Sunday, December 21, 2025

Good Time Christmas - Lou Rawls

Good Time Christmas – Lou Rawls
2:16
Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho!, 1967
Written by J.W. Alexander

Riding a driving, orchestrated soul groove, this song announces its premise with a cheery grin: the prodigal narrator is coming home, arms full of soul food promises: presents, turkey dressing, "plenty cranberry sauce," and good eggnog flowing freely. Rawls sells it with that burnished baritone that always sounds both relaxed and authoritative. On the surface, it's all festive abundance, warmth, and communal pleasure.  But Rawls slips in a quieter, heavier truth almost offhandedly: "Mother, I know you've been praying, the Lord has seen me through." That line reframes everything. This isn't just seasonal cheer, it's testimony via soul music. The homecoming is more spiritual and moral than geographic, a return after survival and endurance. The joy lands harder because it's earned, turning a breezy Christmas number into a compact narrative of struggle, faith, and grace. 

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Good Time Christmas - Lou Rawls

Good Time Christmas – Lou Rawls 2:16 Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! , 1967 Written by J.W. Alexander Riding a driving, orchestrated soul gro...