The track revamps the original song by swapping out the lyrics: “Her name is Noelle / I have a dream about her / She rings my bell / I got gym class in half an hour / Oh, how she rocks / In Keds and tube socks / But she doesn’t know who I am / And she doesn’t give a damn about me”.
With more of a holiday spirit, it continues: “First night of Noel / Asleep with the fire burning / Jingling bells / And sugarplum fairies turning / But I don’t see / Any presents for me / Does Santa Claus know who I am? / Does Santa Claus even care about me?”
The song’s iconic chorus also got the holiday treatment going from “‘Cause I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby / Yeah, I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby / Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me, ooh” to “‘Cos I’m just a Christmas dirtbag, baby / Yeah I’m just a Christmas dirtbag, baby / Santa forgot all about me, baby / Tonight, ooh.”
Directed by Jaime Restrepo of production studio Dreambear, the track’s accompanying video finds Buddy the Wheatus Dog, who’s featured on the cover of the band’s EP ‘Just a Dirtbag Christmas’, struggling for attention during the merriest time of the year.
Speaking about the video in a press release, frontman Brendan B Brown said: “I wanted to honour our beloved band dog Buddy, who left us this past summer, just before we started our UK & Irish tour. Gabrielle had written me into the lyric for “Christmas Dirtbag” as a kid whom Santa had forgotten about.”
He continued: “Buddy always felt neglected when it came to treats, even though he got the MOST treats, so I thought, ‘…Well, I’ll just have to become a dog who likes AC/DC for the video then’… and wrote the treatment replacing myself with Buddy.”
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‘Just a Dirtbag Christmas’ features three Yuletide originals songs, ‘Mean Christmas’, ‘You Make Me Believe’ and ‘Feels Like Christmas’, along with its lead single ‘Christmas Dirtbag’ and a new string quartet version of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
The band are also working on a special Wheatus video for holiday season using CapCut and have asked fans to submit clips to them for a chance to be featured in the video. Visit here to submit any entries.
In other news, the band are currently set to play two live shows in their home state of New York on Thanksgiving weekend followed by an Australian tour set for February 2024. Visit here for the full dates and here to purchase tickets.
The post Listen to Wheatus’ reworked classic for ‘Christmas Dirtbag’ appeared first on NME.
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