Posted in: Musicouching by Tom Zdrojewski on December 12th, 2008 | 0 Comments
A list of my top five favorite Christmas songs, not including covers of standards.
For a lot of people, “punk rock” and “Christmas” don’t really go together very well. But I’ve always been a fan of punk rock Christmas songs, whether it’s the Pogues spending a drunken Christmas Eve lamenting a crumbling relationship or It Dies Today shredding their way through “Feliz Navidad.” So enjoy some eggnong with rum (or straight soynog for those straightedge vegan punks) and enjoy my favorite punk rock Christmas songs of all time.
NUMBER FIVE – The Ramones – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) – The first punk Christmas song I ever heard (not counting punk covers of standards). A man tells his wife that he doesn’t want to fight because it’s Christmas, and “Christmas ain’t the time for breaking each other’s hearts.” Plain and simple, a rocking plea to pretend to be happy for the sake of the season from a man who knows the relationship is fading. Found on “Brain Drain,” the last Ramones album to feature original bass player Dee Dee Ramone.
NUMBER FOUR – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – This Time Of Year – A room-shaking ska-rocker about what the band really loves about this time of year. Front-man Dicky Barret sings about the pretty lights and all the stuff you can buy, but what he truly loves about Christmas is the togetherness. It’s not surprising for a punk band to sing against commercialism, but what strikes me about the song is the naked honesty in Barret’s voice as he yells “this time of year’s my favorite time of year because all of us are here together.” Found on the “A Santa Cause: It’s A Punk Rock Christmas” compilation and “Medium Rare,” the “Tones rarities collection.
NUMBER THREE – The Vandals – Oi To The World – Few things irritate me like the constant portrayal of all skinheads as neo-Nazi racists (look it up, most skinheads are not part of that crowd), but I can’t help loving this song. Haji, an Indian Briton, is playing with his oi band in a bar when Trevor, a racist skinhead, decides to start trouble. When they meet on a rooftop with their respective crews, Haji has a sword with him, “like the guy in Indiana Jones.” The crews split when they hear sirens, but Haji, realizing that Trevor is severely wounded, dresses his wounds with his turban, then uses the rest of the turban to rappel from the roof. Trevor and Haji decide to forget their differences over a pint. Odd story, brilliant song. As The Vandals say, if God were to show up on Christmas, he wouldn’t say “oi to the punks,” or “oi to the skins,” but “oi to the world and everybody wins.” Found on The Vandals’ Christmas album of the same name.
