Christmas Songs Written For Movies

Most of the holiday tunes that have flooded radio stations, TV commercials and grocery-store speakers over the past month come with origins that date back for decades. It's hard to craft an original Christmas song that will stick the way Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" or Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" have, but a handful of holiday movies have attempted such a feat, with varying degrees of longevity. Here are some holiday-playlist staples (and one that was just too great not to mention) that hailed from movies and TV specials.

Bing Crosby -- "White Christmas" (written by Irving Berlin)
From "Holiday Inn" (1942)


Thurl Ravenscroft -- "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel)
From the animated special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1966)


Faith Hill -- "Where Are You, Christmas?" (written by James Horner, Will Jennings and Mariah Carey)
From the movie "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000)


Judy Garland -- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane)
From "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944)


Danny Elfman -- "What's This?" (written by Danny Elfman)
From "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)


Danny Elfman & Cast -- "Making Christmas" (written by Danny Elfman)
From "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)


Josh Groban -- "Believe" (written by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri)
From "The Polar Express" (2004)


Vince Guaraldi Trio -- "Christmas Time Is Here" (written by Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi)
From the TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)


John Williams, composer -- "Somewhere In My Memory" (lyrics by Leslie Bricusse)
From "Home Alone" (1990)


Billy Mack -- "Christmas Is All Around"*
From "Love Actually" (2003)
*It's technically a holiday cover of The Troggs' "Love Is All Around," but Billy Mack (played by Bill Nighy) is too original for us to not include this gem.