Classic Rock
Great Forgotten Songs #20 – The Kinks “Father Christmas”
“Father Christmas” was released in 1977 as a single by The Kinks and remains as one of the coolest rock and roll Christmas songs of all time.
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The track talks about a department store Father Christmas that is beaten up by a gang of poor kids who tell him to give them money instead of toys and tell him that the toys should be given “to the little rich boys.”
At one point, a child asks the narrator to give his/her father a job for Christmas or, if he must deliver a toy, a machine gun.
Throughout the years, the tune has been covered by bands including the Gigolo Aunts, Dispatch, Green Day, Man Overboard, Bad Religion, Warrant, Lit, Bowling For Soup, Save Ferris, Smash Mouth, Cary Brothers, Action Action, Everything, Deer Tick, OK Go, Cheap Trick, and the Clay Pigeons.
Hear it below:
“Father Christmas” by The Kinks
Single (1977)
The track was included on the compilation “Come Dancing with The Kinks” and is also available as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Kinks’ 1978 album Misfits.
The b-side to the single was another Ray Davies composition, “Prince of the Punks”, that was written in the bitter aftermath of Davies’ troubled stint as the co-producer for Café Society’s debut album, which was issued in 1975.
Davies wrote as part of the lyrics, “Tried to be gay/But it didn’t pay/So he bought a motorbike instead”, in direct reference to Tom Robinson, one of the band members of the short-lived Cafe Society.
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