Make It Stop

I've just come back from doing the weekly shop.  Look, I know everyone moans about Christmas stuff in the shops as soon as August Bank Holiday is over, etc etc etc, but can I just have a mini-moan about the bloody music in supermarkets, too?

This morning in Morrissons, on November 23rd, it was Christmas CD time.  When I went in it was only that comparatively inoffensive one by Greg Lake, from the little known and very short CD, 'Christmas Songs That Won't Make You Pray For A Power Cut', or I might have walked straight out again and done my shopping via Waitrose Online, but I just struck lucky.  By the time my trolley was half full, it was Wham!'s Last Christmas.

I know why they do it.  It's all about subliminal messaging, is it not?  If you are made to feel that the season is already upon us, you will think

• Oh no, I haven't bought all my stuff yet; must buy, buy, buy
• Oh good, it's all Christmassy and lovely; must buy, buy, buy

But there are many among us who just think make it stop.  I know I am not the only one.  Like the awful upselling, I wonder how counter-productive it is, especially as more and more people, it seems, are starting to see the whole season as nothing but a celebration of the retail trade, and are downsizing Christmas more and more each year.

And why isn't Kate Bush's lovely December Will Be Magic Again on any of the Christmas CDs?  Perhaps it's on the same one as Greg Lake's song.  The one that no-one ever plays.