Buzz
You’re familiar with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but do you remember the iconic "Rudolph" parody featuring a cowboy with a very shiny gun? There are plenty of other hilarious parodies set to classic Christmas tunes. We’ve rounded up a few you may not know but definitely should.
1. JOHNNY THE REDSHIRT FRESHMAN
In the fall of 2012, Johnny Manziel, a redshirt freshman at Texas A&M, stunned everyone by winning the Heisman Trophy as the first-ever freshman recipient. Michael Cordova wrote a fun song about this feat, set to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
You've heard of Matthews, Michael, Joeckel, and EZ Stewart, DaMonster, Harris, and Nealy But do you recall the most famous Aggie of all? Johnny the redshirt freshman strikes a perfect Heisman pose And if you ever saw him, you'd even shout OH NO... no no no... YES YES!
Though the song is short, it gained great popularity among Aggies that year.
2. DECK US ALL WITH BOSTON CHARLIE
Walt Kelly created the beloved comic strip "Pogo," which ran from 1948 to 1975. Pogo, the possum, and his friends in the Okefenokee Swamp filled the strip with witty nonsense, masking sharp social and political commentary. For Christmas, the usual satire gave way to pure absurdity, with characters singing classic carols with completely nonsensical lyrics. The most famous of these was 'Deck Us All with Boston Charlie,' a parody of 'Deck the Halls,' that ran year after year.
Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash., and Kalamazoo! Nora's freezing on the trolley, Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo! Don't we know archaic barrel Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou? Trolley Molly doesn't love Harold, Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
There are actually six full verses to this song. You can find all the lyrics on The Straight Dope and explore some of the related comics here.
3. BUZZFEED CHRISTMAS
Randall Munroe from xkcd reworked a few lines of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'—a list of its own—to humorously mimic the listicle format found on Buzzfeed.
4. AUSSIE JINGLE BELLS
'Jingle Bells' isn't strictly a Christmas song; it's more about enjoying a snowy day on a sleigh ride. However, in Australia, Christmas falls in the summer months. So, the Australian duo Bucko & Champs (Colin Buchanan and Greg Champion) recorded an Aussie version of the classic in 1993, titled 'Aussie Jingle Bells.' It gained so much popularity that it was re-released on their 1996 Christmas album, Aussie Christmas with Bucko & Champs. If you want to sing along, the lyrics can be found here.
5. THE FIRST HARD SELL
If you're frustrated with how Christmas focuses too much on shopping, try this parody song, attributed to Christopher Hershey, which is set to the melody of 'The First Noel.'
6. WARNER WONDERLAND
A few years ago, musician Jim Keyes shared a video of himself performing 'Winter Wonderland' on YouTube. Warner Music Group took it down citing copyright infringement. Keyes knew that parody songs are protected from such claims, so he changed the lyrics of 'Winter Wonderland' to recount the story of what happened.
7. HAMLET, THE DANISH PRINCELING
Mya Gosling runs the webcomic Good Tickle Brain, where she puts a humorous spin on Shakespeare's works. On Christmas Day 2014, she gifted us 'Hamlet, the Danish Princeling,' with lyrics set to the tune of 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.' She also included the parody songs 'Good King Henry V' and 'Hark the Herald Witches Sing' in the same post.
8. THE CHEMISTRY TEACHER’S COMING TO TOWN
This one is perfect for students prepping for finals, set to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town.'
You better not weigh You better not heat You better not react I'm telling you now The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town. He's collecting data He's checking it twice He's gonna find out The heat of melting ice The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town. He sees you when you're decanting He knows when you titrate He knows when you are safe or not So wear goggles for goodness sake. Oh, you better not filter And drink your filtrate You better not be careless and spill your precipitate. The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town.
You can find this and 13 other Christmas songs turned into chemistry jokes at Wesleyan University’s Physics department.
