Way back in the early 1980's (yikes, over three decades ago!), one
of the bands we formed for fun -- perhaps
We're Jimmy Hoffa
(login: organized password: labor)
or
The Last Four(5) Digits
(login: five password: digits)
-- was asked to play a Christmas Party at one of the early Indianapolis
punk/new-wave clubs.
Dave Fulton
and I were discussing possible Christmas songs we might do as part of the show,
probably while we were on our way to
Zounds Studios
in W. Lafayette, Indiana, the recording studio that
Rick Thomas
and I had built. At some point we noticed how creepy the words to
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" were, and we (well, mainly Dave I think)
speculated what it would be like to hear that carol if you were completely
paranoid about life. Out of that speculation grew "The Paranoiac's Christmas
Carol". Mike Sheets, John Koss, and maybe (depending on which band it
was) Julie Huffaker all contributed to the final piece. This abridged
version of the song is based on my surely-faulty recollection of original.
Why did I do this song now? My family has developed a strange and
terrible holiday tradition: when we get together to celebrate
Christmas, we have a "joke of
the year" contest. The jokes have devolved over the years to excruciating
puns based on traditional carols (see
here
and
here
for a few examples). These are getting more and more difficult to
do as the supply of seasonal music has dwindled. A few years ago,
instead of a joke I created a
Carol of the Cats
video. It was a family hit! This year I also hadn't come up with a killer
pun, so I decided to record "The Paranoiac's Christmas Carol".
Thanks Dave and everyone, and Happy Holidays to all!
Brad Garton
December, 2015
