Format CD Length 4:03 | Recorded December 1, 1994 | |
B-side "Christmas at Ground Zero" Released November 26, 1996 (1996-11-26) Genre Comedy rock, Christmas, horror punk | ||
"The Night Santa Went Crazy" is an original song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The darkly humorous Christmas song is performed as a style parody of "Black Gold" by Soul Asylum, with melodic references to "Mama I'm Comin' Home" by Ozzy Osbourne and "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake.
Contents
It is the twelfth and final track on the album Bad Hair Day, released as a single during the 1996 Christmas season. "The Night Santa Went Crazy" was also included in the compilation album The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic. Both albums have received positive critical reviews.
Recording and composition
The song starts with Santa's elves making Christmas presents for good, "Gentile" children (this works because "gentile" is slang for non-Jewish, and is not normally something somebody would bother to mention in a Christmas song). Suddenly, a drunken Santa bursts in with a rifle in his hand, and covered with ammunition. He says, "Merry Christmas to all / Now you're all gonna' die!", then proceeds to destroy half of the North Pole, bombing the workshop, murdering reindeers Cupid and Comet in the blast, then holding the elves and helpers hostage, and killing 5 of the other 9 reindeer in various gruesome ways (Donner and Vixen were spared, although not without post-traumatic stress disorder). The National Guard and FBI come to restore order, with the Eyewitness News broadcasting the incident and the ensuing battle between Santa and the government forces. Finally, Santa is arrested and locked up in a federal prison, with the possibility of release for good behavior in 700 years; Vixen gets therapy and Donner is left extremely nervous; the elves get jobs working for the postal service; and Mrs. Claus negotiates film rights for the incident. Near the end of the song, Yankovic explains why Santa went insane.
Release
"The Night Santa Went Crazy" was released as the third and final single from Bad Hair Day on November 26, 1996; the CD single featured "The Night Santa Went Crazy" and "Christmas at Ground Zero", another holiday-themed song from Yankovic's 1986 album Polka Party! For its cover art, Yankovic used the original drawing of Santa Claus by Mark Osborne that inspired him to write the song. While the single did not chart upon original release, it later peaked at number 35 on the United States Billboard Holiday Digital Tracks chart in 2010.
An "extra gory" version of the song was included as the third track on the "Amish Paradise" single. In this version, Vixen and Donner aren't spoken about (it's assumed they were killed along with the other seven), Santa is killed by a member of the SWAT team, and the elves file for unemployment benefits. Another rendition combining elements of the album and the "extra gory" versions was written for Yankovic's Touring with Scissors tour in 1999; it is featured on the "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! video album. He later performed "The Night Santa Went Crazy" on the television variety show Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular – having just recovered from a bout of laryngitis, Yankovic had difficulty performing some of the song's high notes.
The "Extra Gory" version appeared on the compilation album The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Track listing
- "The Night Santa Went Crazy" – 4:03
- "Christmas at Ground Zero" – 3:07
Personnel
Credits adapted from Bad Hair Day liner notes.