Holiday songs for people who don’t like holiday songs #4 – Fucked Up and friends edition

In honour of this week’s holiday songs for people who don’t like holiday songs, we would like to take this time to remember Santa Abraham.

If Santa showed up at my house looking like this, it would be a very merry Christmas indeed.

In 2009, after Santa and his elves won a very prestigious prize, he gathered up his friends, including Yo La Tengo, GZA, Bob Mould, Tegan & Sara, Andrew WK, David Cross and more to sing that saddening yet uplifting holiday ode “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” In keeping with the charitable spirit of original endeavour, this version raised funds for Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Montreal, DTES Power of Women Group in Vancouver and Sisters in Spirit in Ottawa.

We here at Xtra are big fans of Santa, and so we remembered how cool we were in 2009 when we played this record and how we dug out our 12-inch of the original and decided that they were equally good, but for very different reasons.

But before we can thank Santa and ask him if we can rub his belly, he has left to go deliver punk records to the good children of the world (and Nickelback CDs to the bad), then go hug Mrs Claus and his own little elf. Happy holidays to Santa, Mrs Claus and their family and friends.

Journalist, writer, blogger, producer.

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