The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Soundtrack
Today we’re piloting the Bowie up to Knowhere to take a look at the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Soundtrack and Playlist.
We won’t spend much time covering the special itself. There are several great Christmas podcasters who have already done that, including Tim Babb on Can’t Wait For Christmas episode 111 and the Tis the Podcast crew, along with Totally Rad Christmas host Gerry D and Just Another Friday Night’s CM Chuck.
What I will say is that James Gunn conceived of this special long before its release on November 23rd, 2022. An homage to both the Star Wars Christmas Special and the classic Rankin/Bass stop-motion films, Gunn had been trying to get the special made for several years. A process that was complicated and delayed by many factors, including Disney’s firing and subsequent re-hiring of Gunn, the COVID-19 pandemic and the special’s platform shifting from the ABC network to Disney+.
A benefit of this extended baking period is that the special ended up being shot at the same times as the third film in the Guardian’s franchise, making it a bridge between the second and third movies and providing some of the plot development that otherwise would have been shoehorned into Vol. 3.
This also meant that the special could use the elaborate sets designed for Vol. 3 (which would have never been created just for the special) and could include more of the franchise’s actors who would already be on set and in costume to shoot the feature-length movie.
Another benefit was that composer John Murphy could work on the holiday special at the same time as Vol. 3, delivering a movie-quality score to the 42-minute streaming special. This was not Murphy’s first time scoring a James Gunn film. Murphy had just finished scoring The Suicide Squad, where he replaced frequent Gunn collaborator Tyler Bates who was originally named as composer.
Quick tangent: In addition to scoring the first two Guardians films, Tyler Bates also wrote the “Monsters After Dark” song that is used for the Halloweentime overlay on the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! ride at Disney California Adventure.
The score was released as a digital album to coincide with the special’s premiere in November 2022. It contained Murphy’s original score, along with two songs: “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime is Here)” by Old 97’s and “Here It Is Christmastime” performed by Kevin Bacon and Old 97’s.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Original Soundtrack)
- I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here) - Old 97’s
- How Yondu Ruined Christmas - John Murphy
- Telekinesis - John Murphy
- Kevin at Home - John Murphy
- Chasing Kevin - John Murphy
- Mantis Fights Back - John Murphy
- He’s an Actor! - John Murphy
- The Best Christmas Present - John Murphy
- Kraglin Explains - John Murphy
- How the Story Really Ended - John Murphy
- Mantis Reveals Her Secret - John Murphy
- Here It Is Christmastime - Kevin Bacon & Old 97’s
The lyrics of the first original song, “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)” were written by James Gunn. A fan of Old 97’s since the ’90s and friend of Rhett Miller, Gunn approached the frontman to help him compose the music for his song. Not only did Rhett help compose the music, Old 97’s performed the song onscreen near the beginning of the special. The band appears as the fictional alien band Bzermikitokolok and the Knowheremen.
The song is a fever-dream explanation of Christmas traditions by someone who has never experienced Christmas, has only met a handful of humans and is trying to piece everything together from third or fourth-hand knowledge. The in-special cannon for the song is that Bzermikitokolok was told about Christmas from Rocket, who was told by Cosmo, who was told by Kraglin who was told by Peter back when the two of them were Ravagers.
The other song that appears on the soundtrack, “Here It Is Christmastime,” was an existing Old 97’s tune, originally released as a single back in 2007.
The song was re-recorded for the special with Kevin Bacon providing lead vocals. The song is used near the end of the special, when Kevin Bacon joins the Knowheremen to perform it.
While initially a digital-only release in 2022, the soundtrack did receive a limited LP release for Record Store Day the following year: 5,000 albums, pressed in clear vinyl with a red and green splatter.
In addition to the official soundtrack, Gunn also released a Spotify playlist containing all the Christmas songs used in the special. Like the playlists for the previous (and future at that time) Guardians films, the music is an integral part of the storytelling. And, like the other films, Gunn selected the tracks for the playlist early on in the process.
In an interview, Kevin Bacon mentioned that when he received the script, it already referenced all the songs. So Bacon put them in a playlist and listened to it a lot so he could feel the vibe of the special.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Playlist)
- Dead By X-mas – Hanoi Rocks
- Christmas Treat – Julian Casablancas
- Mrs. Claus – Little Jackie
- Just Like Christmas – Low
- Christmastime – The Smashing Pumpkins
- Fairytale of New York – The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl
- Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
- Is This Christmas – The Wombats
- I Want An Alien For Christmas – Fountains of Wayne
- I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here) – Old 97’s
- Here It Is Christmastime – Kevin Bacon and Old 97’s
The playlist sources its material from the early ‘80’s through the end of the aughts and includes classic Christmas tunes like “Christmas Wrapping” and “Fairytale of New York,” alongside more obscure tracks like “Dead By X-mas” and “Mrs. Claus,” the latter of which we covered previously on the “Target’s A Christmas Gig: Two Thousand Ten” episodes and whose inclusion on the Guardians playlist seems to have sparked new interest in what had been a very underappreciated song.
My favorite track from the playlist is the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” which is used in both the opening and closing credits of the special. Not a horribly shocking pick, but a hard song to top. A haunting ballad about the hard times of Irish immigrants in New York City during the holidays. It’s beautiful…even if the story itself isn’t and it offers a stark juxtaposition to the warm, fuzzy nostalgia of most Christmas tunes.
Interestingly, in 2015, “Fairytale of New York” was deemed the most-played Christmas song of the 21st Century in the UK. I can only imagine it has further cemented that position with lead signer Shane MacGowan’s unfortunate passing last November and the renewed interest in the song.
My other favorite track is “Christmas Treat” by The Strokes frontman, Julian Casablancas. It was originally written and performed by Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz (along with Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan) on Saturday Night Live, where it was called, “I Wish It Was Christmas Today.” You can also find Casablancas version under that title, so I’m not sure why “Christmas Treat” was the name used here.
I remember watching the episode live when it first aired back in 2000 and it still makes me smile every time I hear the intro: the electric keyboard beat and the count-off before Horatio starts strumming his Martin Backpacker.
And I had that same smile when the song shows up in the special while Drax and Mantis fly the Bowie down to Earth, on their mission to kidnap Kevin Bacon.
The rest of the playlist is nothing to sleep on, and it’s a bit sad it hasn’t received an official release outside of Gunn posting it to Spotify. But, the real magic happens when you watch the special and see how Gunn uses each track to elevate the scene where it is deployed, a tactic that has become synonymous with him as a filmmaker and especially with the Guardians franchise.
Cheers and Merry Christmas!