Chas Finster leads some carolers in singing the song in "The Finster Who Stole Christmas".
Shane Loud sings the song in "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas".
"O Tannenbaum", or in its English version, "O Christmas Tree", is a Christmas song of German origin.
A Tannenbaum is a fir tree (German die Tanne) or Christmas tree (der Weihnachtsbaum). Its evergreen qualities have long inspired musicians to write several "Tannenbaum" songs in German.
The best known version was written in 1824 by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer Ernst Anschütz. The melody is an old folk tune. The first known lyrics date back to 1550. A similar 1615 song by Melchior Franck (1573–1639) begins:
- Ach Tannenbaum, ach Tannenbaum, du bist ein edler Zweig! Du grünest uns den Winter, die liebe Sommerzeit.
Appearances in Christmas specials
- A Charlie Brown Christmas (Instrumental) (1965)
- A Garfield Christmas Special (1987) - Doc Boy tries to play the song on the piano, but does poorly at it; Grandma Arbuckle then plays the song instead.
- A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987)
- Rockin' Reindeer Christmas (1990)
- The Best Christmas Ever! (1990)
- Disney's Christmas Fantasy on Ice (Instrumental) (1992)
- Disney's The Twelve Days of Christmas (1993) - Medley
- Alpha's Magical Christmas (1994)
- The Santa Clause (1994)
- Rocko's Modern Christmas!: Can't Squeeze Cheer From a Cheese Log! (1994) - Heffer Wolfe sings the song when he cuts down the tree that Rocko selects.
- The Huggabug Club: "Cuddly Christmas" (1995)
- 101 Dalmatians: "A Christmas Cruella" (1997)
- Animaniacs: "The Christmas Tree" (1998)
- Jay Jay the Jet Plane: "Jay Jay's Christmas Adventure" (part 1) (1998)
- Barney's Night Before Christmas (1999)
- O' Christmas Tree (1999) - Covered by Marie Osmond.
- The Best Decemberween Ever (2001) - The closing scene has the characters sing a parody version titled "O Decemberween".
- A Johnny Bravo Christmas (2001)
- Barney's Christmas Star (2002)
- All Grown Up!: "The Finster Who Stole Christmas" (2004) - Chas Finster leads some carolers in singing the song.
- Malcolm in the Middle: "Hal's Christmas Gift" (2004)
- The Christmas Dinosaur (2004) - The melody of the first half of the first verse was played right after Jason Barnes stops Spot from eating his family's Christmas tree.
- My Name is Earl: "White Lie Christmas" (2005)
- Holly Hobbie & Friends: "Christmas Wishes" (2006)
- "Gift of the Dinos" (2007)
- Chowder: "Hey, Hey It's Knishmas!" (2008) - Parodied as "Oh Shmingerbread House".
- Albert (2016)
- Rugrats: "Traditions" (2021)
- The Loud House: "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas" (2023) - Sung by Shane Loud, who modifies the lyrics in reference to his family's tree almost toppling over.
Album releases
Notes
- In some versions, the singer or singers will sing both the German and English versions of the song in different verses of the same recording, for nostalgia and contrast.
- While not including the full song, the Royal Guardsmen's "Snoopy's Christmas" begins with an unknown chorus of singers intoning "O Tannenbaum" amidst the sound of artillery fire, just before the song commences. This is likely because the usual villain of this song series, the Red Baron, plays a very different role here.