After Thanksgiving Day and until New Year's Eve, the airwaves, stores and malls are typically filled with traditional Christmas songs.
But while the traditional can bring joy and cheer to one's heart, the non-traditional — novelty songs for the season — are meant to bring laughter.
Here are Newsmax's top 10 novelty Christmas songs, listed in alphabetical order. Click the name of the song in order to listen to it.
"All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, 1948
Donald Yetter Gardner came up with the idea for this song in 1944 while teaching music at a Smithtown, New York public school, where he noted that many of the the boys in his second grade class spoke with a lisp because they missed one or more of their front teeth.
He whipped it out in 30 minutes, and at the time he didn't think it had any commercial value. However, when he sang it at a music teacher's conference four years later, another attendee had it published for Gardner.
It was immediately picked up by The Satisfiers, a singing group on Perry Como's radio show, but it really took off when Spike Jones and the City Slickers, a popular group at the time noted for wacky, humorous songs, recorded it.
Gardner said in a 1995 interview, "I was amazed at the way that silly little song was picked up by the whole country."
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late)" by The Chipmunks, 1958
This one was the brainchild of Ross Bagdasarian, who recorded it under the stage name of David Seville.
He created three high-pitched chipmunk characters — Alvin, Simon, and Theodore — by speeding up his recorded voice. He'd done that earlier in another popular novelty song, "The Witch Doctor."
It immediately became a huge Christmas hit, won several Grammys, and launched the Chipmunks franchise that included a TV show and comic books.
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy, 1979
This dark humor piece, done in a country music style, was performed by Elmo Shropshire under the name Elmo and Patsy.
It centers on a grandmother who decides to walk back home by herself on Christmas Eve after consuming way too much eggnog. Her lifeless body is discovered Christmas morning, with "hoof prints on her forehead, and incriminating Claus marks on her back."
Ever since that fateful event, "You may say there is no Santa, but as for me and Grandpa we believe."
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by Jimmy Boyd, 1952
Since this one was written by songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by singer Jimmy Boyd in 1952, it’s been re-recorded many times, most prominently by the Ronettes in 1963 and the Jackson Five in 1970.
It tells the story of a young child creeping down the stairs and discovering his mother kissing and playfully tickling Santa Claus, not realizing that "Santa Claus" is actually his father dressed up in a Santa costume.
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevey, 1953
Gayla Peevey was just 10 years old when she recorded this ditty about a little girl who doesn't want a doll for Christmas — "Only a hippopotamus will do."
What? Not even a pony?
Released by Columbia Records with "Are My Ears on Straight?" on the B-side, it quickly shot to the top of the charts, and Peevey performed the song for a November 1953 airing of "The Ed Sullivan Show."
Later, the Oklahoma City Zoo campaigned on the song's popularity to solicit funds to purchase a hippopotamus for Peevey. They met their goal, they presented it to Peavey, and she donated it back to the zoo, (which was the plan all along — the zoo was located in her place of birth).
"Leroy the Redneck Reindeer" by Joe Diffie, 1995
This song was initially released as a single, getting traction on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts in 1996. It was later included on Joe Diffie's album "Mr. Christmas," which was a mix of traditional Christmas music and newly penned songs.
It tells the story of one Christmas Eve when Rudolph was under the weather, so he called his redneck cousin Leroy to take over.
Leroy arrives at the North Pole in his bib overalls and a John Deere truckers cap.
That Christmas Eve Leroy hauled Santa's sleigh with his truck, carrying the other reindeer in the cab and bed.
"Nuttin' for Christmas" by Barry Gordon, 1955
Written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, this was an instant Christmas season hit, and just like "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause," it was re-recorded by numerous artists.
But the hands-down favorite was the one recorded by Barry Gordon, who had just turned seven a few days before Christmas that year.
The song's title says it all in this one.
He explains that every time he does something wrong, "somebody snitched on me!" Therefore, he's "gettin' nuttin' for Christmas," because he "ain’t been nuttin’ but bad."
"Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen, 1967
This was a sequel to The Royal Guardsmen's earlier hit, "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron." In this, Charlie Brown's fearless beagle and ace fighter pilot Snoopy, meets up against the Red Baron again on a freezing Christmas Eve.
The Red Baron has Snoopy in his sights after a long, arduous dogfight, but instead of going for the kill shot, he forces Snoopy to land his plane. The Red Baron follows him in and the two toast one another.
"Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" by Jeff Foxworthy, 1995
Foxworthy, who's known for his hilarious "You May Be a Redneck . . . " standup comedy routines, took his act to the musical stage with this one. It was a parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and included "'Twas the Night After Christmas" on the B-side.
The following year Foxworthy included it on his "Crank It Up: The Music Album."
"You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" by Thurl Ravenscroft, 1966
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Grinch trying to steal it, and all the joy it brings. This was originally written and composed for the 1966 animated special "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
Horror film icon Boris Karloff narrated the special, and because Ravenscroft wasn't named in the closing credits, Karloff is often mistakenly believed to have performed the song as well.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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