Oh, yes, denizens, we need a little Christmas. Right this very minute.
But, please, none of that overly sentimental holiday schmaltz cheer. I’d much prefer something a little less…traditional. After all, it’s a well established fact that we do enjoy indulging our more Twisted holiday side here at the lair.
It’s no wonder, then, that I would love Weird Al Yankovic’s holiday serenade to that jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus. Released as the final track of Yankovic’s 1996 album Bad Hair Day, “The Night Santa Went Crazy” will never be accused of being a sentimental standard. Instead, one might view it as a cautionary tale: You can’t expect one man to serve the world’s greedy little desires in one night, year after year, without the pressure finally taking its toll.
Either that or Weird Al Yankovic is a horribly demented man.
However you wish to view it, this song remains a favorite of mine, even more than a decade after its release. I’ve never purchased any of Yankovic’s albums (I think many of his songs are funny and very witty, but his voice often has a strident quality that I find a bit disagreeable to my ears), but this is one of a handful of his songs for which I have made an exception.
There are at least three different versions of “The Night Santa Went Crazy.” There’s the original from 1996, in which Santa is arrested and placed in a federal prison for his rampage. Later, Yankovic would pen a second version in which Santa is killed by a SWAT team and the elves file for unemployment rather than get jobs with the postal service as they do in the original. The third version is a combination of the first two in which Santa still dies but the elves do go postal.
Heh.
I’ve linked to a fan-made animated video that uses the original version of the song. As much as I enjoy the more warped side of life, the “Santa death” version is a little more warped than I prefer at this time of the year. Besides, the animated video has a guest cameo toward the end that made me laugh when I saw them. Watch closely, denizens. The truth is out there…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb-Mce9VpmY&w=640&h=480]
