Song of the Day 12/25: Chuck Berry, “Run Rudolph Run”

Some Christmas songs belong only to the artists who created them. “Little Saint Nick” is just a Beach Boys car tune, just as “Run, Rudolph, Run” is first and foremost a Chuck Berry song with a Christmas backdrop (in 1958, only Berry would imagine that every boy child wanted a rock and roll ‘lectric guitar). When it was first released the composition was credited solely to Berry, but later releases and covers include Johnny Marks as a co-writer.

Of the many songs Marks contributed to the Christmas canon, he had the least to do with this one: Berry owed him a piece of the action because Marks composed the first song about the red-nosed reindeer, even if he never envisioned his caribou whizzin’ like a sabre jet. To my knowledge, nobody has ever taken credit, or blame, for the fact that the title does not match the phrase sung in the chorus.

There’s no way to cover this one but straight, the way John Batiste and Nathaniel Rateliff did on the Colbert show a couple of weeks ago. Amazing how two guys can fill out a five-piece band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-zewL33Nss