![]() ![]() It was a dark place, but among the few consolations was the emergence of a new modern Christmas standard, courtesy of American power-pop quartet Charly Bliss and Toronto punk rockers PUP: “It’s Christmas and I Fucking Miss You.” These weary souls tap their feet to the Waitresses, buy the world’s smallest turkey, and settle in for a solitary holiday.īut in 2020, nine months into the full double-barreled fury of the coronavirus pandemic, the entire world’s population found itself in this boat: exhausted by nearly a year’s worth of fear and dread, isolated from loved ones, and all too aware that the season’s greetings were meaningless platitudes. “Christmas Wrapping” was written for this quiet minority-people who know their feelings of fatigue are at odds with their neighbors’ demands of figgy pudding and brightly shining stars. And with every cheerful and saccharine social interaction, you get closer to subjecting some well-meaning stranger’s chestnuts to an open fire. The Salvation Army bell takes on the maddening quality of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells.” Holly, jolly feels more like hollow and jaded. Joy to the world, in so many words.īut if you’re stressed out, if you’re lonely, if you’re separated from your family-hell, if you work retail in a store that doesn’t rotate its corporate-approved playlist frequently enough-that much yuletide joy can start to grate. It is for this group that most of the Christmas music canon is written, and therefore that canon is devoted to celebrating one of two things: the momentous theological import of the birth of Christ or the equally anticipated secular celebration, which combines the comfort of the familial hearth, the granting of children’s wishes, and universal goodwill. Many people-maybe even most-find Christmastime to be an invigorating break in what would otherwise (in less temperate regions of the country) be a genuine winter of discontent. ![]() ![]() This relic of ’80s pop–New Wave wormed its way into my heart not only because of its killer bass line and saxophone hook, but because it gave voice to an aspect of the holiday season that’s far too infrequently celebrated in song. Three years ago, I wrote a brief homage to my favorite Christmas song, “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses. ![]()
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