Merry Christmas from Little Steven & The Soul Disciples

A little Merry Christmas from Steven Van Zandt, a.k.a. Little Steven, covering the Ramones classic “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” with The Disciples of Soul. It’s a little more laid back than the original, but the video gets into the gonzo holiday spirit with a bunch o’ Santas, elves, reindeer and weird old silent film footage.

If you want the original, you can pick up the best rock and roll Christmas collection around, Little Steven’s Underground Garage Presents Christmas A Go Go. It’s got the Ramones, Keith Richard, The Kinks, the Len Price 3, the Chesterfield Kings, Joe Pesci, Soupy Sales, Darlene Love, Roy Wood and Wizzard, and a bunch of other artists new and old.

Back when the album came out in 2008, I spoke with Van Zandt for AOL’s now defunct music site, Spinner. He liked the idea of mixing the new and the old, like he does on his SiriusXM station. “I love it when somebody comes up to me sometimes, they say, ‘Was that record new or old?’” he said. “I love hearing that. That’s exactly the point. Good is good. A lot of the young kids now are studying the right things, they’re learning from the right people, and that’s the 50s and 60s. Some of the records will sound a little bit like those records, and that’s nothing but good, as far as I’m concerned.”

Why not write your own Christmas song? “Because Christmas, it’s a challenge, man,” he said. “You know what I mean? When you’re writing those things, you’re competing with ‘Jingle Bells,’ you know what I mean? You know, it’s tough competition there.”

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