Spoiler Alert: Santa Claus blows a mean sax.
The high point of Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles 2 comes at its least festive moment. The young and grieving teen Kate Pierce (Darby Camp) is mistaken for a runaway and taken away by airport authorities–while being lost in time–all the flights on Logan International Airport’s big board turn from hour-long delays to outright cancellations, and joy in that small part of Boston drops to 7 percent. People are all up in each other’s grills, nerves are frayed, and complimentary hotel stays are not going to cut it. They are not a merry bunch. If ever there was a time for a holiday miracle, this would be it. Only now, when things are at their darkest, does a flustered ticket agent named Grace (Darlene Love) reach for the public address microphone–and deliver “The Spirit of Christmas.”
Darlene Love may have the grace to carry a sleighful of holiday cheer but, as the song says, “You can’t change the world alone, sometimes you need a little help.” The rock and roll icon who has become an evergreen voice of Christmas decades ago pages Santa Claus (Kurt Russell), who is on hand to offer his full support. Too jolly to provide merely a baritone backup, Santa pulls an alto sax out of his bag for a spirited solo.
Darlene didn’t just bring the spirit of Christmas. She brought the soul, the Disciples of Soul to be specific. In fact, the new gospel-infused holiday tune was written by Steven Van Zandt, and backing was done by his long-time band, along with two members of one of his other groups, Bruce Springsteen’s E. Street Band.
Van Zandt and his Disciples of Soul backed Love when he produced and wrote songs for her 2015 album, Introducing Darlene Love. The title was ironic, as Love had been in the business long enough to be an institution. She didn’t only have her own hits with her group The Blossoms, they sang back-up vocals on iconic rock and roll classics like the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” the Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” as well as songs by Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, the Righteous Brothers, Dionne Warwick, and Luther Vandross.
That all changed when David Letterman christened Love as the “Christmas Queen.” In 1986 Love played herself in the off-Broadway jukebox musical Leader of the Pack. Paul Shaffer, who was the musical director of NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman, played Spector. The night after Letterman saw the show, he brought joy to the Worldwide Pants production audience, announcing he’d just seen a show with the greatest Christmas song he’d ever heard.
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The Christmas Chronicles 2 is available on Netflix.
