Christmas music is arguably the most wonderful part of the most wonderful time of the year. The season is home to the classic tunes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby, centuries-old hymns and carols, and never-ending and constantly overplayed sounds of Mariah Carey and Wham!
But the holiday season now features a ridiculously blunt indictment of modern American imperialism, thanks to the work of Billy Joel and Cass Dillon.
“Christmas in Fallujah” is one of two songs Billy Joel released in 2007, over a decade after his retirement from recording pop music. Written by Joel, the song features vocals by then-unknown singer Cass Dillon.
This tune isn’t one of Joel’s hits. Far from it. I’ve listened to Billy Joel’s music for as long as I can remember, and I only recently discovered this song on an “A to Z” special featuring every single one of his works.
The song may not be well-known, but it absolutely should be.
Musically, it’s a rocker. It’s not face-paced, but it’s a powerful and heavy (for Joel at least) tune. The song’s riffs echo Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”. It’s a piece that would fit with the works on Joel’s album 1982 The Nylon Curtain.
But “Christmas in Fallujah” is a protest song, plain and simple. Who listens to a protest song for the musical composition? It’s all about the lyrics.
The song is written from the perspective of an American soldier spending, as one would guess, Christmas in Fallujah, Iraq during the Iraq War. As one would also guess, said soldier is not having a very happy holiday. The unnamed soldier laments the war and reflects a sense of hopelessness and anger.
The lyrics feature direct references to Osama Bin Laden, directly compares American Imperialism to that of the Roman Empire, and compares the war to the Crusades. Both comparisons are not intended to be complimentary.
“Christmas in Fallujah” is a blunt reflection of American attitudes at the time. Americans had been fighting and dying in Iraq for years, and given the dubious circumstances surrounding the U.S. entry into the war, public opinion was bleak at the time the song was released. Joel captured that perfectly.
Somehow, the bluntness fits perfectly with the “Kashmir”-esqe tune and ironic Christmas setting. It all wraps together to create a wonderful piece of music.
It’s a blatant, furious indictment of American foriegn policy on a grand scale told through the story of one single individual’s Christmas in the desert. And it sounds absolutely amazing.
It won’t be featured alongside holiday hits like Last Christmas and Winter Wonderland, but “Christmas in Fallujah” is a powerful song (both musically and lyrically) that you should absolutely give a chance.
