We're in the midst of reviewing the 37 tracks on my 19th and latest annual holiday mix, Christmas Cheer. Reviewing to us primarily means providing a bit of background on each of the featured songs. We've covered 15 songs to date, and today's post looks at four more: Tracks 16, 17, 18 and 19.
Track 16
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight), Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul (2017)
Steve Van Zandt has his fingers and mind into a lot of things. For the past 50 years or so, he’s not only played guitar as a sporadic member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, while serving more consistently as Springsteen’s best friend, alter ego and consigliore. But that’s only one facet of Van Zandt’s flourishing professional life. Among other things, he’s:
- Recorded, individually and with his band, The Disciples of Soul, at least seven albums and numerous singles and EPs, often supporting these releases with tours and individual live performances;
- Produced records and written songs for other artists, including Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Ronnie Spector, Gary U.S. Bonds, Meatloaf, Darlene Love and the Iron City Houserockers;
- Built a respected acting career, beginning in 1999, including playing mobster Silvio Dante in all six seasons of the HBO smash The Sopranos and his subsequent role as star, co-writer and co-executive producer of Lilyhammer, Netflix’ first original series;
- Hosted the hit weekly radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage, which he launched in 2002, and served as program director for two ongoing Sirius Satellite Radio channels, including his new Outlaw Country channel;
- Founded and oversaw his own record label, Wicked Cool Records;
Wrote and published Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir, which Jay Cocks called “one of the best rock memoirs ever,” and Bob Dylan noted “is filled with outrageous humor, worldly wisdom, and an uncanny sense of daring”;
- Founded and promoted the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and its chief program, TeachRock, which developed and maintains a curriculum for elementary and high schools focused on rock music and its role in American history and popular culture; and
- Founded Artists Against Apartheid with record producer Arthur Baker and assembled over 50 artists to create Sun City, an album and affiliated releases aimed at fighting and raising awareness of South Africa’s former system of apartheid. Van Zandt has supported a variety of additional causes over the years.
Van Zandt recorded this track with The Disciples of Soul in 2017 at the end of the group’s extended tour of the U.S. and Europe. "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" was first recorded by The Ramones in 1987 as the B side to their single "I Wanna Live." It was later featured in the 2004 film Christmas with the Kranks.
The video of Van Zandt's 2017 remake was filmed on a beach in Barcelona, where the band was scheduled to perform. He explained how things came about a short time later:
Well, it was just kind of a spontaneous idea. We were gonna do a couple of Christmas shows [in New Jersey] to end the tour locally, so I said we should learn a Christmas song or two. I thought, well, I could do my own song that I wrote with Darlene Love or I could write something new or I could do something else. But I’m kind of conscious of trying to keep the Ramones music alive. So I thought it would be a good idea to do this thing and remind everybody how great the Ramones were and how great a writer Joey Ramone was, so I said, ‘Let’s do that. Let’s rearrange that a little bit, add some horns to it and the girls and we just cut it at a soundcheck, man. We learned it and just cut it live at soundcheck.
Steve Van Zandt Tells Howard
Stern How He Got His Role on The Sopranos
20 Hilarious Silvio Dante Moments from The Sopranos
Visit the Website for Little Steven’s Underground Garage
Order Steve Van Zandt’s “Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir” on amazon com
Learn About Steve Van Zandt’s Teach Rock Educational Program
Watch a Promo for Steve Van Zandt’s Lilyhammer, Netflix’ First Original Series
Watch TODAY’s 20-Year Anniversary Sopranos Cast Reunion
Track 17
Drummer Boy, Titus Andronicus (2022)
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| Titus Andronicus |
Track 18
Here Comes Santa Claus, Terry and the Bunnys (1968)
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| Takeshi Terauchi (a/k/a Terry) |
According to Autry, the idea for the song first came to him while riding a horse in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade in Hollywood. While riding, he heard excited spectators repeatedly murmuring “here comes Santa Claus” in anticipation of the parade’s main event. Following the parade, he jotted down the lyrics and worked with Oakley Haldeman to compose the suitable music. Autry’s version of the song, released as a single the following year, became a Top 10 hit. He performed the song in his 1949 movie “The Cowboy and Indians.”
In subsequent years, “Here Comes Santa Claus” has been covered by a wide variety of other artists ranging from Doris Day (1947) to Bob Dylan (2009), and from Billy Idol (2006) to RuPaul (1997).
This version is by Takeshi Terauchi, a Japanese instrumental rock guitarist affectionately known to his friends and fans as Terry. Much of Terry’s music has been labeled “surf rock,” and is often said to be similar in style to the work of The Ventures. His guitar sound is characterized by frenetic picking, heavy use of tremolo picking and frequent use of his guitar's vibrato arm.
Terry’s music became popular in Japan, especially during the mid- to late-1960s, when he worked with a backing band known as The Bunnys. In late 1968 the Bunnys went off on their own, and Terry formed a new group known as the Blue Jeans. Unfortunately, his music was rarely played outside of Japan, and I’m not sure he ever performed in the United States.
“Here Comes Santa Claus” appears on the album “Christmas Party,” which is especially hard to find today. It is believed to be among his final collaborations with the Bunnys.
Hear Terry’s Surf-Rock Versions of Various Classical Works on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog
Holiday Greetings from Tom Arnold
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| Tom Arnold |
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