Welcome to another entry in my “7 Days of Christmas” series here at The No Seatbelt Blog! Today, I will be sharing the first of three music posts for this holiday celebration, getting into some of the songs that I love to listen to every year. 

Bryan Adams- “Christmas Time”

I’ve always liked Bryan Adams. I’m an 80’s baby, what do you want from me? His hit song “Christmas Time” is loaded with positive messages about peace, harmony and pure Christmas joy. It’s definitely a syrupy song, but it makes me happy during the season. Say what you want about the dude, even make fun of him like South Park did, but he could write a hook, and an overall catchy rock song.

Darlene Love– “All Alone on Christmas”

Despite being pretty sad lyrically, this song from Darlene Love, who played the lovely Mrs. Murtaugh opposite Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon movies, has always been a favorite of mine. Written by Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, and featuring performances by several other members of the band, “All Alone on Christmas” showed up on the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York movie soundtrack. The music video is tons of fun, featuring a young Macauly Culkin goofing off with the soundboard in the studio as Darlene, “Little Steven”, Clarence, Max Weinberg and others rock on.

Bob Seger– “Little Drummer Boy”

For anyone who knows me, this song being on the list may come as a shock, since it’s all Jesus-y, but it brings me back to my childhood, as my parents would play the A Very Special Christmas CD on which it appeared on repeat through Christmas Day. Aside from that, I’ve always liked Bob Seger, and his is my favorite version of a Christmas song which has been covered by everyone and their mother. Rolling drums, saxophone flourishes, and Bob’s unmistakable vocals make this song a holiday gem.

Mariah Carey– “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

That’s right, this song is on the list. Call it a guilty pleasure if you will, but it stands its ground on my list of favorite Christmas songs. I’m not a Mariah Carey fan by any means, and even though this song gets beat to death by popular radio every Christmas, how it doesn’t make you excited for the season is beyond my comprehension. It’s just plain old fun. As the only Mariah song on my iPod, it gets its fair share of plays every year.

U2– “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

We have arrived at not only my favorite version of this song, but my favorite Christmas song. Period. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has undoubtedly been done to death, but for me, no one nails the emotion and pleading behind the lyrics like Bono did. My only gripe is that the song is woefully short, clocking in at under 2.5 minutes – I wish that it was a bit longer. This is another song that I have loved since I was a kid, from a time when U2 was still a likable band as far as the world was concerned.