Sum 41 & Tenacious D - Things I Want

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, according to Andy Williams and all major retailers, and here at Rock Song of the Week we don’t shirk on the gifts. No Lynx Africa gift sets here, that’s right - in keeping with the theme of the season, my present to all you lovely folk this year is a treat of a track that’s all about the best part of Christmas – receiving (stop giggling!).

Yes, Tenacious D and Sum 41 wrote a Christmas song all about the things they want for Christmas, and I was just as surprised as you possibly are now to discover that it existed. In fact, I’m willing to bet a good amount of you have never even heard of it, despite the two big name artists attached. And I don’t say that in a too-long-for-my-beard-moustache-twirling-hipster-way, because my beard is a true rock-and-roll affair that, in hardcore fashion, will be full of clip-on baubles on the big day.

No, I mention it because this track has its origins with KROQ-FM stalwarts Kevin “Kevin” Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter, they of “Kevin and Bean in the Morning” and their holiday tradition of getting all their musician friends together to record an album that was given away as a promotion at Christmas. It’s a twenty year old track, given away on a promotional CD that I couldn’t find a single listing for online. There’s a good reason it has gone under most people’s radars!

Family-friendly Yuletide sing-a-longs those albums weren’t, by the way, with most of the tracks varying from tongue-in-cheek bawdry to flat out filthy. This one treads a little more lightly; Jack Black’s sonorous demands ranging from the sublime “all of the Beatles’ copyrights“ to the ridiculous “a statue of Moby on the surface of the sun“ and further beyond that to the insane “a cannibal chef to serve me sweet and sour butt“. You can’t fault Black for his songwriting enthusiasm, even if he does rhyme the word “butt” with “butt”.

Sum 41 and in particular guitarist Dave Baksh bring their best Maiden-esque heavy metal jam to accompany the proceedings. You know the part at the end of the Fat Lip music video where Pain for Pleasure starts and it’s basically the best part of the whole thing? It’s basically that for three and a bit glorious minutes.

It’s a brilliant, silly track that deserves far more attention, so fix yourself a stiff drink (remember, the Christmas starting line is roughly ten o’clock in the morning) turn The Pogues off and enjoy this to the fullest. Stay safe, wherever you are and whatever you’re getting up to, and make it a good one!