Fun Christmas songs.

Christmastime is here, so it’s time for some Christmas songs.

These are some of the fun ones, I might do more traditional ones later, but these are the ones you seldom get to hear. 

I won’t do much of a commentary, because I just want to give you the shock value. It’s more comedic that way.

By the way most of these aren’t real child friendly, or work friendly. And definitely don’t share them with your mother or your mother-in-law.

Holy Shit It’s Christmas

So this is a great tune.  Red Peters is just an older guy who puts out comedy albums.

He also once farted on President Obama.

So here he is with his friends the singing hamsters.

The hamsters are like a dirty version of the Chipmunks. 

They change the words in the song to have a little fun. 

Well, here listen. 

Be Clause I got High

So, in all reality, Afroman actually has his own Christmas album.

This is not from it,

This is Bob Rivers, who like Red Peters is just a radio guy that also writes parodies. 

This one is straight up, and it’s not bad.  If you remember the original, this is pretty straight forward with just different lyrics.

Ding, Fries are Done

So this is an older one, but once it’s in your head, you can’t forget it. 

So if you really love Carol of the Bells, truly think if you want to push play or not.

Family Guy did a version of this once too.  Look for it on your own time.

Run Run Rudolph

Of Course you know this.  It’s a Chuck Berry tune.

But this isn’t Chuck Berry.

Nor is it Kelly Clarkson.

In 2008 a bunch of great musicians got together to record Christmas Tunes for an Album called “We Wish You a Metal Christmas. 

You owe it to yourself to look it up on YouTube, There’s some good stuff there, Ronny James Dio, Tommy Shaw etc.

So this is Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and, Lemmy, who needs no introduction.

O Holy Night

So, this is my favorite Jesus Christmas song.

Obviously, not this version.  This is just for fun.

Oh, what do I mean by Jesus Christmas song?

I look at it, basically there are 2 types of serious Christmas songs, those that have a religious tone, and those that don’t. 

So this is a silly version of a religious song.  It’s not meant to be offensive.  Plus if you really listen to it, it represents the view that kids don’t really comprehend the whole religious thing.

What sticks out is the background music and singers, they are doing an incredible version of the song, like seriously, put them behind Whitney Houston and you’ve created a Christmas miracle.

Walking in my Winter Underwear

So this is Stan Boreson on the Lawrence Welk Show.

It’s just some fun stuff.

Clearly it’s older than me.

 It’s in Black and white for Christ’s sake.

I Farted on Santa's Lap (Now Christmas is Gonna Stink for Me)

So this is The Little Stinkers, a great group of kids.

I know nothing more about them.  I tried to dig up some info, but was unsuccessful.

Then again, I didn’t try too hard.

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy

So clearly this isn’t the original, and it’s not really silly until the end.

But the guys involved make it funny from the get go.

So, just watch the whole thing and enjoy it. 

Rusty Chevrolet

So this is Da Yoopers.

A fun group of guys from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 

So here is a new take on Jingle bells that you may have never heard.

Even though they are from Michigan, I think most Wisconsinites can relate. 

But people from Ohio hate this song.

WHAM! - LAST CHRISTMAS VOCAL COVER 2016 (OFFICIAL)

I had to do it.  This is Jon Sudano, and if you haven’t seen any of his videos, you need to go back and watch them all. 

What seems like a cruel joke is a gift of true talent.

To have a song playing and then to sing another song, it messes up your mind, trust me I tried.

He plays guitar and in this video he shows that he really can sing. I’ve been speculating that that was the case all along, but now the secrets out.  You hear it at the beginning of the song and a bit at the end. 

Ok, so if you don’t like vulgarity, then this is the end of the post for you today.  Thank you for reading, and If I don’t see you, Happy Holidays.

******Seriously, if you go beyond this point, and get offended it’s your own fault.******

This is the stuff you want to keep away from your mom, your grandma or your 8 year old. 

So, I’m not explaining the rest of these, I am just leaving them here for you to discover, the titles explain them pretty well.

Christmas Tree

Personally I think this is decent, but my wife thinks it belongs down at the bottom, and doesn’t want her mother to hear it.

I obliged, but only because the couch is uncomfortable.

It’s just Lady Gaga

Fist Me This Christmas

Afroman Is Coming To Town

I told you he had a Christmas Album.  It’s as good as it is offensive.

Grandma Got Molested At The Airport

Well, the title says it all.

 Well, that's it for today folks, I hope you had fun, 

I hope you were happy for a while. 

 Don't let the Holidays get you down, just come back and listen again.  

 Like I said, I am going to try to write a serious version, but who knows.  

So have a good Holidays if I don't see you. 

Feliz Navidad.

10/9/40-12/8/80

December 8^th

If I had to sum it up, I’d say John Lennon’s death is a big part of my life. But I wasn’t even born yet.  

 It’s honestly hard for me to think about. I hate violence and guns and all that crap. 

I can’t think of anything else to say, and I don’t really want to. today is not about me or my opinions.  

So This is an image of John Lennon signing a copy of his album for Mark David Chapman

This is Mark David Chapman

John Lennon once said:

“I don't intend to be a performing flea any more. I was the dreamweaver, but although I'll be around I don't intend to be running at 20,000 miles an hour trying to prove myself. I don't want to die at 40."

This is why Mark David Chapman’s picture is a mugshot

This is how it was felt.

Here’s a few things you may have not seen.

This is from the Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus.  Which was an epic event all on its own.  The fact that John was there rocking and singing Beatles tunes is just, I mean, the man wasn’t big on doing concerts. 

So there’s some cool stuff out there that John did with Chuck Berry on the Mike Douglas show in 1972

Here’s that moment recreated with Julian Lennon

Julian paid tribute to his father many times.  Here he is again

John had another son too, you know.   He played his dad’s songs too

It’s amazing how both the boys sound a bit like their father but are able to do it in their own way.

John’s emotion just fucking bowls you over in this one.

Hey check this out.  Click Here

I leave you here….

Sorry that’s all I’ve got.  Maybe you can add to it. What did I miss?

Wait…

Here’s a jab at Paul.

 Now I’m done.  

What?! Oh Hell No! Hold up. Huh? Oh Ok

(Or, what’s that song really about?)

Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day

So, we hear this song every year when a football team starts out 0 and 4.

We also hear it when we are seeing tributes to the September 11^th attacks.

It was used as a tribute to Hurricane Katrina

The video itself is a long sweeping love story about a young couple torn apart by the war. The sadness of waiting for a loved one to come home, and everything we feared during the Iraq war.  

Obviously none of that is what the song is about at all.

But the band never told anyone not to use it.  I think good musicians are aware that, even when their words are misconstrued, they can still help others heal.  (ok maybe not the football stuff)

The song’s real meaning came from Billie Joe Armstrong’s childhood.   They mention it in one line in particular, but at the age of ten Billie Joe lost his father in September of 1982.  So the line “Like my father's come to pass”  is the whole meaning behind the song.

The video was okayed because Billie Joe felt that it still conveyed loss, along with their disdain for the war.

Closing Time – Semisonic

20 years later, bars are still playing this song as they turn up the lights.

Seems simple enough, we all know the bar culture, “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here“ has been around for years, hell, it’s in the Blues Brothers

So, ok, what’s the song really about?

Childbirth.   Yep, just listen to the damn lyrics, take the bar context out of it, and realize that the bar is a womb, that  “won’t be open until your brothers or sisters come”    

It’s the baby that knows who it wants to take him or her home. 

Yep. 

Don’t believe me, Singer Dan Wilson breaks it down line by line in the video below.

Say It Ain’t So – Weezer

I don’t get to talk about this song enough, and more people should know what it’s really about.

So if you don’t understand the importance this has to me, recognize that the symbol on the bass drum head is on my arm.  Or realize that when I am talking about Rivers the next couple of lines, I am talking about the leader of Weezer; not my son, but recognize where I got my son’s name.

So I don’t know what you think the song is about, I’ve known for years, so I don’t know what people think it’s about.

Anyways Rivers’ real parents split when he was a kid, and when that happened Rivers believed it to be due to the fact that his father was an alcoholic.  I can’t confirm that he was, only that this was what Rivers believed.

Flash forward to Rivers in High School and he comes home and there is beer in the fridge, So Rivers immediately thinks of the worst.  He now thinks that his step father is going to become an alcoholic and leave his family just as his real father had done.

So, listen to the lyrics now, it’s all there,  a Heineken in the fridge,  “like father , step father”   really the words were there the whole time, so if you missed it, well yeah  I can understand.  That’s a lot of personal history to know about. 

Damn.

Semi- Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind

You didn’t realize what this was about because on the radio and video edits, they backmask  the word, and in the video, lead singer  Stephan Jenkins covers his mouth .

But if you watch the video, he also walks backwards as he says it, which, means nothing, but come on, backmasking and showing that you did it.

Fucking genius.

The radio and vide edits also take out the post bridge.  I mean, you aren’t missing much, but the lyrics make sense if you know what you are hearing.  

There are other edits that take a shit ton more out. They use those on “light” radio stations nowadays, and those edits make it impossible to understand the true meaning.

Ok fine, I’ll tell you

Crystal Meth.  The song is about  a downward spiral into a slow addiction to Crystal Meth. The original chorus was, “I want nothing else”

So, yeah, he says “Doing Crystal meth will lift you up”

Drugs man, drugs.  Has anyone ever written a straight up song about drugs and got it on the radio?  Maybe someday soon. 

So here is the official video

Here is an unofficial fan made lyric video of the whole song intact as it appears on the album 

Love Song – Sara Bareilles

So, you may think that it’s a break up song, or a fuck you to a former lover.

It’s actually a fuck you to her record label.

She was trying to make an album and she was writing song after song, and the label, Epic, was still looking for a hit.  They weren’t ready to put out an album without a radio hit.

She was running into writer’s block and just became frustrated.

So Bareilles just wrote out the way she felt about the record label’s pressure and the way that they would just offer no help other than to shoot her down.  They wanted a love song.

That’s exactly what they got.

The Freshmen – The Verve Pipe

Depending on who you ask, the song means a lot of things. 

Only two of them are acceptable answers. 

The song is usually referred to as a song about suicide, and lyrically that’s what it’s about, the lead singer’s ex committing suicide.

Except that it never actually happened. 

The girl in question did have an abortion, and that’s what the song is really about.  There’s only 1 line that truly refers to it, but it’s there and you probably never  noticed it. 

“Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice”

I don’t know what the rice part means.  But yeah, it’s a really deep dark song.

And here’s the darkest version out there.

And here’s the brightest:

Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler

So the song was written by Jim Steinman, the man who wrote and produced Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell.

So right off the bat (no pun intended) you know it’s going to be some crazy shit.  The song was originally longer, I mean you’ve heard Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Jim Steinman writes some long ass crazy songs. 

The video is crazy as fuck too, and if you haven’t seen the Literal version, you owe it to yourself to see it. Click Here.   Watch other literal videos too.

So anyways, the song is a love song, but it’s not just any love song, it’s a vampire love song.

I would’ve watched more of Twilight had they used it.

So yeah, it’s a god damned Vampire love song.  So it’s about literally living in the dark all the time and that will be the only time for love or anything. 

Obviously the eclipse represents that moment of darkness in the middle of day. A brief moment where you can be totally out and free.

Summer of 69 – Bryan Adams

Seriously?

Bryan Adams was 10 in the summer of 69, you really think he had a band then?

And that one of the members would have left the band to get married?

Sex.   As in the sexual position of 69ing.

There’s some nostalgia in there and you can say it’s about young love, but 69 is there on purpose.

So that’s it for today.

 I’m sorry if I ruined your ideas as to what this music was really about, I know that you probably won’t look or hear the songs in the same way again.

But hey at least you know the truth right?

One last fun story,  Randy Bachman of Bachman Turner Overdrive has a brother named Gary.   Gary had a stutter. 

So when BTO was making the Not Fragile album the guys were playing around with a fun song, it was a nod to The Who, with the chorus progression being the same as Baba O’Riley. 

The song was not supposed to be a part of the album and Randy Bachman stuttered through the chorus as a joke to his brother, Gary was supposed to get the only copy of this song.   

Well, the rep from their label was still looking for a hit, and this was proposed, Randy re-recorded the lyrics without the stutter, but no one liked it, so they used the original with the stutter, and they had a number 1 song. 

Ok, Bye Now, 

See you later.

Woops??!?

Ok, bye now,  see you next week or something .

Protest

Here we go-

You still here?

Thank You  for sticking with me

**********You may notice the absence of a few songs. I blogged about them on my History Through Music post.  Click on it to see a few more. *********

Music can be a powerful tool.

It can bring people together.

Don’t believe me?  Go meet someone new, ask them about music,  you’ll probably be best friends in 20 minutes

Unless they’re only into some weird avant-garde shit that only 3 people like.  Or Tegan and Sara

That being said, music can unite people over issues. It can make us love one another. It can make us come together against ideas, against people, against anything.  It can even just make us realize that things are ok.

Enter the protest song.  And there are many.  Personally, I think the people of the 60s really knew how to protest, but Hip Hop has also had its great protest songs.

So today, I’m going to give you some of the good ones.   

******Please know that I only support peaceful protest. Violence may be fantasized, but to actually resort to it, is never the answer ******

Today is not a day for being sensitive, you may see something you don’t believe in, you may see something that you don’t like, but don’t get angry. Realize that some people have a different view of life than you.  And that’s ok, we  can have different points of view and still be peaceful.

However, you also have to understand some of these songs are going to come from an angry point of view.  They may say things angrily and they may incite violence, anger, and fear .  That may upset you, but don’t let it consume you. Just try to understand them.

Just try.

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

So, I can’t give you the greatest  info about this song, It’s considered a Negro Spiritual.  So basically it was passed on and on.  But the genre is known for bringing Christian valued songs to the plantation workers.

There are also supposed underground railroad references in the song.  I hear that in it.

But I also just hear the idea that, maybe the only way out of slavery is death, and that hey maybe not in the best way, but at least it was over, and you could believe that the afterlife was the best life. 

That’s completely fucking sad. But it may be true. 

Anyways, I chose this version, because for me, it’s the best, I know Clapton did it and I know the hippies stole it too.  But Paul Robeson’s voice really paints the picture.

Cop Killer

So I thought, do we go chronological?  Do we go movement to movement,  how do we do this? 

I’m not looking for shock value, I am not looking to piss you off right away,

Contrast, there is some serious contrast that’s going to happen , so why not get it out of the way as quick as possible.

So, first off, this song is 24 years old, and yet just yesterday, Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with manslaughter for the death of Philando Castile.

I am not saying we kill anybody, and I don’t condone violence, but understand the sentiment and the anger that people have had for years over the unwarranted deaths and beatings and abuse by the police. 

I know, I know, not all police officers are bad people, but some of them are, and if you’ve ever heard, said, thought, or read the statement that One bad apple spoils the whole bunch, then you understand why Ice T would make a  blanket statement like that.

Now he stars in Geico commercials and ironically as a Cop on Law and Order SVU.

So look, like I said, you have to understand the anger, but look at it this way, if someone made a song about how much McDonald’s fucks up your order, you’d blast that shit every time you went through the drive thru.

 And don’t act like you’ve never seen anyone get mad about that shit and agreed with it.  So if it helps, during the part of the song when they say “Fuck the Police”, think of “Fuck Mickey D’s” and just think that the only cop they want to kill is Officer Big Mac.

You could say this is the same message too…

This Land is Your Land

First off, if you’ve ignored Woody Guthrie your whole life, you’ve missed out.  Especially on original versions of songs that other people made famous.

Woody lived through the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl.  He lived through some horrible times.

Was he a communist, maybe, but more likely a socialist who was against facism.

So the song, is about the fact that we are always told that we live in a free country, but sometimes it doesn’t feel so free.  

This version includes lyrics about a wall, that he had to jump over. 

There’s other versions, there’s other lyrics.  

It’s weird because I, like many of you was taught this song in elementary school, only to learn in college that this land was sold to the highest bidder and then they used it to tax you and me.  But isn’t it weird that we learned this socialist view of the world at age 7.  (Maybe the whole Bernie thing makes more sense now)

But really, it has been used as a protest song for years.  Ironically, in 2010 an anti gay group was using the Peter Paul and Mary version of the song, until Peter and Paul told them to knock it the fuck off.

So the video is longer than the song, there’s no cool eater egg at the end, so when the song is over , move on. 

Give Peace a Chance

All we are saying is “Give Peace a Chance”

Do I need say more?

 It was the Vietnam era, people were against war, we still are. 

John Lennon got a bunch of people together and put this song together. 

This song pops in and out of relevance monthly. Really if you know the truth about the world we live in, there hasn’t been peace since this was written and recorded.

So, maybe we should try it, once, just to see what happens.

No? You don’t want to try it?   How about this then?

How about this concept then?

Ok, so you don’t think those last 2 were protest songs?  Certainly, this next one is.

The man really wanted to spread a message.  Can you blame him?

Like I said, we’re still waiting for the utopian world of Imagine, or just the Peace to finally get a chance. 

And Instant Karma, ha, people don’t care about Karma any more than they do Jesus’s message.

Blowin’ in the Wind

So Bob Dylan wrote this, but.

As for now, I give you the Peter Paul and Mary version, because that is the one that I have heard so many times.

This is what my mother played, and every Christmas we would watch  the Christmas special, and that, was when I learned about life, and kindness. It’s also when I realized my mother was a hippie and still longed for world peace.

My dad always made a joke of it, but I think it was to ease the tension.  You see, my mom, to this date, still can’t hear Blowin’ in the Wind without crying.

I can’t blame her.

Blowin’ in the Wind is a take of a negro spiritual song,  Dylan admits it himself.  And really the song speaks for everyone and anyone who has been disenfranchised.

God damn, it still resonates today, and none of the questions asked have yet to be answered. 

Peter Yarrow introduces the song to us here, and it’s worthwhile to pay attention.

There’s also this…

Mosh

Remember 2004? George Bush won re-election, we were all surprised as fuck.   (Boy, we should have seen 2016 coming)

Anyways, We were at war, another war like Vietnam, where we were there, but we didn’t  want to be.

Remember “Support the Troops” 

So we fired back with “We support the troops, just not the war”

At the same time, we were headed to the recession, it was expensive as fuck to be an American,.

Oh, and again, W was our president and he wasn’t that good at it, he lied to us, he mumbled and stumbled through important speeches. 

Don’t act like you are proud of George W Bush, no one has ever said that.

Honestly, the only reason this didn’t have enough effect was that it came out a bit too late. The election was like 2 weeks away.

Maybe it got people interested in politics, maybe it helped in 2008.

Ok, so the video and song tell the tale, just watch…

They Don’t Care About Us

The song was about prejudice and got misinterpreted, so the lyrics got changed a little.

But it’s the same sentiment that black people had been saying for years, it was what Kanye said about Bush in 2005.

The song  got more attention, because  Michael said “Jew me” and “Kike me”  But come on, Michael was already being scrutinized, and was angry, but those words were in solidarity.  You mean to tell me you really think Michael hated Jews?

I mean, how many times does it need to be said?

This is the reason behind Black Lives Matter, whether you agree it or not, that’s all black people have been trying to say for 250 years.  They matter and they feel like you don’t think they do. 

Sorta the same message here…

We Shall Overcome

This needs no explaining, except for the fact that it is as relevant now as it was in the 60s

I’m giving you Joan Baez’s version, because in 63 she did it with 300,000 people.

Fortunate Son

When I think of Vietnam, and how scary and unwanted it was, come on, what other song comes to mind.

You know how rich kids didn’t get drafted, or they got out of serving their country by saying their feet hurt.

This is about them, this is about how the kids we were sending to war were already the less fortunate kids. 

It seemed like the draft cards were only being called upon on one side of the tracks. 

John Fogerty said this song was also the response to seeing  the grandson of Eisenhower marrying the daughter of Nixon,  like there was this elitist social club who could do what they want, while the rest of the world had to go war.

For What It’s Worth

So this became a protest song about so much, people used it against the war and the Kent State shootings and basically anything else they could think of

But it was actually about some riots on Sunset Strip, as a result of a curfew. 

Basically, Hippies, and counterculture started to happen, and LA decided to have a 10pm curfew.

So they had a protest, and that’s actually what this song is about.

So, The protest song hasn’t died, it’s still alive and well…

 Keep protesting, keep letting your voice be heard, but be peaceful about it.

Muppet Madness

So, I guess today would be a great day just to have some fun. 

What’s in the past is in the past.

If you don’t follow the Muppets on YouTube, you are missing out.  It’s that simple.  It’s the Muppets for God’s sake, who in their right mind doesn’t like a Muppet?

So, today will be just a fun day of free advertising for the Muppets. 

I don’t think I have to say much about the videos as they all sort of speak for themselves.  But I will say a little

Jungle Boogie

So, this is a hell of a take on the original Kool and the Gang song.

This, like most of the others features The Electric Mayhem, who are the Muppets house band really.   The band consists of Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on bass guitar, Janice on guitar, Zoot on saxophone, and lips on Trumpet ,

What makes this video great is Sam the Eagle who is a very conservative and patriotic dude. 

But the whole thing works out well, with a little twist.

Get Down

Mahna Mahna

I mean, how can you expect me to do a post on the Muppets and not include this?

Are you aware that this was a song from the 60s by a guy named Piero Umillani?(god bless you)

This was the muppets 3^rd or 4^th take, and became the definitive version.  So much that the main singer’s name is Mahna Mahna.  Of course his backup singers are the Snowths, originally Snouths as a combination of snout and mouth, as their nose is also their mouth.

So without further ado

Check the original  HERE

Bohemian Rhapsody

So, what can I say, you know the damn song. I need not tell you how great Queen is.

So if you don’t mind the liberties taken with the lyrics for comical value, then this is really worth a peek.

I’d like to tell you that I know the names of all the Muppets in this video, but there are way too many.   Seriously like every Muppet is in this.

Rowlf plays most of the song, but obviously Electric Mayhem shows up to tear up the loud stuff.

Enjoy

The Barber Shop

Just a quick short part of the 2011 movie, which if you haven’t seen, go see it.

Popcorn

If you don’t love The Swedish Chef, you are a silly head.

This is an instrumental song, so the fact that the Muppets made it work is phenomenal. 

It was originally recorded by Gershon Kingsley but you know the version by Hot Butter.

The phone call bit, gets me every time.

Ode to Joy

I know very little about classical music, I mean I know about it, but all the sweet details, I don’t know.

I know this has something to do with Beethoven’s 9^th symphony, but that’s like an hour and a half piece of music. I think

Anyways, The Muppets call on Beaker to get the job done here, and boy does he ever.

Habanera

Q.  What do you get when you combine the last two videos and add some Animal to it.

A. This

And check the always hilarious Statler and Waldorf at the end. 

Carol of the Bells

So, let’s get in the Christmas spirit.

I mean, why not right? 

Literally the same cast of characters as in the last video.  They seem to work together well.

Lime in the Coconut

I mean,  The Harry Nilsson  original is an odd masterpiece of it’s own.

This just sort of capitalizes on that.

If you don’t know the song, that’s cool. 

Ha you thought I was going to make fun of you.  Nope I fooled you. 

Stupid idiot.

Anyways check this out.

Poor Beaker

He just wants to sing his songs and be appreciated.  Poor guy

Rainbow Connection

Every now and then, the Muppets do their own thing.  This is one of those times, and it is brilliant and beautiful.

Whenever the Muppets need to reach an audience, they dust this one off, and we are all taken back to childhood.  This still means something to me. 

I think the best part of being a parent is when they enjoy something you liked as a child.

 Even more than that, my parents liked the Muppets,  you’ve gotta remember the Muppet Show was a sketch comedy show like SNL ot SCTV or those wacky British guys.  

So, they appealed in a way to our parents, so I’ve got 3 generations of Muppet lovers in my life, and I hope that continues. 

And Now for something completely different-

I hope I’ve brightened your day.