I had never heard or heard of "Weihnachtslied, chemisch gereinigt" until coming across it in Lieder, Songs und Gospels 2. This song is a very funny Erich Kästner parody of the well-known children's Christmas song "Morgen Kinder wird was geben". This is a joy of an anti-Christmas song whereby the children all get good advice for Christmas instead of material things. It wouldn't surprise me if Erich Kästner also hated children!
I have a very special memory of this song because when performing it for the Reichsbund in the "Strandlust", Bremen-Vegesack, Germany in December 1993, I had the worst attack of stage-fright in my entire life. It came out of the blue and there was no special reason for it. I was a solo-performer playing during the breaks of the "Weserlanders", a popular North German band, before an audience of some 500 hundred well-to-do pensioners. I had just finished "Weihnachtslied, chemisch gereinigt" when my knees were suddenly subject to a violent fit of uncontrolled shaking. It was so bad that I couldn't play my concertina and was compelled to ad-lib my way through a further 15 minutes until the "Weserlanders" came back on-stage (after having no doubt had a pint or two) by singing a cappella and telling stories which I promptly forgot. A real nightmare!

Lyrics

Score