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Last night I was watching VH1 Classic’s presentation of the Kinks Christmas Concert, a 1977 performance that ends with Ray Davies emerging as the seediest and most dissolute Kris Kringle ever—even more than Billy Bob Thornton—for a perfunctory performance of the hastily-dashed-off instant classic “Father Christmas” (“Father Christmas, give us some money / We’ve got no time for your silly toys / We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over / Save all your toys for the little rich boys”). It ends with a flat platitude about remembering the less fortunate, but that’s a minor flaw. Especially when compared to, say, Band Aid’s 1984 “Do They Know it’s Christmas,” which was all platitude. Worthy cause and all, but did it occur to Bob Geldof that some of those starving kids in Africa might not know it’s Christmas because . . . they’re not Christians?
Also, I’m still taking suggestions for theme songs for Senator Obama’s hypothetical Presidential campaign. (See my post on Wednesday.) There’s some good stuff there already. C’mon, there must be someone out there who can make me laugh harder than Rob, who suggested “I Whipped Batman’s Ass” by Wesley Willis.
