All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue–Over the Rhine

Finding this song made working on the Rainbow Christmas playlist worth it.

Vince Gill–Blue Christmas

Blue Christmas Lights–Buck Owens

I just couldn’t keep Buck Owens out of here.

Stan Freberg–Green Christmas

Fifty years old and just as fresh as ever.  For an extended discussion of Green Christmas and the story around it check out A Christmas Yuleblog.

The Christmas Shoes–New Song

Barb wanted The Christmas Shoes on the list. This assault on good taste has an interesting history as told on the CBS companion site for the movie based on the book based on the song based on the Internet-circulate urban legend.

THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE
 
In 1999, the Christmas Shoes story began circulating on the [...]

I Believe in Father Christmas–Greg Lake

I feel guilty about this because back in the mid-70s when it was released, I really, really liked it.  And let’s face it, those of us who were into the whole progressive rock thing should feel guilty.  Rock was not meant to take itself so seriously.  Do we really need the Prokofiev shoved in [...]

A Pirate’s Twelve Days of Christmas

Ed wanted this song included. You can listen to this 12 Days of Christmas Parody here. I had never heard of Gastronomical Unit, so I had to google them. Here’s how they describe themselves:
We’re a long-distance collaboration of musicians and singers, a circle of friends and acquaintances, providing a holiday-focused tongue-in-cheek collection of [...]

O Holy Night–*NSYNC

Sharron suggested this recording for the list.  The guilty part is pretty obvious. It’s flipping *NSYNC, for crying out loud.  It’s not rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a Disney World version of R&B.  This (blessedly short) video will give you a taste.

Feliz Navidad–Jose Feliciano

This is arguably the first crossover Spanish language record.  When it was released I was in my first year of high school Spanish, so I was pretty psyched to be able to understand the Spanish lyrics.  Of course, that’s the problem with the song.  It’s mind numbingly simple and probably for that reason it is [...]

Christmas in Hollis–Run-D.M.C.

Beverly nominated this bad boy. I’m not sure that it belongs on the guilty pleasure list. Neither is Randy’s Rodeo:
These prototypical rappers were at their creative peak when they [...]