John Lucas

According to the Internet (which is never wrong), December 8 is Take It in the Ear Day. I’m not making that up, nor do I have any idea what it means. But if there’s anyone who does, it’s probably this guy, because of course he’s had it in the ear before.

Since that’s not a real holiday song by any stretch of the imagination (or ear canal), here’s Run-DMC’s deathless classic (I’m not being facetious for once), “Christmas in Hollis”. I don’t have much to say about this one, apart from the fact that it was written for the very first A Very Special Christmas compilation, and that it was featured in Die Hard. Which is not a Christmas movie and I’m not even going to listen to any arguments to the contrary, even as I enjoy my Die Hard–themed Sons of Vancouver whisky advent calendar. (With thanks to my lovely wife, Erin.)

“Christmas in Hollis” features prominent samples of Clarence Carter’s 1968 funk hit “Back Door Santa”, a song that is definitely not about taking it in the ear. I will say no more about that in the interest of keeping this blog family-friendly for the holidays. Some might argue that I’ve spoiled things already by posting “Lust for Life”, but let us not forget that Royal Caribbean apparently found the song sufficiently wholesome to advertise family cruise-ship vacations with it.