• Track: Father Christmas
• Artist: The Kinks
• Album: Father Christmas / Prince of the Punks single
• Year: 1977

Lyrics:

When I was small I believed in Santa Claus
Though I knew it was my dad
And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas
Open my presents and I’d be glad

But the last time I played Father Christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor

They said:
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys.
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Don’t give my brother a Steve Austin outfit
Don’t give my sister a cuddly toy
We don’t want a jigsaw or monopoly money
We only want the real McCoy

Father Christmas, give us some money
We’ll beat you up if you make us annoyed
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys

But give my daddy a job ’cause he needs one
He’s got lots of mouths to feed
But if you’ve got one, I’ll have a machine gun
So I can scare all the kids down the street

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
Father Christmas, please hand it over
We’ll beat you up, so don’t make us annoyed

Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread, so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Father Christmas is not available as a single from Amazon, but it can be found on Come Dancing with the Kinks, a greatest hits collection:

Here at the Dances with Bass corporate offices, it’s not officially Christmas until we’ve heard The Kinks belting out Father Christmas. In the days before digital music made nearly any track instantly accessible, I would sprint for the volume knob when this track would come on the local classic rock station, WFBQ Q95 (“Kick Ass Rock and Roll” was their slogan in the early 1980s).

The Kinks are among rock and roll royalty, and they are ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest rock acts of all-time. This English four-piece was part of the British Invasion, which included such legendary acts as The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, and The Animals. From 1962 to 1996, the Kinks—founded by brothers Ray and Dave Davies—dropped 30 albums (24 studio, 4 live, and 2 compilation). Their notable hits included You Really Got Me, Destroyer, Come Dancing, and the iconic Lola.

Father Christmas is an original holiday song written by The Kinks, which has since been covered by a number of artists including, Green Day, Bad Religion, Warrant, Bowling For Soup, Smash Mouth, Cary Brothers, Deer Tick, OK Go, and Cheap Trick. While this song is upbeat and full of jingling bells, an anthemic chorus, and crunchy guitars, the song’s message belies the song’s true theme, which is that the poor, hungry kids of the street don’t want Santa to bring them toys. Instead, they need money to survive. “Give the toys to all the little rich boys,” Ray and Dave tell Santa. I can’t help but think 40 years later, the song’s general message still rings true.

Video:

Here is the official music video for Father Christmas. Here’s to hoping this puts some jingle in your day.

The following video is a 1981 live (from Australia) performance of You Really Got Me and Destroyer:

And here is a positively groovy “live” version of Lola from Top of the Pops in 1970:

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