Why This Texas Bar Banned Mariah Carey's Hit Christmas Song
When it comes to the "war on Christmas," in terms of celebrating the holiday before December, Mariah Carey has made her position perfectly clear. That is, if it wasn't already.
On October 24, news reached the "All I Want For Christmas Is You" singer that Stoneleigh P, a long-running bar in Dallas, had instituted a ban on the classic holiday song. In a picture posted on Twitter, a note explained that the song will not be played before December and only once per night during that month. Otherwise, it will be skipped over. "Is this the war on Christmas I've heard about?" asked a fan.
Carey responded by tweeting a picture of herself from a 2015 advertisement for the mobile game Game of War. She stands in armor, ready to fight for Christmas and her streaming revenue. Then, on November 1, she tweeted a video of herself weilding a massive candy cane and smashing pumpkins that were emblazoned with the message "it's not time yet."
Mariah Carey may have declared that Christmas has begun — but here's the Texas bar's reasoning for limiting her hit.
One bar patron jokingly requests All I Want For Christmas Is You 'to annoy the staff'
When you learn more about the specific case, Stoneleigh P's ban perhaps becomes more reasonable.
For one thing, as Art & Seek reports, the ban also includes "Frosty the Snowman" and "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd." These songs are apparently the ones that patron Larry Green chooses each time he visits the bar. The reason he does so, he laughs, is "to irritate the staff." In fact, he jokingly told the publication that "['All I Want For Christmas Is You' in particular] makes it about one bar in, and they know exactly what that sound is, and it's gone." It's an in-house joke. In fact, it's overzealous customers like Green that are the reason "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has a limit. "You know, you get alcohol and people that want to hear Christmas songs in September — that's a no-go," laughed Laura Garrison, the manager of the bar.
Despite riling up Carey and her fans, the fact that the song gets vetoed nearly every time only encourages the patrons more. "Actually, lots of people play it just to hear it skipped," Garrison revealed.
Another point worth making, though, is that trying to stop Christmas cheer from occurring before other fall holidays is less a war on Christmas than a futile defense. Last week, The New York Times wondered whether Christmas had started to take over Halloween. While that holiday is probably popular enough to remain distinct, it is worth noting that there are over 50 days between the two celebrations.