Today’s Christmas Present entry reaches back almost a decade to 2004, to a fun, nutty and absolutely clever cover of a song featured in the Rankin/Bass classic “A Year Without a Santa Claus.”

The recording of “Mr. Heatmiser” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, paired above with Rankin/Bass footage of their Mr. Heatmiser, perfectly fits the band’s sound and is playful, fun and energetic. One of the goals of Christmas Present is to break out of the malaise of all the slow Christmas songs; this certainly fits the bill.

Additional listening

The swing sound Big Bad Voodoo Daddy procures provides a nice take on many holiday classics, such as “Blue Christmas” above. It’s therefore no surprise that they’ve headed to the holiday well with no less than three releases.

The latest of the three came out this year; here’s a video of their take of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” one of a trilogy of videos to be posted to their YouTube account in the past couple of weeks.  All three albums are worthy to seek out and enjoy during this time of year.