Mele Kalikimaka, Hawaiian for Merry Christmas, has long been one of the go-to Christmas songs for ukulele players ever since Bing Crosby recorded it in 1950. One of its easiest versions consists of only three chords for maximum accessibility!
While most holiday songs focus on snow-covered wonderlands, this Hawaiian classic celebrates sunshine and palm trees instead. Check out a version by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain that’ll have you moving your chair!
Mele Kalikimaka
While many Christmas songs describe snowy landscapes, Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian for Merry Christmas) focuses on sunshine and palm trees – making it the ideal song to learn if you want something a bit different for your Christmas concert or for teaching students. Bing Crosby famously recorded it and you can hear it in movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and L.A. Confidential. Our ukulele lesson provides all the chords, strumming pattern and picking techniques necessary to play this festive Hawaiian tune – it’s sure to give everyone involved in your ensemble a great time singing along! It’s great fun! Our lesson also covers chords strumming patterns, strumming patterns and picking techniques necessary for playing our festive Hawaiian tune. Our lesson also makes learning it fun! Plus singing along is super simple too if that is something new.
Jingle Bells
Many consider Jingle Bells an iconic Christmas tune, along with Santa, wreaths of holly and the colors red, white and green. But its origin wasn’t always associated with winter and Christmas celebration – in fact it originally commemorated Thanksgiving!
James Lord Pierpont wrote the lyrics for “Jingle Bells,” which was first published as “One Horse Open Sleigh” with a completely different melody and three new verses in 1857. However, its popular rendition maintained its chorus unaltered.
As its name suggests, this festive standard features sleigh bells – an instrument belonging to the family of percussion instruments – as the primary theme. Hung from ceiling or tree, sleigh bells make an audible jingling sound when struck by moving objects and can also be used during performances of morris dancing.
Jingle Bells made its first broadcast from space during a 1965 Gemini 6 mission by the Gemini 6 astronauts, who used it as a way to fool Mission Control by playing it on both harmonica and actual jingle bells smuggled aboard their ship! Since then, many artists including Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Gwen Stefani – have covered this song.
But the composer of Jingle Bells wasn’t just an outraged protestor: he was also quite mischievous. Born to an abolitionist Unitarian minister father in Boston, he quickly sought adventure far away from home; joining a whaling ship crew before heading west in hopes of making good on California Gold Rush dreams.
Pierpont eventually relocated to Savannah, Georgia where he took on the organist position at his brother’s church as pastor. While writing ballads, light opera, and polkas he eventually hit upon Jingle Bells as his signature tune.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is one of those rare Christmas songs that is more introspective and reflective of WWII’s tragedy. Written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, it first made an appearance in Judy Garland’s 1944 MGM movie Meet Me in St. Louis when Judy sang it to comfort Margaret O’Brien when moving their family from St. Louis to New York.
Bing Crosby first performed “Crazy Love” with The Andrews Sisters in 1950 and many artists since have covered it, including Jimmy Buffet and Tori Amos – two renowned examples.
Professional guitarists from UG Guitar have created an arrangement for the ukulele that’s suitable for beginners or more advanced players to play this holiday classic, perfect for beginners or experienced players alike. It features an optional strumming pattern which can either be played on the downbeat or offbeat for added swing, or simply played as just melody line and strung offbeat for a more relaxing version. Easy and great sounding!
Sleigh Ride
If you’re in search of winter ukulele music to transport you away on horseback with all of its comforts (warm blankets and hot chocolate in a thermos) this fingerstyle instrumental version by Middle Island, NY’s Viggy may just do the trick. She performs solo on this tune originally composed by Leroy Anderson in 1948 with lyrics written by Mitchell Parish in 1950 – she plays her Flight Mustang tenor ukulele during this performance.
Though this song is commonly associated with Christmas, its composer, Leroy Anderson, did not intend it as such when writing it in 1944 while on leave from World War II service in Woodbury Connecticut during a particularly hot summer. Anderson felt a sleigh ride might provide welcome respite for local children to escape the intense heat and found inspiration to write his piece that July day while serving with the Army during World War II service.
Arthur Fiedler and his Boston Pops Orchestra recorded this song for Phil Spector’s holiday album A Christmas Gift for You in 1948, where it quickly became a classic winter tune. Since then, however, many other artists have recorded versions of it, most notably The Ronettes who covered it on A Christmas Gift for You recorded by Phil Spector a year later and have continued performing it as part of their holiday repertoire ever since.
As with other popular standards, this one is easily cover-able and there are numerous versions to choose from. Most include the standard melody and lyrics while some add their own touch by including more playful elements like chestnuts “pop-pop-pop-ing” or playful pauses in the melody; others even add additional lyrics such as The Andrews Sisters did in 1950.
What I love most about this tune is that it doesn’t bring back memories of loved ones who have passed on or of Christmases gone by; rather, it is simply a joyful celebration of an enjoyable experience with friends in any season – no matter the temperature! Even with many adaptations (Carpenters creating their version and Sesame Street altering it to read “birthday”) this remains one of my favorite winter songs.