William Shatner and Billy Gibbons created the weirdest Christmas song in history
Back in 2004, William Shatner finally tackled the famed tricky second record with Has Been. He’d been mulling over his sophomore effort for 36 years—pondering how best to follow up 1968’s The Transformed Man, a masterpiece described by many as the album that Sgt. Pepper’s could have been. If the Fab Four lifted music to new heights, then Shatner beamed it up beyond the stratosphere with his musical monologues of William Shakespeare, Edmond Rostand and some guy called Frank Davenport.
The follow-up was even better, if that’s at all possible, and it set in motion a multitude of further efforts. Of course, fans knew it was only a matter of time before Captain Kirk attempted a Christmas cracker, but he kept them waiting until 2018, when he was at the ripe old age of 87, but still firmly swinging.
Topping his previous efforts must have seemed like a mountaineer wondering what to do next after dragging a piano up to the peak of Everest. So, he did the only thing a spoken-word songsmith can do in those circumstances: he got on the phone with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Once signed up, they decided to tackle ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’.
The pair form an unusual marriage. But musically, it is sublime. Granted, Shatner seems to struggle with the word “donder” with his bumbling still inexplicably making the final cut, but that only adds to the charm. As does his hip-ifying of the final product, making the lyrics Shatneresque with lines like “Dude! You’re gonna go down, down man, in history!”
And then there’s the demented video: Shatner sits on a throne in front of a group of children for story time. These young goons sway as though under duress. Meanwhile, an elf with one too many piercings blurts out the moments that require singing, something Shatner is staunchly against, before he points down the lens as though you, the viewer, are actually Rudolph.
Amid the gentle mix, Gibbons’ presence isn’t clear. Then halfway through, the grandfatherly guise of the track is ditched, as though the advocaat has just kicked in, and there’s Gibbons, the father Christmas of rock, rattling out the rocking second half. Madness, joyous, festive, utter madness.
You can check out the oddly harrowing video below.
