Songs for Christmas 2011: MICHAEL BUBLÉ, "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN"

Michael Bublé, Canadian singer, has also turned into Christmas this year. He has released a complete album full of Christmas classics like this "Santa Claus is coming to town".

Video "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN", Michael Bublé:

Lyrics:
You better watch out
you better not cry
you better not pout
I'm telling you why
('cos) Santa Claus is coming to town.
Oh, let's go...
(Repeat twice)
I mean the big fat man
with the long white beard
he's coming to town.

Video "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN", Michael Bublé TV performance:

Complete lyrics:
You better watch out
you better not cry
you better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He's making a list
he's checking it twice
he's gonna find out
who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He sees you when you're sleeping
and he knows when you're awake
he knows if you've been bad or good
so be good for goodness sake.
(Repeat chorus)
Let's go boys
Now, he sees you when you're sleeping
and he knows when you're awake
he knows if you've been bad or good
so be good for goodness sake.
(Repeat chorus twice)
I mean the big fat man
with the long white beard
he's coming to town.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Christmas means "Feast day of Christ".
The day known as Christmas Day is celebrated on the 25th of December (This date is different for Orthodox Christians). Christmas is one of the holiest times of the year, when it is believed by Christians that God sent Jesus to be born and to live among people and to save sinners. The other important Christian Holy Days are at Easter when the death and resurrection of Jesus are celebrated. The season of preparing for Christmas is called Advent and begins on a Sunday about four weeks before Christmas Day. The Christmas Season (called Christmastide) ends on January 6, known as the Epiphany or the Twelfth Day of Christmas.
Christmas is celebrated by Christian people all over the world, and is also kept as a time of celebration by many people who are not Christian but enjoy the traditions. The traditions are different from country to country, but they nearly always include a feast, giving gifts or cards, and enjoying church or public festivities such as singing Christmas songs.
Christmastime, as it is often called, is in the winter of the Northern Hemisphere, at a time when there were already ancient festivals. Some of the traditions that are used for Christmas are older than Christmas, or come from other non-Christian traditions such as Yule. Other festivals at this time of year include Jewish Hanukkah.
Modern traditions of Christmas often focus on the giving of gifts. Shops use this time of year to sell a lot of goods, and so start advertising for "Holiday Season" shopping for at least a month before Christmas, often showing a Santa Claus.

In English speaking countries, where presents are usually given on Christmas Day, Santa Claus, (or Father Christmas) is usually thought of as coming on Christmas Night, when his magic sleigh is pulled across the sky by reindeer, and he comes into houses through the chimney. The English tradition is to hang up stockings (or long socks) in front of the fireplace. Santa Claus would traditionally fill the socks or shoes with nuts, raisins, chocolates and an orange. Nowadays children usually get much more expensive presents, and have the presents in a big pile under the Christmas tree.
Another Christmas tradition is the sending of cards to friends and relatives. These contain warm greetings and may also have a letter telling all the things that have happened to the person or family during the year.

Video of basic Christmas vocabulary:


Video "A BRIEF HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS":

Play these quizzes about Christmas:
(1) http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/play-with-friends/quiz-christmas
(2) http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-32497.php

"HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)", A CLASSIC LENNON XMAS SONG+THE FRAY'S COVER VERSION

We have found a cover version of one of John Lennon's classic songs, his Christmas song "HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)". Here is the video of The Fray's version with English & Spanish subtitles and Lennon's audio version with Spanish translation subtitles. Enjoy!

Video "HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)", The Fray:

Audio "HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)", John Lennon:

"LAST CHRISTMAS", WHAM! (Another old Xmas song)

Another classic Christmas song from the 1980s by the duo Wham!, "Last Christmas". Surely you've heard it before...


Video "LAST CHRISTMAS", Wham:


Link to Songs page for video with English subtitles & Spanish translation on screen.

Songs for Christmas 2011: MICK HUCKNALL, "HAPPY THIS CHRISTMAS"

As we already explained in December last year, in Britain there's a struggle every Christmas among singers and pop groups to become the number 1 bestselling single in the charts during the Christmas holidays. So, every year, many of the greatest artists of the moment try to reach number 1 on Christmas Eve. The first one to appear this 2011 is Mick Hucknall, ex-leader of the group Simply Red, who does his first solo-work with this Christmas song "HAPPY THIS CHRISTMAS".

Video "HAPPY THIS CHRISTMAS", Mick Hucknall (Christmas 2011):

"HAPPY THIS CHRISTMAS", Mick Hucknall.
Year after year
life whizzing by
here's December
now Christmas is here
tell me the things you remember.
Singing our favourite songs
lets forgive and forget
all the things that we hope
won't go wrong.
CHORUS
People come together
from all over the world,
we'll all come together
tell me can you feel it?
I hope you're happy this Christmas.
Are you cheering for Christmas?
(all over the world)
Looking at the world
wondering where this is going.
The people you love,
the life you have seen,
are we growing?
Singing our favourite songs
so lets forgive and forget
and fill the world with happiness tonight.

Repeat CHORUS
(A merry merry Christmas
Are you happy this Christmas?
all over the world)