Australian Christmas Songs
Australians love a good party and Christmas is no exception.
December twenty-fifth sees the beer flowing, bon-bons popping and
ridiculous amounts of food being shovelled into hungry bellies! Of
course, music is a huge part of the celebrations too. Traditional
carols are heard in shopping centres, church services and at
parties throughout the holiday. Christmas in Australia however is
far from the winter wonderland celebrated in many English and
American songs. December brings long, hot summers and Aussies are
more likely to be cooking seafood on the barbecue rather roasting
chestnuts on the fire.
To commemorate their own unique way of celebrating Christmas,
Australian writers and composers have produced many catchy carols.
Many of these are parodies of traditional Christmas songs like Deck
the Sheds with Bits of Wattle the fun Aussie Jingle Bells. Full of
clichés yet nonetheless popular, the song retains the original
tune, with the singer "dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden
Ute" instead of through the Christmas snowfields of the American
original.
The Aussie Twelve Days of Christmas is another parody of a
Christmas classic. Rather than the traditional five golden rings,
the singer receives a herd of Australian animals for Christmas. The
parody lyrics feature animals of all shapes and sizes, from wombats
washing, snakes on skis, lizards leaping and a kookaburra in a gum
tree. Over the years the parody has been changed and rewritten so
many times that countless versions now appear each December.
Many other Australian carols follow in the footsteps of Aussie
Jingle Bells with songs like C'Mon It's an Aussie Christmas and
Aussie Bush Christmas choc full of swagmen, beer-filled eskies and
kangaroos. Whilst songs such as these can be popular among school
children, they are more often resigned to long-forgotten
compilation albums. They are generally regarded as cheesy and
cliché amongst a population whose Christmas festivities- despite
the hot weather- are generally devoid of both swaggies and
kangaroos.
Australian group The Wiggles have been entertaining kids since
1991 and now count four Christmas albums among their extensive
discography. These records feature covers of traditional holiday
classics, but also original tunes in the Wiggle's fun signature
style. As the band's popularity grew both at home and overseas,
their Christmas songs became hits among children and their parents
alike. Now each December kids all around Australia dance to Yule Be
Wiggling and have a Wiggly Wiggly Christmas!
But not all Australian Christmas songs are light-hearted and
fun. On Christmas Day in 1974, the northern Australian town of
Darwin was razed to the ground by the massive Cyclone Tracey. The
emotive ballad Santa Never Made it into Darwin by Bill and Boyd
tells the story of the tragedy. The song became popular amongst a
mourning nation who, in the words of Bill and Boyd
were: "shocked and saddened… That suffering and
heartbreakCould happen in this wayA natural disasterCould come on
Christmas Day"
Among the many original Christmas songs written in Australia,
there are also a number of well-known covers that have become
popular during the holiday season. Popular folk band The Seekers
are known for their versions of a range of Christmas songs.
Throughout their fifty-year history, they have covered carols from
Away in A Manger to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and even
the American ballad There are No Lights on Our Christmas Tree. In
2001 The Seekers complied their holiday hits into the popular album
Morningtown Ride to Christmas. Australian pop vocal quartet Human
Nature became known for their cover Wham's Last Christmas, while
even the Bee Gees recorded their own cover of Silent Night.
There is no doubt that come December, Australians will be
celebrating Christmas with as much gusto as their northern
hemisphere cousins. They'll just be doing it in their
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