How did Santa’s reindeer get to be so special? Care and feeding lessons as follows:
Peggy Lee’s continual attempts to appeal to children (scary!) included the saccharine “Don’t Forget to Feed the Reindeer,” a heavily syncopated band tune/lecture letting you know the privileges from being good. Do what you’re expected to do and you’ll get another chore, you angel!
Not scary enough? DJ Santa remixes ‘Mrs. Santa Claus’ as a bass drum car crash pogo dance “Who Feeds the Reindeer.” You have to dance, or else you’ll hear this massacre of a repetitious song.
Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ gets its due with The Withers’ masterfully homespun “Don’t Feed the Reindeer.” Apparently they have professional handlers and your leaving them carrots (and cookies?!) (and wifi??!!) when you go to bed Xmas Eve messes that up. Quit it.
Kidsong likes the counting song, hence “Nine Counting Rudolph” from Brian Kinder. Catchy, but not his best.
Asiansploitation and Byron S. mock Lourdes with their “Rudolph.” It’s all about–
“The Reindeer Song” by Daniel Dennis and Mason Douglas (as Sno’Rida and Mista’Toe) white-rap out the credit due the nine. Celebratory shouting to commence.
“Hamildolph” is the epic parody of ‘Hamilton’ from Eclipse 6. Worth the time reliving the bullied fawn’s tale.
“Gee, Rudolph Ain’t I Good to You?” is the Nat King Cole classic funnied up by The Christmas Jug Band. Unrequited gift-bringing is so bluesy.
Some songs simply sneak in the roll call of reindeer. Listen carefully.
The Simians’ “A Perfect Christmas” is that list of ingredients that fill the bill. Alt-rock sneaks in the rostrum at the end.
“Santa Country” is old beach rock, so the actual country features Santa Barbara, or Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, or Sante Fe–get it? Reindeer creep in at the finale thanks to Bad Tide.
Flaterectomy gets desperate with his Song-of-the-Week challenge in Week 51’s “Ho Ho Ho,” in which Santa robs with a BLUE ALERT bitter vocabulary. The reindeer are named as accomplices in this metal/show tune mashup.
“I Got Yule Babe” from the inimitable Joel Kopischke waits for the outro to enumerate the sleigh pullers… and some bonus crew!
The mall Santa is an established trope for all, therefore fodder for musical parody. Low concept work best when you’re substituting lyrics.
‘Coming to Town’ gets the naughty treatment from Carrie Dahlby & The Sherlocks as “Mall Santa” starts flashing, and not in a disco-kind-of way. Unfortunate underage burlesque.
Queen gets queered by Paul Adlrich in the above-average “We’re the Mall Santas.” It’s ‘We are the Champions’ with a bit of wit, which is what the world needs right about now.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday… Monty Python parody. Seth Gamba takes the ‘Lumberjack’ song around the block in “The Mall Santa Song.” Amateur, but he’s okay so worth a listen.
The Withers go all out on Carl Douglas’s ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ as “Christmas Lighting.” Yeah, I’ve played you that before, but it still caught you off guard!
I guess a little ring-dingy is just what the comical ordered when it comes to trolling the tropes of Christmas. Santa + Bells = mad libs funny. Here, here, i’ll show you:
Some negative Nellies focus only on the impossibility of a great Christmas, so they sing the coal songs.
Bob Kramer of The Fource play little punk to frame how It’s too late! and You’re only gonna get “Coal.” Neat backbeat.
Alex Barbatsis has more talent than technique with his Black Eyed Peas ‘Humps’ parody “My Lumps (Of Coal).” You have been warned. About getting coal for Christmas.
Time to document your life with photos. Everything is photo ready and worth a million likes. I mean EVERYthing. (Not much of a novelty song topic, granted. Although i am Quite a Fan of College Humor’s Nickelback parody “Look at This Instagram.”)
From the album Christmas Party: Santa Goes Dancing drops the song “My Instagram.” Danceable, but Foxmelody has not given me much to Xmas about.
Webstar Malinda sings her one woman chorus (quit harmonizing yourself!) far an end-of-the-year parody of carols that ticks off the topic boxes, beginning with Instagram!, for a good/bad spectacle of aria-tic proportions.
You know you’ve made it when they parody you. Mrs. Claus has a couple song spoofs in her honor.
‘Greensleeves’ is sorta kinda Christmas, and it’s the lead-in for “Playing Mrs. Claus.” This showtune is about the out-of-work actress gig no one wants as portrayed by Natasha Barnes. If you’ve seen ‘A Christmas Story’ you know the tone.
Obvi, “Me and Mrs. Claus” the take on Billy Paul’s ‘Me and Mrs. Jones’ redoubles the hat mama-ness of that granny. I know this from Bob Rivers and have used it before. But Mmm did it a few years earlier than him.
Third Bass does an unrecognizable parang wild run at the whole thing.
‘Stacy’s Mom’ by Fountains of Wayne gets a loop de loop with Bob Ricci’s “Mrs. Claus.” This is a dead ringer for a ‘Weird’ Al bit, albeit deadpan adultery.
Man i love me some spot on hit song parodies that feature Christmas. So how could i have missed out on The Withers?! Time to rectify. (And sprinkle in a few other finds.)
1966: Buffalo Springfield releases ‘For What It’s Worth’ just before Christmas and it peaks on no. 7 of the Billboard charts, also becoming a big deal in the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Withers get hip with “What the Present’s Worth.”
1966: Hey, there are other parodiers! DeathTongue hits up the Johnny Rivers hit ‘Secret Agent Man’ from the TV deal with “Elf on the Shelf.” I spy with my little eye that that no.3 rocker is well served.</p>
1968: The Beatles rock softly with the Paul McCartney ‘Blackbird.’ The Withers play nice with their “Reindeer.”
1972: all-Rush mixtape has an adorable take on Bread’s ‘Guitar Man’ with an unapproachable “Santa Man.” The original hit number 11 on Billboard, but was no ‘Baby, I’ma Want You.’ And yet the parody is groovy gravy.
1974 Carl Douglas sold 11 million ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ singles and became one of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time. The Withers get kazoo crazy with “Christmas Lighting.”
1975: ‘Low Rider’ from War hit 7 on the Hot Singles chart, 1 on the R+B chart. Santa’s Elves fa la la it up with “Sleigh Rider.” Mr. Red’s got street cred.
1976: Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) the Reaper’ barely broke the top ten, but had legs and was included in Rolling Stone‘s Top 500 Songs of all time. Dr. BLT’s “Don’t Fear the New Year” is not karaoke slavish to the original, it just putzes around having fun. (The Withers, natch, mock it up with “Don’t Feed the Reindeer.”)
1976: Starland Vocal Band adds to our slanglish with ‘Afternoon Delight.’ The Withers honor thy pop with “Christmas Delight.”
1978: Number 20 on Billboard’s Greatest Girl Groups Songs of all time, Sister Sledge takes ‘We Are Family’ to club levels. “We Got a Christmas Tree” by Santa’s Elves goes back to the musical roots.
2017: New contenders The Skorys take on mod pop tunes with Xmas twists. Love ’em, but they yet have room to grow. Portugal. The Man’s ‘Feel It Still’ charted strong and got swooped up for commercial and movie trailer backgrounds. Even better as the parody “Naughty List.”
2017: Selena Gomez’s ‘Wolves’ charted much better in Poland than here, but The Skorys have many funninesses with their parody “Christmas Time.”
1992: Better reviewed than bought, REM’s ‘Man on the Moon’ sparked the in-the-know party convo that alt snobs loved. The Withers get complicated with “Reindeer on the Moon.” C’mon, Rudolph.
