We get that nobody wants to be a downer at Christmas. That’s probably why most beloved carols and holiday songs tend to be on the upbeat side. While that’s understandable, there should certainly be some room for something other than unmitigated glee in the songs we sing at the holiday. Why not? We know that some of the most famous characters of the season (the Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge) weren’t too thrilled with the festivities. That means we should also feel free to celebrate those Christmas songs that are downright non-celebratory. Here are five of our favorites.
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1. ”Merry Christmas Darling” by the Carpenters
Some singers just have voices that sound sad even when they’re expressing happy emotions. When they sing something a little bittersweet, it can really break your heart. Karen Carpenter was one of those singers.
The story goes that when she and her brother Richard were starting out as an act, they were seeking newer Christmas songs that didn’t say the same old thing. Their university professor was a fellow named Frank Pooler, who had an old set of lyrics lying around that he thought might work for them. Richard Carpenter wrote the music, and “Merry Christmas Darling” came to life. The Carpenters recorded the song a few different times, but in every version, Karen wishes the best to a loved one who’s far away from her, and all we can hear is the sumptuous longing and sorrow in her vocals.
2. “I Believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake
If you just looked at the title, you might think that was a happy Yuletide song. The music even contains choirs and church bells that seem to speak of happier tidings. But when you pay close attention to the lyrics (written by Peter Sinfield), and then hear the barely-contained sneer in Lake’s vocals, you start to realize that this one isn’t exactly for the dancing sugar plums crowd.
The dead giveaway is at the beginning of the song, when you hear Lake complaining about rain for the season instead of snow. He then explains that he discovered the real meaning of the holiday as a child, when he saw Father Christmas “through his disguise.” In the final verse, Lake musters enough sentimentality to wish everyone listening the best, but the closing couplet slaps us in the face with icy reality: Hallelujah, Noel, be it Heaven or Hell / The Christmas we get, we deserve.
3. “Father Christmas” by The Kinks
Man, what is it about those Brits and their disdain for their country’s version of Santa Claus? Greg Lake poked holes in his façade. Ray Davies of The Kinks went even further and had the poor guy get beat up and mugged.
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In “Father Christmas,” the narrator remembers idyllic Christmas days as a child. When he grows up, he takes a job as a sidewalk version of the character, only to be confronted by angry kids who don’t bother asking for toys. They just take the hapless fellow’s money. Davies then has the kids tell him what they really want: a job for their father, or a machine gun to scare everybody else away. The music rocks with abandon, at least until Davies makes a tender plea to everyone listening: But remember the kids who got nothing / While you’re drinking down your wine.
4. “2,000 Miles” by the Pretenders
Many bands record Christmas songs as stand-alone singles. The Pretenders and lead singer and songwriter Chrissie Hynde upended that notion by including their Christmas-themed track “2,000 Miles” on their 1984 album Learning to Crawl. Perhaps that’s because they knew they had the goods with the song, even as melancholy as it is.
The performance by the band is tender and delicate, capturing the wistful mood of the lyrics. Here we have another song about the difficulties of truly getting the most out of the season when you’re separated from the one you love. I hear people singing, Hynde muses, It must be Christmas time. Maybe it is, but with all that distance clouding her thoughts, it probably feels nothing like it to her.
5. “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg
This one also works as a downer New Year’s song, thanks to the title and the closing saxophone solo by Michael Brecker that quotes “Auld Lang Syne.” When you hear the opening piano to this classic track, you can already feel the bittersweet vibes loud and clear.
“Same Old Lang Syne” is based on an actual event in Fogelberg’s life, as he did indeed run into an old flame during a routine grocery run. In the song, the pair huddle in a car with some beers and compare notes on their lives, only to realize that they’re both lacking something indefinable in the lives that they’ve chosen, he a musician, she a housewife. This is about as moving as it gets when it comes to Christmas songs, even if it does leave you a little on the downcast side as it ends.
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