Christmas Classic Pulled by Music Provider Over Line About Guns

Another classic Christmas song has been pulled from rotation by a provider of music to department stores, according to a report by CNN.

Look out, Ralphie, they’ll be coming for your Red Ryder BB gun soon.

In recent years “Baby It’s Cold Outside” has been delisted by the censorious left for alleged sexism, this year the perennial “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” has been 1984ed.

 

Excerpt:

Danny Turner is the most consequential DJ you’ve never heard of.

Turner creates playlists for some of the world’s top retailers and brands to play in stores, restaurants and hotels as the global senior vice president of creative programing at Mood Media. The company bought Muzak, known for its elevator music, from bankruptcy in 2011. It reaches 150 million consumers every day, including customers at Target, Claire’s and jewelry brand Kendra Scott.

It’s Turner’s job to help set the mood for shoppers in stores — and to find songs that won’t drive workers crazy.
“The background music industry is still quite a thing,” Turner said. “Music is such an integral part of the store experience.”

…But brands are more closely scrutinizing their holiday music. Many radio stations have pulled “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” because of sexist lyrics. Mood Media also removed it from its catalog.

…This year, Mood Media is pulling “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” from its holiday playlists because the song includes a lyric about guns: “A pair of hop-a-long boots and a pistol that shoots.”

“What you don’t play can’t hurt you,” Turner said.

“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” was penned by Meredith Wilson (best known for 1957’s The Music Man) and was released in 1951.

Listen while you’re still allowed:

The classic Perry Como, Fontane Sisters version:

Bing Crosby’s take:

A personal favorite is a rendition by the Fruit Bats from a few years ago: