Esoteric Holiday Song #2 – Tim Minchin “White Wine in the Sun”

I was introduced to the music of Tim Minchin sometime last year by my best friend Dave. He’s funny, irreverent and sometimes rather crass (often all three at the same time), and I have come to quite enjoy his music.

Tim wrote “White Wine in the Sun” in 2009 as a sort of atheist’s tribute to Christmas. Despite not believing in the religious aspects of the season, and having “all the usual objections” to consumerism and indoctrination, he says that he “just really like[s] it.” This is a sentiment I share (as noted in my post about Johnny Cash’s “We Are the Shepherds”), and I really like the way Tim expresses it. Also, I like that he donates half of the proceeds from the song during the month of December each year to the British National Autistic Society.

In particular, I always get a little choked up in the last portion of the song where Tim talks about future Christmases when his daughter can look forward to enjoying the same family time he looks forward to now.

Whenever you come
Your brothers and sisters, your aunts and your uncles
Your grandparents, cousins and me and your mum
We’ll be waiting for you in the sun
Drinking white wine in the sun

The video is of a live performance, which is really the only way to truly appreciate Tim, in my humble opinion.