SeedSing's Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 16 - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

ed note: This article was originally published on December 16th, 2015

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a new awesome holiday song for every day of Advent. This is the greatest music of the season. Enjoy.

Day 16: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by The Simpsons

Opened doors: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen

For the Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music, I'm going to talk about the classic, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

This is a real, authentic holiday song that I actually enjoy. I remember singing this in the school choir an an elementary student. I remember singing it amongst friends all the way through high school. And now, I'm starting to hear my three year old sing it, and it's making me sing along with him. It's a great song about an outsider overcoming adversity and, basically, saving the day.

The song was written in 1949 by Johnny Marks and it's still as popular today as it was when it came out 66 years ago. This is truly a generational song. Many famous performers have recorded versions of this song. People like Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Paul Anka, Burl Ives, The Jackson 5 and Paul McCartney just to name a few. But, I prefer the 1949 original. This song is so popular, they made a movie entirely based on the tune. The movie is fantastic too. Check out the original one that's an animated/claymation movie, it's really great.

Let's look at the song. As I said, it's about an outsider that's needed in a desperate time of need. But, it starts off looking grim for Rudolph. First of all, the reindeer has an abnormality. All the other reindeer look similar, but Rudolph, he has a shiny red nosed. The song even claims that "you could even say it glows". Damn, that must be a really bright red nose. Then, poor Rudolph gets picked on by the other reindeer. They, "used to laugh and call him names". That's brutal. Poor Rudolph. They wouldn't even let him play games with them. What a bunch of dicks. But, then it's starting to look grim outside on Christmas Eve. Santa doesn't like the look of the weather that he will be flying through. This is when Santa steps up his game, acts like an adult, finally, and speaks up for Rudolph. As the song says, "then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you glide my sleigh tonight". Way to step up Santa. I like your tactics. He doesn't bad mouth the other reindeer for picking on Rudolph, no, he just politely asks Rudolph, in front of all the other reindeer, if he wants to be a leader. I love it. Rudolph jumps at the chance to lead and he does a kick ass job. He does such a good job, the other reindeer stop picking on him and as the song goes, "then how the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee. Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history". They like him so much now, they say that he will be remembered for all of time as a hero. Children and other reindeer will look up to Rudolph. He's not an outcast anymore, he's the hero.

This is such a good song. It has everything you could want. There's a conflict, an older, wiser adult steps in and the one that was picked on, saves the day. Does it get any better than that? And this is a great time of year to have this song. The holidays can sometimes be a bummer, so why not have a song about overcoming adversity and triumphing. It's phenomenal. There's other versions, I remember singing added lyrics after original verses. Stuff like after "you could even say it glows", we'd say, "like a lightbulb!" Or "wouldn't let him join in any reindeer games", we'd say, "like Monopoly!". Everybody knows the version I'm talking about. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" is a perfect holiday song. I love it, my wife loves it and my kids love it. I'm sure about 99 percent of the people out there love this song. Go listen to all iterations of it, but if you want the best, listen to the original. And during this holiday, if you're feeling stressed, put yourself in Rudolph's shoes. He overcame teasing and being secluded to become a hero.

Rudolph is a true inspiration.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial  Man podcast. He was picked on when he was little because all the other kids could not deal with how handsome Ty was. Get caught up in Ty's good looks by following him on twitter. @tykulik.