I don’t remember ever actually believing in Father Christmas (that’s “Santa Claus” to you Americans) but I imagine I must have done at some point – I wasn’t born a sour old git you know. I do remember being a bit scared of him though, there was something about that big, bearded guy in a red suit going “ho ho ho” all the time that made me nervous when I was a little kid. I think my vague fear dates back to the first time I was taken to see “Father Christmas” at a department store (Barker’s in Kensington I think it was) and the sight of this strange man in red sitting at the end of a long, dark tunnel (which I assume was supposed to be his grotto) frightened the life out of me.

The first single I ever bought was a Xmas record, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard. But great though that was it’s not my favourite of the genre, it’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake. Usually I’d rather have hot knitting needles stuck in my eyes than admit to liking anything by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but I adore this 1974 solo single by their singer/guitarist – and I mean that in a completely non-ironic way, I really think it’s beautiful. I’m a sucker for this kind of grand ballroom pomposity, sometimes a record can’t have enough orchestration for me and this has mountains of it (even if it does rip off Prokofiev.) Though it sounds as pretty as a snowflake, the song itself is harshly cynical about the commercialization and exploitation of Christmas.

I usually have a bit of a “bah humbug” attitude about the yuletide season myself because I detest phony sentimentalism, especially the kind that’s just trying to get you to spend more money. You drown in that crap in America at this time of year and my wife thinks I’m a curmudgeonly old grinch because I’m always complaining about it but I’m not really, I prefer to think of myself as a sentimental idealist. But now that I have a newborn daughter I think I’m going to start seeing it through her eyes and it will regain some of that lost magic for me. And that’s what this song is all about.

I wish you a hopeful christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All that anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
Hallelujah Noel, be it heaven or hell
The christmas you get, you deserve

Merry Christmas everybody.

Download: I Believe In Father Christmas – Greg Lake (mp3)