Christmas Chicken
Another guestblog by Santajan, the host of Christmas A Go Go on December 22 in Paradiso, Amsterdam. Jan loves his oddball Christmas songs, ànd chicken on the dinner plate. And, while we're at it, why not add some farting?
How many Christmas songs have been written about a chicken? Not many, I'm afraid. The famous Christmas rabbit ‘Flappie’ has received infinitely more attention than the noble poultry that lays our Christmas eggs. Turkeys, venison, and suckling pigs fill the windows of poulterers and butchers during the Christmas season, but the ordinary chicken receives far too little praise. For this reason alone, the song ‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ (a Dutch pun, 'Vrete' means to hog, 'vrede' means peace) by the band with the striking name Sjef Kok en de Toetjes is a must-listen during these dark days.
Sjef Kok is the nom de plume of Aad Klaris, novelty-hit songwriter extraordinaire, who passed away earlier this year. His culinary Christmas single from 1984 boils down to ‘Jingle Bells’ sung by chickens and ducks. It's a delightful clucking and quacking, until the sound of sharpened knives puts an end to all that liveliness. ‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ turns out to be sung by the Christmas dinner itself. It ends on the plates of the makers, who complete the gastronomic feast with a symphony of melodious farts, still to the tune of Jingle Bells. Interested? Listen to the song in the video. It's up for grabs for almost nothing on Discogs.
‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ can be seen as a protest song against the excesses of the Christmas dinner. Another Christmas song with a chicken as the main character is the mysterious ‘Christmas Chicken Blues’ performed by my band, The Sleigh Shakers. Although I sing it with great joy and enthusiasm at our gigs, I've never fully grasped the lyrics written by our brilliant guitarist, Martin Huurdeman. What on earth did he mean by "no chicken I can choose?" A little hint: Martin is a big fan of Little Feat, and the use of slide guitar has much in common with their ‘Dixie Chicken’. His medicinal lyric is a remedy for the bird flu.
(Editor's note: Of course, there are a few more songs that combine Chicken and Christmas. There is this Lead Belly tune 'Chicken Crowing at Midnight', this piano ballad by Bird Explores, and in the same oddball vein as 'Vret(d)e op aarde', this take on Silent Night:
How many Christmas songs have been written about a chicken? Not many, I'm afraid. The famous Christmas rabbit ‘Flappie’ has received infinitely more attention than the noble poultry that lays our Christmas eggs. Turkeys, venison, and suckling pigs fill the windows of poulterers and butchers during the Christmas season, but the ordinary chicken receives far too little praise. For this reason alone, the song ‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ (a Dutch pun, 'Vrete' means to hog, 'vrede' means peace) by the band with the striking name Sjef Kok en de Toetjes is a must-listen during these dark days.
Sjef Kok is the nom de plume of Aad Klaris, novelty-hit songwriter extraordinaire, who passed away earlier this year. His culinary Christmas single from 1984 boils down to ‘Jingle Bells’ sung by chickens and ducks. It's a delightful clucking and quacking, until the sound of sharpened knives puts an end to all that liveliness. ‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ turns out to be sung by the Christmas dinner itself. It ends on the plates of the makers, who complete the gastronomic feast with a symphony of melodious farts, still to the tune of Jingle Bells. Interested? Listen to the song in the video. It's up for grabs for almost nothing on Discogs.
‘Vret(d)e op Aarde’ can be seen as a protest song against the excesses of the Christmas dinner. Another Christmas song with a chicken as the main character is the mysterious ‘Christmas Chicken Blues’ performed by my band, The Sleigh Shakers. Although I sing it with great joy and enthusiasm at our gigs, I've never fully grasped the lyrics written by our brilliant guitarist, Martin Huurdeman. What on earth did he mean by "no chicken I can choose?" A little hint: Martin is a big fan of Little Feat, and the use of slide guitar has much in common with their ‘Dixie Chicken’. His medicinal lyric is a remedy for the bird flu.
(Editor's note: Of course, there are a few more songs that combine Chicken and Christmas. There is this Lead Belly tune 'Chicken Crowing at Midnight', this piano ballad by Bird Explores, and in the same oddball vein as 'Vret(d)e op aarde', this take on Silent Night:
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