Streetalk November 20 2003

What holiday song do you not want to hear this year?

Corey: I despise Christmas songs in general. They’re cheesy and hokey, you hear them all the time, there are very few new ones, and they’re all by Mariah Carey — and I could throw up listening to her. And all those Santa Claus songs drive me nuts. The sales clerks in the malls have to listen to those same songs over and over again; I hated that when I worked retail. I do like “Silent Night.” It’s not about some fat guy bringing Christmas presents to you when he’s not getting laid.

Anne: “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” It’s mean, and I love my grandmother very much. I think it’s kind of violent, and I don’t think that’s a very nice song to hear around Christmas. It’s the fact that they’re making fun of the fact that grandma got into an accident on Christmas, and they make it into a cute little song. I don’t like the roadrunner either, because the coyote was always dying. I don’t like these violent animal cartoons being mean to nice creatures. I don’t find cruelty funny.

Jay: “Blue Christmas.” The song stinks. It’s just not crafted well. The changes are stupid, the lyrics are stupid, the arrangement is stupid. Elvis Presley is not going to have Christmas by himself. He’s not missing anybody. He’s not sitting around being blue. They just put him in there: “Sing this Christmas song, Elvis.” “Oh, OK. Thank you very much.” Do you think Elvis Presley ever spent Christmas by himself? Absurd. And those female vocalists in the background are like fingernails on a chalkboard.