We were at the MARC last week decompressing for a moment in the locker room when what should we hear coming from the rooftop but… the sound of 32 reindeer hooves beating a tattoo… actually, that would have been more than OK; but what we heard, which left us with a sinking feeling, was the tinny sound, issuing from speakers, of some mid-list crooner, probably from the 1940s, singing a syrupy Christmas ode, the kind that could give Christmas music a bad name.

A short while later we saw a woman stride purposefully downstairs from the cardio area and demand to know, from the front desk workers, how they thought she and others could possibly work out on the treadmills if the MARC intended to play THAT KIND OF MUSIC. It was not a festive moment.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Yes, there’s some awful Christmas music and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” wore out its welcome, but there are also some terrific takes on the season by titans of blues, rock and soul. So we put together an alternative playlist with some of them on Spotify, called “A Cooler Yule.” You can find it at spoti.fi/3VTjUxx.

1. “Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday,” William Bell. This stately 1967 song, cut at Memphis’s mighty Stax label, hits all the right notes for holiday romance.
2. “I’ll Make Everyday Christmas,” Joe Tex. Once known as The Dapper Rapper, before rap, Joe Tex also cut this soul number in 1967 for the lovers.
3. “Christmas Tears,” Freddie King. A gorgeous 1961 cut from the Texas blues master.
4. “Merry Christmas Baby,” Elvis Presley. A wonderfully loose studio blues jam by the incomparable Big E.
5. “Christmas Time for Everybody But Me,” Hank Ballard. The originator of the the Twist indulges in some silver-tongued self-pity.
6. “Who Took The Merry Out of Christmas,” The Staple Singers. That’s a young Mavis Staples to the fore, led by her dad, Pops, doing her gospel best to put the religion back in the occasion.
7. “2000 Miles,” The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde and company cut this one 38 years ago with the kind of nostalgic overtones that never go out of fashion.
8. “Fairytale of New York,” The Pogues, feat. Kirsty MacColl. Christmas in the drunk tank. MacColl, who died too young, is deathless here, never more so than duetting with Shane MacGowan, when he sings, “I could have been someone” and she retorts, “Well, so could anyone.”
9. “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” Bruce Springsteen. This version, cut live in 1975, has to rank among Bruce’s best performances for the sheer ebullience.
10. “‘Zat You, Santa Claus?” Louis Armstrong & The Commanders. Recording in the 1950s, Louis and his cool cats swing it like nobody’s business.