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Christmas and the weeks preceding it are full of traditions. In fact, there are so many traditions we dedicated a full post to reviewing them, including unique practices around the world like attending a Krampus parade. A favorite practice, however, has to be that of listening to Christmas music, carols, and songs.
Minted curated a list of our favorite Christmas songs to listen to while finding your perfect holiday card, or while getting your holiday cards ready to send!
What is the difference between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song you ask? A carol is religious in origin and could potentially be heard performed as part of a church service during the month of December. As you can imagine, carols have a long shelf life, with many being composed decades, centuries, and even a millennium ago! Some reports date the first occurrence of a Latin carol all the way back to 336 AD.
A Christmas song, on the other hand, does not require a religious connection and can be more secular in nature. Rather than detailing a story from the Bible or a religious figure, Christmas songs can simply reference the holiday spirit that fills the air every December. A quick internet search of “top Christmas carols” or “top Christmas songs” will yield thousands of results. Every author and publication has their own opinion of America’s or the world’s favorite holiday songs. Spotify even has a playlist assembled of the “Top 20 Listened To Christmas Songs Globally.”
Christmas songs and carols often create nostalgia, and can be great sources of inspiration when designing your holiday card. So, we’ve assembled a list of some popular Christmas songs and paired them with Minted-designed holiday cards. We hope you enjoy our below pairings!
Artist: Mariah Carey
Year: 1994
Sample Lyrics: “I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need. I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree. I just want you for my own. More than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. Oh, all I want for Christmas is you.”
Interesting Fact:
If there were a Christmas song hall of fame, you would expect to see this tune from Mariah Carey to have its own dedicated wing. To date, the hit single has earned Carey and co-writer Walter Afanasieff more than $50 million. Before Carey recorded the original version, Christmas trees and lights were reportedly brought into the New York sound studio to set a festive mood.
Artist: Michael Buble
Year: 2011
Sample Lyrics: “It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Toys in every store. But the prettiest sight to see, is the holly that will be, on your own front door.”
Interesting Fact:
This popular Christmas song was originally written in 1951 by Meredith Wilson, who also wrote the Broadway musical The Music Man. During his long songwriting career, Wilson was also nominated for two Oscars for his help in composing popular film scores. His iconic Christmas tune has been recorded by many famous artists over the decades, such as Bing Crosby, Perry Como, and Michael Buble.
Artist: Gene Autry
Year: 1947
Sample Lyrics: “Here comes Santa Claus! Here comes Santa Claus! Right down Santa Claus Lane! Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer, are pulling on the reins.”
Interesting Fact:
The inspiration behind the lyrics to this Christmas favorite can be credited to the Hollywood Christmas Parade. As Autry was riding a horse in the 1946 parade, he noticed all the parade spectators would yell, “Here comes Santa Claus” as the Santa float progressed down the parade route. Once recorded, the song quickly became both a country and pop hit.
Artist: Ernst Anschütz
Year: 1824
Sample Lyrics: “Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches. Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches.”
Interesting Fact:
Did you know that this Christmas song is actually a German song based off of a 16th Century folk song? The original German lyrics, “O Tannenbaum”, which translates to “Oh, fir tree,” can still be heard in some versions of the song. This memorable melody has also been used for numerous official state songs and college alma matters.
Artist: Franz Xaver Gruber
Year: 1818
Sample Lyrics: “Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon virgin Mother and Child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”
Interesting Fact:
This popular Christmas carol, over 200 years old, was debuted to the public on Christmas Eve in a small Austrian church in the town of Oberndorf. A young priest named Joseph Mohr had written the lyrics to “Silent Night”, but didn’t have any melody to accompany it. He took his lyrics to the local organist in the town, Franz Xaver Gruber, to create a completed song in time for Christmas Eve mass. While the original chapel in Austria where this iconic carol was first performed has since been destroyed by flooding, a new chapel named the “Silent Night Chapel” has been built in its place and can be visited to this day.
Artist: Johnny Marks
Year: 1939
Sample Lyrics: “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows.”
Interesting Fact:
As with many of these classic and timeless Christmas songs, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer has a well-documented origin. Songwriter Johnny Marks adopted a short story that his brother-in-law had written about Santa’s reindeer and the lead reindeer named Rudolph. Marks is also credited with writing other notable holiday songs such as “Run Rudolph Run,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and “A Merry, Merry Christmas To You.”
Artist: Bing Crosby
Year: 1950
Sample Lyrics: “Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say, on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day. That's the island greeting that we send to you, from the land where palm trees sway.”
Interesting Fact:
While Bing Crosby made this Hawaiian-themed Christmas song famous, it was actually his good friend and American composer Robert Alexander Anderson that came up with the tune. Anderson had grown up in Hawaii and noticed that most Hawaiian versions of Christmas carols were just the popular holiday songs translated and performed in the Hawaiian language. There needed to be an original Hawaiian carol! He came up with the lyrics and melody for “Mele Kalikimaka” (which translates to “Merry Christmas”) and performed it for Bing Crosby. A year later Crosby recorded it on his album and the song has traveled the world ever since.
Artist: George Frideric Handel / Lowel Mason
Year: 1719
Sample Lyrics: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”
Interesting Fact:
This popular Christmas carol was written by an Englishman named Isaac Watts, who had penned hundreds of hymns that would later be sung in Christian churches around the world. Watts was inspired by Psalm 98 in the Bible, which begins “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Throughout the 1700s, the hymn was sung alongside various melodies and it was not until the mid-1800s that American composer Lowel Mason created the well-known melody we now associate with “Joy to The World”. Mason drew inspiration for the composition from a famous George Frideric Handel song.
There are hundreds and hundreds of holiday-themed songs. It's hard to pick just one favorite. No matter what Christmas carol you find yourself humming along to, consider incorporating a line or two of the lyrics into your holiday card design. It’s really easy to do with Minted! Through our easy-to-use online tools, we let you adjust greetings, messages, and even text that will appear on the back of your card. Our design associates are standing by to help you personalize the perfect holiday card. We had a blast recently collaborating with grammy award-winning singer Tori Kelly to help her create a custom holiday card featuring lyrics from her new Christmas song “25th”.
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