"Stop the Cavalry," Jona Lewie (Stiff)

This actually was a Top Ten hit in Great Britain and made no. 1 in several European countries upon its single release in 1980. It's a soldier's holiday lament, fusing synth-pop and martial music to create its mood. For some reason it appears on Dr. Demento's Holidays in Dementia, although it seems not particularly demented to me. Of course, if the good Doctor hadn't compiled it I would have never known that Jona started out in the British blues scene -- and for sure you never would have guessed it from his recordings for Stiff. He was part of the second-wave Live Stiffs tour, along with Lena Lovich, Rachel Sweet, Wreckless Eric and Mickey Jupp, and his other hits included "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" and "God Bless Whoever Made You." This has become a staple of British holiday music in recent years, as noted in Thea Gilmore's "That'll Be Christmas," with its lyric "Jona Lewie on the radio."