“I Believe In Father Christmas” is a song by Greg Lake (most famously a member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer), with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Although it is often categorised as a Christmas song this was not Lake’s intention. Lake claims to have written the song in protest at the commercialisation of Christmas. Sinfield however, claims that the words are about a loss of innocence and childhood belief. The video for this song, the bulk of which was shot in the Sinai desert and Qumran in the West Bank, also contains shots of the Vietnam War, which has led to complaints from some that it should not be shown with light-hearted Christmas songs. These images of rocket barrages, air strikes, and mobile artillery are a violent backdrop to a peaceful-sounding song and create a hard-hitting message. The instrumental riff between verses comes from the “Troika” portion of Sergei Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite written for a 1934 Soviet film, Lieutenant Kijé.
New 4K version:
Listen to the audio version (without orchestra) on Spotify here.
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