Merry Christmas From the Family Video

ROBERT EARL KEEN MERRY CHRISTMAS

What would Christmas be like without Robert Earl Keen? Sing along!

Christmas Dragnet–Stan Freberg and Daws Butler

A very funny parody of Jack Webb’s Dragnet from 1953.  Listen to Part 1 here. Remember, people call them green onions, but really they’re scallions.

The Christmas Shoes–New Song

Barb wanted The Christmas Shoes on the list. This assault on good taste has an interesting history as told on the CBS companion site for the movie based on the book based on the song based on the Internet-circulate urban legend.

THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE

 

In 1999, the Christmas Shoes story began circulating on the internet. The touching story about a little boy whose mother was dying at Christmas, and his quest to find the perfect pair of shoes for her to wear in heaven, came to the attention of Eddie Carswell of NewSong. Eddie began writing a song inspired by the story.

 

NewSong, a Christian musical group, sent its record “The Christmas Shoes” to a top DJ in St. Louis in November 2000. When he played it, the station literally shut down: the switchboard was inundated with calls and the computers crashed from the barrage of emails. With virtually no promotion, the record had 3500 spins around the country in just one week, and shot to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts in a record-setting three weeks.

 

The news media caught on to the phenomenon, and so did St. Martin’s Press. It commissioned Donna VanLiere to write a novel based on the song. The book was released in October 2001 with a 300,000 first printing. St. Martin’s released eight additional printings, but could not keep up with the demand. The book was entirely sold out two weeks before Christmas in 2001.

The song means a lot to many people and it wouldn’t be in keeping with Christmas spirit to be too mean to it, but puh-lease. This isn’t exactly O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi,” is it?

I found a video that manages to keep things in perspective.

 

I Believe in Father Christmas–Greg Lake

I feel guilty about this because back in the mid-70s when it was released, I really, really liked it.  And let’s face it, those of us who were into the whole progressive rock thing should feel guilty.  Rock was not meant to take itself so seriously.  Do we really need the Prokofiev shoved in our faces here? Do we really need these guys to remind us how smart they are? Overblown, self-important.  See for yourself here. In fact, this thing is so taken with itself that it has its own “Making of” video.

Still, the reminder that it’s up to us to make Christmas what we think it ought to be and not to give into the corruption of the feast (Any Christmas we get we deserve.) is worth considering.

A Pirate’s Twelve Days of Christmas

Ed wanted this song included. You can listen to this 12 Days of Christmas Parody here. I had never heard of Gastronomical Unit, so I had to google them. Here’s how they describe themselves:

We’re a long-distance collaboration of musicians and singers, a circle of friends and acquaintances, providing a holiday-focused tongue-in-cheek collection of many contributions. The songs range from large group projects to solo pieces. We have self-produced 7 albums to date, featuring parodies, odd originals, and serious covers of familiar Christmas melodies, and blatant mutilation of others.

We try to tackle as many styles and moods as we can to create a truly diverse mix of material. The CDs contain pieces in heavy rock, jug-band, beat-nik, Jewish country, reggae, industrial, techno-pop, a capella, improv rock jam, radio drama, and more… We have a TINY (and I mean TINY ) dedicated cult following, but we enjoy sharing these nuggets of weirdness and joy with the world at large.

The “Holiday Feast” History:

In ’91 at Penn State, my roommates and I decided to record a Christmas album. We threw it together in about a week. Every two years since then, we’ve kept the tradition alive, and grown and gotten more adventurous, as well as greatly improving in skill and production value. Many people have been a part along the way. Today, we are separated by miles, but the spirit of fun now keeps getting us together.

Given the off-beat sense of humor here, I should have known that these were Penn
State guys. I think I know which AAARbys they went to.

12 Days of Christmas parodies are a Christmas genre all their own and any 12 Days parody is a guilty pleasure almost by definition. See if you can find the proud author of the one that starts this way: “On the first day of darkness, my Morgoth gave to me . . .”

O Holy Night–*NSYNC

Sharron suggested this recording for the list.  The guilty part is pretty obvious. It’s flipping *NSYNC, for crying out loud.  It’s not rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a Disney World version of R&B.  This (blessedly short) video will give you a taste.

Feliz Navidad–Jose Feliciano

This is arguably the first crossover Spanish language record.  When it was released I was in my first year of high school Spanish, so I was pretty psyched to be able to understand the Spanish lyrics.  Of course, that’s the problem with the song.  It’s mind numbingly simple and probably for that reason it is one of the most requested, played, and downloaded Christmas songs, which means that during December you just can’t avoid it. Feliciano is a very talented guitarist as this video shows.  For a rocking alternative version of the song, see this video featuring El Vez.

Feliz Navidad–El Vez Video

El Vez Xmas!!

This rocks!

Christmas in Hollis–Run-D.M.C.

Beverly nominated this bad boy. I’m not sure that it belongs on the guilty pleasure list. Neither is Randy’s Rodeo:

These prototypical rappers were at their creative peak when they recorded “Christmas In Hollis.” Initially released on Profile Records’ Christmas Rap as well as on a 45-rpm single, the song was also featured on A Very Special Christmas. Later, it was compiled on Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983-1991 (1991) and Greatest Hits (2002). In 1998, Arista Records released “Christmas In Hollis” on a special, clear promotional CD single (click to see) in anticipation of the group’s comeback, Crown Royal (1999).

So what’s wrong with it? Well, not much really. If we are to quibble with this track, maybe we can express some regret that they sample the superior “Backdoor Santa” by Clarence Carter.  But there is so much pure Christmas joy in this recording that it hardly seems worth quibbling.  You can decide for yourself by watching this video.