It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #3, and an infectious piece of Christmas cheer from the cast of Saturday Night Live.
#3: The Cast of Saturday Night Live, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" (2000)
It began on Saturday Night Live. On a snowy night in December 2000, NBC viewers tuning in to their favorite sketch comedy program were treated instead to a sonic slab of concentrated holiday cheer. Performed by Horatio Sanz and his backing band (which included a visibly nervous Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan busting out his most minimal of dance moves), the song extolled the virtues of Christmas. The same can be said of many songs. However, this one was different. The lyrics were single-minded in their pursuit of merriment, and the players, realizing this, seemed to struggle to contain it. They'd tapped into a wild, untamed version of holiday festivity, and knew they were no match.
For the next few Christmases, the song returned. Each year, around December, it would flare up in a fit of cheer, only to disappear back into the wintery ether. After 2004, it didn't return, and we thought we were safe. We thought we were cured. However, songs this infectious find a way of returning. In 2009, while researching covers during the recording sessions for his new album, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas was exposed to the song. It fused with his own musical sensibilities, mutating into an even catchier arrangement. When the song once again appeared on a 2011 edition of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, it was more powerful than ever.