Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Christmas Wrapping (1981)
Let's face it, the run up to Christmas can be pretty exhausting. You're trying to get your work done before the holiday break while also finding time to get your holiday shopping done. Not to mention making plans for family gatherings and if you've got kids, there's a whole lot more going on. If that's your experience, "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses is the Christmas song for you.
When the song came out in 1981, the Waitresses were fairly unknown, but the band had been around since 1978. The group was formed in Akron, Ohio as a side project by guitarist-songwriter Chris Butler, who was a member of the band Tin Huey. After releasing a few songs he recorded by himself, Butler moved to New York City and scored a deal with ZE Records based on the strength of the song "I Know What Boys Like," for which he had recruited his friend Patty Donahue on vocals. The song was released as a single in 1980 but didn't chart.
After getting signed, Butler quickly assembled a band with Donahue and jazz saxophonist Mars Williams, former Television drummer Billy Ficca, keyboardist Dan Klayman, bassist Dave Hofstra and backing singer Ariel Warner. Hofstra and Warner both left while the band was in the studio working on their first album; Hofstra was replaced by Tracy Wormworth. While the band was touring in 1981, ZE Records asked each of its artists to record a Christmas song for an upcoming compilation album. Butler, not a fan of the holiday, wrote the song in August, using old riffs and writing the lyrics in a taxi on the way to the studio.
The song was about a single woman who vowed not to participate in Christmas and Donahue played the part to perfection, while Wormworth's bass and Butler's guitar providing a funky underpinning and Williams contributing festive horns.
"Bah humbug, that's too strong/'Cause it is my favorite holiday/But all this year's been a busy blur/Don't think I have the energy/To add to my already mad rush/Just 'cause 'tis the season/The perfect gift for me would be/Completions and connections left from last year/Ski shop encounter most interesting/Had his number but never the time/Most of '81 passed along those lines/So deck those halls, trim those trees/I just need to catch my breath/Christmas by myself this year."
The song's title was a play on Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" from a few years earlier, but Butler has said he didn't think of Donahue's vocals as rapping. If anything, it's closer to Blondie's "Rapture."
"Calendar picture, frozen landscape/Chill this room for 24 days/Evergreens, sparking snow/Get this winter over with!/Flash back to spring time saw him again/Would have been good to go for lunch/Couldn't agree when we were both free/We tried, we said we'd keep in touch/Didn't of course 'til summertime/Out to the beach to his boat, could I join him?/No, this time it was me/Sunburn in the third degree/Now the calendar's just one page/Of course I am excited/Tonight's the night I've set my mind/Not to do too much about it/Merry Christmas, merry Christmas/But I think I'll miss this one this year."
The song's protagonist had more close calls with the guy throughout the year but nothing happened. Until Christmas Eve.
"A&P has provided me/With the world's smallest turkey/Already in the oven, nice and hot/Oh damn, guess what I forgot/So on with the boots back out in the snow/To the only all night grocery/When what to my wondering eyes should appear/In the line is that guy I've been chasing all year/'Spending this one alone,' he said/'Need a break, this year's been crazy'/I said, 'Me too but why are you/You mean you forgot cranberries too?'/Then suddenly we laughed and laughed/Caught on to what was happening/That Christmas magic's brought this tale/To a very happy ending/Merry Christmas, merry Christmas/Couldn't miss this one this year."
The band had no expectations for the song but it gradually became a hit, getting plenty of play in New York and eventually everywhere else. It was released as a single in the U.K. in 1981 on Island Records but didn't chart, but was re-released the following year and reached #45 on the U.K. Singles Chart. Since then, it has become a radio staple and has been covered by everyone from the Spice Girls to the Donnas to the Front Bottoms to Kylie Minogue with Iggy Pop.
The Waitresses followed it up with their debut album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? in January 1982 on Polydor and the album hit #41 on the Billboard 200, thanks to the popularity of the re-released "I Know What Boys Like," which became a hit on the then-new MTV. The band also recorded the theme song for the TV show Square Pegs (starring a young Sarah Jessica Parker) and appeared as themselves in the pilot.
The group's second album Bruiseology came out in May 1983, but that summer Donahue left the band and was replaced by Holly Beth Vincent (formerly of Holly and the Italians); Vincent left after two weeks and Donahue returned. The band split up later in 1983.
Butler would go on to become a producer and play with bands and artists including Richard Lloyd and Half Cleveland. Donahue died of lung cancer in 1996 at the age of 40. Williams went on to play sax with the Psychedelic Furs and several other groups; he died of cancer last year at age 68. Wormworth has been the touring bassist for the B-52's since 1992 and Ficca played in Gods and Monsters and returned to Television when that band reunited in 1991.
Little did Butler know when he slapped together a song at the request of his label in 1981 that it would go on to be a beloved Christmas classic. I hear this song multiple times every year and never get sick of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment