| Christmas compendium: Neil Tennant's festive playlist
Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys reveals his top ten favourite songs for Christmas
Neil Tennant is not a great fan of the modern Christmas pop song. Even though his band, the Pet Shop Boys, have released their own seasonal five-track EP this year, simply called Christmas, he hopes it taps into an older tradition, “There are not that many good Christmas songs around these days. The early Seventies was the real golden age of Christmas songs. That is the tradition that we’re trying to be a part of, rather than the tradition of Mariah Carey.”
Tennant’s perfect Christmas songs, listed here, must adhere to a strict criteria. “The song has to have the word Christmas in it or else it doesn’t count. A children’s choir helps as well.”
But what really defines Tennant’s playlist is a sense of nostalgia: “These songs are all about memories for me. Christmas itself is all about memories. It is almost better remembered than experienced.”
Here are his top ten tunes to have on in the background this, well, Christmas.
Christmas Time (Is Here Again), by The Beatles
“My sister was a member of the Beatles fan club and used to received special flexidiscs through the post, with songs especially recorded for the fan club. They released this in 1967, and listening to it is very evocative for me of being a child at that time. The song itself is made up of collages; the Beatles do sketches and it finishes with the poet Ivor Cutler. It’s very raucous, with a catchy refrain, and when I play it on Christmas morning, the whole family sing along – especially me and my sister.”
All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle, by Dora Bryan
“Once we’ve listened to the Beatles, I then think of this song. It is such a funny number with a jaunty arrangement. Dora Bryan is one of my favourite comic actresses. It’s based on All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, which I don’t particularly like. Dora’s take on is so lively, and so much fun, it is almost the perfect Christmas song. In those days, rather than ringing in and voting for your favourite star on X Factor, you made a song in tribute to your idols, which in Bryan’s case was the Beatles.”
Happy Xmas (War is Over), by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
“I think this really is the most creatively successful Christmas record ever made, because Lennon uses the idea of Christmas to get across his message of peace. I remember when it was released, they had billboards all over Times Square and Leicester Square saying ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’. It’s a connection that harks back to the First World War and the image of the troops in the trenches. And of course it’s got a children’s choir on it which is a key element to a Christmas record.”
Jingle Bells, by Frank Sinatra
“For many years, my family celebrated Christmas at my house in County Durham and I only had two Christmas albums, one of which was Frank Sinatra’s. The first track on it is this swing version of Jingle Bells. In the past two years, sadly both of my parents died, so this song reminds me of when we were all together opening presents.”
Sleigh Ride, by The Ronnettes
“This is my favourite track on Phil Spector’s amazing Christmas album. Spector also produced Happy Xmas (War is Over), so he knew how to create that Christmas sound. As children, we used to go sledging through Gosford Park in the winter, so this song reminds me of that. It also has the crazy energy of the period and people rushing around.”
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, by Wizzard
“I think this captures the child’s idea of Christmas; the greedy excitement of getting lots of presents and eating too much, and it all ending in tears. Christmas is so exciting for children. And it has a children’s choir singing wonderfully out of key. It is such a classic record, but you should only really listen to it in the two weeks before Christmas. Then it has a different meaning – and you don’t have to listen to it again for another 50 weeks.”
Things Fall Apart, by Christina
“This reminds me of Christmas in the early Eighties. It came out in 1981 on ZTT records, which was a very trendy label. Thematically, this is quite similar to our Christmas song; it looks at the negative side of Christmas but transforms it into a positive. It starts with these jingle bell effects but then turns into something quite dissonant yet tuneful. In the first verse, her mother hangs an angel on the tree. It has lost a wing but she still wants to hang it anyway, singing: ‘Things fall apart, but they stay in my heart.’ I like the mixture of brutal reality meeting the joy of Christmas. I like her deadpan vocals, too.”
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy, by David Bowie and Bing Crosby
“This was the last record Bing Crosby made, and David Bowie became a little freaked out because the last record Marc Bolan made was a duet with him, too. It was an extraordinary meeting. Bowie had just performed Heroes on Crosby’s TV show and then they suddenly go into this duet. It is utterly sincere. Nowadays, if a pop star did this, we would think they were being ironic. Bowie always had a strange fascination with the innocence of childhood. It is a genuinely beautiful Christmas song about love and peace.”
Adam lay i-bounden, from Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols
“In my first year at St Cuthburt’s Grammar School in Newcastle, I was in the choir and we did A Ceremony of Carols. We had a very good music teacher. I liked this piece so much that when I was 16 I took the words and set them to my own music and made it into a singer-songwriter-style ballad. So this is from the other Christmas album that I have. I think it’s best played early on Christmas morning, before the nieces get up, when things are still quiet.”
Birthday Boy, by Pet Shop Boys
“I never thought this was a Christmas song until earlier this year. I told Brandon Flowers from The Killers that we were thinking of releasing a Christmas song, and he said it should be this one. It takes place on Christmas Eve but it is really about the murder of Stephen Lawrence. It is about the idea of children dying for our sins or prejudices and in doing so they become like Jesus. At the end, it turns into a Christmas carol. It is a bit dark and serious but is also about the real meaning of Christmas. Just like John Lennon, it reminds us of why we really celebrate Christmas, and that if Christmas means anything it should be about peace and brotherhood and love.”
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