Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) (1987)
Just as the Kinks set a standard for Christmas-themed rock songs in the '70s, so did the Ramones in the '80s.
By the late '80s, the Ramones were dealing with plenty of internal strife. After 1984's Too Tough to Die album, inner tensions were affecting the recorded product. Drummer Marky Ramone had been fired a year earlier because of his excessive drinking. A couple of subpar albums followed.
In November 1987, the band released the single "I Wanna Live." The B-side was a song written by singer Joey Ramone called "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)," ostensibly about a breakup but the lyrics could also apply to the band's argumentative situation at the time.
The single didn't do much, but the B-side, aided by a video getting decent play on MTV, eventually became a holiday classic. It's got the classic Ramones guitar chug, but it's Joey's vocal turn that stands out.
"Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight tonight/Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight tonight/Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight tonight with you."
Johnny Ramone's patented riffage kicks in and Joey launches into the song.
"Where is Santa at his sleigh?/Tell me why is it always this way?/Where is Rudolph? Where is Blitzen, baby?/Merry Christmas, merry merry merry Christmas/All the children are tucked in their beds/Sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads/Snowball fighting, it's so exciting, baby/I love you and you love me/And that's the way it's got to be/I loved you from the start/'Cause Christmas ain't the time for breaking each other's heart."
Eventually, the song was included on the band's 1989 album Brain Drain. Although legendary bassist Dee Dee Ramone plays on the song, he had left the group after the making of Brain Drain and replacement bassist CJ Ramone is featured in the video for "Merry Christmas."
The Ramones would continue releasing albums and touring until 1996. Sadly, the 2000s were a rough decade for the band: Joey died of lymphoma in April 2001, Dee Dee died from a heroin overdose in June 2002 and Johnny died in 2004 after a battle with prostate cancer. The last original member, Tommy Ramone, died from bile duct cancer in 2014.
Much like the Kinks' "Father Christmas," the Ramones' contribution to the Christmas rock canon provided some much-needed oomph to the genre.
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