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Merry Christmas From The Family (WORD)
Merry Christmas From The Family (PDF)
YOU CAN PLAY ALONG WITH THE VIDEO! Thanks to Heather and Chris suggesting this song which was first introduced to BUG by Charles de Lint during open mic in 2013 and then again in 2016.
'"Merry Christmas from the Family" was first recorded for Keen's 1994 album, Gringo Honeymoon. A live version also appears on his 1996, No. 2 Live Dinner. The popularity of the song led Keen to write a sequel song, "Happy Holidays Y'all", for his 1998 album Walking Distance, and to publish a book, Merry Christmas from the Family, in 2001. The original song, the book, and the sequel all center around the same cast of characters in Keen's humorous vision of a Texas style Christmas.
Growing up in Houston, Texas, Robert Earl Keen didn't often see snow at Christmas time. He says "I didn't even know what a chestnut looked like until I was 30 years old and saw it in a picture book… It was a different kind of Christmas. Every Christmas song I had ever heard didn't have a lot to do with growing up in Houston where it was most likely 85 degrees and 95 percent humidity."
Keen calls the song the "Rocky Horror Picture Show of Christmas songs" saying that whether singing before a group of 1,000 or 6,000 the entire audience sings along. And in particular shouts out the line, "Mix Bloody Marys 'cause we all want one."