Coming home from dinner tonight, I was listening to the radio and inevitably I heard U2’s “New Years Day”. I started thinking about other holiday songs that I always hear during other holidays during the year and it seems like there are quite a few, but it always seems a little odd that I only hear them during whatever holiday season it might be, even though most of the songs are good songs regardless of the title but I never hear them (on the radio, at least) any other time of the year. I really like “New Years Day” but I hardly ever hear it in say, August. That may make me seem like an old, whiny crank but seriously, why is that song only appropriate for play on January 1? I never hear songs like Ministry’s “Every Day Is Halloween” unless it’s around October 31. I do enjoy hearing the Bing Crosby/David Bowie version of “Little Drummer Boy” around Christmas (and the video is sublime–those two were so clearly uncomfortable with one another and the goofy, poorly scripted conversation they have at the beginning is classic) and that song really is only appropriate for the Christmas season, I suppose.

I always think it’s strange there are songs we only hear during certain parts of the year though. I thought it was a huge stretch this past year near Halloween (or possibly on Halloween) when I heard Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” and the DJ announced he did in fact play it because of the season. Nobody dresses up like Godzilla for Halloween and that’s a good song anytime of the year. I never hear “American Pie” unless it’s around July 4th (which, truthfully, is fine by me, I have grown to despise that song and Madonna did nothing to change my mind about it.) I guess what I want is to hear these songs in other contexts once in awhile. Why not play “Every Day Is Halloween” on some stormy night in May? Why not drop “Little Drummer Boy” into a set of “classic covers” or something like that? There’s not a lot of originality in playing “New Years Day” on January 1 every year. I expect it, I’m never surprised and while I’m not annoyed it just seems kind of dorky, to be honest. Most of these songs deserve a slightly better existence than to ensure that “yes, (insert radio station here) knows that today is (insert a holiday here).” I’m all for using these songs for that purpose, but I’d enjoy hearing most of them at other times of the year, too. Again, I know I sound like a whiny old man, but I don’t mean it like that. If every day truly is Halloween, then that song is appropriate anytime, and most of these other songs are, too. I wish I heard most of them more often.