Cover Time: TMBG - Santa's Beard
Unlike the Beach Boys' textual somewhat tame 'Santa's Beard' in the previous beard-post, the TMBG's song deals with the harsh reality of infidelity, lost trust, and disillusionment when you catch your girlfriend in the arms of Santa Claus, who is actually your best friend ...
Reason enough for the second Santa's Beard cover time! Ten in a row.
First, the mighty original from They Might Be Giants:
The first cover in line is still quite fresh, namely from last year. U.S. Highball from Glasgow, UK recorded a version with casio sounds and synths that perfectly blends with their sharp, pointed guitar sound.
Insta over there.
Cheating with Santa can sound very cheerful too. Listen to The Spectacles from Durham in North Carolina, they recorded a very fine up-tempo ska cover three years ago with trumpets, trombones and lots of energy.
Insta over there.
An intriguing, stripped-down electronic version by Homework Party from 2023. No further information about them.
You like it even more weird and out of the box? Try this experimental and orgastic noise explosion from Madison Fitz.
Jordan D. White is a ukulele fanatic and that's pretty clear in this charming ukelele only version. Yeehaa!
Insta over there.
This one from 2007 by THE RYANS stays pretty close to the original. But with slightly more desperate vocals, a nice slapping bass and a slightly rawer guitar sound, it has way enough features to get a spot in this cover post.
Time to slow down a bit with this calm organ-driven version by NSPS from Salt Lake City, Utah. It has a touch of that fine college indie lo-fi vibe from the eighties. As far as I can tell, this 2020 cover seems to be their last release.
"Just a guy making music with a Game Boy, a guitar, and a dream." And that's just what we needed in this series: a frantic, distorted version of the TMBG classic. The quirky, young, and wild buttons on the Teen Arts Game Boy were in exactly the right place for this track.
Another complete unknown is Nathan La Force, but he sure did something really nice with Santa's Beard! He's stripped the song down to its pure essence, with just a guitar and tormented, fragile vocals. If I were TMBG, I'd be jealous.
These guys have been on the road for almost 40 years now, but The Figgs only recorded this cover four years ago. This well-maintained and beautifully sung version takes the original from the indie corner straight into the power-pop corner and ends this list.
Their Insta over there.
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