Three Days Until Christmas: “Thank God it’s Christmas” (Queen)

Not infrequently, songs about Christmas are half-hidden in the large repertoires of rock stars. But this does not make them any less intriguing than other, much more well-known episodes of their activity. This is the case, all things considered, also of this rock-romantic ballad by Queen, released as a single in 1984 without overselling, of course, but without even being a flop (in the United Kingdom it reached the top twenty-five places on the hit parade).
The song has the feel of a caress: intended for one’s love, one’s friends, the closest people. To show them that, “thank God”, Christmas is coming. To alleviate every difficulty of living between parentheses of serenity and bursts of hope.
“My friend, it’s been a long, hard year, but now it’s Christmas.”

Definitely a song that strikes on an emotional level, but surprises those who know the band more for their aggressive and at times provocative repertoire. But Christmas, evidently, is another matter: capable of making even rockers risk rhetoric.
Christmas is a special night, «This special night»; Luckily there is Christmas, at least once a year, «Thank God it’s Christmas / for one night»; Christmas, why not?, should always be there. Yes, because Queen also reaches the conclusions of pop, to the point of singing “Let it be Christmas every day”, let it be Christmas every day, and closing the piece – even!!! – with an explicit wish, «A very merry Christmas to you all». Yes, this is rhetorical…

And perhaps this is why many of Queen’s own fans have often discovered this song only in the anthologies published by the band over time. However, within a musical Christmas, a rock episode like this would also fit. After all, he says things that we all would like to hear, at least at Christmas.

This song is taken from the book “Le musiche del Natale” by Andrea Pedrinelli, courtesy of the author and publisher Ancora.