A (still) timely bit of Christmas satire

[thatcrazycajun]

As the holiest day in Christendom approaches this coming Monday, I note with my usual perturbation the ever-increasing commercialization of said holiday (I started seeing Christmas stuff up in stores in early October this year, before Halloween had even come, much less Thanksgiving Day [!!]). As previously noted here, Charles M. Schulz of blessed memory had just about the first and last word on this problem back in 1965 with his animated Peanuts TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. I say "just about" because radio parodist and comedian Stan Freberg actually beat him to it by about nine years, with his now-classic recording of 1956, Green Chri$tma$.

Copyright issues forbid me from posting an audio copy online, but any reasonably savvy Netizen can probably find one with an investment of some time and the right software. A link to the script is online here; mymerrychristmas.com has the story of the making of the recording, and all the trouble it got poor Stan into, here. (You can also read about it in Stan's autobiography, It Only Hurts When I Laugh, available at used book stores, libraries and online sellers.) The ironic and unfunny part about it is that even today, 40 years on, it is no less topical; indeed, it's become even more so as retailers depend on this period's sales for as much as half their annual income. And although it got no radio play whatsodamnever until 1983, these days stations play it with nary a raised eyebrow, all too often oblivious to its message...followed by commercials that exemplify the problem on which it comments.

Comments

Bah the humbug, anyway!

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

And don't forget Tom Lehrer's "A Christmas Carol". I adore the way he sings the last line of this particular verse:

Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")

Kind of like "I'm *trying* to pretend I really want this, but..."