Round 1 Results Are In!!!

The First Round is now closed!  Results and commentary are below.  

First, my yearly disclaimer:  I am an unabashed music snob.  I may trash-talk one of your favorites.  But this is all in good fun, so please fire back at me.  There's no banter like music geek banter. 

Second, a response to several comments: The bracket is seeded randomly*.  This can lead to some wild first-round matchups (e.g. Hark the Herald vs. Angels we Have Heard).  But without this element of randomness, I really think we'd see the later rounds look the same year after year after year.  I am thrilled that we've yet to have a repeat champion.  Replayability matters.  

* I did shift two matchups manually this year because the random draw led to repeats of last year's first round.  And yes, I will continue to do everything in my power to try to get Hooray for Santa Claus into the second round.  But other than that, it's totally random.  

Third, a defense of some of the selections: Yes, as several of you have pointed out, there are a handful of options in the line-up that are not technically - in their original incarnation - Christmas songs. But I like my Christmas Song competitions the same way I like my theology: open and inclusive.  Lt. Kije has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. But Troika has sleigh bells, is played on holiday concerts and absolutely feels like Russian Sleigh Ride.  Linus and Lucy was released a year before the show that it would become forever associated with. But it's on the "Charlie Brown Christmas" album, and any Charlie Brown Christmas medley would feel incomplete without it.  Hallelujah Chorus also has nothing to do with Christmas. But the holiday season sees enough appearances of Handel's Messiah that it's hard to not feel the association (and hey, at least I didn't include Leonard Cohen in this thing).  If it fits on the soundtrack of a modern Christmas, it's frankly good enough for me.

Last, to the person who is on a mad tear about Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time, you are just objectively wrong.  That song is trash. Rubbish. Garbage.  The flavor of Communion wafers in sonic form.  "They practiced all year long?"  Really?  They had to practice all year long to get their Christmas songs performance-ready?  Then those children clearly suck as much as this godawful song.  For God's sake, imagine coming back to school in January and the choir director hands out Christmas music!!! No.  This song is awful.  Maybe I'm Amazed at how bad this song is.  Let Me Roll this song off a cliff.  Live and Let this song Die. Good day sir!  

(Please see First note above 😉) 

With all that out of the way...here are the results of Round 1:

Best comment:  "Still is still the better of the two IMHO.  Little is a little worn out."  I don't disagree - I think Still is a bit of a sleeper (no pun intended).  But the people think otherwise.

One commenter pointed out that we need a non-gendered version of God Rest Ye.  I am open to suggestions.  

"This is diabolical"

"Glorious matchup"

"Were any angels harmed in this head to head competition?"

The much-maligned first round battle of giants.  But I found this one fascinating.  I consider these two a logical pair, to the point where it always takes me a split second to remember which is which.  Long Glorias for the win.

And this was the secular version of the Angel-off.  Not nearly as close an outcome however.  I know I mentioned it last year, but if you want to change the way you feel about Have Yourself, go look up the history and the original lyrics.  

"First Noël is greedy... if you sing all the verses, it goes through the whole Christmas story. Give me depth, not breadth!"

Great comment.  And kudos for the umlaut.  

"Dang! Another tough first round choice. Come hear my arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter in Painesville, Ohio on December 8!"

There is no free PR in this competition - you will pay for it like everyone else.  Please contact me for advertising rates.

Trepak has made the Sweet 16 twice, but sees an early exit this year.

"Also... Come hear my arrangement of Ding Dong on December 8!"

This is your last warning.

"I had to vote for Ding Dong, because we play it in bell choir and Cheryl hates playing her part!"

Well I know who said that and that's just mean.  

Really people?  Unforgiveable choice.  And how exactly am I supposed to put presents on the tree?

Another iconic first round matchup.  I wonder if the results would be different if we were voting on the entire show rather than just the song.  

"Nutcracker solos every time."

Found the celeste player.

One of the comments spelled it "Feliz Navi dad" which made me imagine an Avatar Christmas Special.  

"Decorate one hall.  It's enough."

Suburban commercialism defeats Appalachian serenity.  Orn'ry indeed.

Fascinating meeting of banality and majesty.  But let's be real - only one of these ends up played over the last chord of your typical jazz piano arrangement of every Christmas song.  That's some insidious product placement.

No surprise here.  Biggest blowout of the round.

This comment wins Christmas:

"My ex-wife hated Papatan, so every year I email the radio station in Salt Lake City to request it."

Tell us the email address of the radio station and we can all assist in this petty yet noble cause.

My pet project makes its best showing yet, but still falls short.  One day.  One day it will get there.  Maybe I just need to replace it with "A Patrick Swayze Christmas" next year.  If you know, you know.

Twelve Days consistently draws the most negative comments.  

"Mariah Carey haunts my Octobers."   Me too friend.  Me too.  You all should be ashamed of yourselves.

"Salvation of man or a nice sleigh ride? I like Sleigh Ride, but..."

Sleigh Ride is just the apocalypse from the perspective of the four horsemen.  

"Who wrote this? Dr. Stroup?!!!"

"Do you Hear What I Hear? Is said to be about the Cuban Missile Crisis."

I looked this up and it is absolutely true.  File this one with Have Yourself as songs with grim backstories.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/december-2017/do-you-hear-what-i-hear-the-story-behind-the-song/

"I have beef with Jingle Bell Rock"  

Brand new sentence.

I Saw Three Ships but I did not see this one coming.

Weather fight.

No argument here.  Although Vince Guaraldi's version of OCT is elite.

"A good one for the ASMR fans"

30 minutes of drum tapping for sleep NO TALKING

Since it was mentioned in the comments, here is our Wassail recipe (thank you Lesley Blanton):

Ingredients:
1 - 48 oz. Cranapple drink
1 - lg. unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp. allspice
1 orange sliced in half and studded with cloves

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a crock pot. Heat on high for 1 hour, then on low for 3 - 4 hrs (or overnight of course) . Spirits may be added if you wish to taste, such as Rum, the last hour of cooking.

Not Christmas without it.

Malus es, Domine Grinch, Vere stultus es!

"Our K.I. quartet dropped Merry but kept L&L. It is a crowd favorite in any season."  

What other evidence do you need?

Closest matchup of the first round - Christmas Time by one vote.

So that's it!  Another first round in the books.  Round 2 is coming - remember to vote and share the link!