Coyote Christmas is the result of my efforts to write and record a holiday album during the month of November. When I started writing the album on Nov 1st, I already had started three of the songs: Christmas Balls, Christmas is the Love We Share, and Crumbs by the Fireplace. I found lyric fragments in my journal, as well as song title ideas that kick started the rest of the songs. Coyote Christmas itself was merely a song title I had jotted down sometime in 2025. I ended up being somewhat unsatisfied with the first version, so I wrote a second one. Now that I have them side by side, I like both equally.
Coyote Christmas blends humor and sincere Christmas wishes as it tries to thread the needle from Bing Crosby, to Doctor Demento. I hope you enjoy listening!
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Lyrics and recording notes
TRACK 1: Coyote Christmas Pt. 1
Our neighborhood was once a wood
and we would play and catch our prey
misunderstood we stand for good
you hear us bay to wake our prey
Coyote Christmas
holiday vicious
very delicious
coyote Christmas
Notes: This was my attempt to make something propulsive and harmonically unusual that would evoke the world of the Coyotes on Alameda Ridge. I used the same chord shape throughout the song. Vocals were ad libbed as an afterthought. Thanks to Luke Hendrickson for the bass.
TRACK 2: Dash in Snowflakes (instrumental)
Notes: I picture a fast ride on a sleigh.
Track 3: Christmas Balls
Mother, father, I want to go
Way up to the attic to fetch the globes
The shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny Christmas balls
(shiny shiny Christmas balls)
Every Christmas since I was small
My ma decorated with shiny balls
Red, blue, silver, green, shiny shiny Christmas balls
(shiny shiny Christmas balls)
Creaking on up the ladder
A silver one and a green
Hanging in their reflection
I can see tiny me
My locomotive is circling (choo choo)
The steam goes up to the rainbow gleam
Of shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny Christmas balls
(Shiny shiny Christmas balls)
The girls and boys in Toyland
Are bouncing off the walls
And am I gonna stop’em? No, ma’m
They’re hanging up the Christmas balls
I don’t want tinsel or angel top
I just wanna work with what we got
Shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny Christmas balls
(Shiny shiny Christmas balls)
Shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny Christmas balls
Shiny shiny Christmas balls
Shiny shiny Christmas balls
Shiny shiny Christmas balls
Shiny shiny Christmas balls,
balls
Notes: I’m baring my Doctor Demento-inspired roots here with a carefully crafted song about holiday decorations. Even though using the word balls is kind of a trope, It works for me because the singer is perfectly unaware of anything inappropriate. Thanks to Willie Matheis for the tenor sax.
Track 4: Christmas is the Love We Share
Bells are ringing everywhere
Snow is piling on the stair
You hear it in the laughter of children as they scatter
Christmas is a love we share
Jingle, jingle through the air
With a sack of teddy bears
Zipping down my chimney to give me something nifty
Do you really think I care?
It’s not a thing you scrimp and save away all year
It’s everything that you’ve been waiting for
Already here before this Christmas morning
Santa sitting in a chair
Giving you a rummy stare
Don’t need to sit up on him
To get the gift you wanted
Christmas is the love we share
No more wish lists cluttering the Christmas tree
There’s a big supply of love inside us
Standing right beside us every morning
Flakes are piling everywhere
Slipping all around the square
You call it being clever
But Christmas is whatever
Christmas is the love we share
Notes: This song is built on the stems from a previous release by Toivo Nikkala called “Plaything.” Thanks to Logan for the backing vocals.
Track 5: AI Christmas
Amazon gave me the keys to your heart
Added them to my shopping cart
Never thought even to ask him why
Free shipping
Must have caught my eye
Ai Christmas
For a gift that never misses
Ai Christmas
Santa what’s this funny business?
It’s time to let the bots out
We’ve had enough of human error
Now asking what you wanted
Has fallen too far out of favour
Did Santa get my letter?
Or was it scraped and then ingested?
When AI does it better
We’re gonna lose our whole connection
Ai Christmas
For a gift that never misses
Ai Christmas
Santa what’s this funny business?
Ai Christmas
For a gift that never misses
Ai Christmas
Santa what’s this funny business
Ai
Ai Christmas
Track 6: Coyote Christmas Pt. 2
Cuddled up in the laurel hedge
Up on the Alameda Ridge
Passing the time
We bark and we whine
’til it’s a coyote Christmas
Catching a bunny by the tail
Prowling around the garbage pile
Plenty to eat cause we own the street
It’s a coyote Christmas
We’ll never spend a Christmas alone (no we won’t)
our friends are everywhere (everywhere)
We’ll howl a salty Christmas tune, give Santa Claus a scare
Cuddle round sleepy little one (little one)
dream of that garbage sugarplum (sugarplum)
Don’t place your bets on children or pets
when it’s a coyote Christmas
Possums and rats and local house cats may join the revelry
We’ll fry them up on garbage lids and lick the platter clean
Cuddle round sleepy little one
Dream of that garbage sugarplum
Don’t place your bets on children or pets
When it’s a coyote Christmas
It’s a coyote Christmas
Notes: My son called this one “disturbing.”
Track 7: Crumbs by the Fireplace
It’s not the fogging of the picture window
It’s not the quiver of the Christmas tree
A little glimmer of the facts that we know
Crumbs by the fireplace
The clues are everywhere just like a crime scene
But he was not a master criminal
He only wanted what was for the taking
Crumbs by the fireplace
Crumbs by the fireplace moving at a quick pace
Someone else was here leaving Christmas cheer
Crumbs by the fireplace must have been in great haste
Never even touched that beer
The subtle clue I found could be our answer
The clearest imprint of a Vibram sole
He must have tiptoed like a ballet dancer
Crumbs by the fireplace
Crumbs by the fireplace, nothing else was displaced
Except the luxuries he left beneath the tree
Crumbs by the fireplace, a mystery that we face
Tell me now who could it be?
It’s not the fingerprints up n the candles
It’s not the presents all around our place
It’s the cookies missing from the mantle
And crumbs by the fireplace
Track 8: New Christmas Image
The milk and cookies were very fine
I thank you Billy, you made my night
Sincerely yours
Sincerely yours
Up on the rooftop, my reindeer wait
Red nose to guide us to break of day
And I’ll be sore
And I’ll be sore
I need a new Christmas image
I need a new Christmas image
Now sitting here in your splendid room
Bright manger lights on my crimson suit
But I want more
Yes, I want more
I need a new Christmas image
I need a new Christmas image
I need a new Christmas image (Christmas image)
I need a new Christmas image
Track 9: Melty the Snowboy
Melty the snow boy was running
Over the fields of winter snow
Crying ice from his dark round peepers of coal
La la la la la la la la
Melty the snow boy was worried
He only had two hours to live
Existentially he was feeling the cold
Laying low to rest awhile
Beneath the cloak of ice
Dreaming of that frosty land
Where Melty came to life
Chased by a mob of children
Misunderstood like Frankenstein
His one hope to invoke some magical charm
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
Heard a chiming angel voice on Cemetery Hill
Melty with my golden song I’m gonna make you real
Melty the snow boy was happy
Ready to hurry on his way
I hope he comes back to visit me someday
Melty the snowboy, melty the snowboy
You’ll never melt away
Melty the snowboy, melty the snowboy
Come back again someday
Thanks to Luke Hendrickson for the bass.
Track 10: It’s OK to Cry on Christmas
Caroling in the snow
Jingling as you go
Lifting your eyes up to the rising moon
Trying to find your vibe
Holidays aren’t your style
You’re not the only one who’s feeling blue
It’s okay to cry on Christmas
It’s okay to notice when you’re feeling low
On Christmas
Stuck in a shopping mall
Trying to deck the halls
Holiday music 24 hours a day
It’s okay to cry on Christmas
It’s okay to notice when you’re feeling low
It’s okay to cry on Christmas
It’s okay to let your tears drop on the snow
On Christmas