“HERE COMES SANTA DAWG” – A MUSICAL TALE ABOUT THREE BELOVED DOGS
It’s a blessing wrapped in ribbon every holiday season now. My rap song “Here Comes Santa Dawg” is like the gift that keeps on giving, not only allowing me to share, with humor and poignancy, personal, deeply autobiographical pieces of my own life, but to bring joy to folks all around the world who have made it a perennial international hit since its release in the pre-pandemic era of November 2019.
Its first two years released, the track hit #2 on the World Indie Music Chart, and upon its official re-release this year, it’s back at # 8 thus far. Beyond my wildest expectations, it became so popular that pop, rap, Christian, holiday and variety radio stations worldwide were still playing it – and I found out that people were still engaged in and grooving to it practically year-round. First it was just till February, the myth of the great “Santa Dawg” sharing love on Valentine’s Day. But then I kept hearing it was being played into spring, summer….I mean, most of us set aside Christmas music or anything with Santa in the title after December 26. It’s so gratifying to know that the song has enduring meaning to so many (and Thank you all very much).
This is fascinating to me because when my publicist Tom Esteyand radio promoter Stephen Wrench asked me to write a holiday song in 2019 to capitalize on some of the international hits I had the previous two years, I was in the early stages of intense grief over losing my very cool Dachshund Hans – whose playful full name was “Hans von Noodles” Davis. The last thing I could have imagined was writing a song about anything during that time. In fact, they didn’t like my first two attempts at a Christmas song – and neither did we. But then I realized that writing a song would be a great way to share Hans’ legacy, all that he brought to our lives and all the hard times he helped me through with his presence and doggie love.
When the title “Here Comes Santa Dawg” – an obvious play on “Here Comes Santa Claus” – came to me, it also hit me that this was an opportunity to also tell the story of my goofy childhood, my loving family, the wonderful fun times we had at Christmas, a little bit about my favorite toy ever, the wonderful Dachshund April we grew up with – and tie that in with Hans’ being there for me during my (ultimately successful) battle with breast cancer, the surgery, my divorce and coping with a huge family tragedy. When I was growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but our house was “mostly” full of warmth, love and laughter – especially around the holidays. I really have fond memories of my dad, whose sense of humor I definitely inherited. One of the coolest gifts I ever received was the Barbie Camper – and it was a blast sharing a line about myself and my siblings stuffing our tiny bodies in it and dressing up my Barbie doll with blue jeans my sister created and sewed. How cool were we?
The song’s narrative came together like a puzzle featuring pieces of my childhood, early adulthood and today. But as with all my other hits over these past four years, it all started making perfect musical sense once my Manager and composer - German saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist Hellmut Wolf, created his festive synth line, atmosphere and beats. Hellmut’s talent makes the song dance.
“Here Comes Santa Dawg” weaves the story of three beloved dogs, Hans, April and Franz, the new pup, a gift from the mythical Santa Dawg, who comes at Christmas in the wake of Hans’ loss to help us heal and find joy in the holiday again. It was fun to intercut my warmest memories of Hans with images of those happy childhood celebrations and the advent of “Franz”Everything is centered around the hook I came up with, also based on a classic holiday novelty song – “All I want for Christmas is some canine teeth.” Though I began the song in a state of deep sadness over Hans, I started feeling a deeper sense of purpose and Rap when I came up with this line. I liked it so much that in both instances, I repeat it three times!
It was interesting to learn later that “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” was written in the 40s by a public school teacher in a small town on Long Island, who asked his second grade class what they wanted for Christmas. He noticed that most of the students had at least one front tooth missing and they answered in a lisp. That song was inspired by children, and I rap my hook like with a childlike excitement about getting the new dog.
Early in the first verse, I recall, “Past Christmas joy came in the form of a wiener dog named Hans” and I admit that “We’ve been crying and existing in a sad ole fog.” But then, bigger and better than Rudolph himself, “Santa Dawg comes and brings in a brand new dawg.” I also take a minute to incorporate my Faith and that of my family’s when I say, “The love of Jesus and the gifts of Santa Dawg have saved our hearts again.” It’s magical, but as with any dog, life isn’t perfect, and I think many relate to me when I humorously mention that “All puppies cry and create a bunch of pooh” and “The Franz loves to chew, he brought us to our tears/It’s goodbye to momma’s brand new brassieres.”
Hans was a very special dawg to me and we still miss him terribly. Somehow, maybe with his and definitely Jesus’ help, I was able to come up with a song that captured the uplifting coreof our existence. Once I realized I was writing a song about Hans, I knew I could not make it too sad. To help me, I remembered the good times we had, and also the cool memories from my childhood Christmases that make this such a rappinsong for me – and, I’m happy to say, to soooooo many others!
By DawgGoneDavis (DGD) Composer: Hellmut Wolf
Bio
From Springfield, Mo, Germany, and Kansas City, Becca Davis turned into the
20-hit wonder in less than four full years. Davis has a degree in Journalism and minor in
Advertising; plus an MBA. But, what makes her tick is writing, reading, and music (of all genres).
Upon meeting Hellmut Wolf, the whole game changed and turned into a Sax fest.
www.dawggonedavis.bandcamp.com
Tom Estey Publicity
Hellmut Wolf, Manager
