"INSKEEP: Depending on the song and who you are, those emotions may include joy, happiness, pleasant memories, depression, rage. There's another feeling that many people experience around the holidays - yearning. MILTON GUEVARA, BYLINE: Yearning is that feeling of longing for something. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHITE CHRISTMAS") BING CROSBY: (Singing) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."
"CARL WILSON: There's this sense of there's something that you want, there's something that you desire, but it's a little out of reach. GUEVARA: Since 2019, Wilson's been putting together an annual Christmas playlist. He says the yearning songs are some of his favorite. WILSON: Christmas songs are about missing people or wanting to be together with someone, you know, whether with your lover or with family or whatever it might be, and this question of whether or not you can be together. So even Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has that kind of undercurrent of, like, are we going to be together at Christmas?"
Christmas music evokes a wide range of emotions, including joy, pleasant memories, depression, rage, and yearning. Yearning combines melancholy and hope and denotes longing for something that feels just out of reach. Many holiday songs center on missing people or wanting to be together with a lover or family, and uncertainty about reunion creates an emotional undercurrent even in upbeat tracks. Curated playlists often highlight yearning songs. Classic lyrics such as "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and tunes like "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" capture that longing.
Read at www.npr.org
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