Behind The Song Episode 57: Greg Lake "I Believe In Father Christmas"

In this episode of the Behind The Song podcast, host Janda Lane peers deeper into the lyrics of "I Believe In Father Christmas" by Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. With collaboration from his friend John Sinfield, Lake's first solo release became a classic holiday song that poses questions about what truly brings joy to the season.
Music: Christian Lane
Video Director: Michael Collier
About Janda:
Behind The Song podcast host and creator Janda Lane is a radio DJ at WDRV-FM in Chicago, the city she now calls home with her husband and podcast partner, Christian Lane, and their two cats, Ollie and Liam. She is a transplant from Los Angeles, where she was a video director at Fender, Executive Producer at Yahoo Music, playlist curator for ITunes, worked in rock management with artists like the Foo Fighters and Beck, was on the radio at KCRW, and she was a DJ at online radio pioneer site Soundbreak. She has not worked a day in her life.
Follow Janda on Facebook and Instagram @jandalaneradio and on Twitter @jandalane.

[@francestomic2772]

I felt like a family member died when the 2 of them passed. But I can still cherish what they gave us. Their concerts were awe inspiring. I have to wonder when the powers that be will ever let us enjoy music again.

[@jjjohn4493]

"their eyes full of tinsel and fire" one of the most evocative lyrics i've ever heard. andi listen to sisters of mercy

[@TonyWeaving]

All anguish pain and sadness leave your heart and let your road be clear. Really great lyrics. Music artists today have not got the intelligence to such evoklgive lyrics. Outstanding.

[@bobwaller1649]

I start every year at Christmas watching this video and love the back story. Truly one of the best musical artist,Greg Lake,and one of the best bands ever ELP. Knowing this story I love this song even more!

[@370530e]

My favourite Christmas song. Not a mention for Prokofiev?

[@patrickjohngallagher]

Yes, a glaring omission! According to Wikipedia: "The instrumental riff between verses comes from the "Troika" portion of Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite, written for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé; this was added at the suggestion of Keith Emerson."

[@scarlettphoenix7024]

Agree

[@davidcole5183]

Thank you, Janda. It's wonderful to know the story behind this. It became an instant classic for me the first time I heard it. It has the loss of innocence with the true Christmas message in it for me.

[@behindthesongpodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mandarinlearner]

Greg had the expensive Persian rug because it was believed to help protect him from electrical shocks-which had happened to him in the past

[@daninnj8580]

And John Lennon was famous for also chewing gum while singing. Apparently the saliva it generates keeps the singer's throat moist. Brilliant!

[@jjsc4396]

Also, the carpet didn't have "its own" roadie, as if that's all he did. The carpet was just a (not THE) job of that roadie 🙄

[@AndyClayton-f5x]

Before he got the rug he'd always stood on a tatty threadbare one that he'd used for ages He said every set up and stage was different, and he liked an element of stability to work on. Something familiar. Read that in an old Melody Maker interview.

[@ArunMadisetti]

Using a knife on the keyboard was a means to hold the note played down as he frantically played other things. It later became a staple in live shows but was born of utility.

[@AndyClayton-f5x]

He used to use a steel comb to hold a couple of keys down at the same time. Someone suggested a knife or two would be more theatrical. Ever the showman he complied.

[@asidharta]

I wish you a hopeful Christmas I wish you a brave new year All anguish, pain and sadness Leave your heart and let your road be clear They said there'd be snow at Christmas They said there'll be peace on earth Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell The Christmas we get we deserve

[@TonyWeaving]

My favourite verse of this brilliant song. Greg was a genius lyric writer. Tony in Portsmouth England.

[@BassPlayerSusan]

My dad is a huge ELP fan and he remembers when "I Believe in Father Christmas" (and how many dads like both ELP and Nirvana?). He said that the song was actually out of print for several years. It resurfaced again in the mid-1990s in an ELP version and that's how I became interested in it. I was about 18 at the time and I still have the Christmas compilation CD that it's on.

[@daninnj8580]

Greg admitted years later that he indeed was taking shots at organized religion, especially the line 'they sold me a fairy story 'till I believed it the Israelites', which has nothing to do with the commercialization of Christmas. What's truly ironic is Lake performing this song with Ian Anderson, who also wrote a LOT about religion (listen to his Aqualung album especially) in a cathedral at Christmas, just dripping with irony: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2eQgXSBhNlqqa8si=Wi045gEk-YVdmOm_

[@RobertGraziose]

Yea I saw that it was midnight mass. The song is so anti religious. It's popularity probably made them change their tune. Money talks 👄.

[@portcullis5622]

​@@RobertGrazioseThe song is anti-commercialisation of Christmas but is it really anti-religious though? Most of us love fairy stories. I think what we resent is having certain "fairy stories" (with little real evidence) relentlessly imposed on us from an early age.

[@RobertGraziose]

@daninnj8580 I saw that. It is dripping with irony. Peter stinfield wrote the lyrics. And if you listen to any other e l p or king crimson , things has done, You can clearly see his entire religious nature.

[@danielmoore7342]

​@@RobertGrazioseLove Works, and the Lake side the most. "And if your journey's unrewarded- may your God lift up your heart: you are windblown, but you are mine"

[@RobertGraziose]

@danielmoore7342 I don't know why but my reply sometimes disappear. But of course you know I love you. Or what else am I here for. Only you not face to face but side by side forever more. And I need to be here with you for without you what am I? Just another fool out searching for some heaven in the sky. Take me closer to believing Take me forward lead me on Through collision and confusion , while there's life beneath the sun. You are the reason I continue. So close yet so far away. So be closer to believing though your world is torn apart. For a moment changes all things and to end it but to start. And if your journey's unrewarded. To your god lift up your heart. But there's no crueler illusion, there's no shaper price to pay, as reach out, it slips away.

[@kratino]

He wrote Lucky Man when he was 12, and it's Pete Sinfield, not John. (Correct in the video, but incorrect in the description.)

[@RobertGraziose]

Peter not Pete.

[@kratino]

@ he was called Pete by many.

[@RobertGraziose]

@kratino But never credited as such on any album. Not being an aquantince I wouldn't know.

[@kratino]

@ people who know Robert Fripp call him, Bob. He was credited as Robert. What does it matter?

[@dannymcglone7430]

Great story,I listen to this song every year.Love the tune,but every time I listen to it it became darker.Thanks for clearing thing up

[@behindthesongpodcast]

Thanks for listening!

[@deborahseaman8470]

Thanks, just found you and this was fantastic, made me a subscriber!

[@ZiggyArno]

This is a beautiful analysis. Nice job. I met E-L-O in 1977 as a reporter. An odd group ... we had to interview each member individually.

[@behindthesongpodcast]

Thank you!

[@jjsc4396]

EL....P!

[@danielmoore7342]

​@@jjsc4396 I was about to ask him what he thought about Mik Kaminski!

[@danielmoore7342]

Best rock violinist EVER. Wished he'd stayed longer. Hugh McDowell too.

[@festeradams3972]

And yes there was Magic then, and as for Commercialization, Charlie Brown first told us in 65'. As stated so well in The Polar Express, the sound of the Bell faded over the years until only he could hear it, perhaps some still can and I envy them...

[@jccarletti9876]

I was hoping to learn how Prokofiev's masterpiece was principally affixed to this piece, regardless of this song's "true" message so undisputedly averred by so many.

[@alanplatt888]

Amazing

[@moyrawoodward2291]

It is Peter Sinfield who wrote the words for this song. Not John

[@bmac1205]

Sinfield co-wrote the lyrics with Lake.

[@Cosmos142857]

Idiot drones may sni gger but the Artists of the 60's and 70's tapped into something. Some form of immortality until the next wave of the coming age. Contempt for them is less than meaningless. Merry Christmas to all the Hags worldwide May you get the Christmas you deserve.

[@DisruptivePhoto]

perhaps an "Instant CHRISTMAS classic" as opposed to "Holiday Classic". :-)

[@gregoaks4413]

C'est La Vie

[@kw19193]

Not to rain upon anyone's parade but Sinfield has always maintained that the song is about the loss of innocence, not commercialism. But Lake's take on it has taken over simply because he repeated it enough. Regardless, truly a wonderful song, a Christmas staple. Cheers!

[@Taronlusin]

ELP Forever!

[@melanieharvey8445]

Oh WOW! a Dorset Lad!!

[@Crezelltree4261]

Isn't Dorset also where Robert Fripp & Andy Summers come from?

[@melanieharvey8445]

@@Crezelltree4261 Dunno about them but I do know that John Lennon's Auntie lived in Sandbanks, Poole. And she gave her "nephew's" record collection away to a local dustman!

[@j9whippetchick3]

⁠@@Crezelltree4261 According to Lake’s autobiography, he, Fripp and Summers all went to the same guitar teacher when they were teenagers.

[@StephaneBergeronPixelyzed]

@@Crezelltree4261 Absolutely!

[@drumlinbeatpaul]

If you listen to recordings of him talking there's an unmistakably West Country accent (Dorset version) lurking underneath. Robert Fripp left his more intact.

[@alanmorris3601]

You have a great voice

[@DonTSee3]

Omg! That’s why so many people are Swiftys! Yeah!

[@charlesnolan7602]

I have been listening to FATHER CHRISTMAS for 49 years !! ELP 1970's music critics were absolute assholes.

[@familydogg1234]

Its Pete Sinfield not " John". Its common knowledge and written on the credits.

[@RobertGraziose]

Peter not Pete.

[@route2070]

Another great video, with a great story.

[@behindthesongpodcast]

Thanks Josh!

[@olegrin]

The Judean desert, where Greg was filmed, is definitely Israel, not the “West Bank”, I know this place well.

[@RichardDeLeonardis-d5i]

There is a simple reason Greg Jimi others chew gum

[@BassPlayerSusan]

So does Nigel Tufnel!

[@lnielse1]

A obvious shot at religion no matter how hard Greg and Sinfield tried to walk it back ($$$) I love how christians try to misrepresent the lyrics...

[@IwshIcldstrtover]

Calling the birth of Christ a "Fairy story" is anti-Christian and mocks the holiness of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. This is why I do not understand how Lake and Sinfield can say that this is not "anti-religious". "They sold me a Silent Night..."They told me a fairy story, till I believed in the Israelite". If this isn't mocking Jesus Christ, nothing is, folks! I have Greg Lake's book. "Lucky Man". In his book he mentions that he didn't believe in God, and his true feelings about relgion were in the song "The Only Way". He also mentioned how he was against orgnaized religion (most born again Christians are also against organized religion, as they should be). He said after the birth of his daughter, he came to believe in a higher-up , but didn't say that he belived in God, or Jesus Christ. It breaks my heart that he didn't believe in-and accept as our savior, Jesus Christ. I'm hoping that someone led him to Christ before his tragic heartbreaking death. I can't tell you how many times I've cried listening to "I Believe in Father Christmas" with the choir and orchestra accompanying Greg. Its a very touching and beautiful arrangment of Prokofievs "Troika" from the Lt. Kije Suite. But the lyrics being what they are in the middle of the song...I skip over that part.

[@davideckert7919]

Bono changes the next line to “but I believed in the Israelite.” Or you can substitute “wond’rous” for “fairy.”

[@bennyscomin]

it "mocks" nothing, simply a clear eyed view of what Christmas has become for millions of people, just an orgy of consumerism, Christians or not..........and if you're "skipping over" such offensive lyrics", why not just play the entire "Lt. Kije Suite" and spare yourself such pious indignancy

[@kevinmote2369]

The ending lyric is 100% blasphemous. The good news of the gospel of Christ is that those who accept through faith the sacrificial atonement of Christ do NOT get "what they deserve" but rather by grace they receive forgiveness.

[@bennyscomin]

@@kevinmote2369 "The Christmas we get, we deserve" speaks directly to the listener.......and to the innocent child not yet conflicted by the dogma of organized religion, it can truly be interpreted as a "fairy story"........you're either a person of love & goodwill or you're a shitty person for whom the meaning goes right over their head, regardless of any chosen faith........Christmas is a feeling 1st and foremost......you either have it or you don't

[@kevinmote2369]

@@bennyscomin All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There are none righteous... It is only by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ that you can be saved. This is the story of the gospel. This is the good news told to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks and still the point one and only point of Christmas.