a few days ago Vox posted a video that
attempted to answer the question what
makes songs sound Christmassy they
apparently found the answer D minor 7
flat 5 does the evidence they used to
support this claim his rather shaky at
best they don't even consult a
musicologist or a musician or composer
rather a journalism professor by the
name of Adam Ragusa the video frames
this whole discussion by taking a look
at Mariah Carey's all I want for
Christmas is you and taking a look at a
certain chord progression within that
song and comparing it to Irving Berlin's
white Christmas so let's take a look at
this chord progression the key of C
would be F go to D minor 7 flat 5 going
to C doesn't really sound all that
Christmasy when I play it like that
almost sounds like a fan finger but that
should tell you is that there's no such
thing as intrinsic emotional meaning in
chords or chord progressions that all
depends on context so what might sound
Christmassy and Irving Berlin's white
Christmas does not necessarily sound
Christmasy here let's take a look at
another herbing Berlin song how deep is
the ocean which funnily enough is on the
2006 Irving Berlin's white Christmas
album in how deep is the ocean you can
find the exact same chord progression in
the exact same place measures 26 and 27
as white Christmas
it's a beautiful song but it certainly
isn't a Christmas standard and maybe it
doesn't even really feel all that
Christmasy but why should that be it has
the same chords as the Christmas chords
right now you might find some
explanation for the Christmas 'no
suffice chord progression through the
theoretical justification for the chord
progression which is known as modal
interchange now the first chord is f and
comes from the key of C major the second
chord is a D minor seven flat five and
that comes from the key of C minor
basically what you have is you start in
major and then you go to minor and then
finally to end out the chord progression
you go back to major for the C major
chord so this back and forth between
major minor major minor instills a sort
of bittersweet quality I suppose into
the chord progression that might be
exploited for different sorts of
emotional contacts the juxtaposition of
happiness and sorrow is kind of a
hallmark of early 20th century American
songwriting otherwise known as Tin Pan
Alley songwriting so many Christmas
songs evoke bitter sweetness in one way
or another check out the original lyrics
to have yourself a merry little
Christmas
they're quite dark there are hundreds of
songs that toy with this feeling and for
good reason most of these songs are
written for the stage the context for a
lot of these songs the stage has been
lost throughout the years unless you
actually see it on Broadway and so
perhaps because of this the vast
majority of the songs that have survived
and persisted in the public
consciousness have been Christmas songs
from this era because of this the
harmonic melodic devices that were used
in that particular era of American
songwriting are now closely associated
with Christmas it's just the most
Christmasy thing in the world I don't
know why this is what makes songs sound
Christmasy they sound like early 20th
century pop music not D minor seven flat
five I think the real question of the
video is a little bit more interesting
they kind of loaded to it but avoided
explicitly answering because they kind
of wanted a little bit more click baby
you know secret chord to Christmas what
our question is why is it that all I
want for Christmas has endured as a
popular Christmas standard and maybe
other songs of that era and this era
haven't or won't the Vox video does make
a great point comparing the instrumental
arrangement and recording of all I want
for Christmas to Phil Spector's
Christmas baby please come home
there's a similar piano riff there
similar brash back
on vocals and also a similar feeling of
oak by the signature Phil Spector wall
of sound the term used to describe his
signature production what it's worth
Christmas baby please come home is also
on the Mariah Carey Christmas album so
there is that beyond that all I want for
Christmas is a wonderful synthesis of
three separate styles of American
popular song the lush evocative harmony
of Irving Berlin the maximalist and
invigorating production of Phil Spector
and the exciting fireworks at the R&B
tinged pop vocal performance of Mariah
Carey this masterful blending of the
sounds of the 40s the 60s and the 90s
help give that timeless feeling that we
associate with Christmas so at the end
of it what makes a Christmas song sleigh
bells of course nothing else but sleigh
bells so thank you so much for watching
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