On their new single, The Weeklings add elements of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” to the holiday song “Must Be Santa.”
On the lead single from their upcoming holiday album Christmas, The Weeklings turn “Must Be Santa” into a swaggering hard-rock song by adding elements of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” to it. You can listen to it below.
Written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks, “Must Be Santa” was first released as a single in 1960, by Mitch Miller, though personally I consider the polka version recorded by Brave Combo in 1991 (and embraced by Bob Dylan in 2009) to be definitive.
The Christmas album will be released on Nov. 29 on the Jersey-based JEM Records label, and will feature nine original songs — including the “Seinfeld”-inspired “Festivus” — as well as six tracks, in addition to “Must Be Santa,” in which the band puts its own spin on traditional holiday material.
Singer-songwriter-bassist Lefty Weekling (Glen Burtnik), singer-songwriter-guitarist Zeek Weekling (Bob Burger), singer-guitarist Rocky Weekling (John Merjave) and drummer Smokestack Weekling (Joe Bellia) are joined on the album by the Ocean Avenue Stompers Horn Section (Ian Gray, Adrian Condis and Joe Gullace), The Red Ryder BB Gun Singers (Reagan Richards, Sandi Joy, Alicia Van Sant, Jillian McCoy, Christina Burtnick, Suzanne DeAgazio Pisano, Ava Minall, Julia and Ava Viola, Jemma Harris, Karina Minall and Zoe Leibowitz) and harp player Erin Hill. Plink Giglio, one of the album’s engineers, also adds keyboards and did the arrangement for the track “Joy,” an instrumental that mashes together Bach, Beethoven, The Beatles and Queen.
Another track, “Revolution Wonderland,” is, as you might expect, a cover of “Winter Wonderland” utilizing riffs from The Beatles’ “Revolution.”
The Weeklings’ upcoming shows include a “Holiday Hullabaloo” at The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. The show is actually billed as “The Weeklings & Friends,” though the lineup of friends has not been announced. Visit ticketmaster.com.
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