Well, this rules. Titus Andronicus have transformed Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” into a Christmas song, and it sounds like the Pogues. But “Fairytale Of New York” this is not. And despite the title “Drummer Boy,” it’s not your usual “pa rum pum pum pum” situation either, even if those lyrics do factor in. The new Titus seasonal anthem out today sets the music from “Piano Man” to new lyrics about the birth of Jesus penned by Patrick Stickles. The nativity story has never sounded so sloshed and rowdy.
Stickles shared this statement:
I first connected the dots between the great Billy Joel song and the beloved Christmas standard several years ago, but it got tossed onto the pile with so many of my other crazy ideas. Things being how they are, though, I may not have the luxury of time to execute all those crazy ideas, so when we had two days off in Montreal on our recent tour, we figured we’d grab the reindeer by the antlers and cross this one off the list, so as to avoid the pain of eternal regret. Also, I’ve noticed a lot of discourse recently about what constitutes a legitimate “parody” lately, and I’d like to get a piece of that action.
There were some great songs on the recent Titus Andronicus album The Will To Live, but to me, this is the coolest thing they’ve released this year. Listen below.
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