Mike Farris - Havana Santa
In Our Headphones
KEXP
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2021
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mike Farris - "Havana Santa," a 2021 single on Compass Records.
This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss, host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer. Brian has been doing a punk rock Christmas special every year since 2004 and has been a Christmas Day on-air DJ since 2012. He will be hosting his non-traditional Christmas broadcast from noon to 6pm on Saturday, December 25th and then will be back on air later that night for Punk Rock Xmess 2021 at 9pm. No standards are played, only original X-Mess songs, most with a humorous bent.
Let’s be honest, there’s not a whole lot that’s sexy about Santa Claus. But have you met his brother? Ow ow! Grammy Award winning gospel, blues, and roots artist Mike Farris introduces a new character to the holidays with “Havana Santa.” The heated Latin track swaps the snow for the sea, where we meet the rum-drinking, mambo-dancing, red Camino-driving brother of St. Nick that’s living a very sultry life south of the border.
Apparently, the inspiration to make a Latin-style Christmas song came after Farris and his 13-piece holiday band covered a Marc Anthony song during their annual “Soul of Christmas” show in Nashville one year and it was an absolute crowd-pleaser. Farris had this to say about the song:
“The whole approach to writing “Havana Santa” was the same approach to the Soul of Christmas shows, and that is to bring maximum amounts of fun to the holiday season and to just fill the season with great memories and cheek numbing joy!”
The track features a long list of long-time collaborators and includes six Grammy award winners among them: Derrek Phillips (drums), Dave Roe (bass), Kenny Greenberg (guitars), Kevin Mckendree (piano/hammond organ), Giovanni Rodriguez (percussion), Jim Hoke (tenor and baritone sax/accordion), Steve Hermann (trumpet), Yates Mckendree (bass), Saunya Clayborn (singer), Samson White (singer), additional singers are Dave Roe, Giovanni Rodriguez, Jamie-Sue Seal, Cassidy Zuver, Derrek Phillips and Kenny Greenberg.
Get a taste of the fun that Farris and his collaborators bring to their Soul of Christmas events by watching a snippet of their performance of “Havana Santa” at this year’s show at the link below.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Yeah, hey! |
| 0:18.7 | Everybody come along with me For a Christmas by the sea |
| 0:34.7 | Don't need no coat and you don't need no shoe We're gonna remember a wavy Christmas moon |
| 0:46.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa has a real fun flat Rhythm in the street in a wreck and land |
| 0:59.7 | And he drives it all over town Singing everybody on the chorus now |
| 1:07.7 | Everybody, everybody, everybody |
| 1:13.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way Everybody, everybody |
| 1:21.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way |
| 1:25.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way |
| 1:33.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's back full of shame He plays a conga in a mumbo bang |
| 1:49.7 | The only gift that you'll ever receive When your feet stack jumping to get mumbo beat |
| 1:58.7 | Everybody, everybody, everybody |
| 2:04.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way Everybody, everybody |
| 2:12.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way |
| 2:15.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way |
| 2:31.7 | Don't mistake him for his nut pole Brother with a sleigh |
| 2:39.7 | He's a cash potato He's a rum and cook a cola and go, he won't get on me |
| 3:01.7 | Everybody come along with me For a Christmas pharmacy |
| 3:13.7 | I know you're really gonna lose your mind When you hear Vanna Santa say it one more time |
| 3:25.7 | Everybody, everybody, everybody |
| 3:31.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way Everybody, everybody |
| 3:39.7 | Oh, Vanna Santa's on his way Everybody, everybody |
... |
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