Listen Up - Run Rudolph Run takes the lead as the Christmas song of 2008

December 4, 12:58 PMPop Culture ExaminerDominic Patten

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Every year there seems to be one Holiday tune that breaks from the herd.

It doesn't have to be a new song, in fact, in the world of Christmas songs it rarely is, but it is that one piece of music that is in every shop, every department store, every parking garage, every elevator and everywhere else you go.

In my totally non-empirical way, let me tell you that this year's number #1 Christmas tune is "Run, Rudolph, Run."

Like a plot device from a lousy sitcom, I can't walk into a Starbucks, post office or get on an escalator in the past week without hearing a version of the 1958 homage to the little guy with the bright nose.

There's no Rudolph running, but check out the Pop Culture Holiday Gift Guide here

It's like Rachel Zoe suddenly became its stylist or something, it is everywhere.

Surprisingly it is not on the soundtrack to Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon's Four Christmases - though some nice tracks by Tom Petty and Sarah MacLachan are. I thought at first that was why it was everywhere, but no, it’s not that it’s new, it’s that it is just on so many compilations and there are so many versions it has, like a winning lotto ticket, hit the right zeitgeist combo.

When it comes to the invasion of my lobes by "Run Rudolph Run," a staple of many a Christmas compilation, the Chuck Berry version is the most pervasive, but I've heard Sheryl Crow versions, country versions, Elton John version, ballady versions, the Billy Idol version, the no-sleep-'til-Santa version off the recently released We Wish You a Metal Xmas...and a Headbanging New Year with Dave Grohl and Motorhead's Lemmy, and of course, there's the musak versions. 

I half expected it to be on last night's Grammy nominations telecast. To be honest, compared to that Mariah Carey take on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” it might have seasonally livened things up at bit.

Then again, in the defense of "Run Rudolph Run," it is the only Christmas song the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards has ever put out ... so maybe there really is something to the tune, even if now has me running for the exit door.

Check out Dominic Patten’s Top Pop Culture Icons of All Time here.

Download Keith Richards' "Run Rudolph Run" here from EZTracks .. you can even ringtone it as well, cause, as the song says,  "of all the reindeer you know you're the mastermind."