The Best (sort of) Easter Pop Song of All Time

...it also happens to be the ONLY Easter pop song.

Of course, I'm talking about the Edwin Hawkins Singers excellent and unlikely hit, Oh Happy Day. Edwin's gospel classic holds the distinction of being the most secular song to ever climb the pop charts, (followed closely by the Australian nun, Sister Janet Mead, with her groovy interpretation of the Lord's Prayer). This catchy little ditty also remains the only straight up gospel tune to ever hit the Billboard top ten, peaking at number three (and, no, Foreigner doesn't count, even if it was your "best prom ever"!).

When it comes to Christian holiday tunes, Easter really did get the short end of the treble clef. No one's dreaming of a "White Easter egg" and, sure, you can start with an, "O' Easter egg, O' Easter egg, how lovely is your roundness...", but it's going to be straight downhill from there. Yes, you could try, "Jesus, the saviour, was a jolly, happy soul..." or "Here comes Jesus Christ, here comes Jesus Christ, right down Jerusalem way...", but it's unlikely you'll find very many people willing to sing along with your twisted variation.

It's hard to say why Easter never caught on the way Christmas has, one might suspect a Madison Avenue conspiracy of sorts, the cynic in me thinks they just never found the proper way to market it. Let's be honest, the Easter Bunny concept is so lame they didn't even bother coming up with an actual name for him, seriously, would Christmas be as popular if we'd simply called Santa Clause the Gift Man? That's just bad P.R. if you ask me, somebody should have called Don Draper at Sterling Cooper.

It is possible the reason for our rather low key Easter spirit could simply be due to the fact that, in April, we're still digging out of the debt hole we dug for ourselves in December. And, yes, it seems like only yesterday we were taking the icicle lights down from the roof (for some of us, it actually was). The truth is, the holiday probably arrives just a few months too soon. Hindsight says Easter might have fared better in June, with passion plays and wine coolers by the pool.

At any rate, just like Christmas, I hope we can all take a moment today and give some thought to the reason for the season, which is, of course, as everybody knows, peeps and malted milk balls.

But seriously heathens, take a moment to wish the Lord and Saviour a second Happy Birthday and enjoy your Easter Sunday by showing your friends and family a little love. Of course, if that requires you to down a couple glasses of 80% proof egg nog to make that happen, so be it, that's one Christmas tradition that seems better suited for this one anyway.

I need to wrap this up before lightening strikes my keyboard and I'm roasted into a pile of ash. Happy Easter, He Has Risen.