Dec 19, 2022 3 min read

Although I received an “A” in British history in college, I must confess that I don’t remember every detail. I think there were a few kings named Henry, only two queens named Elizabeth and only one clock with a bell named Ben. I’m certain, though, that after puritanical Oliver Cromwell took over as Lord Protector of England in 1653, his first official act was to ban the singing of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

But wait … Google tells me that Mariah released this tune in 1994. So maybe it just seems like the most annoying Christmas song every written has been around for more than 300 years. All I know is that if I accidentally tune my car radio to 3WS – “Pittsburgh’s Number One Christmas Music Station” – between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s Carey’s voice I hear. And if it isn’t, it’s the late George Michael’s warbling Wham’s maudlin “Last Christmas.”

Friends in other cities tell me this is true across America. The same 50 or so Christmas songs repeat endlessly from Thanksgiving until midnight Dec. 25, when they vanish as if into a London fog until the cycle repeats a year later. Why, why, why, why, fa, la, la, la?

I understand that people tune in throughout the day, so radio stations want to increase the odds of listeners hearing a holiday favorite at any time. But why can’t stations play a greater variety? It’s not like they lack choices.

In 2019, blogger Phil Barry searched for songs with the word “Christmas” in the title and came up with 9,274 tunes. And these don’t even include seasonal songs without the word “Christmas” in the title: “Frosty the Snowman”; “O, Holy Night”; “Let It Snow.” So why play the same old favorites?

Scott Elingburg, a Charleston, S.C.-based freelance writer, tackled that question in several articles beginning in 2015. He included part of his findings in a 2018 interview with the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper.

“In a typical family,” Elingburg explained, “Mom and Dad don’t listen to the songs their children listen to, but everyone likes the same Christmas songs. Christmas is built on tradition. Having those songs, knowing what to expect, gives us a good feeling that the tradition is still alive and well.”

I respectfully disagree. Not everyone likes the same Christmas songs. And a family gathered around the Christmas tree while singing “Last Christmas” is not a tradition I want to establish. I’m not alone: In his original draft of “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens had Tiny Tim say, “Father … please stop singing Wham!” And only after Bob Cratchit complied did Tim throw away his crutch and cry out, “God bless us, every one!”

As a musician and songwriter, I think it should be the job of radio stations, whether land-based or internet only, to introduce listeners to the widest possible variety of music, holiday or otherwise. Play “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and “The Christmas Song” alongside “Happy Holidays” and “Dominick the Donkey” if you must, but at least expand the list to include seldom-heard tunes that might appeal to new listeners. For starters:

“‘Zat You, Santa Claus?” by Louis Armstrong; “Christmas in Jail,” by Asleep at the Wheel; “Santa, Go Straight to the Ghetto” by James Brown; “Riu Chiu” by the Monkees; “Christmas Day” by Squeeze. Santa, stop stealing my Christmas soundtrack! Bring me anything but the same 50 tunes on a loop powered by eight tiny, eggnog satiated reindeer.

All I want for Christmas is new.