The 25 days of Christmas: Day 5

A Boss-y (Pants) Christmas

There aren’t a lot of live music recordings that I prefer to studio recordings. In general, performance recordings combine the worst of both worlds: They’ve got the poor audio quality of a live show, but lack the lizard-brain magic of being there that comes from actually breathing the same air with the musicians.

But sometimes it all comes together. Today’s song is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” on Saturday Night Live. It was December 19, 2015, and Tina Fey had returned to host that year’s Christmas episode. (The Christmas SNL is an ironclad tradition in my home.) Springsteen was the musical guest, and after playing two songs from his then-new record, he came out and played “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” during (and beyond) the closing credits. Sir Paul McCartney came out to join him, as did the entire cast, all the writers, and what appears to be half of New York, and the result is pure fiery joy:

I have nothing to add beyond “this video is great,” but here are a few more great SNL musical performances:

• Sturgill Simpson absolutely burning the place down playing “Call to Arms”

• The Roches—a folk trio of singing sisters to whom you should be listening every day—played SNL in November 1979 (with host Bea Arthur). Their second song was an a cappella rendition of The Hallelujah Chorus. Here is the video—the song begins at 1:02:00.

• David Bowie singing “The Man Who Sold the World” with the on-stage assistance of Klaus Nomi

• Early 80s hardcore punk band Fear played SNL on Halloween 1981. John Belushi was a fan and recommended them, and apparently Lorne Michaels didn’t read up on them before booking. The “gig” turned into a “mosh pit,” which turned into a “riot.” That part apparently wasn’t aired, but the performance starts at 58:20 in this video.

• Billy Preston playing “Nothing from Nothing Leaves Nothing” in the very first episode. If you have a Peacock subscription you can pull it up. It’s glorious.