So what is a ‘Christmas Drive Playlist’?
Simply put – it is a playlist of Christmas music to accompany you on a drive during the holiday season. However, over my thirty-some years of making these ‘playlists’, I’ve developed certain rules. “Jeez – John,” (or Waba if you prefer) “can’t you just make a playlist of Christmas songs?” Well of course I can – but at some point, EVERYBODY gets tired of ‘Step Into Christmas’.
So how did these ‘rules’ start? When I started making playlists professionally; well, maybe not professionally, but it started when my girlfriend, and eventual wife, made a Christmas cassette of Christmas pop music for our friends in ’86.
Working at a record store introduced me to a new level of pop Christmas music. Through various albums and 45’s, I created a master cassette tape complete with an introduction by Desi and me. From there we made 37 copies for our friends and family adding a personal message to each person at the end of each tape. When done they were wrapped and mailed out.
Thirteen years later we repeated this by creating a cd. Enlisting the help of my brothers, Lee as a graphic artist and Dave’s access to a color printer, we created a cd case. Now with 3 kids, Naomi being born that October, we added an intro with all contributing except, of course, Naomi. With the intro and a new list of songs, 30 plus CDs were burned, packaged and mailed out.
The ‘Christmas Drive’ was my attempt to have Christmas music during our drives during the holidays but most importantly for our drive up North to the Daments. With Desi in Healthcare, scheduling Christmas with her family always had some level of logistical gymnastics. Working with Desi’s schedule I always pledged to get us where we needed to be regardless of time or hour. If it meant leaving Neshkoro at 11 that night and getting home at 2 am, I had my Christmas Drive music to accompany me, and my 4 sleeping passengers. 
It is through these circumstances I developed my ‘rules’ for creating a Christmas Drive playlist. The last rule comes from a tradition I developed – the yearly purchase of two Christmas albums before the holidays. These ‘rules’ help me plan a playlist I can enjoy and share with others that have thought and design, and hopefully, some level of repeatability and yet still allows discovery for new music – after making playlists for thirty-some years.
The Rules:
- Overall theme
- No repeats
- Build in blocks
- One seasonal non-Christmas song
- One non-seasonal song
- Run 2 and a half to 3 hours
- Song from each purchased album
Explanation of Rules:
Overall theme: This seems obvious but I see many playlists were people just pull in a various artist album that becomes their ‘theme’. That’s not a theme, that’s a marketing plan. I have made playlists with the following themes: Female vocalist, heavy metal, sad songs, old songs. And while I work towards a theme, it is the first rule I break because I think any playlist needs to have variety and thus surprises. And this doesn’t always work. My sister Hope found my playlist last year while entertaining guests for the holidays. It didn’t take too long to discover that last year’s playlist’s theme was heavy metal. After traversing a few of the blocks they switched to something more traditional.
No repeats: You cannot put the same song the playlist – no matter how different it is done. Yes, Dio’s version of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ is very different from Ray Conniff’s version. Ray Conniff has plenty of Christmas songs, pick another one. It is these decisions that put the ‘fun’ into creating a playlist. You can always add Ray Conniff’s version next year.
Build in blocks: Years ago radio stations when from ‘Two for Tuesday’ to ‘Block Party Weekend’. The concept here is a theme within a theme. So while your playlist theme may be heavy metal, it doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to work in some traditional songs to add to the variety.
One seasonal non-Christmas song: This is to remind me we are not all Christians but we all love the holidays. When I moved to Deerfield in ’75 it was the first time I hung around Jewish families. Pop Hanukkah songs are no different than pop Christmas songs. It feeds that music discovery I look for and certain push on others to strive for.
One non-seasonal song: This is, initially, ‘hiding something in the picture’. The point isn’t to put ‘Highway to Hell’ after ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ (though you could with Dio’s version). Look for something more subtle, for example, last year’s heavy metal theme led me to include Scorpion’s ‘Lady Starlight’.
Run 2 and a half to 3 hours: No reason except my in-laws are 2 hours and 45 minutes driveway to driveway. I believe there is an ancient document that states a ‘road trip’ must be a minimum of 2 hours.
Song from each purchased album: I’m sure I am one of the few people you know who still purchase music. This is just a blatant attempt to justify my purchases. Every year while we rearrange the furniture and decorate I pull out all my Christmas cd’s and play through all of them in some weird random shuffle – beginning, and ending, with that year’s new purchases. Yes, I know there’s something wrong with me – I just don’t want to change it.
This year I will be trying something new. I will be sharing this year’s Christmas Drive playlist publically and building it online – changing and rearranging it until its final form the week of Christmas. Follow this year’s Christmas Drive playlist or check out past playlists.
Past Christmas Drive Playlists