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Welcome back to Advent of Carols from VerseNotes. I’m Jerry Towler, and today we’re taking our second break from Christmas hymns to talk about three wildly popular Christmas songs that are not, shall we say, paragons of Christian virtue.
Actually, after some reflection, it turns out one of them is fine, which kind of surprises me.
But I think each of them reveals something true about desire, disappointment, and what we think we deserve at Christmas. That’s why they endure. They’re honest about what they want—maybe more honest than we are sometimes.
Today’s tunes are “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, “Last Christmas” by Wham!, and “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt.
And if you want to listen to any of those songs before we dive in, you’ll find some links in the show notes—or just enter any department store.
Let’s start with Mariah Carey.
This is a ubiquitous Christmas song. It’s practically the national anthem of Target through November and December. It was originally released in 1993, and surprisingly, from the perspective of 2025, it wasn’t an instant hit.
But since streaming music became possible, it’s hit number one on at least one Billboard chart every single December since 2000.
When I went looking at the lyrics, I kind of expected it to be this treasure trove of pseudo-Christian silliness, just based on its popularity alone. But to my surprise, it really isn’t.
It’s actually kind of a traditional love song, in the lineage of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. The big theme is the singer misses her significant other. And that’s really it.
All the Christmas lights, the children laughing, the sleigh bells—all the accoutrements and trappings of Christmas—all they do is remind her that she’s alone instead of with him.
This line, “I just want you for my own,” is just exclusivity. Something has taken him away.
I love this song. I own both Mariah Carey Christmas albums, and I play them both all the time during Christmas. I also definitely think the first one is better. So I don’t want to take anything away from Mariah Carey here.
But since this is an Advent podcast, I do want to redirect a little.
Longing is real. The absence of love is real. And Advent doesn’t deny that feeling—it dignifies it. It points it where it really belongs: to awaiting the coming of Christ.
Israel waited. Simeon and Anna waited. Longing is part of the story.
Maybe that’s part of why this song pops back up every year. The longing doesn’t go away. We are still waiting.
Let’s move on to a song that’s not just on every department store playlist, but possibly the most overplayed Christmas song ever recorded: “Last Christmas.”
It was released in 1984 and credited to the duo Wham! But I learned this week that George Michael actually did 100% of it himself—so it’s really a George Michael song, despite the credit.
Here’s what the lyrics say.
Last Christmas, a man fell in love. The relationship did not go very well. He realizes he was used. He’s become a “shoulder to cry on” for someone with a “soul of ice.”
But this year, he believes he’s found real love.
The emotional imbalance here is real. We all know the pain of being more invested in a relationship than the other person. But the singer is not entirely faultless.
He says “he meant it” last year. He says he’s “once bitten” and therefore “twice shy.” And yet he says that if they kissed him again, he’d fall for it again.
So what we get is actually this endless cycle of dating and heartbreak, repeating it again and again every Christmas.
Now, I’m not trying to solve dating here. This is an Advent podcast.
So instead, let’s look at what’s really going on.
George Michael has made a yearly sacrament from a repeated mistake. The spiritual posture of this song is hoping for eternal love from someone who never cared about you in the first place at all.
That’s not what Advent is about.
Advent is about real hope, real love, real light.
So go ahead and play this song—if you can stand to hear it again. But remember, there’s a much bigger and better reality than the lyrics ever imagine.
And also, maybe don’t reinterpret heartbreak as destiny every single December.
All right, let’s move on to number three.
This is the main event today. It is, in my opinion, the worst Christmas song on the planet. There is no question in my mind.
If fractal sinfulness ever needed a theme song, this is it.
Recorded and released in 1953, “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt was that year’s top-selling Christmas song. Even its covers—and there are a lot—have been popular. Kylie Minogue’s cover went top 40.
This song is basically a Christmas list, right?
It’s a woman asking for stuff from someone she calls “Santa Baby.” Maybe it’s literally Santa, or maybe it’s not, but either way, she’s clearly a kept woman.
Here are the things she lists:
- a sable coat,
- a light blue 1954 Cadillac convertible,
- a yacht,
- a platinum mine,
- a duplex,
- checks,
- Tiffany ornaments, and
- a ring.
This is not a Christmas list. This is a Forbes profile.
And it’s not just the list of things. Eartha Kitt delivers these lyrics in this incredible sensual voice, and the implication is obvious. She’s a woman who is trading sex—or at least relationship—for stuff.
It’s not romance; it’s bargaining.
Now, if we’re extremely generous, maybe this is satire. Maybe it’s a parody of greed. You know, she doesn’t just want jewelry—she wants the entire diamond mine. Ha! Ha!
But honestly, I don’t think that’s what’s happening.
Because listen: she says she deserves it.
She sings, “Next year I could be just as good if you’ll check off my Christmas list.” She complains that this year, she’s missed all the fun. She’s missed all the casual sex she could have had. And therefore, by abstaining from that, she’s earned this indulgence.
This is, if you will, the theology of Santa-as-sugar-daddy.
I regret even thinking that phrase, much less saying it. Sorry.
Anyway, here’s the thing that really bugs me about this song, and it’s not that the song exists. Listen to and sing whatever you want. I actually kind of enjoy this song; I mean, Kitt does an incredible job here, and it’s popular for a reason.
It’s the deserving that drives me crazy.
Because it connects to things that we teach our kids.
We don’t teach them about transactional sex, probably. But we do tell them that Santa’s making a list and checking it twice—and if they’re good, they’ll get what they want.
That’s literally the same message Eartha Kitt is delivering in this song.
And I don’t think that’s the lesson that we should deliver to little kids. Not that it’s a great lesson for adults, either.
Listen: you don’t deserve a yacht. Or a mine. Or a duplex.
Every breath you breathe is given by God. Given.
It’s a gift. Which means you don’t have to earn it.
Hebrews 1:3 says, Jesus Christ upholds the universe by the word of His power—for free.
Grace is not transactional. Grace is freely given.
All we can do is fall on our knees.
These three songs, I think, reveal three different postures for Christmas.
You can enjoy them. They’re great songs. Go ahead and sing them.
But maybe listen to the words—and check out who else is listening while you do.
Thanks for joining me today for Advent of Carols. If you’d like to help make more projects like this possible, check out VerseNotes Commons at: versenotes.org/commons.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a real Carol of Christmas.
If you’ve got thoughts about today’s carol, I’d love to hear them. You can always reach me at [email protected].
And if you enjoyed the episode, the best gift you can give me this Christmas is to pass it along to someone else who would enjoy it too.