Hell's [Jingle] Bells

 2020 has been a rough year for the arts and entertainers. Albums delayed, tours put on hold, and we even lost a few to COVID-19, alas.

But amidst that bad news, some good. Albums have been worked on, musicians have still collaborated, new compositions created, and old projects dusted off. Case in point: AC/DC's new album Power Up, the second since the death of Malcolm Young. It's good - great, even - and something of a miracle in the circumstances; but this isn't a post about that album. Let's go back further.

Come with me to a time where the mullet was giving way to the all-round longhair of new metal and grunge, to AC/DC still at their second peak and the era of one of their greatest songs 'Thunderstruck'. It is 1990, and I am flatting and have my own band. I begrudgingly appreciated 'Thunderstruck', and nearly a lifetime later would eventually sing it myself. But this isn't a post about that song. It's another song off the same album, The Razor's Edge. This is 'Mistress for Christmas'

Now, lyrically there's not a lot of Yuletide marking here. Possibly the song came about from the titular rhyme. There are Jingle Bells in the opening (and I've made my opinion on that song known already) and some guff about descending smokestacks later on, but hey - just enjoy the thing! That's what it's for.

And let's have no more talk of 2020. Cheery Mistress, to one and all!