Tracy Newman, “Mama, I Know You Ain’t Santa.” TV comedy writer-turned-songwriter Tracy Newman has crafted a gentle tearjerker (Dolly Parton said it made her cry) saluting a single mother who has to pull double duty as Santa Claus for her kids: “Billy don’t know you ain’t Santa/How could he - he’s only 2?/Billy don’t remember Daddy/But mama, you and I do.” Still, nobody tops Mitchell’s sense of loss and hurt as she sings, “I’m so hard to handle/I’m selfish and I’m sad/Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby/That I ever had/I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” Joni Mitchell, “River.” The Canadian singer-songwriter’s 1970 song about a holiday breakup has become a contemporary classic, turning up on dozens of other artists’ seasonal albums. Mann sings, “Remember the sights and the smells and the sounds/Remember the cheery cards/Remember how love was all around/Whatever happened to it all?”Ĭhuck Mead, “Will Santa Come to Shanty Town?” Country boy Eddy Arnold tapped his hardscrabble youth when he co-wrote this song questioning whether Santa would visit his underprivileged neighborhood: “He didn’t stop last Christmas Eve/Doesn’t he know we live here?/Will my mommy have to paint my toys - The way she did last year?” Roots rocker Mead has recorded a bouncy but still melancholy new version for 2012. Shelby Lynne, “Xmas.” On this track from her 2010 album “Merry Christmas,” the soulful country singer-songwriter goes for deep blues, wasting no time communicating what the season brings up for her: “Christmas makes me sad/That I’m being bad/Holiday cocktails make me forget/The gift that Daddy never opened.”Īimee Mann, “Whatever Happened to Christmas.” Jimmy Webb’s song showed up on Mann’s 2006 album “One More Drifter in the Snow,” which was less a conventional holiday album than a genuine exploration of the emotions of the winter season. The Kinks, “Father Christmas.” Kinks’ lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies has always taken the side of the little guy, and that’s who he salutes in the band’s punk-infused 1977 holiday single: “Have yourself a merry, merry Christmas/Have yourself a good time/But remember the kids who got nothin’/While you’re drinkin’ down your wine.”ĭarlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” A girl begs for her love to return in this gem from Phil Spector’s celebrated 1963 collection “A Christmas Gift for You.” As energetic and bright as Spector’s production shines, you can’t help but be moved by the yearning in Love’s voice as she sings “Please…please…please” to her absent objet d’amour. Stephen’s Day Murders.” Costello collaborated with Chieftains leader Paddy Moloney on this macabre tale referencing the first Christian martyr and a less-than-idyllic holiday gathering of relatives: “For that is the time to eat, drink and be merry/Til the beer is all spilled and the whiskey has flowed/And the whole family tree you neglected to bury/Are feeding their faces until they explode.” From the Chieftains’ 1991 album “The Bells of Dublin.” So here are two dozen of our favorite holiday downers, in alphabetical order:Įlvis Costello & the Chieftains, “The St. Some are holiday standards, others may be less familiar because they typically don’t show up on shopping mall playlists and those 24/7 holiday-music radio stations. We can’t claim these are definitively the saddest, because there are so many more available to choose from. With that in mind, Pop & Hiss hoped to compile a list of the saddest yuletide songs ever recorded. Yet good cheer isn’t what everyone experiences during the holidays. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” says one of the most popular songs of the season.
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