Top 5: Christmas Songs

A seasonal top 5 for the Statesman. With such a dearth of shit to sift through, I've come up with a (un)definitive Top 5 Christmas songs of all time. Enjoy...

5. Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool (This Christmas)



Brilliant! Uptempo, succinct, cheery, vintage Eels. Underappreciated, probably new to most, so enjoy. Especially the marvellous couplet 'Baby Jesus - Born to rock!'.

4. Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry



Those horns. Irresistable. Surely one of the most unlikely Christmas smashes ever? By someone who seems to be a miserable fucker of a man. Good old Stiff Records. The anti-Christmas song really, in the sense that it's really about the atrocity of war, and was simply picked up as a Christmas song for that one line.

3. Queen - Thank God It's Christmas



Camp Christmas classic. An unlikely choice it may seem, as it's Queen nowhere near their brilliant best, but the killer chorus is there. Replace 'God' with 'fuck' in the chorus to give this song a new dimension, and it'll seem even better and bring some much needed foul language to your season of good will.

2. Elton John - Step Into Christmas



Even camper Christmas classic from an on-form Reg Dwight. Immortal.

1. The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York



What else? It's one of the best songs, let alone Christmas songs. A perfect love song.


Honourable mentions to:
Band Aid, Greg Lake, Shakin' Stevens (it's ok, really!), Boney M, John & Yoko, The Ramones and Mr. Hankey The Christmas Poo, Bowie and Bing, Wizzard, Slade (just).

Dishonourable mentions to:
Bo Selecta, Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Wham, The Darkness, all the other desperately shit ones.