So far, all of the A.V. Club’s Holiday Undercover songs have been secular holiday jams. Fair enough. These exclude no one and offer plenty of diversity anyway. Today, however, an artist finally gets spiritual. Yes, Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg chose to sing about God on his Christmas cover. Specifically, he sings about how much God hates us.
Wait, what? Yeah, it’s not exactly the most uplifting Christmas tune. Technically speaking, it’s not really a Christmas tune at all. Instead, it’s Randy Newman’s absurdly bleak “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind).” To give you an idea, here’s one of God’s verses:
I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
From the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That’s why I love mankind
Make sure there are no guns, knives, or nooses nearby, then watch the video below. Hallelujah!
Check out more Shearwater at their website or MySpace.
Absurdly bleak, yes, but that’s the point. You make it sound like the beauty of the song doesn’t work just like prayer and choir devotionals.
It’s clear that Newman can write, without flinching on our failures (which include blaming external forces) as a race, and as Meiburg displays here – a truly wondrous example of redeeming (and therefore entirely suitable) Christmas music.
That said – the vodka ad that pops an entire window up in front of your video feed?
Classy, very classy. Tell me, which do you think does more to promote suicidal thoughts – the consumption of music or consumption of grain alcohol?
Best of the season, lad and lasses,
DW
The vodka ad comes from the A.V. Club, not Cover Me. I believe that company sponsors the series.