After a 10-year hiatus, theIndieMusicdb.com finally brings back it’s annual Christmas Countdown. Since we’ve been absent for the past couple of years, we’re going to feature some songs from the not-so-distant Christmas past – 2017 to be exact.
To begin our Christmas countdown, our song of the day is Peach Pit‘s cover of ‘Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)’.
Released by Vancouver indie label Kingfisher Bluez as a charity single in 2017 – Peach Pit chose to cover one of the most memorable singles off of Sufjan Stevens‘ 5-CD Christmas album ‘Songs for Christmas‘.
‘Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)’ is a unique song that tells it like it is – specifically for those who have ever had to deal with a break-up during Christmas.
The song is surprisingly relatable, with its lyrics ranging from achingly painful (You always tell me how I could do so much better/You said it in your letter) to absolutely bitter (I stay awake at night/ After we have a fight / I’m writing poems about you/ And they aren’t very nice). Some might argue that it’s not really a Christmas song, that’s it’s just a sad song set during Christmas. But then again, can we argue that Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ isn’t a Christmas song too? Much like the debate whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. To which I would say, if you like watching it during Christmas because it gives you Christmas vibes – it’s a Christmas movie. In any case, the Father of all indie Christmas Songs – Sufjan Stevens, has already included this as a song to his Christmas Songs album – so there’s no argument in saying that it isn’t.
And why is it that it seems so relatable..like it evokes some deeply forgotten memory of a Christmas fight. Is it the holiday stress? The family drama? Fun fact: Did you know that a lot of breakups typically happen during December?
As much as I love the original Sufjan Stevens version, Peach Pit one ups the heartache that the song evokes with the addition of surf guitars and heart-pounding drums that just hits you different.
