Beer Barrel Polecats at San Francisco house party, ca. 1992
I’ve been humming “Please, Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas” for several days now. For why? Because it gets me in the holiday spirit and keeps me out of the spirits, that’s for why. Also because the Beer Barrel Polecats sang it at the Metro holiday talent show one Christmas lo these many years ago.
We also did RvB’s tender paean to the yuletide, “Xmas in Belvue,” with its hauntingly prescient opening line: “Even the Queen of England says it’s been a horrible year / And she’s living in her palace, and me, I’m stuck down here.” Kabillionaire bankers whining about rightly chastising the great unwashed for boo-hooing over income inequality, take heart. Marley would be proud! And I don’t mean Bob.
Anyway, here’s “Xmas in Belvue,” which was about as far as we got on our Christmas album. Photo by Don Hines, with remarks:
”33rd ave. on San Francisco’s Outer Richmond district, 10 blocks from the Cliff House. Jerry Dolezal, me, and one other shared a HUGE 3Br/2b flat for $1600/mo. Ocean vu on one of the 5 sunny days all summer. I think that y’all still lived in Japantown then. This was my birthday party, because Mike Monihan gave me a Sgt. McGruff barking dog record to discourage prowlers. Such, such were the times.”
See what you kids missed by being late toeing up at the birthing line?
The photo is 3/4 of the original lineup of the Polecats. The version on this recording was the more or less permanent one: RvB, accordion and vox; Broos Campbell, guitar and vox; Chris Mondt, bass and vox; Don Piletic; crazy windup monkey drums. Or conga, in this case.
If you missed the several chances to click on the song, here it comes again:
Words and music © 1997 Richard von Busack. All rights reserved.
