Songs bring back the many memories of Christmas

Editor’s note: Capitalization, phrasing and line breaks from John Lennon’s song “Happy Christmas” used in this column have been retained in keeping with the original meaning of the work.

I’m not sure why but once I heard John Lennon’s 1971 song, “Happy Christmas,” it was one of those tunes that became permanently trapped inside my head.

Surely you know the lyrics: “So this is Christmas, And what have you done, Another year over, And a new one just begun,” just as you do “Jingle Bells,” or any number of other songs of the season.

Like songs — be they good or bad — we can never seem to get out o...