So this post on Senses Working Overtime reminded me just how much Dr. Demento was a part of my growing up. And his Christmas songs were the stuff of legend, especially when you were just a kid and you were tired of hearing all the normal holiday staples. Well, despite the fact he was a no-show when he had committed to stopping by one of our Film Fests so we could present him with a lifetime achievement award for his career and the fact he did so crushed what little I have left for a heart, his contributions to our collective psychosis cannot be denied.
Trouble is this: when you’re trying to put together a day of Demento, there’s very little in the way of videos of the Christmas stuff online. “The Chipmunk Song” we’ve already posted. Bob & Doug‘s “12 Days of Christmas” has no video worth posting, nor does Allan Sherman’s “12 Gifts of Christmas.”
The obvious thing is that, yes, you can find Spike Jones‘ “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” and Gayla Peevey’s “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” online in decent forms, but they’re only good for one or two listens before they start to annoy the hell out of you. And I guarantee that by December 18th, you’ve heard them both at least twice. So.
Before we get to some selections, I’d like to point out some other songs I was saddened not to find worthy vids for: I’m amazed that no one’s done anything with Henry Rollins‘ brilliant reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and there’s no good video for The Vandals’ “Hang Myself From the Tree.” Anyway, here you go:
Jonathan Coulton here performs a live version of “Christmas is Interesting” with Paul & Storm. If they come to your city, you owe it to yourself to go see them.
Direct link for the feedreaders.
That track is available on Coulton’s release, Smoking Monkey. Click here to buy it from Amazon.
One Demento track I was able to find is Weird Al Yankovic‘s timeless classic, “Christmas at Ground Zero.” This was perfect gallows humor for when I was a youngster growing up, paranoid as hell about nuclear war. Especially for the holidays! Why am I so screwed up? No idea.
Direct link for the feedreaders.
That track is available on Yankovic’s 1991 classic album, Polka Party! Click here to buy it from Amazon.
And I realize we’ve posted this before, but about the only thing that would trump nuclear armageddon when you’re talking Things That Would Ruin Christmas would be the return of Cthulhu. We’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating because it’s so good:
Direct link for the feedreaders.
You can find that track on A Very Scary Solstice. That CD and many others are for sale by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society at their store. They rock.
And–what a stroke of luck–finding this makes the day complete! It’s what could quite possibly be the best Christmas song ever: “Slick Nick!” And it’s performed live on a scary Casio keyboard by scary-wonderful Fishbone frontman Sir Angelo Moore! Freaking brilliant!
Direct link for the feedreaders.
The regular version of the track (which is rather like this version I must say) was available on Fishbone 101, which…is out of print? WTF, you fascists? Oh well. You can get it for $3.50 used. So that’s a helluva deal. Click here to buy it from Amazon.
