Kinks – Father Christmas

This is my first Christmas post of the year. I really miss posting all of the Christmas posts I have, but I’ll get some in before Christmas…not too many though. We have less than a week til Christmas. I’m looking forward to it. I hope all of you are doing well!

This song always brings a smile to my face. Any Kinks Christmas song would have to be different…and this one is.

I’ve always liked this raw and rough Christmas song. A writer at the NME wrote, “Successful Xmas songs are more about mood than specifics, but as this is an anti-Christmas song, it’s fine.” This is the kind of song you would expect from Ray Davies. Anti-Christmas or not…it has become a popular classic Christmas song that gets airplay every year.

The single was released during the height of punk rock and certainly exudes a punk attitude. Dave Davies told ABC Radio that he “always thought The Ramones would do a great version of it. I don’t know why they didn’t do it.”… thinking about it…Dave was right…it would have fit them perfectly.

The song was released in 1977 with the B side Prince Of  The Punks. The track was included on the Arista compilation Come Dancing with The Kinks and is also available as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Kinks’ 1978 album Misfits.

In England, Father Christmas is the personification of Christmas, in the same way as Santa Claus is in the United States. Although the characters are now synonymous, historically Father Christmas and Santa Claus have separate entities, stemming from unrelated traditions.

This song is the rare holiday song that actually tells the truth. It jingles, it rocks, and it quietly asks why the season of giving so often feels like a season of needing. Play it loud, pour something strong, and remember that Ray Davies could turn even Christmas into a perfect little slice of real life.

Ray Davies: “When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them,” he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. “I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do ‘Father Christmas.’ And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, ‘The Kinks didn’t do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'”

Father Christmas

When I was small I believed in Santa Claus
Though I knew it was my dad
And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas
Open my presents and I’d be glad

But the last time I played Father Christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor

They said
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Don’t give my brother a Steve Austin outfit
Don’t give my sister a cuddly toy
We don’t want a jigsaw or monopoly money
We only want the real mccoy

Father Christmas, give us some money
We’ll beat you up if you make us annoyed
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys

But give my daddy a job ’cause he needs one
He’s got lots of mouths to feed
But if you’ve got one I’ll have a machine gun
So I can scare all the kids on the street

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
Father Christmas, please hand it over
We’ll beat you up so don’t make us annoyed

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

36 thoughts on “Kinks – Father Christmas”

  5. Pingback: Kinks – Father Christmas – MobsterTiger

  6. I see the title and always get it mixed up with the Greg Lake song. The usual Kinks wit here, sort of up there with ‘A Fairy Tale of New York’ as an anti-Christmas Christmas classic

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      1. Yes, I know I’ve mellowed considerably on Christmas since the birth of our grandson. Now is the time to enjoy the simple joy of seeing him help put up/pull down the tree, decorate it in his own way (who needs a star or a fairy on top ‘o the tree when you can put a fearsome T-rex wrapped in tinsel up there?) I retain a certain cynics edge and enjoy a bit of satire on Satunalia, but there is a lot to be said for letting yourself simply revel in the fun. Yes, I guess I AM mellowing and have proved to have a warm gooey marshmallow centre after all!

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      2. Oh goodness! It just took grandchildren to re-find it. I’m on his side…I think a T-Rex will brighten up the joint!
        Yea I have to admit…I do love Christmas and all of it’s pageantry. It seems like everytime I was losing a bit of enthusiasm Bailey came along….and then my nephews and nieces came along and revived it.

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  16. I normally hate Christmas songs by the famous who at some point in their career that have to record a collection of the standards….I wish the band that covered the Carpenter’s Top of the World (Shonen Knife) would do that though…seriously Dee Snider’s shot was a waste…this is good. lately there have been a few that have good versions..I mentioned the Tractors, and Kim Wilde’s White Winter Hymnal is perfect..

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  18. I’ve loved this song since it originally came out.

    But this is the first time I have seen this video.

    THE VIDEO IS FANTASTIC!!! It’s like a poorly done selfie, except the poorly done is a put on and the whole thing is a put on and,…

    Excuse me, I gotta watch that video again. I love it.

    THANKS MAX

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