Video du Jour: “I Believe in Father Christmas,” by Greg Lake
I was never a big Emerson, Lake & Palmer fan, but this little ditty by bassist Greg Lake is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time. Check out the song above and the interview below.
At the height of my teenage ELP mania, I remember staying up to watch “The Midnight Special” on one very night to see the “Father Christmas” video.
As years went by, it became one of my favorite holiday songs—it’s been called an atheist’s Christmas carol, which is a fair assessment. Yet it manages to be hopeful and even warm despite its bleak outlook: that humanity is responsible for solving humanity’s problems, and we can’t look outside ourselves for help.
I’ll tell you, though, I prefer the version from Works Vol. 2 to the single release; the bombastic strings and out-of-sync choir are absent and the song is much better for it- the lovely melody stands out better.
December 9, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Peter Sinfield lyric, I must add.
December 10, 2011 at 4:17 pm
At the height of my teenage ELP mania, I remember staying up to watch “The Midnight Special” on one very night to see the “Father Christmas” video.
As years went by, it became one of my favorite holiday songs—it’s been called an atheist’s Christmas carol, which is a fair assessment. Yet it manages to be hopeful and even warm despite its bleak outlook: that humanity is responsible for solving humanity’s problems, and we can’t look outside ourselves for help.
December 10, 2011 at 4:21 pm
I’ll tell you, though, I prefer the version from Works Vol. 2 to the single release; the bombastic strings and out-of-sync choir are absent and the song is much better for it- the lovely melody stands out better.