Another Christmas Song

Album: A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song featured on Comedy Central's 2008 Christmas special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!. The song was written by comedy writer, David Javerbaum, and Adam Schlesinger, who is the bassist for power-pop band, Fountains of Wayne. In our interview with Schlesinger, he said the track is poking fun at the commercial greed of the music industry at Christmas time: "...the gist of that song is let's make this a big Christmas song so I can get rich."
  • A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! follows comedian, Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report), as he attempts to escape a cabin surrounded by bears. A number of friends proceed to stop by the cabin in order to sing Christmas songs with Colbert.
  • The songs which feature in the holiday special were compiled into an album, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!. Colbert encouraged fans to purchase the Christmas album as part of 'Operation Humble Kanye,' which was launched after Kanye West declared that he was "the voice of this generation of this decade." 'Operation Humble Kanye' was a success - A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! overtook West's album on the iTunes chart, leading to Stephen proclaiming Kanye "officially humbled." In 2010, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
  • Most of the songs which feature in A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! were written by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger. This is not the first time Javerbaum and Schlesinger have worked together. Schlesinger revealed in our interview that the pair have, in fact, worked together on a multitude of big-name media projects: "We did the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special together, we did this Broadway show called Cry-Baby. And then we've written a bunch of awards show stuff together including the Tonys and the Emmys this year (2011)."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Maxi Priest

Maxi PriestSongwriter Interviews

The British reggae legend tells the story of his #1 hit "Close To You," talks about his groundbreaking Shabba Ranks collaboration "Housecall," and discusses his latest project with Robin Trower.

Chris Fehn of Slipknot

Chris Fehn of SlipknotSongwriter Interviews

A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root

Michael Glabicki of Rusted RootSongwriter Interviews

Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.