Christmas Satire 2020 -- Good To Be Bad -- Pentatonix

I know I should give Pentatonix a break, but I can't help it. They're good, even when they're being bad. This is a neat new song in the general tradition of Santa Baby and Nuttin for Christmas, and the anti-heroine ends up getting coal for it.

It's a cheerful song showing off Kirstin's singing range (and the rest's abilties in melody) and her and Scott's writing chops.

Christmas Satire -- Nuttin' For Christmas -- Stan Freberg

There's a subgenre of Christmas songs about kids/people so bad they're not getting presents (Santa Baby is close, Pentatonix's Good To Be Bad is a new addition to the genre). One of the classics is Stan Freberg's Nuttin' For Christmas.

The hero (or should I say anti-hero) of the song admits to any number of tricks and bad acts that would earn him coal in his stockings, even (spoiler alert) helping the robber case the house at the end of the song.

Nothing is exactly what the "hero" of this song deserves.

Christmas Satire and Better In The Video -- Twelve Pains of Christmas -- Bob Rivers

This is a two for one special, because we have a special video for our Christmas Satire song. I've always adored the Twelve Pains as a Christmas Satire song. Like all good satire, it digs for that button of truth, and then presses hard. As I've heard others mention, I have been the "lights" guy way too often for my taste (and let's not even go into the "five months of bills"...).

While searching for a video for the song, I found the Third Hour TV version. I've never heard of these kids before, but the video they made for this song is hilarious. It compliments the song well and even throws a few jabs of its own, but doesn't try to go too far out on a limb itself. I laughed through the whole thing, and even played it a couple more times.

Christmas Satire -- Dropkick Murphys -- The Season's Upon Us

Warning: Video is PG-13 or worse. Funny, but adult themes do happen. Also, to quote John Prine, "This song is completely non-autobiographical. It has nothing to do with my family."

The strongest unintended tradition in the extended Rankin household was the Adult Table. My grandfather, his brothers and sisters, and their spouses ate in the dining room at the adult table. At first, the adult table was a mystery to the kids, and kids are always attracted to mystery. Then some of us got towards adulthood, and some of the older adults passed or were unable to come, and we got our chance. To get stuck getting quizzed and lectured by Uncle Russell. Voluntarily choosing the adult table was only done once. Recently, the last of my grandfather's generation has passed away or is unable to come to Christmas, and the adult table is now just my mother's dinner table or dad's cousin's dinner table, and there's nothing particularly bad about being at the adult table.