**Important disclaimer: the author of this list of songs - that are critical to the heart-warming annual drive home for Christmas - has been cruelly banned by the editor from including Chris Rea’s eponymous song in it.**
My all-time greatest “Driving Home for Christmas" songs compilation is an admirable mash-up of your traditional fare and some blindside options, that might just resonate.
Read on and comment below to let me know if I've opened your eyes (and hearts) to a whole new batch of Christmas songs for your annual drive home (scrooges feel free to comment with your favourites too).
1. Here I Go Again, White Snake
“An' here I go again on my own, going down the only road I’ve ever known”. Right up here in the number one spot, what a great song to hammer out as you zip along the empty lanes of the M25 at 9pm on Christmas Eve, back to the parentals and the only childhood home you’ve ever known.
2. I’ll Find My Way Home, Jon and Vangelis
A classic: a bit emotional, a bit twinkly, a reminder of that eighties Christmas holiday disco back home where you snogged your parents’ neighbour’s son and had to get his dad to come collect you both at 1am on Christmas Eve when you realised you didn’t have the money for a taxi - no? Just me??
3. We Are Family, Sister Sledge
Ahh, a feel-good tub thumper. Christmas jumpers out and on for the journey, and maybe one of those little portable disco balls in the car to get the party started as you sit in traffic.
4. A Spaceman Came Travelling, Chris de Burgh
No apologies, it’s definitely in the top five best Christmas songs for car journeys. Combining, as it does, nostalgia, vast distances, nods to the religious message and nothing less than the grand span of human history. Gulp.
5. Fairytale of New York
Because you have to have a couple that the whole family and different generations can sing along to when the gantry says the Dartford Tunnel is closed ahead. Smile, grin, cheers, it’s Christmas!
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6. I believe in Father Christmas, Greg Lake
Please see above.
7. The Three Kings, Cornelius
Preferably sung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge. A 19th-century stunning piece of classical choral music by the German composer. I can smell at once mulled wine, incense, perfume and the dust of centuries in church at midnight. Wonderful; speed me home.
8. Jingle Bells, x 25
If you have nursery-age children in the car, you can forget everything else on this list: you’ll find this is the only acceptable music for the next three hours.
9. Keeping the Dream Alive, Freiheit
A little left-field, I grant you, but it taps into that strange mixture of feelings perfectly: a yearning for times past, the warm glow of optimism as one year draws to a close: "Tonight the rain is falling, Full of memories, of people and places"…
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10. The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole
Got to, haven’t you? Anything that reminds your of your grandparents at this time of year is worth it. Yes it’s cheesy, but have you met Christmas? One big cheese-fest.
11. December Will Be Magic Again, Kate Bush
This is the counterbalance to the above. Spikey, a bit kooky, and everyone loves Kate Bush.
12. Stop the Cavalry, Jona Lewie
Dubba-dubba-dub-dub, dubba-dubba-dub… sing along now, everyone; we’re nearly there.
13. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Bing Crosby
Pass the Kleenex. gets me every time. And we can all pretend we’re going home to the Hollywood fairytale: massive house, roaring fire, a feast prepared, unfeasibly handsome men with perfect teeth looking strong in wool jumpers.
14. Road to Hell, Chris Rea
Or…. this. Had to get Chris in somehow and perhaps this is a more apposite song for us all.
If you are a fan of the gravel-voiced legend from Middlesbrough then you'll want to read about the time I interviewed him and his love of motorsport and Indian takeaway driving habits.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
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