5 December 2012 - A Christmas Wrapping Special

Perhaps the greatest Christmas carol ever written and recorded was released in 1981 by The Waitresses.  A tale of missed romance and mellow celebration, with a twist ending, this song brought a different slant on the season.  The title is a sly reference to the new "rapping" music style that the band was demonstrating in the song.

Sadly, they didn't actually make a video for this song.  But at least one nice family was kind enough to set their lights to the tune.



This song has been often covered. Here, The Donnas deliver the song with a much harder edge, while still retaining a lot of the original charm. We've featured The Donnas in the past on Totally Covered.  They're a lot of fun, and that shows on this song.



Not everyone should be doing a cover of this song, though.  Here's one by Carly Shay Miranda Cosgrove.  Someone born in 1993 should not be singing the line "most of '81 passed along those lines." Nevertheless, even though it is a lot poppier than the others, it's a respectable version.


Did you know that the cast of Glee did this song, too?  I'm kind of sad that I know that.



Save Ferris did a slightly different take on the song.  They rewrote it completely, and sang it from a Jewish point of view. There are some fun Hanukkah reference in this version.  See if you can catch 'em all!



I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but this is one of my favorite covers of this song.  The Spice Girls - really just Sporty and Baby Spice doing a duet - did a cover with slightly changed lyrics.  I admire the fact that they knew their audience well enough to know that cranberries are not a UK staple and they were in 1998, not 1981.  Again, this is a very poppy version, but it works, partly because of the lyric changes, and partly because their best vocalists were on it.  I reiterate the statement that I made on January 21st of this year - there are four talented women in this group (OK, three plus one marginally), plus Victoria.