Christmas with the Yours

"Christmas with the Yours" is a comedy pop single by Elio e le Storie Tese, featuring lead vocals by Emilian soul singer Graziano Romani, credited together as Il Complesso Misterioso[1] [i.e. "The Mysterious Band", with an ironical reference to the term complesso ["complex"], used in Italy throughout the 1970s to denote pop/rock bands].[lower-alpha 1] It was originally released in 1995 as a benefit single for Italian anti-AIDS associations LILA (Lega italiana per la lotta contro l'AIDS, in English "Italian League for the Fight against AIDS") and ANLAIDS (Associazione nazionale per la lotta all'AIDS, in English "National AIDS-fighting Association") and subsequently included in the band's compilation Peerla.[1] Superficially intended as a genuine Christmas song, the track is actually a lighthearted parody of the genre, as well as a send-up of charity songs, with particular reference to "We Are the World".[1]

"Christmas with the Yours"
Cover art for the single
Single by Elio e le Storie Tese (as Il Complesso Misterioso)
from the album Peerla
ReleasedDecember 1995
Recorded1995
StudioPsycho Studio, Milan, Italy
GenreChristmas, comedy pop
Length4:25 (main track), 15:38 (total)
LabelBMG
Songwriter(s)Stefano Belisari (as Elio), Sergio Conforti (as Rocco Tanica), Davide Civaschi (as Cesàreo), Nicola Fasani (as Faso)
Producer(s)Claudio Dentes (as Il Produttore Misterioso)

Structure and lyrics

The song starts with an introduction by keyboardist Sergio Conforti (a.k.a. Rocco Tanica), who uses a synthesized French horn timbre – similar to the one used by Quincy Jones at the very start of "We Are the World" – to play two short quotes from "Jingle Bells" and "White Christmas"; this is followed by a piano passage vaguely reminiscent of Roberto Vecchioni's 1971 song "Luci a San Siro", after which Romani starts singing in a deliberately hoarse voice and a dramatic tone.[1] The lyrics to the song are written in an over-simplified form of English, with a few lines in Italian, as a satirical list of stereotypical Italian traditions during the Christmas holiday period. Elio sings three lines in the second verse, while the choruses are sung by Romani with the rest of the band – joined, on the final chorus, by various DJs and hosts from Radio Deejay (specifically uncredited), who perform in the style of a gospel choir, with additional percussion and handclaps. Before the ending chorus, the song also features a melodic guitar solo by guitarist Davide Civaschi, a.k.a. Cesàreo.

Lyrics
I am in the room, waiting for Santa and for Claus.
  • Santa Claus is jokingly referred to as two separate people, and "Claus" is pronounced like the German name "Klaus" [i.e. KLAH-oos], rather than the English "clause".
Suddenly by night they will arrive,
Can't you feel the typical cling-cling-cling-cling-cling?
  • Immediately after "by night", the band shouts out "By night! By night! By night! By night!", starting much faster than the main beat and speeding up. This was a recurring gag on the band's comedy show Cordialmente on Radio Deejay.[1] Also, on the second line quoted above, Romani uses the verb feel instead of hear - a possible ironical reference to a literal but wrong Italian-to-English translation, which recurs in several other lines.
Presents for the good, coal for the bad,
Proprio come diceva mia mamma!
  • The Italian line above means "Just like my mom said!" and is sung by Romani in a forced North American accent, like the rest of his vocals. Black-colored, coal-shaped rock candies are traditionally given as a gift to "naughty" children at Epiphany, rather than Christmas.
Christmas with the yours, Easter what you want,
Peace between Blur and Oasis!
Christmas with the yours, Easter what you want,
Don't throw atomic bombs because it's Christmas time!
  • The first line in the chorus is another intentional Italian-to-English mistranslation - in this case, of the well-known Italian proverb Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi [i.e. (Spend) Christmas with your family/folks, Easter with whoever you want]. The first half of the line is a literal word-by-word translation of the Italian original, while, in the second half, Elio (who wrote the lyrics) jokingly simplified the unmetrical "whoever" into "what". The chorus also mentions the feud between British bands Blur and Oasis during their 1990s Britpop phase, and, in the fourth line quoted above, it satirizes the notorious French nuclear tests on Moruroa, particularly the 1995 ones conducted by then-President Jacques Chirac.
Panettone is on the table, and everybody's drinking Moscato

Panettone is the traditional Christmas cake from Milan. The first half of the line is a parody of "The book is on the table", one of the first English sentences which Italian schoolboys learning English are usually taught; the word Moscato, the name of a famous Italian sparkling wine, is pronounced as Moss-KAY-doh, again in a strong American accent.

Go to buy a tree, but not a true tree,
Because otherwise it would die-die-die-die-die!
Panettone is on the table, but it is another one.
  • All of the above lines are sung by Elio in a very non-English, exaggeratedly Italian accent (with hints of Milanese). In his first line, continuing with his intentional mistranslations, he sings true rather than real, then pronounces "die-die-die-die-die" as "dài-dài-dài-dài-dài", in the style of an incitation from a football head coach to players on the field (meaning c'mon, c'mon, c'mon... in Italian). Romani resumes his vocal on the following line.
Infatti è quello senza canditi!
Christmas with the yours, Easter what you want,
Peace between Lino and Cecchetto!
Christmas with the yours, Easter what you want,
Don't drop atomic bombs, at least at Christmas time!
  • Romani's Italian line above, meaning Indeed it's the one without candied fruit!, completes Elio's previous reference to "Panettone [...] another one": it is both a slight satire of a 1995 holiday season advert, featuring comedy actress Franca Valeri, for a panettone without candied fruit which Veronese firm Melegatti had just launched at the time, and a jocular reference to the ensuing debate in Italy between admirers of Melegatti's new version of the Milanese cake and traditionalists, who viewed it as a betrayal of a long-established Christmas tradition.[1] The second chorus goes on to mention Radio Deejay host Pasquale Di Molfetta, known as Linus, and founder Claudio Cecchetto; at the time, the latter was on the verge of splitting from Radio Deejay because of a heated contractual dispute between him, Di Molfetta and other broadcasters; Cecchetto would go on to found his own radio station, called Radio Capital (unconnected to the UK network). The two names are respectively pronounced by Romani as LINE-oh and say-shadow.
  • During Cesàreo's guitar solo, Romani sings the following lines - the fourth one, below, meaning Do you know what my mom said?
Oh, it's Christmas time,
Please don't drop the bomb, don't drop it!
Proprio come diceva mia mamma.
Sai come diceva mia mamma?

After the solo, Romani and the choir from Radio Deejay (mentioned above) sing a gospel rendition of the "Lino and Cecchetto" version of the chorus; Romani concludes with "Living the refreshing world of Christmas!" and "Monsieur Chirac, garde la bombe avec toi!". The intentional malapropism refreshing alludes to a jingle for Italy's popular "Brooklyn" brand of chewing gum ("Feel the refreshing world of Brooklyn!"), sung by Romani himself in 1980, while the French line, meaning Mister Chirac, keep the bomb to yourself!, is another and more explicit reference to Chirac's controversial 1995 nuclear test. On his very last line, Romani also quotes Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown's 1984 song "Unity", by shouting "Peace! Love! Unity! And having fun!"[1]

Track listing

All tracks written by Elio, Rocco Tanica, Cesàreo and Faso [a.k.a. Nicola Fasani].

  1. "Christmas with the Yours"
  2. "Christmas with the Yours (Get Far mix)"
  3. "Christmas with the Yours (Say Shadow Puppastic Mix)"
  • Track 1 is the original mix, later included on Peerla; track 2 is a house/techno remix by DJ Mario Fargetta; track 3 is the same as track 1, but slightly extended and overlaid with spoken Christmas greetings by Radio Deejay hosts and broadcasters – not including Claudio Cecchetto. On the track, DJ Paola Pelagalli, a.k.a. Paoletta, in true broadcaster style, manages to slip in her greeting between two sung lines - namely, Elio's third (and final) solo line and Romani's re-starting line.

The artwork for the single features the song's title displayed on a large chocolate Easter egg – another intentional malapropism – made by pastry maker Pasticceria Colzani in Cassago Brianza.[2]

Personnel
  • Graziano Romani (as Il Cantante Misterioso, i.e.The Mysterious Singer) – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
  • Elio (a.k.a. Stefano Belisari) – Co-lead vocal, backing vocals
  • Rocco Tanica (a.k.a. Sergio Conforti) – Keyboards, backing vocals
  • Cesàreo (a.k.a. Davide Civaschi) – Electric guitar, backing vocals
  • Faso (a.k.a. Nicola Fasani) – Bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Feiez (a.k.a. Paolo Panigada) – Percussion, backing vocals
  • Curt Cress – Drums
  • Unnamed DJs and broadcasters from Radio Deejay – Choir
  • Claudio Dentes (credited as Il Produttore Misterioso, i.e. The Mysterious Producer, rather than with his usual pseudonym Otar Bolivecic) – Production

Footnotes
  1. The peculiar credit was based on the way the single was presented on Radio Deejay before its actual release, i.e. with no reference at all to Elio e le Storie tese. They were, however, easily "spotted" by listeners and fans because of Elio's very recognizable voice and accent (as described above), and because of the overall style.[1]

References
  1. "Christmas with the yours - 12" mix". Marok.org. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  2. "Il Complesso Misterioso - Christmas With The Yours". Discogs. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
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