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I keep hearing folks going nuts over this, and Robert Drake just played it on WXPN-FM in Philly this afternoon, so I figured folks who don't find their way over to the old site might appreciate having it up front here today. There's a part two if you can't get enough from this one, by the way. If I don't post any more for the next couple of days, Merry Christmas from Mistletunes. (I will be back to posting soon though, so keep on coming back.)

The Fab Four, a fairly well-known Beatles tribute band, created two full albums of Christmas goodness for 2002 under the titles A Fab Four Christmas and Have Yourself a FAB-ulous Little Christmas for Laserlight, a budget label, but apparently they didn't stay in print long, if the complaints of some fans are anything to go by. Last year, the band took matters into their own hands and reissued the two discs in a single wrapper, a clever one too, one that parodies the U.S. version of the Help! album. The Fabs cut a wide swath across the history of the Beatles -- the two CDs, in their original packaging, are even color-coded the same as the famous Beatles 62-66 and 67-70 collections (see below) to tip off committed listeners -- and their vocal impressions, particularly of Paul and John, are pretty authentic. (One might also note the red album has a strong resemblance to Beatles 1.) Some of the more inventive arrangements include "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" via "When I'm 64" and "Honey Pie," "Silent Night" as "Norwegian Wood," "The Christmas Song" as "Here, There and Everywhere," "Good King Wenceslaus" sung to "Tell Me What You See" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as "Within You Without You." An extra treat on Fabulous is "Dear Santa," a cut from Ringo Starr's Christmas album done to the arrangement of "Oh! Darling." Now that the band has this at its website, there should be no more complaints -- go grab it. Happy Krimble, indeed.

Not just another band from L.A., The Skandles work the music-comedy beat at DailyComedy.com and also on their own MySpace page. So what's up with this? Think Chipmunks go gangsta and you got it nailed. Lyrics available on MySpace as well. Expurgated and unexpurgated versions are out there, depending on who's on your mix disc list. But why make you wait? Check it out for yourself, NSFW:

Yulenog collections have featured here at Mistletunes in past years, and sure enough 2009 brings us another one. The modus operandi is that Kuruna and friends, most of whom appear to be jazzers of one stripe or another, put together a collection of holiday novelties. Some of this year's better ideas on this collection include the hip-hop number "Santa, Do You Like Dat Booty," complete with auto-tune vocal; "Santa's In-Box (Spamta Claus)," a spoken-word recitation of e-mail come-ons with holiday overtones; "Virgin Mary," a grungy rocker featuring a supreme being's pickup lines; "Great White Surprise," an original with the flavor of Jesus & Mary Chain; "Chuck D's Christmas Carol," another rap Christmas take based on the Public Enemy blueprint; and from "Dreamgirls," a holiday takeoff, "And I Am Telling You I Am Still a Virgin." The performances of traditional carols are perfunctory, though, with the nadir being "The First Noel" done with a chorus of off-pitch pennywhistles. As usual, there are a lot of great ideas here, although you may do some skipping around to get to them.

No one's seen fit to make this terrific parody song available for use by the fraternity of Christmas disc mixers (everyone who has took it from a video cap of the show on which it originally ran, complete with audience laughter), but we can at least enjoy it this way.

We like our novelties here at Mistletunes, and I thought it was kismet that I acquired one singing saw holiday tune just as my e-mail brought news of a singing saw video. Go over to Stereogum.com and check out/download Julian Koster's "Let It Snow," a rather well produced pop take on the popular tune. Apparently, Julian has an entire disc, The Singing Saw at Christmastime, on Merge Records, but this tune isn't on it. Meanwhile, here's Natalia "The Saw Lady" Paruz, an actual classical harpist who also plays the saw, going unplugged to busk "Silent Night" in the New York City subway system. I note for the record that saw soloists tend to play covers; where are all the original composers for saw? Or socket sets, for that matter?

You've no doubt heard of the cash-in sequel. This 1996 single is probably the most naked cash-grab going; they basically took the original song and superimposed girl singers doing short lines from classic Christmas carols in between the verses. I haven't been this jealous since I missed out on a chance to direct an episode of "Cops." Just in case you weren't one of the first six million or so people to buy the original "Macarena," the Bayside Boys Mix version is also on this single. Or you can just watch this, though I take no responsibility should anyone click on this and later pluck their eyes out:

One rightly looks askance when an act scores a holiday-related hit, rushes out an album, then rushes out a second album the following year -- especially when it includes the hit from the first album. Straight No Chaser isn't the first act to follow this blueprint, but they're the latest. The hit in question, their still-entertaining medley based on "12 Days of Christmas," reappears here in a studio version, as opposed to the live version that powered the group's multi-million-hit YouTube video. But we've all heard that by now, so what's next? How about something similar based on "Can-Can?" Kicking off the new album is "Christmas Can-Can," a fairly strong medley in the same vein as "12 Days," this time relying on holiday parody lyrics for the can-can part of the song while jamming in a number of other holiday tunes, and "The Dreidel Song" reappears here too. Their version of "We Three Kings" is based on the theme from "Mission: Impossible," "Let It Snow" gets a fresh funky take, they cover Brian Setzer's "Hey Santa" and apply some of the same approach to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," taking a few liberties with the lyrics and playing around with antique radio sounds. "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" sounds good in a capella, and they provide one original, "Who Spiked the Eggnog," a jazzy companion to "Hey Santa." The rest of the album, mostly classic carols, tracks a lot closer to glee club, but if you missed out on the "12 Days" craze last year, that and "Christmas Can-Can" are worth hearing. There's a special edition of the disc that adds a version of "Last Christmas," by the way.

Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky is quite the pop star among classical composers, with numerous "hits" to his credit, including "The 1812 Overture" (and how many patriotic Americans know a dad-blamed Roosky wrote this piece often performed for the Fourth of July?), "Swan Lake," "The Sleeping Beauty," and his now-associated-with-Christmas opus "The Nutcracker Suite." It's so popular that you have to be pretty far into the woods not to be able to take in a live performance within commuting distance of your home sometime between mid-November and New Year's Day. Of course, most performances tend to be fairly literal readings of the score, with a few of the more adventurous jurisdictions offering George Balanchine's famous choreography to go with it. For those looking for a little holiday spice with their cracked nuts, the Invincible Czars, pride of Austin, Texas, have obliged with their more irreverent, rock-jazz-country-Latin-tinged arrangement, which they've performed for charity every year since 2004 and released on disc in 2007. I'm just catching up with it now, and though I'm not a Nutcracker maven, I can assure you the Czars do justice to the work of old Mother Russia's favorite son. It takes some serious chops to put down something like this, though, so not surprisingly, these folks are mainstays of Austin's serious and academic musical scene -- they just manage to do a decent job of keeping that news from the listener. Though it's billed as a "rock" version of the classic ballet, this isn't the two-guitars-bass-drums version -- the Czars take a more multilayered view of things, with a wide spread of instrumentation and a taste for throwing in everything from classic carols to square-dance rhythms. If you're in the Austin-Houston area, you might want to punt TSO and Mannheim this year and catch these folks instead.

I've never seen more than a few minutes of the actual TV show, so apologies if I overlook anything about this 2009 album that's crucial to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force backstory. If Wikipedia's right, though, continuity isn't this Cartoon Network franchise's strong suit. Indeed, the characters -- and the plot, come to that -- are, shall we say, easily distracted, with "Twas the Night Before Jesus" being Exhibit A. What starts out as the story of the Nativity is quickly embellished with a bearded baby that can shoot lasers out of his eyes while his parents are killed and he's forced to attend wizard college... and this is only about a quarter of the way into the song. Things kick off with a version of "Feliz Navidad" in which a character asks, two lines in, whether they can sing it in English, which leads to them singing "meat navi-wad" and rattling off numerous fast-food specialities. An attempt to render "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" as a hip-hop anthem is similarly distracted with Boxy Brown's disquistion on a new Scott Stapp album and whether Jesus was black. In the "things that make you go hmm" department, "Santa Left a Booger In My Stocking" is a duet between Meatwad and Neko Case. Yes, that Neko Case. Also landing in the original tune department is "I Sure Hope I Don't Have to Beat Your Ass This Christmas," a misanthropic affirmation of the holiday's virtues. Then there's "Frosty the Red-Nosed Snowman," a tribute to Meatwad's easily distracted persona. I laughed a lot at this record and I'm not even familiar with the show, so I imagine this will have some entertainment value beyond the show's fan base.

The long-running acoustic-folk-swing-rockabillly-Dixieland-Americana and yes, jug band combo made up of well-known San Franciscan musicians is back for 2009 with an album recorded live over the past couple of seasons, compiling parody songs, some originals, and a fair amount of jug band jamming. In other words, the same M.O. exhibited over their four other albums. Things kick off with the instrumental "Shoot 'Em In the Pants," swinging into some originals, including "Carolin'," "This Christmas Night" and "Santa's Going Crazy This Year." "Jolly Ol' Soul" features Dan Hicks taking off on "My Blue Heaven," and later "Santa, the Man," based on "Song For My Father." Tim Eschliman gets into the act with "High Stack o' Presents" based on "High Blood Pressure," plus "Santa's on the Mainline," from the song originally about Jesus. Country Joe McDonald stops by with "Dirty Claus Rag," and the crew brings us a blues boogie, "Christmas in the Bottle," about an alcoholic holiday. As an antidote, they also bring us "Xmas Anonymous." All told, another light-hearted romp from some West Coast experts in old-school American music.

Don't know much about these folks except they're from Seattle and they apparently recorded this in 2007. It's apparently done with good intentions -- some of the proceeds are earmarked for homeless aid charities in their home city -- but as a novelty/comedy take on the holiday, the laughs are few and far between. A casual listen reveals a mostly instrumental large soul band take on some Christmas tunes, well performed, but much of what's intended to be humorous is either too obvious or way too obscure. A double dose of David Rose's "The Stripper" is supposed to be mashed up with Christmas songs, but you have to listen with both ears and a copy of the score to pick them out. Then there's the medley of "Holly Jolly Christmas/Jingle Bell Rock" in which the hook is that it's being sung by "Elf-ish Presley and his Elves," a bad pun on the band name and a run-of-the-mill Elvis impression. There are some high points here, however. The most inspired number is "Jesus Super Freak," a slowed-down gospelly takeoff on the Rick James tune whose punchline takes a moment to sink in. "Carol of the Tubular Bells" mashes up the carol with the Mike Oldfield tune that served as theme to "The Exorcist." "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" gets a Santo & Johnny arrangement, "Tiffany Sequence M.22" jams "Deck the Halls" into some sort of 70s TV ad theme (sounded a bit like "Music To Watch Girls By") and "Out of Presents" plays the old Marketts surf tune "Out of Limits" over "Up On the Housetop." Kind of uneven from a novelty standpoint, its best use is as background music.

Like Flight of the Concords but wish they were more, say, female? Welcome Garfunkel and Oates, nee Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, native Pennsylvanians who found their way to LA and acting careers specializing in comedy. I doubt I have to explain the name to music fans, nor will much annotation of this excellent video be necessary once you watch it all the way through. "Present Face," this 2008 ode to the disappointment following the opening of a Christmas fruitcake or other unwelcome gift, unfortunately is not on their Music Songs album.

The Monty Python stalwart put this up on iTunes for 2006, but I just stumbled over it this year. If you're familiar with that comedy team's songcraft, you know what to expect, and this is an ever lovin' hoot.

This a cappella group came together at Indiana University and became one of those Internet traditions we are all aware of when they YouTubed a performance of "12 Days of Christmas" that interpolates the carol into several other familiar carols, topping the whole melange off by singing the words over Toto's "Africa." A live version of that hit is the centerpiece of their 2008 Christmas CD. Ten voices strong, the cover kind of screams "glee club," but these guys, if not quite as deranged as the Bobs, manage to put together decent, snappy versions of rock-era arrangements of such tunes as "Jingle Bell Rock," "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," "Little Saint Nick," "This Christmas," and more. "The Christmas Song" is definitely glee club material, however. The version at iTunes has three bonus cuts, including a full version of "Africa." Here's the famous "12 Days":

Don't know much about the good Lord, but this 2006 novelty is great fun, a slightly less manic Napoleon XIV take on Santa Claus. "It's all so overwhelming for my milk-and-cookie brain," he laments, as he describes how none of the jolly elf's story checks out factually, and yet he wakes up on Christmas morning and there everything is. A look at his MySpace page reveals little else about Weatherby except for what is almost certainly a fictional biography.

This album's from 2002, but I just stumbled over it lately. Beatnik Turtle is a novelty show band with a bunch of albums to their name, plus a sideline creating a "song of the day," a service similar to They Might Be Giants' Dial-a-Song. They've been heard on Dr. Demento's show and have played at Second City, so this should give you an idea what's on offer here. There are strong melodies and hooks with fun-loving lyrics, set off with the occasional pilfered hook -- "Santa Doesn't Like You" starts out with the beat from "Addicted to Love" and the guitar lick that kicks off "Christmas Cake" reminds me of "Peace Frog" by the Doors. "Christmas Is a Vulture" is a take-off on protest music, "Tipped Over the Christmas Tree" is an inebriated-sounding bit of fake jazz, and "Coed Naked Drunk Christmas Shopping" starts out with some Spike Jones-like sound effects riffing before everybody gets dragged before the judge for, well, see title. "Christmastime (Turn to the Children)" is a parody of those songs that render the holiday as a time for children, complete with children's chorus. "Smokin' the Mistletoe" plays around with the "Rudolph" intro before going on to advocate for a holiday high, following the plot, if not the lyrics, from "A Visit From St. Nicholas." (The liner notes point out this is probably dangerous, kids, so don't try this at home.) And "Santa" is based loosely on John Lennon's "God," complete with the litany of Christmas traditions the singer "don't believe in" because "Santa is a concept by which we commercialize the holidays." All told, an enjoyable romp.

We covered Yulenog 3 last year, and sure enough here's no. 4. This year's album adds the conceit of political satire on top of the holiday fare, promising tunes for both sides of the partisan divide. It kicks off with a slapdash "All I Want For Christmas," then goes into "Coal For Christmas," which is about the fossil fuel situation. Santa has a bit of an identity crisis here, as the next two songs, sung by Sam Kulik, are "Santa's From Iran," a bit of dissonant funk, and "Santa Claus is a Jew," a folky bit of satiric irony that revisits the fossil fuel situation. Kuruna returns with "Snoopy's Christmas," Weird Al's "Christmas at Ground Zero," Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster's Holiday," the infamous "What Can You Get a Wookie For Christmas" and a falsetto "Santa Baby." Charles Evans stops by with "Obama For Christmas (Not For President)," the first holiday song featuring our new president as far as I know; it's kind of jazzy but the singing is a bit off-key. Kuruna also does a quick "No Christmas For Old Men," an homage to the Coen brothers, and revisits "Island of Misfit Toys." The satirical aspect isn't all that satisfying to my mind, since they seem to abandon it frequently, but you'll probably enjoy what sounds like a fairly spontaneous attempt to make a Christmas album.

America's favorite fake pundit steps away from the desk to host the greatest Christmas special of all time (just ask him). It is quite a hoot, as Colbert takes off on the old-school Christmas variety special that used to clog the airwaves at Christmas time back in the day. As one of the features of such shows was a cast of big stars "coincidentally" wandering onto the set, Colbert follows the blueprint with the help of Elvis Costello, John Legend, Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, Feist and Jon Stewart. Colbert himself gets things going with "Another Christmas Song," a big-band song about writing the perfect Christmas carol, and wraps up with "A Cold Cold Christmas," a song of lost love. Toby Keith sings "Have I Got a Present For You," which is the ultimate War On Christmas song (listening, Papa Bear?). Feist cracks us up with "Please Be Patient," a take-off on "Angels We Have Heard On High" in which supplicants praying are told "an angel will be with thee shortly," complete with an interlude of tinkertoy hold music. Willie Nelson sings "Little Dealer Boy," which riffs a tiny bit on the Bing 'n Bowie medley while offering some righteous bud to go alongside the frankincense and myrrh. Legend gets in a little Al Green rhythm with "Nutmeg," the perfect accent to your holiday eggnog. At least I think that's what he's singing about. Stewart sings "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah," which triggers the requisite alert, and Elvis Costello gets out of doing a Christmas song by bringing along his show-closer "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding," here done by the whole cast. I should note that Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne was a co-writer of the original songs from this show along with David Javerbaum of "The Daily Show." The show's on DVD but there's a soundtrack disc as well. From 2008.

I have no idea who these guys are, other than a bunch of people with access to musical instruments, but this is great fun. There are 28 cuts on this album, including eight different versions of "O Christmas Tree" tagged with various descriptions, from "Midnight Martini Mix" and "Hooked on Xmas Mix" to "Slap My Bass Mix" and "Dead Kringles Mix." Needless to say, they're different musical styles, the Kringles being punk, the Martini being lounge, and so on. "Switched On Bethlehem" is the little town carol done in "Switched On Bach" style, "Good King Wenceslas" wavers from electro-handclaps synth-pop to antique carol style, and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" sounds somewhere between Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. "Silver and Gold" is basically the voice of your annoying Uncle Elwin as producer, complaining about the band the way he might complain about the check-out girl at the supermarket. Much of this is various shades of synth-pop, but there's enough going on to get your attention and maybe even a few giggles.

This duo brings us a simple, stripped-down ode to the commercialization of the season, particularly the part where stores have up mistletoe for Veterans Day. Unfortunately, the singer snaps and takes out his wrath on Santa Claus, and, well, everybody learns a lesson. Nice job.

Yeah, bet you haven't thought about this guy since his "Saturday Night Live" days. Well, he's still out there, and he came back recently with this, which is more of a monologue over a musical bed of people singing the title to the tune of "100 Bottles of Beer On the Wall." It's about 14 minutes long, in keeping with his expressed wish to create "the worst Christmas song ever." The fact that he talks over the whole thing shows he at least has a bit of remorse at the notion once it gets under way. It's worth hearing, though, as he talks about how he came to write his other Christmas songs, "I Won't Be Twisting This Christmas" and "Santa's Lament." Visitors to his website had the opportunity to buy a CD with all three songs on it, but it's apparently sold out. This song can still be downloaded, however. Sarducci claims he's planning another Christmas song, "Frosty the Snow," about Frosty before he was made into a snowman. We'll keep an eye out for it.