A category that has yet to appear on this list is the one related to the advertising of Christmas. Commercials are designed to make us nostalgic or long for a season that may not be even close to reality. When this is achieved we connect that specific product with that feeling. To a lot of people Coca Cola is closely related to the holiday season, as it is to the summer season too. There is a misconception that the soft drink company invented the modern image of the jolly elf, so to many of us the Coke yearly TV commercial is just another of many interconnected pieces between Christmas and the product.
Though the song was originally released as a single from the band Train’s fifth album, Save Me San Francisco, in 2010 it has been labeled the Coke Xmas Anthem due to it being featured in the TV commercial that same year. Coca Cola has not shyer away from using popular bands in their advertisement, but the songs have rarely sustained a life of their own after the season. Shake Up Christmas is different though and has been able to garner significant air play, at least in the US, from that year on. It also appears on Train’s Christmas album Christmas in Tahoe from 2015.
The now modern classic was penned by Butch Walker and Pat Monahan and realtes a story about children asking Santa Claus for happiness and peace throughout the world. The singer later discusses that this Christmas wish is more likely to happen if we all just treat each other well. In the end it really encompasses the idea of Christmas and in some part the religious message without involving religion.
In a way Train manages to spread a deep message by riding on a wave of Coca Cola and that is why it is number 16 on the Christmas List of Songs.
-Andrew Tobias
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