{"id":28652,"date":"2025-01-12T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28652"},"modified":"2025-11-25T10:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T15:15:45","slug":"countdown-to-christmas-ten-great-rock-n-roll-songs-about-santa-claus-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/12\/countdown-to-christmas-ten-great-rock-n-roll-songs-about-santa-claus-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to Christmas: Ten Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Songs About Santa Claus (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Continued from Part One<\/a><\/em>…<\/p>\n

5. \u201cSanta Claus is Comin\u2019 to Town\u201d \u2013 Bruce Springsteen (single, 1981)<\/b>
\n\u201cSanta Claus is Comin\u2019 to Town\u201d is the oldest song on this list. First published in 1934, the tune was first popularized by singer Eddie Cantor. The song quickly became a standard, covered in performance and in recordings by more than 200 artists representing most every musical genre. In 1981, The Boss himself released his own version, recorded live onstage six years earlier at C.W. Post College on Long Island, New York. The track also appeared on In Harmony 2<\/i>, an all-star compilation of children\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

\"\"4. \u201cI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus\u201d \u2013 John Mellencamp (from <\/b>A Very Special Christmas<\/b><\/i>, 1987)<\/b>
\nDating from the early 1950s, the romantic and easy listening \u201cI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus\u201d has been recorded countless times. Wacky bandleader Spike Jones was one of the first to cover it; his 1952 version was a Top Ten single. The Ronettes\u2019 Phil Spector-produced recording was a highlight of their 1962 LP A Christmas Gift For You<\/i>. Pop royalty the Jackson Five covered the song on their own Christmas album, released at the height of their popularity in 1970. Heartland rocker John Mellencamp waxed his own version for a late \u201880s all-star compilation benefiting the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"\"3. \u201cHere Comes Santa Claus\u201d \u2013 Los Straitjackets (from <\/b>\u2018Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets<\/b><\/i>, 2002)<\/b>
\nNashville\u2019s Los Straitjackets have carved out a unique corner of the rock world all their own, breathing new life into the surf-instrumental rock genre. Clad in Mexican luchador<\/i> wrestling masks, the foursome write top-flight songs, but they also turn classics on their heads while remaining faithful to the musical values that made the songs special. A nod to their heroes the Ventures \u2013 who made a classic Christmas album of their own in 1965 \u2013 Los Straitjackets\u2019 reading of \u201cHere Comes Santa Claus\u201d is full of sparkle, spirit and verve.<\/p>\n

\"\"2. \u201cThe Man With All the Toys\u201d \u2013 Husky Team (from <\/b>Christmas in Memphis<\/b><\/i>, 2003<\/b>)
\nThis classic first appeared on The Beach Boys\u2019 Christmas Album<\/i> (see above), but 40 years later some of rock\u2019s most inventive artists revived the tune. In the hands of Husky Team \u2013 a who\u2019s-who assemblage led by Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken and producer\/multi-instrumentalist Dave Amels \u2013 \u201cThe Man With All the Toys\u201d and other classics are recast as inventive instrumentals that brilliantly reference classics from Memphis legends like Sam & Dave, Booker T & the MGs, the Box Tops and more.<\/p>\n

\"\"1. \u201cSanta Make Me Good\u201d \u2013 The Grip Weeds with Mark Lindsay (from <\/b>Under the Influence of Christmas<\/b><\/i>, 2011)<\/b>
\nNamed after Private Gripweed, John Lennon\u2019s character in the 1966 black comedy How I Won the War<\/i>, New Jersey\u2019s Grip Weeds have been making original music since 1988. Combining Who-like energy with the allure of classic psychedelia and the immediacy of power pop, the group has been turning out album after album of memorable, melodic rock. In 2011 they took a bit of a turn, making a holiday-themed album featuring special guest stars. \u201cSanta Make Me Good\u201d found the band working with Mark Lindsay, the legendary, powerful-voiced and ponytailed front man of Paul Revere and the Raiders.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bonus: \u201cChristmas With the Devil\u201d \u2013 Spin\u0308al Tap (from <\/b>Break Like the Wind<\/b><\/i>, 1992)<\/b>
\nSubjects of the groundbreaking 1984 \u201cmockumentary,\u201d the group featuring actor-musicians Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer wrote and performed their own music. Like the film itself, those songs were knowing parodies of countless rock tropes, especially ones \u2013 like bad taste, for example \u2013 associated with heavy metal. Six years after the film, the band returned with Break Like the Wind<\/i>, an album showcasing this riotous inversion of holiday cheer and featuring jokey lyrics like \u201cSilent night, violent night!\u201d It was all in good fun, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… 5. \u201cSanta Claus is Comin\u2019 to Town\u201d \u2013 Bruce Springsteen (single, 1981) \u201cSanta Claus is Comin\u2019 to Town\u201d is the oldest song on this list. First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,37],"tags":[533,4013],"class_list":["post-28652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-holiday","tag-christmas","tag-santa-claus","cat-27-id","cat-37-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30490,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28652\/revisions\/30490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}