The Idina Menzel/Michael Bublé version of Baby, It's Cold Outside ups the creepy factor by featuring kids in the video. "I can be walking through a grocery store, humming along to a song that reminds me of a family memory like pie-baking, but when I tune into the lyrics it snaps me out of that hypnotized state and I begin to analyze it."īelow, Stasia and Danser share some thoughts on lending a 21st-century context to four popular Christmas songs with dubious or outdated lyrics. "There can be a real disconnect to what a song is melodically and what it is lyrically," said Danser.
While oozing warmth and fun in how they sound, it's very easy to passively digest a catchy tune that's wrapped in nostalgia without stopping to really listen to the words, said Kathleen Danser, a U of A PhD student in music and a professional roots and blues musician. "People say, 'Leave our Christmas songs alone' or, 'That's a sexist song, let's stop singing it.' But what they tell us is a much more interesting conversation than whether they're bad or good." "Conversation around these songs is quite limited and quite binarized," she added. "Actually, the holiday season is a good time to reflect on how far we have-and have not-come and what we can do in the new year to be more inclusive. "The more interesting question is what do these songs tell us about ourselves and what our values are, and what was going on at the time that inspired these songs to be written," said Cristina Stasia, a University of Alberta expert on gender and pop cultural studies. Phrases like "What's in this drink?" as a woman tries to leave a date, or the plot of one song that pokes fun at the Christmastime killing of Grandma.īut isn't it Grinchy to pick on our frothy, pop-culture holiday favourites? It is Christmas, after all, so shouldn't we lighten up? It's only when you start to really listen to some of the lyrics that you'll hear a few sour notes folded into the jolly goodwill lurk some not-so-warm-and-fuzzy undertones of sexism and racism. Christmas songs are the whipped cream on the cocoa, as important as the tinsel and the tree to our sense of festive coziness.
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