Awesome Christmas Songs That Aren't Actually Christmas Songs

Related: The Best Christmas Songs of All Time

Related: The Best Christmas Songs of All Time

Lyrical sample: "Put the Atmosphere on your Christmas wishlist."

This song. First of all, it is sampling "O Holy Night," and uses the conceit that if Slug was Santa, he would give people things. But, at some point, it kind of devolves into Slug talking about his problems. Finally, the song concludes with a commercial for the album that you are already listening to. But if Slug was Santa, wouldn't he just give everyone the Atmosphere albums because he could, whether they asked or not? It's one of Atmosphere's sillier songs, but the sentiment is sweet, and it is lovable because of that.

Lyrical sample: "They can never take the energy inside you were born with/Knowing that, understand you could never be poor/You already won the war, you were born rich."

In the live clip, El-P says the title comes from the sound of the song, which is a pretty obvious connection, but there are elements of positivity and hope in this song, even as it's touching on bleak shit. This song directly talks about being made to compromise your beliefs but holding strong. These guys know a thing or two about that.

Lyrical sample: "I do not believe in the new year anymore."

Los Campesinos! came out of the gate as a band tapped in to internet culture, so a song about year-end lists made sense. The sentiment of the song, though, is that he'd rather remember the past and wish for its change than to look into the future. It is kind of a bizarre reaction to a breakup and pretty depressing in sentiment, but at least he can laugh about it. This is him laughing right?

Lyrical sample: “Isolation, isolation/Heal the sickness of isolation”

Yeah, this is a little more opaque lyrically, and there isn’t really a sleigh in the song, though maybe the sleigh is the “running ship” that is mentioned. There is also some talk about “the white god,” which is snow, maybe? What is certain is that Ty Segall’s trio are not decking halls in this track, and it is more likely that they misspelled “slay.” All said, it’s still not completely depressing, just because of the energy it packs.

Lyrical sample: "Slammin' on my brakes in front of a cop, I never broke the law, came to a full stop."

Yeah, things are different in Mexico. The rules of American courts and legal proceedings don't really apply. That said, anyone travelling to Mexico knows this. That's why we don't walk across and smuggle prescription drugs over the border to sell at inflated rates. Because it's scary. And wrong. But mostly scary.

Lyrical sample: "Goodbye my friend, I won't ever love again, never again"

Thankfully, that lyric isn't true, as Kanye has a couple new loves in his life these days. But, this honest farewell to the two loves of his life is appropriate at this time of year. As the new year is the beginning of so many things, it is also the time to put regrets behind us.

Lyrical sample: “I know that it’s true, it’s gonna be a good year.”

New Year’s Eve is about the party, but really, the reason that we like the changing of the calendar is the hope, the optimism that next year will bring all that this one lacked, no matter how good or bad this year actually was. Hamilton Leithauser taps into that feeling on “In the New Year,” pretty much universally accepted as the second best Walkmen song (after “The Rat,” duh). The lyrics are somewhat critical of blind optimism, but laundry lists of a glass-half-full mentality paint a certain impression on the audience regardless of the song's true meaning. Sure, his detachment from reality drives him insane at one point in the song, but that’s just a small aside.

Lyrical sample: “In December, drinking horchata, I look psychotic in a balaclava.”

Ignoring the fact that smarty pants Ezra says “horchata” like a gringo, the guy is way insightful through his absurd humor. “Here comes the feeling you thought you’d forgotten,” seems to speak to the spare details that seem insignificant but can bring back a surge of memories, and this one is of a love, an emotion that was thought to be gone but apparently isn’t. It is easy to relate to, though hard to say if it is a good or a bad thing, but what is most impressive about this song is how it doesn't downplay the human experience, and lets a moment, no matter how trivial, stand as something significant. Anyone who thinks that Vampire Weekend doesn't say anything is full of shit.

Lyrical sample: "Can you call it/See it coming/Just enough to tell a story bout a portrait of a/young girl waiting for the new year."

Victoria Legrand sees a different interpretation of the new year idea. For her, the flipping of the calendar page is symbolic of all that we plan to do but put off. Think about quitting smoking, or moving, or going to the gym, or actually following through with your dreams, and how we say, "in 2014, I'm going to go back to school." This seems to be saying why wait, because if you do wait, it likely will never happen. That's actually pretty inspiring when you think about it.

Lyrical sample: “Sharp hangover, it is Christmas Eve.”

The song starts with a headache, but the stakes raise pretty quickly as the death from cancer of, presumably, a grandparent looms. The repeated generational difference, that she “got married when she was 15” strikes like pity, like the elder never had a chance with the world she was born into, that her fate to be in this deathbed was unavoidable, and it gives perspective to whatever else is happening in the speaker’s life. Not a cheery holiday jam, but knowing our fortunes and how much worse it could be is important.

Lyrical sample: “A long December and there’s reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last.”

The theme of optimism for change in the new year is clearly a thing, but Counting Crows (yeah I’m talking about Counting Crows) combine the hope for the future with nostalgia and isolation. The song is actually remarkably emotionally complex, both hopeful and incurably melancholy. On a personal note, having spent every Christmas of my life in Southern California, the song hits at the sensory details that ring true. We don’t get snow, but it is colder than usual, and we can go outside often and see the way the season changes the colors of things, and makes everything slow down and seem of more importance than it probably is. This song is actually pretty special if you get down to it.

Lyrical sample: “Each Christmas time could bring snow days and in-laws and holiday mail.”

Anyone that has lived away from their family has a different meaning of the holiday than those that never leave. This time of year becomes more than just traditions and gatherings, as it can be about confronting your past, returning to unfinished business, and the other complicated situations that happen at the place you call home, and sometimes are the reason you left. They make movies about this shit. Will Sheff, always the poet of personal narratives, takes the listener on a trip for the holidays to New Hampshire where details remind him of a love lost, with the speaker imagining if things had worked out, and ultimately retreating to the fantasy rather than the loneliness and regret of the present. “I’ve got dreams to remember,” he repeats, and the pain of life is tangible.

Lyrical Sample: "So this is the new year, and I don't feel any different."

It's hard to say what exactly has Ben Gibbard so moody on this track. Something about location, probably, as he goes on about distance holding us back towards the end. But one thing is clear, he does not want to be at a party. He sees the superficiality in it, and also knows that the date is just a symbolic gesture, holding no real value or promise of things changing. Not that there is no hope, but that you are an idiot if you think that a calendar will change your fortunes. Gibbard's sentiment, not mine.

Lyrical sample: “I hope I don’t sound too ungrateful for what history gave modern man, the telephone to talk to strangers, machine guns, and the camera lens.”

Bright Eyes has an album of legit Christmas songs and a song called “Four Winds” that bites the melody of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” That one may be unintentional, but this Christmas melody is clearly deliberate, with the title playing on “Ode to Joy.” There isn’t much joy in the song, just cynicism, but also some definite existential will-to-power subtext. For Oberst, it is better to face the world with open eyes than to retreat to apathy. It might not be fun to hear all the time, but the alternative is self-delusion.

Lyrical sample: “Everyday is Christmas in hell.”

Being merry and Santa and it just all sounds so awful. Fat History Month are an up-and-coming band that is a prescription for Adderall away from greatness, and many of their songs, even their name, show this same twisted humor. A little more focus on the details in their music, and I might finally have that new Modest Mouse I am looking for. And even if they don't save indie rock from itself, this is still a great anti-Christmas anthem.