Song Who is Mr X - ShallowDeep

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‘Who is Mr. X?’

There’s no room at the inn
The bar is full and so’s the skin.
The Christmas drink you’ve had a few.
Jesus drank wine but not like you.
The music’s loud and the lights are low.
You’ve gotta get under the mistletoe.
You’ve got loose a party screw.
It’s “Peace on earth”, but a bang for you!

Who is Mr. X? Who is Mr. X?
Ignore what he said and did,
‘Cause X marks the spot where the treasure’s hid
Who is Mr. X? Who is Mr. X?
Try to forget his name
Who is Mr. X? Who is Mr. X?
That’s Mr X of Xmas fame.

Your kid’s in the nativity play,
That’s done in church on Christmas day
You tell the children that the story’s true.
It’s good for kid’s, is it for you?
Good will to men, good food to some,
Let shepherd kneel and wise men come,
Let angels sing to the king of the Jews.
He’s born today but not in you!

While Shepherds watch their flocks by night
All seated on the ground,
An angel of the LORD came down
And glory shone around.
Oh little town of Bethlehem
How still we see the lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.

Composer: Robert Bathurst

Lyricist: Martin Day
© M Day 15-Dec-1983

Background

Each year when Christmas came onto the horizon (in October!) I tried to put my feelings about the season into a lyric. After two years of trying on the third year I got a handle on it. A friend had invited me to a Christmas party he was having and in writing the address down for me he wrote ‘Xmas Party’. With a little irritation I commented, “So who is the Mr X anyway?” The next day I wrote the lyric in my lunch hour. So probably one of the quickest and slowest songs I ever wrote.

This was a Salt Solution favourite with it’s distinctive riff and sing-along chorus. Years later I eventually managed to sneak it into a Christmas carol service at by giving it to the kids to sing (kids can get away with anything!). To my delight it was my son Sam who stepped up to the mic and sang so loud that the volume monitor in the hall was tripped loosing us the power for the whole building. Rock ‘n Roll!

Movie

Salt Solution play the ever popular ‘Who is Mr X?’ live at the Kingston Festival 1992.

Play Now

Listen to ‘Who is Mr. X?’ from Salt Solution’s album ‘Arctic Frosties‘.

and for the curious…
Listen to the original recording of ‘Who is Mr. X?’ from the 1984 Demo by Salt Solution.

(NB this last track has been transferred from a cassette with resultant poor sound quality)