Santa Loves You

I was extremely startled to hear the religious content in the second verse of Here Comes Santa Claus. It seems the authors were responding to criticism of the secular/commercial focus of most Santa-based songs and thus were trying to have it both ways.

The addition of God only increases the tension of the culture war’s resonances within this song. Instead of including Jesus, the song instead seemingly elevates Santa to part of a pantheon.

The attempt to tackle class is even less successful – Santa may love children who are rich and poor equally, but they don’t get equal presents.

This is the last song in this year’s Christmas album. If you enjoyed it (or not), please consider making a donation to the Hackney Night Shelter, which my wife has been volunteering at. There are very few shelter beds in East London. This roving shelter makes up a large percentage of them.

If you’d like to download this album in higher fidelity than is available here, you can find it and cover art over at bandcamp. It’s a free download, but please do make a donation directly to the shelter!

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