‘Tis the season when people gather around to argue whether the middle of November is too early to listen to Christmas music.
Some say festive songs bring some much-needed light to an otherwise cold, dark and dreary month. Others warn that an endless barrage of holiday music wears out the season.
Vancouver musician Sam Parton thinks too much of a good thing will spoil the eggnog.
“I think we need to wait until December,” she told CBC’s The Early Edition during a friendly debate on the subject.
It’s not that she doesn’t like Christmas music, it’s that she doesn’t want to dilute the power of the songs.
“[Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas] is a fantastic song,” she said. “What I don’t want is to have to listen to it 10 times a day for 50 days preceding Dec. 25.”
Veda Hille disagrees — and she knows her way around a yuletide tune.
Hille writes the music and lyrics for the annual East Van Panto, a show which isn’t exclusively a Christmas performance but is always anchored around the holiday.
“Walking home from the York Theatre in the nighttime, when the when the lights are up in the park, is pretty Christmasy for me,” she said.
Christmas music has been heard in some Vancouver stores as early as October. London Drugs says it waits until after Remembrance Day, before it switches over to a playlist of holiday classics and contemporary songs.
“It is our mandate that we honour [veterans’] service and sacrifices on Nov. 11 by not having Christmas music in our stores,” chief operating officer Clint Mahlman wrote to CBC in an email.
Live Christmas trees are not yet for sale in Vancouver — is this a sign that it might be too early to listen to Christmas music? (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)
Hille — whose Christmas playlist includes Working Class Hero by John Lennon, Another Lonely Christmas by Prince, and the entire David Bowie album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars — said the trick to surviving the season is to avoid the big stores and malls.
“I do think that if you stay away from really big mainstream places, you can avoid the music that is not so satisfying,” she said.
Parton and Hille did agree on one thing: They are going to sit down and write a Christmas song together.
“It’s called Never Too Early for Christmas,” Parton said. “They’re going to start playing in August, and we’re going to reap the rewards.”
Listen to the full story here:
Jason D’Souza speaks with musicians Veda Hille and Sam Parton about timing and Christmas songs. 9:39
