Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From:
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 06:40 AM

Jeeneia mentioned this verse of WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

Why lies He in such mean estate Where ox and lamb [ass] are feeding? Good Christian, fear, for sinners here The silent word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail! Hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the son of Mary

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From:
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 06:27 AM

Sorry. I left my hotmail box unattended too long and it went extinct. You can reach me at onebox.com.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Robin2
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 01:19 AM

Joe,

Any idea where I could find a recorded copy of "Merry Christmas from the family"? The first time I heard that song, we were driving through Philly at midnight on December, and I laughed so hard I cried.

Robin

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 12:01 AM

Willa, that is a very touchng song. Thanks for posting it.

kat

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 11:51 PM

There's a third verse to What Child is This? with the words "Nails,spears, shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you..." It's got power, see if you can locate the rest of it.

Subject: ADD: Sleigh Ride parody
From: bobbi
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 10:23 PM

Okay.. I cave in at last... This IS hard hitting.. to say the least. It is raw edged..without a doubt.. and it reminds me of what Xmas was all about when I was married (another holiday.. another "leg" night)..

Author Unknown:
Sung to the tune of Sleigh Ride
~ ~ ~

I feel my pecker tinglin', balls are jinglin' too,
Come on and tell me whether I can link 'em together with you.

I need a hot slit mommy, to slip my salami into.
I must be over eager 'cause even your beaver will do!

Get it up, get it up, get it up, let's go..
Your butt is too slow..
Start hoppin' like a rabbit in the snow...
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, my Dear,
hot jiz in your ear.
I know it's not easy for you hangin' from that chandlier.

I need a new position for sperm worm fishin' with you..
I want to jam my putts in with both of my nutts in your shoe..

I feel my pecker tinglin' balls are jinglin' too,
C'mon and be so pleasant while I pump my present in you!

b

Subject: Lyr Add: MAKE MY PRESENT SMALL (Bob Coltman)
From: GUEST,guest--Pat Nowell
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 09:13 PM

Bob Coltman recorded a thought provoking song in 1985 on the BMI label, called

MAKE MY PRESENT SMALL

Santa Claus I'm writing to you with extra special care.  
This request's important; please grant it this year.  
I'm asking for just one thing, and it is for us all.  
Not asking much for me alone, so make my present small.  
  
REFRAIN:  
Make my present small, just peace on earth for all,  
Real peace on earth, good will to men,  
And make my present small.  
  
I know I've asked you other years  
   for trains and other toys.  
But Santa, this year simply bring  
   joy to all girls and boys.  
To hungry ones please bring them food  
   to chilly ones bring fire,  
And Santa, bring them, if you can,  
   peace for their hearts' desire.  
REPEAT REFRAIN  
I know this letter's getting long,  
   and there's so little time,  
But Santa, bring an end to all the hurtfulness and crime.  
To every face please bring a smile,  
   to every heart a kiss.  
I'd forfeit all my Christmas gifts  
   if you would just do this.  
REPEAT REFRAIN

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 06:30 PM

I believe Condolezza Schwartz recorded a tune called "Fuck You -- It's Christmas" for Backbite Records, but the management decided not to include it in her actual CD.

Guess it would be pretty valuable if you caould get ahold of the master, therefore!

A

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From:
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 06:10 PM

There's a charming ditty by Eric Bogle 'Santa Bloody Claus'

Jack

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 02:36 PM

Enoch Kent wrote a marvellous Christmas satire to the tune of 'Mary's Boy Child'. It's on 'Revival In Britain' Folkways FW8728. "Christmas comes but once a year, So the holy bible say. And man must stash his cash all year, because of Christmas Day. All the stores were gaily garnished, tinsel and imitation snow. And we look forward to Christmas day and we hope we have the dough."

Subject: Lyr Add: SUDDENLY IT'S CHRISTMAS (L Wainwright)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 01:55 PM

Maybe I missed it but no one has mentioned Tom Lehrer's soulful Christmas song: Christmas time is here, by golly...

Then there's Loudon Wainwright's lovely song:

SUDDENLY IT'S CHRISTMAS
(Words & Music by Loudon Wainwright III
© 1993 Snowden Music Inc.
Slightly adapted by Charlie Ipcar - 1993)

  G               D            G      D  G C
  Suddenly it's Christmas, just after Halloween;
      G               D            C            D
  Forget about Thanksgiving, that buffet in between;
           G                D                       G      D    G   C
  There's lights and tinsel in the shops, they're stocking up the shelves;
   G              D                      C        D      G
  Santa's slaving at the Pole with his sweatshop full of elves.

There's got to be a build up for the day that Christ was born;
The malls are decked with pumpkins and ears of Injun corn;
Dragging through the falling leaves in a one-horse open sleigh;
Suddenly it's Christmas, seven weeks before the day.

          C               G            D       G D G
  CHORUS: Suddenly it's Christmas, the longest holiday
         C                 G                           C    G   D
  When they say "Seasons Greetings!", they mean just what they say;
          G              D            G     D  G C
  It's a season, it's a marathon – retail eternity,
               G              D               C             G
  And it's not over 'til it's over and you throw away the tree.

Outside it's nice and balmy, in the air nary a nip;
Suddenly it's Christmas, Santa's on his trip;
Yes, they're working overtime, Santa's little runts;
Christmas comes but once a year – and hangs on for two months.

Christmas carols in December, and November too;
It's no wonder we're depressed when the whole damn thing is through;
Finally, it's January, drag out Auld Lang Syne;
And here comes another heartache shaped like a valentine.

Chorus:

Suddenly it's Christmas, the longest holiday;
The season is upon us – it just won't go away;
It's a season, it's a marathon – retail eternity,
And it's not over 'til it's over and you throw away the tree;
No, it's not over 'til it's over and you throw away the tree;
It's still not over 'til it's over and you throw away the tree.

HTML preformat commands added. --JoeClone, 30-Nov-02.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 01:08 PM

Take Uncle Dave's Table Grace by the Berrymans, switch it from Thanksgiving to Christmas and make people laugh and cry at the same time.

Subject: Lyr Add: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (G. K. Chesterton)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 10:38 AM

Depends what you mean by contemporary. Here is something Chesterton dashed off when he read a piece in the paper "The chief constable has issued a statement declaring that carol singing in the streets by children is illegal and morally and physically injurious. He appeals to the public to discourage the practice." This would have been about 1925. Not much changes does it?

God rest you merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay;
The Herald Angels cannot sing,
The cops arrest them on the wing,
And warn them of the docketing
Of anything they say.

God rest you merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay;
On your reposeful cities lie
Deep silence, broken only by
The motor horn's melodious cry
The hooters happy bray.

So when the song of children ceased
And Herod was obeyed,
In his high hall Corinthian
With purple and with peacock fan,
Rested that merry gentleman;
And nothing him dismayed.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 09:57 AM

Oh blast - Jeanene, my e-mails to you keep coming back undelivered. Yes please to the alternative carols.

- Ian

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 09:54 AM

Blimey, we're going get an album out of this. Willa, that's a lovely final couplet in that song of yours, and thanks Nutty, I'm still laughing at the line in the Tawney song where he tries to ram the carol singer's lantern down his throat...

Still researching the rest, and thanks again.

- Ian

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 09:49 AM

Ewan MacColl again.Look at The Moving On Song.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: nutty
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 07:39 AM

In a lighter vein there's ....THERE ARE NO LIGHTS ON OUR CHRISTMAS TREE .......a Cyril Tawney classic and it's in the DT

Subject: Lyr Add: SHOEBOX CINDERELLA (Willa)
From: GUEST,Willa
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 06:32 AM

This is a song I wrote in '99


The Yorkshire Post's Christmas Appeal is for shoeboxes filled with small gifts, for children in Romania. Some of the children are living in rubbish dumps, some need hospice care, but can only be admitted when they are considered to have less than 5 months to live.

SHOEBOX CINDERELLA

Shoebox Cinderella, said the headline, and it brought an image straight into my mind
Of lonely Cinderella in the ashes, with her ugly sisters, jealous and unkind.
But this Cinderella's in a war-torn country, in a hospice, living out her little time.
No glass slippers for her feet, just a shoebox full of treats,
Grim reality's no happy pantomime.

There's a child among the ashes; can you bring a little smile
To her life of desperation – lift her spirits for a while?
As the clock ticks on to midnight there will be no magic spell,
And there'll be no happy ending, just the tolling of a bell.

CHORUS

She's a shoebox Cinderella, but this is no pantomime.
And there'll be no transformation, for she's running out of time.

In her rags amidst the squalor, cold and hungry, she's alone.
Will you lift the deadly pallor, do you have a heart of stone?
Fill that box with things to cherish, though so little, though so late,
In a life that is so hellish, how can you ignore her fate.

CHORUS

Though a shoebox full of treasures, just to show that someone cares,
Seems so pointless, seems so futile, in a life of such despair.
What can I do?, is it worth it?, will it help?, can I be sure?
Do the little that you can do; yes, then do a little more.

CHORUS

Subject: ADD: Merry Christmas from the Family ^^
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 04:05 AM

I don't know if this is "hard-hitting," but it's an interesting scoial commentary. A woman in our song circle does a great job of it.
-Joe Offer-

---

Merry Christmas From the Family
(Robert Earl Keen Jr)

G Mom got drunk and C9 Dad got drunk
G At our Christmas C9 party
G We were drinkin' Em champagne punch
And C homemade eggDnog
G Little sister brought her C9 new boyfriend
G He was a C9Mexican
G We didn't know what to Em think of him
'Til he C sang Feliz NaviDdad
Feliz NaviGdad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins
From his second wife MaryNell
Of course he brought his new wife Kaye
Who talks all about AA
Chain smokin' while the stereo plays
Noel, Noel, The first Noel

CHORUS:

D Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
C Mix Margaritas when the eggnog's gone
D Send somebody to the Quik-Pak store
C We need some ice and an extension cord
D A can of bean dip and some Diet Rite
C A box of tampons and some Marlboro Lights
G Hallelujah everyEmbody say cheese
C Merry Christmas from the DfamiGly

Fran and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motorhome in
They blew our christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited on our front lawn
He threw the breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night
Oh Silent Night

CHORUS:

Carve the turkey turn the ballgame on
Make Bloody Marys cause we all want one
Send somebody to the Stop 'n Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprite
A box of tampons and some Salem Lights
Hallelujah everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

Feliz Navidad.^^

---

Added to the Digital Tradition Oct 01

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: GUEST,Lucius (cookieless again)
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 03:49 AM

Maybe not that hard hitting, but how about Joni Mitchells' River; The Pogues Fairytale of New York; and ELPs' Father Christmas, all contempory. If I had to pick one, it'd be Christmas in the Trenches.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 02:49 AM

Ewan MacColl's "Ballad of the Carpenter"? (as recorded by Phil Ochs)

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 02:39 AM

Wow, now I've gone through them, there's some powerful stuff in there:

"For it isn't to the palace that the Christ child comes But to shepherds and street people, hookers and bums"

... which is exactly right for the things we're doing. And on that same clicky, Alex, was a super song called Soul of a Man. We'll have that as well!

Cheers, - Ian

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 02:27 AM

Cor, go to sleep for five minutes and I wake up to a day's research!!! Many thanks indeed. - Ian

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From:
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 01:38 AM

Not fully contemporary (in some of its specific ad references) but Stan Freeburg's "Green Christmas" is a classic satire and protest of the commercialization of Christmas.

There's also a sad Spanish Christmas song called "Pobres Huerfanitos (sp?).

Tish Hinojosa also has a song called "Jesse" on her Christmas album (tape or CD) about a girl in the housing projects. It's a positive outlook song but I think you might find it fits with your category.

I also have some "alternative christmas carols" (parodies about the excesses and abuses of Christmas) which I can email you if you like.

If you're looking for silly stuff, of course, there's "Walking 'Round In Women's Underwear," and "I Yoost Go Nuts AT Christmas."

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From:
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 01:21 AM

There's a song called The Rebel Jesus, sung, I think, by Jackson Browne and someone else. It is hard hitting, to say the least . I wish I could remember the lyrics, but you can probably find it through mudcat. In fact, I'd like to get the lyrics and chords myself.

J

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: JohnB
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 11:09 PM

OK Anglo, you beat me to the Homeless Wassail. Didn't the Kipper Family do something suitable too ? Although I don't remember what. You could try the Hungry Child, not sure who wrote it but Young Tradition did it. JohnB

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: khandu
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 10:43 PM

Tune of "Deck the Halls"

"Screw the poor, the sick, the needy,

Fa la la la la la la la la

Tis the Season to be greedy"

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Anglo
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 09:59 PM

You should definitely check out Ian Robb's "Homeless Wassail" which I believe is on the latest Finest Kind CD, more than likely available from Camsco Music...

More contemporary than WWI, anyway, though I certainly won't deny the power of the songs mentioned above.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 09:47 PM

Ian, I'd like to say something different, but all I can do is throw in my vote for both Christmas in the Trenches and 1913 Massacre(e). Both are really great and if you can sing Christmas in the Trenches without a few tears being shed, including your own, you're a better man than I am Gunga Din! Hard hitting? Man, it's hard to beat this:

Than daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"

OR

But the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

Geeziz.....It just doesn't get any stronger than that. A really exquisite piece of work.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: late 'n short 2
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 09:25 PM

How about John Denver's Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas. He played and sang it up tempo like a kid might sing it but the story is by no means light.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 07:55 PM

I believe "Christmas in the Trenches" is the greatest anti-war song of all time. Bravo, John McCutcheon.

- LH

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Gareth
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 07:33 PM

"Twas Christmas Day in the Work House,
and that Christmas it was cruel,
The lads they had nothing to eat,
excepting a bowl of Gruel.
In came the balliff's daughter
She came to bear the brunt,
Oh what do you want for Christmas Lads ?
And they answered - "Oh Tidings of comfort and Joy ....

Gareth

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: GUEST,Eileen
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 07:26 PM

"Silent Night" by Simon & Garfunkle.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:45 PM

John Gorka's version of "I Heard The Bells On X-mas Day"
Oh soooo sweet!

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:39 PM

The Eagles did a Christams song that was 12 bar blues.

Don't remamber the name but it starts out something like

Bells will be ringing their sad sad songs.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: nutty
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:28 PM

Season of Peace by Si Khan

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:27 PM

Stan Roger's "First Christmas"
Jethro Tull's "A Christmas Song"

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:23 PM

There is Woody Guthrie's "1913 Massacree"... another true story.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:23 PM

Anti-Carol by John Pole. It's in the DT.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: RWilhelm
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:22 PM

"Christmas in Prison" is a quirky Christmas song by John Prine on his CD "Sweet Revenge." And let me be the frist to mention "Fairy Tale of New York" by the Pogues. A harder-hitting Christmas song I can't imagine. The lyrics have been posted here several times.

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Wesley S
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:15 PM

"Come Rejoice" by Judy Collins from the CD of the same title. About the homeless.

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES (J McCutcheon)
From: Trapper
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:14 PM

How about this one?

- Al

CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES Author:John McCutcheon

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmates on the cold and rocky ground
When o're the field of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, ``Now listen up, me boys!'' each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
``He's singing bloody well, you know!'' my partner says to me
then one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war

As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
``God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'' struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was ``Stille Nacht.'' ``Tis `Silent Night','' says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
``There's someone coming toward us!'' the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night

Then one by one on either side walked into "No Man's Land"
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave them hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played the squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men

Than daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
``Whose family have I fixed within my sights?''
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed when songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd built between us to exact their work of war
Were crumbled and were gone forevermore

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well
But the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same

---

Also in the Digital Tradition and in Christmas in the Trenches thread group.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: mousethief
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 05:13 PM

Have you heard Cockburn's "Cry of a Tiny babe"? It sets my teeth on edge, and I'm a huge Cockburn fan! :o)

cf: blicky

Alex

Subject: Know any hard-hitting christmas songs?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 04:50 PM

Happy Christmas… and although this year I will dutifully turn up to play the carols and applaud the nativity shows, three of us have an idea to offer something additional to the church and community here in Oxfordshire. We're putting together, both on record and 'live' in pubs/town square, a programme of tougher raw-edge stuff, to remind people what the season is really about.

We're doing OK for some hard-hitting poems, drama, stories and the oddball bits such as the television psalm, 'The 23rd Channel' (if you don't know it and want the words, let me know!). But songs, I'm short of. Can anyone lead me to any contemporary 'make people think' songs about Christmas?

And I can't think if there has ever been a Christmas blues… although now I've written that, I can think of several Catters who will probably compose one instantly.

All the best – Ian B