AbsurdBeats

Christmas songs are the bane of retail workers everywhere. It’s not that they’re bad—some are quite good!—but they are relentless.

And, to be honest, the worse rather than the better ones do tend to be played on repeat over a store’s speakers: the more gimmicky, cheesy, and bouncy, it seems, the more likely is some corporate manager to favor it. The better ones don’t go so well with sales, and the best songs?

The best Christmas songs are religious.

There are bad religious songs, of course, but the truly good approach the sublime: this is the music which twines the joyous and the somber together in recognition of a momentous event.

I am no longer awe-struck by that event, as such awe requires a faith I no longer have. But I can see—hear—that faith and awe in notes pouring out of and surrounding us before waving away nto the yonder blue.

My voice is still wobbly, but I remember what it felt like to sail it over that long O. It was a good feeling.

May you sail wherever you are, and wherever you may go.