeles today.

Most makes a brief appearance in Family Guy episode 17 of season 5 titled It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One.

Comedy newspaper/website The Onion credited him as the U.S. Secretary of Retro.