This time of year is usually filled with festive cheer and good will towards people — especially where songs are concerned. Generally speaking, classic Christmas carols are concerned with enjoying the season (even the sad ones, which are lamenting lack of said enjoyment, usually because a loved one is MIA on the day). But as we well know, real life is hard and therefore real Christmas can be hard in turn. So leave it to country’s queen of all that is good and yet gritty and real, Loretta Lynn, to give us a Christmas tune of a different color. Lynn’s “To Heck with Old Santa Claus,†from her newly released White Christmas Blue album, is a cheeky, even edgy, paean to what happens when you don’t get what you want, or indeed when you get nothing at all (on a holiday, or elsewise besides). The song, performed here with Johnny and June Cash’s son John Carter Cash on guitar, is tipped with Lynn’s signature charm and cheekiness while also calling up the truth of her dirt-poor upbringing. Enjoy, and remember: If you don’t get what you want from Santa, you too can always fantasize about “hitting him in the ho ho ho with a bunch of big snowballs.â€
