Tag: #ielts

For study until 1st of December 2024

Subject: Christmas Songs

Audio: On usual social media platforms

Christmas Songs

After the kerfuffle around Band Aid’s “Do They Know Its Christmas” song,  I wanted to add my tuppence worth to the debate about Christmas music.

Firstly let me say that Christmas pop songs have been around longer than I have, some songs are cheerful, some songs are annoying and then there’s Mariah Carey. Probably the ones I dread most are by her and Michael Buble and the one I actually don’t mind is by Leona Lewis, that one is called “One More Sleep”. Leona seems blissfully unaware that sleep is not countable but that’s ok. I like the song. I really detest Michael Buble – I honestly don’t know why.   If I am asked about my favourite genre for Christmas music I would likely reply the 1960s. I just love to hear the Ronettes singing Frosty the Snowman as well as a whole host of others using the infamous wall of sound which was invented by Phil Spector.  I have heard about Whamageddon – this is a game people play to try and avoid Wham’s Christmas song “Last Christmas”. Many people take it quite seriously.

About “Do they know its Christmas” I mean really, who cares whether the song is politically correct these days, it was written for a different generation and I’m sure many people “couldn’t give a monkeys” (plural is correct) whether it is banned or not.  I’m not sure if you ‘ve heard the debate but this infamous Bob Geldof effort contains the words:

“And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time

The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life

Where nothing ever grows, no rain nor rivers flow

Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?”

On the surface these lyrics look relatively innocent, who could have known back in the 1980s that they would create such a storm. Some sources are saying that the song was always controversial because of its negative views of Africa and others are saying that it’s simply got caught up in the whirlwind of political correctness.  I do agree that the lyrics are probably grossly exaggerated. I mean  things do grow in Africa and there are rivers and probably rain too.  But is it correct to call the song colonialist? Critics are saying that the song has a”white saviour” feel to it and as a product of its day is very condescending. Do we even care enough to think about it? The song raised millions for charity over the years.  So surely that kind of redeems it out of any misuse.

When I was a child, the UK was heavily industrialized. That meant that the local factory needed workers over Christmas so my father and grandfather were not always around on Christmas Day. Boxing Day, the 26^th of December was not an official holiday anyway until 1974 so people were not accustomed to relaxing on that day. Money was good.. working over the holiday season so there was an opinion that working on these days was better.  Still there was a great holiday feeling, winding down early to get home to see the kids before bedtime.

I do like the variety that you can find around Christmas now, thanks to social media you can find exactly what floats your boat over Christmas, whether its  a group of kids singing badly, a torch song, a protest or even a tragedy. One feature of the old days was that TV channels used to air “Christmas Specials” to make us smile. Many singing groups in those days had their own TV shows and a Christmas special was something to look forward to each year.  Soap operas on TV also had their own Christmas special, to be shown on TV over the period. It was actually something to rush home for. I never considered that actors were giving up valuable time to make these shows, I just assumed they were there for my entertainment. Isn’t it sad when we grow up and realise the world isn’t just there for our entertainment but the harsh reality is that they need to make money. Even actors need work.

I am often puzzled by people at Christmas time, especially here.  I tried to call a  friend to meet for coffee to be told:

“As it’s Christmas, I will be far too busy to meet until January”. In her words she said “You know how it is, buying presents and all”.

I don’t believe for a second that with one month to go until Christmas, she doesn’t have a spare hour but I think this highlights the depth of loneliness people feel at this time of year. They either try to forget about this time of year by diving right into it head first to block out the pain or else they give that impression in order to mask a much deeper pain.  For others they simply will start with office parties and won’t stop drinking until it’s finished.  I think it is time we Brits were honest with ourselves. Despite the mass marketing, songs and Christmas trees we literally climb the walls with anxiety this time of year and do what we can to deal with it. It is a far cry from happiness. Many people don’t have any social structures in their lives, little cash and screaming children. Then there’s people like myself who are looking over their shoulder wondering “what happened”? We went from rooms full of people with guests dropping in daily to empty spaces where those people used to be. Now we are faced with silence and memories. It’s the sharp contrast that hurts, not the emptiness of the day itself. People have gone, the way we live has changed and as the poet said:

“O for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still”

 I would like to see more British people owning the pain and taking responsibility, we could build  a new society free from issues like this if we got our act together and acted responsibly at this time of year. Since I don’t drink I am able to see with great clarity what happens at this time of year, a lot of pain and sadness in the darkest months of the year.  And in the middle of it Mariah Carey. I think pride stops us from really owning how we feel.

I’ve already been looking for Doris Day and Dean Martin specials on Youtube, even though life was not perfect for my parents, they didn’t have that sense of an empty celebration that we have now, something is terribly wrong with the way things are presented to us these days and these old TV specials remind us of the sense of joy we can have if we look for it. These days though this type of entertainment is considered vintage, old fashioned and irrelevant.

I really admire those people who choose not to celebrate Christmas. At least they are owning how they feel about it. I think the rest of us have quite a bit to go until we can deal with this time of year in an honest way.

Whatever you are doing for Christmas this year, I hope you do it in a mentally healthy way.