At our recent holiday show at Fitzgerald’s, in Berwyn (Chicago), Illinois, we were surprised and delighted and, frankly, shocked, when members of the audience and some friends from the club actually presented us with lots of figgy pudding. Real figgy pudding. Sheila, from the Fitzgerald’s crew, came out on stage with a massive, beautiful figgy pudding she made herself! As well, boxes and Pyrex bowls poured from some very loyal fans right to the front of the stage. This blew our minds.
For those of you who haven’t seen what inspired these amazing bursts of generosity, toward the end of our holiday extravaganza, we play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The second verse says, “We want some figgy pudding. We want some figgy pudding. We want some figgy pudding! So bring it right here!” It’s pretty demanding. The next verse says, “We won’t leave until we get some. We won’t leave until we get some. We won’t leave until we get some. So bring it right here! The demand turns threatening. These are actual lyrics. It’s an odd little song. Anyway, of course, no one ever has figgy pudding…until now!
It was a super-duper special moment. One-of-a-kind. Brave Combo wants to thank all involved for being so darn thoughtful and for jumping into our world so willingly and being part of our moment. Fitzgerald’s is the absolute best place on the planet! By the way, figgy pudding is great. Try some. Sheila knows how to make it.
Bruce Triggs says
That song is the last holdout from the class war “battle for Christmas” riots that used to take place every winter.
Like Boxing Day, it’s when peasants turned tables symbolically on the local lords. But in the anonymity of industrial society this developed into violent drunken home invasions.
These led reformers like Clement Moore (“The night before Christmas”) to propose new, home-based, holiday traditions based on children and presents — not drunken poor people making demands at their dinner tables.
Peter Nissenbaum’s brilliant book The Battle for Christmas has a great time detailing this.
Also look up “barring out the schoolmaster” for heroic tales of students who fought valiantly for the right to winter vacation.