WILD BILLY CHILDISH
& THE MUSICIANS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE – CHRISTMAS 1979 (DAMAGED GOODS)
Over the years there
have been many many Christmas songs and generally they have tended to be sickly
sweet full of empty of sentiments and hollow gestures. In response to this many more credible
answers have come up with their own take on the season and seldom have they
won.
Its not that Christmas
is bad or horrible, it’s just that it brings out polarising traits in
personalities. There is never any
middle ground when it comes to Christmas, people either hate it or love
it. And to capture this essence of the
season is a truly tough task for the artist.
This is the Billy
Childish take on events.
After everything
looking fine it soon turns out Christmas 1979 may not have been a classic year
in the Hamper household. Proceedings
already look grim as halfway through the song Childish’s “father walks in
pissed through the door” then chucks “the telly across the floor” before falling
to his knees. At this point his old man
begins a sing song of “merry fucking Christmas to you all” with the “last words
he ever said” which leads to one of the great choruses of any alternative
festive song ever made. Its nasty but
it suits. I sense Christmas will be
happy time of year for this family.
The fun flows on the
flipside with “Ho Ho!” and a suitably more jubilant Childish track offering
positive charms to a loved one. His
message is universal and just cannot make it to end of the track without
turning snide. Nothing is precious.
Thesaurus moment:
stable.
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