Member Since: 8/18/2013
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http://www.avclub.com/article/why-ma...ault:1:Default
Quote:
Yet musically, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is hard to pin down as being from a specific era, which helps its enduring appeal. The song begins with a sparkling bit of percussion that resembles an antique music box or a whimsical snow globe. As it progresses, other seasonal percussive signifiers emerge: celebratory church-like bells, cheerful sleigh bells, and an underlying rhythmic beat that sounds like the loping pace of a horse or reindeer. These sounds echo religious and secular musical touchstones, without veering blatantly too much in either direction, and give the song an upbeat, joyous tone.
As Carey noted in a 1994 video interview, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was meant to be “fun,” she says. “It’s very traditional, old-fashioned Christmas. It’s very retro, kind of ’60s.” In other interviews, Afanasieff name-checked Phil Spector, whose A Christmas Gift For You LP is considered classic. It’s an apt influence: A lush bed of keyboards, reminiscent of a small-scale Wall Of Sound, cushions the song’s cheery rhythms, while a soulful vocal chorus adds robust oohs, tension-creating counter-melodies, and festive harmonies. Most notably, however, the song’s jaunty piano chords and melody keep the song merrily bouncing along.
In this way, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” transcends its seasonal association and taps into something far deeper and more pervasive, something people struggle with year-round. While the song certainly can’t be divorced from the holiday—what with the gift-driven double entendre in the title and chorus—it’s not limited by its Christmas setting, either. Afanasieff said in the ASCAP interview, “I think people like this positive love song, because it’s interchangeable. Anybody can sing it to anybody—it’s about everybody… from father to child or mother to child or wife to husband.”
Yet such ambiguity makes “All I Want For Christmas Is You” incredibly mutable. The song can just as easily be interpreted as a melancholic song about unrequited love, especially because it’s all crescendo and no denouement: Listeners never find out if the main character actually gets her wish—much less if the person she’s confessing her love to actually feels the same way. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is a one-sided confession of wants and desires, not a song describing or celebrating a consummated relationship. “Honestly, the lyrics, to me, come off as hopelessly sad,” Williems says. “I’ve read the critical reception section of the song’s Wikipedia page, and I can’t help but think the critics weren’t really listening. One critic seems to claim there is a ‘hint of longing,’ which might be the understatement of the century.
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Good read
I remember another article last year that examined the musical structure of the song and tried to explain why it was so catchy does anyone have it?
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