This gentle acoustic number is the most real a Christmas song has ever been.

 

It’s almost Christmas, are you feeling especially festive yet? If you’re from England, you’re probably not. We don’t really do Christmas – not out of any scrooge-like mentality, but mainly because the season’s feeling comes from a few certain characteristics. You know, like snow and all that other stuff we don’t get here.

So this year I’m grateful for Dukes Of New York dropping their festive song A Realistic Christmas, which is exactly as the title describes. A frank and accurate description on the realism of Christmas, delivered with jaunty spring-in-step instrumentation and vocal melody.

Interestingly though, this song avoids the immediate danger that singing about the reality of Christmas poses. It doesn’t get weighed down in negativity. It remains upbeat and hopeful, despite the broken wishes of snow on Christmas day and the financial pressure the season brings.

With the exception of sharing and being kind on the day (English folk don’t help anybody), it manages to capture the feeling of the day that everybody shares. Through the gross expenditure and disappointing weather, there is still hope for something good. That’s the true meaning of Christmas, after all. It’s a day of hope, no matter how obscured.