10 Alternative Christmas songs worth listening to

You know Christmas is just around the corner when you get slapped about the head left, right and centre by Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas". The amount of times this song is played over and over and over again makes me wonder are there no other Christmas songs out there? Well the good news is yes there is. There are some great Christmas songs that are seldom played on mainstream TV or radio. I would like to share 10 of my favourites in this article.

Aimee Mann is perhaps most widely recognised from the brilliant haunting she did for the movie Magnolia in 1999. The song Calling on Mary comes from her 2006 Christmas album "One More Drifter in the Snow". The album comprises mainly of covers of such Christmas staples as "Have yourself a merry little Christmas", "White Christmas", "I'll be home for Christmas"....you get the drift. The album is beautiful in its simplicity and understatement and this original is a standout, it is beautifully melancholie and perfect to cosy up and listen to on a snowy winters evening.

At one point in the early 90s Bryan Adams was the biggest rock star on the planet...then he put out "Everything I do..I do for you" and it was played on every radio station repeated on the hour every hour for about 3 years. I think people may have got a little bit sick of Bryan Adams after that. Nevertheless this often overlooked Christmas tune is a true rock ballad classic and not played nearly enough during the Christmas season in my humble opinion.

I love the Eels, and I love dogs so this really is the perfect Christmas combination. This is a song from a B-sides album put out a few years back. They also have another Christmas song called "Everything's gonna be cool this Christmas" which is also worth checking out if you like this song.

This song has been covered thousands of time but it’s worth listening to the song one more time for this beautiful rendition. She and him are a duo of M Ward and Zooey Deschenal, yes that is the actress Zooey Deschenal. M Ward is a phenomenally talented singer songwriter and Zooey Deschenal compliments his minimalist guitar playing perfectly.

My Dad was a big Kinks fan and used to play this song over and over when I was a kid. Now I drive my kid’s nuts by playing it over and over to them.

OK I know this one is still played a lot but I had to throw it into the list. I just love this song it has a real warmth to it that is easy to relate to and I love to put this on the stereo when...well I’m driving home for Christmas. By the way it must be this version! Chris Rea, the original! Do not fall for the bad cover versions of this song!! OK I will calm down now.

This is a nice song which really captures what Christmas day is all about, the video is pretty cool as well.

From the 2003 album Ding Dong! This song is so good I could listen to it all year around.

Get out your ripped Jeans and leather Jackets, it’s the Ramones!! On the face of it this sounds like a terrible combination (The Ramones and Christmas) but really it’s rather good.

This song has been overplayed a little in recent years but it is still the most perfect bittersweet Christmas song ever written. This song is simply timeless, it’s just not Christmas without the Pogues "Fairy Tale of New York"

So there is the list, I hope you find a song or two that you like.

Happy Christmas Hubbers.