15 NON-CHRISTMAS SONGS FOR YOUR WINTER PLAYLIST
It’s the holiday season, but not everyone loves holiday music. Whether you’ve heard the traditional Christmas songs too many times thanks to local radio stations starting on November 1st, or it’s not the holiday you personally celebrate, it’s still possible to enjoy listening to winter-themed songs to keep your spirits up through a long December. In fact, I think I feel a song coming on right now…
- “A Long December,” Counting Crows. Maybe this year will be better than the last? If it’s been too long since you’ve seen the ocean, I think you should. Na-na-na-na, yeaaah.
2. “God Only Knows,” The Beach Boys. What does this song have to do with the holidays or winter, you may ask? The movie “Love Actually” is the answer. Yes, it’s a Christmas movie, but the song doesn’t have the word “Christmas” in it, which is why it’s on this list. And (spoiler alert) it won’t be the last non-Christmas song used in a Christmas movie that will appear here.
3. “White Winter Hymnal,” Fleet Foxes. A beautiful song with a repetitive line and gorgeous harmonies about something incredibly sad. Perfect for a blustery gray winter’s day by the fire with the music cranked up.
4. “Cold Little Heart,” Michael Kiwanuka. Made famous by “Big Little Lies,” this song sends a chill up your spine every time you hear it.
5. “Forever Winter,” Taylor Swift. She grew up on a Christmas tree farm and even wrote a song about it, but this is the song that qualifies here. All this time, you didn’t know you needed to add this one to your music library.
6. “Cold As Ice,” Foreigner. You’ve seen it before, it happens all the time. You can’t deny those opening piano chords, which you probably air-play every time you hear them.
7. “A Hazy Shade of Winter,” The Bangles (covering Simon & Garfunkel). One of the best cover songs ever, this song was also the best thing to come out of the terrible movie version of “Less Than Zero.” I never get tired of hearing that burning opening riff. Look around!
8. “Run,” Snow Patrol. Because they have the word “snow” in their name and because the video shows dreamy Gary Lightbody walking around in the freezing cold. So wintery and moody and emo and sigh.
9. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” Bruce Springsteen. You can put his classic live cover of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” on another playlist. All the little pretties raise their hands for this one when it comes to the winter vibes.
10. “Mr. Brightside,” The Killers. I told you more Christmas movie songs would show up. If you’ve watched “The Holiday,” you know why this song is on this list. Everybody always sings along when this song plays, it’s just too catchy to ignore a full 20 years after it was released.
11. “Holiday Road,” Lindsey Buckingham. You found out long ago that the “Vacation” movies were their own genre of silliness, and now it’s a holiday tradtion for your family to watch “Christmas Vacation.” The infamously catchy theme song never mentions a specific holiday, which is why it’s a perfect match for this list.
12. “Put A Little Love In Your Heart,” Al Green and Annie Lennox. I’m pretty sure I just have to say “Bill Murray, Scrooged” and move on to the next entry, right?
13. “Sweater Weather,” The Neighbourhood. ‘Cause it’s too cold for you here.
14. “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” Billie Holiday. It’s a song about staying warm in the winter, she’s wearing a fur coar, and her last name is Holiday. My work here is done.
15. “Linus and Lucy,” Vince Guaraldi. Maybe I’m cheating with this last one because it’s from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” but it’s still valid because it contains no lyrics and yet it brings everyone joy.
*All songs available on your favorite music streaming services
