There aren't that many holiday songs about the Antipodean Christmas experience. South of the equator, Christmas comes in the Summertime, so there isn't any snow or chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and it's a long haul for Santa's sleigh from the North Pole, but they still try to maintain Northern Hemisphere Christmas traditions. I spent a few Christmases in the tropics, and there are few things more incongruous than looking at Christmas trees and fake snow when it's 85 degrees outside.
Who would be more qualified to explore a Kiwi Christmas than an American roots rock band based in the UK. The Long Ryders were somehow lumped in with the L.A. paisley underground scene, but they were closer to what would later be called "alt-country". "Christmas in New Zealand" was a flexi that the Ryders recorded in 1985 (hence the references to "feed the world" and Samantha Fox coloring books) and sold at shows. My favorite part of the song is the "Jingle Bells" piano fill at about 1:50 that morphs in to "In the Doledrums" by the Chills (notable Kiwi band of that era).
This has got to be the definitive NZ Christmas song, at least until the inevitable holiday offering by New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based comedy folk duo.
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