Christmas Song #13

Santa Claus--Jingle Jingle Jingle



AND

Rudolph and Hermey--We're A Couple Of Misfits



I couldn't decide which one should get the nod at the top and which one should be relegated to the bottom. Not that it matters. I put both at the top, as you can see.

Now, you might argue that this isn't really very good Christmas music (and... one isn't even really related to Christmas anyway). But you would be wrong... or you have never been exposed to perhaps one of the greatest Christmas specials of all time. Or you are immune to its charms. In any case, I have much pity for you.

To me, the Christmas special encompasses a lot of things I love about the holiday, from the old favorites like Burl Ives as the narrator to the delightfully odd--like the greatest prospector in the north Yukon Cornelius. And it's got catchy songs, and the story is about non-conformity in a way that doesn't beat your head over the message. And the stop-motion is charmingly lo-fi. Oh, and Santa is a huge dick in this--and thus, it's my favorite take on Santa Claus of all time.

Santa sings the song in the first video early on in the special, right about when he meets Rudolph. And of course, Santa delivers some catchy as hell jingle out of thin air for the occasion.... because he's Santa and that's the sort of thing he does. But before doing so, he just happens to deepen Rudolph's developing insecurities about his nose by essentially stating that he probably will never make the sleigh team. Because that's what Santa is all about. I really love this special, by the way.

The second song featured here involves Rudolph--after having been humiliated and psychologically scarred by all the other reindeer at the reindeer games--meeting up with Hermey the elf, who has also been spurned in his quest to become a dentist, immediately forming a bond. And they sing something that's almost--if not more--catchy as the first song above. I have sometimes considered this to be the greatest Christmas song of all time. It probably isn't... especially since it doesn't have anything to do with Christmas. But I will think less of anyone who thinks it's less than great.

The Misfits video unfortunately doesn't have one I can embed of actual footage from the special--and the only ones I can find aren't paired with the right footage and is instead supposed to be set with the song "Fame And Fortune." There's been a lot of different edits of this special, for who knows why.

Anyway. The songs are pretty great. Written by the same guy who wrote the original Rudolph song too.