Skip to main content

The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)


Around my house you might find my kids humming this tune as if it were a classic song like Blue Christmas or Silent Night. To them, The Ramones are great Christmas singers; right up there with Bing Crosby and Brenda Lee.

 Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) first appeared as a b-side to I Wanna Live in 1987.  The single failed to chart in the U.S. and U.K. However, the Ramones released Merry Christmas again in 1989 as the third single from The Ramones' Brain Drain. This would be the final record to feature Dee Dee. The video, depicting a holiday meltdown with people speaking in an authentic Long Island vernacular (maybe?), features Dee Dee's replacement, C.J. on bass.

Here's to a non-violent, peaceful and perhaps humorous holiday!



Further Listening: This year, Steven Van Zandt released a cover of the song with a 15 piece band and a new third verse. Check it out:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-steven-van-zandts-video-for-ramones-merry-christmas-w514553

Comments

Post a Comment

Trending Tracks

Sweetbottom - Shrapnel In My Ankle

Sweetbottom -  Angels of the Deep . I can provide a totally valid explanation for the existence of this record in my collection. You see, I'd been eyeing this peculiar 12" at my favorite little hole-in-the-wall record shop for about a month. It was in the $5 box. After a few weeks it finally landed in the $1 bin. For the album artwork alone, I thought, this is worth a buck. Four late-70s dudes clad in white, cotton shirts and pants, hairy chests and... white shag carpet. Sweetbottom indeed. Adding to the allure, the notes revealed that the album had been recorded at the Shade Tree Resort Studio in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin between 1977-78. Could this be like the Great Lakes version of Yacht Rock? Could I be holding some long-forgotten, Midwest soft rock obscurity? I was tempted to cheat and pull out my cellphone to Google them, but then I paused. This is $1 we're talking about. Let's take the risk and live dangerously. As I approached the register, I noted that the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Belem & The Mekanics - Norvégien

Tonight, I offer you a sampling of progressive circus music for steam punks. Belem & The Mekanics is Didier Laloy (diatonic accordion), Kathy Adam (cello) and the composer Walter Hus. Laloy and Adam play along with Hus' 15-piece orchestra, composed of mechanized instruments (organs, accordions and percussion) that are controlled by a computer. The whole affair builds on the idea of the orchestrion, a machine that autonomously plays music to simulate an orchestra -- think player piano, but on a grand scale. Apparently, these were quite popular in Belgium and France throughout the early 1900s. I chose this song, Norvégien , for its dynamics and spotlight of the mechanical tick-tocking rhythm, which eventually builds into a drumbeat (played on the instruments by a computer). If you're interested in seeing behind the scenes and understanding the mechanics of their music, check this out: Here's a little extra homework assignment. Who else has performed...
Post a Comment
Read more