I’ll have more to say about the Las Vegas band The Killers in a few weeks when I write my annual Yearly Summation post. For now, I’ll just note that while I’ve enjoyed The Killers for years, this was a year in which I did a lot more active listening to them. And yet, for all that, I had no idea they recorded a Christmas single (in 2006) until I spotted it in a “Rock and Roll Christmas” playlist on YouTube Music (my streaming service of choice).
The song, “A Great Big Sled”, is basically a paean to the idea that we, as adults, wish for nothing so much as a return to the simpler, more magical view of Christmas that we had as kids. The chorus is particularly evocative:
I wanna roll around like a kid in the snow
I wanna relearn what I already know
Just let me take flight
dressed in red through the night on a great big sled
I love that: “I wanna relearn what I already know.” What did he already know? I’m thinking he already knew about the magic and wonder in the world that we all seem to lose once we end up “working our fingers to the bone”, as he says elsewhere in the song. That’s a very real feeling, isn’t it? We all know people for whom Christmas is anything but a time of wonder, but a thing to dread and grit our teeth as we just try to get through it. I’m not there yet–and I pray I never do get there–but I can’t help noticing that the bittersweet and sad parts of Christmas never get any smaller, do they? But there is the part of me that wants to roll around like a kid in the snow, and I most definitely always want to relearn what I already know.
I’m glad I found this song. It’s gonna be a keeper. Here are The Killers (joined by Toni Halliday).
