Back in 2018, David Byrne shared a playlist called Eclectic for the Holidays, which, as its title promised, comprised a bunch of wacky, kind sorta holiday-inspired songs for those who don't necessarily jive with the traditional Christmas fare.
And today, Byrne has shared his own potential addition to the list with "Fat Man's Comin'," a new, Bandcamp-exclusive holiday song that comes attached to a forthcoming lyric video featuring Byrne's hand-drawn storyboards for a decade-old, never-produced video.
Originally written in 2013 and produced/arranged by Jherek Bischoff, "Fat Man's Comin'" is a dramatic, orchestral goof of a song, with Byrne describing Santa as "a roly poly man / In the dark, he's riding." All proceeds from "Fat Man's Comin'" will go to Byrne's nonprofit online news magazine Reasons To Be Cheerful.
About the song, Byrne said:
I always wanted to write a holiday song. I wouldn't call it a Christmas song, as the visitation of Santa (formerly known as St. Nicholas, who mainly did punishing) seems to have evolved to be a more secular consumer moment than a religious or spiritual affair.
I believe the foundation of this music might have been written at the same time as the collaboration I did with St. Vincent a few years ago, but somehow a literal view of the Santa phenomena was what came out. It wasn't right for Annie and me – the story of a fat man in rather odd attire who breaks into people's homes and leaves mysterious packages.
I'd worked with Jherek before and enlisted him to arrange and record the "orchestra," which I wanted to sound sort of old-school creepy. The old song "Teddy Bears Picnic" may have been a reference.
Back then, I thought I'd use the song as a means to raise money for a good cause, but to draw attention to this thing I thought it might need a visual, so I storyboarded a video for the song which eventually ended up getting shelved.
But maybe helping celebrate another year of Reasons To Be Cheerful might be a good reason to resurrect this song, and let the storyboards allow folks to imagine what the video might have been.
Enjoy and thanks for listening/watching
David
Listen to "Fat Man's Comin'" below.
And today, Byrne has shared his own potential addition to the list with "Fat Man's Comin'," a new, Bandcamp-exclusive holiday song that comes attached to a forthcoming lyric video featuring Byrne's hand-drawn storyboards for a decade-old, never-produced video.
Originally written in 2013 and produced/arranged by Jherek Bischoff, "Fat Man's Comin'" is a dramatic, orchestral goof of a song, with Byrne describing Santa as "a roly poly man / In the dark, he's riding." All proceeds from "Fat Man's Comin'" will go to Byrne's nonprofit online news magazine Reasons To Be Cheerful.
About the song, Byrne said:
I always wanted to write a holiday song. I wouldn't call it a Christmas song, as the visitation of Santa (formerly known as St. Nicholas, who mainly did punishing) seems to have evolved to be a more secular consumer moment than a religious or spiritual affair.
I believe the foundation of this music might have been written at the same time as the collaboration I did with St. Vincent a few years ago, but somehow a literal view of the Santa phenomena was what came out. It wasn't right for Annie and me – the story of a fat man in rather odd attire who breaks into people's homes and leaves mysterious packages.
I'd worked with Jherek before and enlisted him to arrange and record the "orchestra," which I wanted to sound sort of old-school creepy. The old song "Teddy Bears Picnic" may have been a reference.
Back then, I thought I'd use the song as a means to raise money for a good cause, but to draw attention to this thing I thought it might need a visual, so I storyboarded a video for the song which eventually ended up getting shelved.
But maybe helping celebrate another year of Reasons To Be Cheerful might be a good reason to resurrect this song, and let the storyboards allow folks to imagine what the video might have been.
Enjoy and thanks for listening/watching
David
Listen to "Fat Man's Comin'" below.
