Some songs are born to be played at Christmas. Others have Christmas thrust upon them.
“Jingle Bells” and “Let It Snow” never name a holiday. The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” does conclude each chorus with the word “Christmastime,” but it’s not about the season. “My Favorite Things” made the yuletide playlist just for mentioning brown paper packages tied up with string.
In that vein, when Fleet Foxes released “White Winter Hymnal” on their debut album in 2008, there was nothing to mark it as holiday material beyond its title and lyrics that mention snow. The tune and the LP both were hits with critics, and songwriter Robin Pecknold told Mojo magazine that the lyrics were about the loss of innocence. “From first grade to high school I spent every day with the same bunch of kids,” he said. “And it was weird to see how people I had known so long would change so quickly — suddenly they’re drug dealers. I hated it. How did our friendships become less important than wearing a backwards baseball cap?”
The song wasn’t immediately associated with Christmas. WXPN played the track all year long — still does, for that matter — but the die was cast when a cappella group Pentatonix, which rose to fame via a televised singing contest, included it on their 2014 album “That’s Christmas to Me.” Their version of the song has more than 100 million views on YouTube, vs. about 24 million for the original. Nowadays you’re liable to hear it sung by the choir at your kids’ elementary school concert.
