Year-round Yuletide oddities
Plank Road Publishing makes it easy for the kids and palatable for the parents with their fizzy concoctions of school assembly numbers. Fingers out of noses! First grade, pick up the tempo! “Christmas Makes Me Sing” ‘cuz teacher told me to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOMdQR9F3Zk
Building a community out of song ain’t so easy. You have to ask.
Irving Oil has a corporate team-building video in which all their employees have to sing “Everyone’s Got a Christmas Song to Sing“–specifically, this one!
Todd McHatton, a Washington state treasure, has an indefinite one-of-a-kind style. This kids song/’70s rock/peoples’ anthem will beckon and distance you all at once. “Sing Along to The Christmas Song” may not be possible, but you’ll catch yourself swaying i bet to its randomness.
Although cancelled by Nickelodeon, this popular toon was resuscitated and is now the 2nd longest running cartoon series on that network (behind SpongeBob).
Musical numbers tend to be classy, rather than silly (perhaps due to the aged magical helpers).
Timmy apparently never watched that Elmo special and wishes for “Christmas Everyday” in an early episode, much to all’s dismay. Jazzy.
More comical, “Not on the List” is a symphonic tribute to all the kids’ regrets the day after. Frantic.
This Icelanidic people-wearing-puppet-outfits oddity made its way to Nick Toons for a while, but creeped out kids with a hero who looks like the Captain America villain Batroc, and a bad guy handsome as Bruce Campbell.
Stephanie, the irrepressible eight-year-old never seen without a smile, sings “Jolly Holidays” and “I Love Christmas.” Believe (in exercise)!
The biggest moneymaker from Nickolodeon ever isn’t just a can of rocks shaken for the lovely sound it makes. It’s also musical.
The eighth season featured a all-singing formulaic story about Plankton taking over, blah blah. ‘It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!’ is stop motion which throws the surrealism out of whack but is otherwise serviceable. Stick to the album.
“Santa Has His Eye on Me” opens the story with just the right amount of repetitive mush and exposition.
These iconoclastic kid bits often push genres. Patrick the starfish’s “Pretty Ribbons and Bows” is a ’60s rock ‘splosion of ADHD fun.
Limp country from Sandy the Squirrel in “Ho Ho Hoedown.” I think i’ll stick to the better stuff.
The bad guy gets a real showtune carol in “Christmas is Mine.” Mwah ho ho ho.
The Brit pop anthem to kids “Don’t be a Jerk (It’s Christmas)” is the big hit, though. Falsetto ululate, all!
If Carmen Sandiego can fool people into learning, surely the prepubescent Latina can as well.
Most of the ‘songs’ on the album Dora’s Christmas are either trad carols or children’s pap without any mention of any variation of any holiday.
Notable exceptions to our disappointment include the infrequently heard Espanol Christmas Eve carol “Nochebuena.” Just this much short of mariachi, but a bit of the fun.
If you know the show, you know the klepto ‘coon and his problems. So Dora’s “No Swiping on Christmas” should come as no surprise. Melodramatic interactive show tune! Shout answers to her for goodness’ sake. (And get that varmint some therapy; did you hear his excuse?)
Naturalism is a form of theater that celebrates the bottom rung of humanity, illustrating and educating us to the indomitable human spirit despite adversity. Or makes us laugh at how stupid and ugly the poor are.
The suburban losers of this show at least have an Old World immigrant to think of as less than them. Rolf sings us the “Yeshmiyek Song” which, while not a reverse of Christmas, is a holiday favorite about food and hygiene from a mythical creature of a different land.
The highest rated preschool show on Nickolodeon in the the ’90s was this critically acclaimed cultural heritage honorarium. Each show was full of songs, including the Xmas episode with Sea Island versions of classic carols.
But they did bless us with a short, sweet encore “Merry Christmas to Ya,” one of the few songs that allows it’s a show wishing an audience cheer.
Nine seasons with 2 spinoffs, but the kids who cared were grown and everyone else thought it was creepy. The holiday album Rugrats Holiday Classics is delivered after the original series ended. That’s why you probably haven’t heard of it.
It’s all half-asleep parodies milking the misheard lyric premise of stupid babies. Okay, a couple at least try.
“Rugrats Chanukah” is ‘The Dreidel Song’ with a cheap electronic keyboard honking at kvetching children.
“Heck, Why is Santa Always Jolly?” pokes fun at our Big Red Guy. Kids are so mean. To ‘Deck the Halls.’
1980s pop and lock rock marks “Oops! Santa Got Stuck!” about Santa ‘Up on the Rooftop’ while Chuckie jest gotsta go wee!
“Toys for the Girls” has Angelica bull-leading a female chorus celebrating the new baby, oddly enough. Maybe Jesus, maybe her baby brother (uhh, that was a miscarriage).
A contender for overall best wit for the young, this ’90s Steven Spielberg produced foray into WB Kids attempted to bring vaudeville to the end of the century. Middling results.
“The First Noel (parody)” is much more comic than previously sampled songs so far. Punny!
Their pinnacle is their ‘Christmas Carol’ takeoff (Wakkoff?) trying to moralize capitalistic Taxman Plotz, with the songs “Ghost of Christmas Past,” “Ghost of Christmas Present,” and “Ghost of Christmas Future.” Love the all-out orchestration.