[4] "Father Christmas" is sung from the perspective of a Mall Santa who is mugged by working class kids, who tell him to leave his presents for "the little rich boys" and request for money and jobs for their parents instead.

"[5] In live performances, singer Ray Davies would dress up in full Father Christmas attire.

It was written in the bitter aftermath of Davies' troubled stint as the co-producer for Café Society's debut album,[3] which was issued in 1975.

[7] Davies wrote as part of the lyrics, "Tried to be gay/But it didn’t pay/So he bought a motorbike instead", in direct reference to Tom Robinson, one of the band members of the short-lived Café Society.

[3] The song has been covered a number of times by bands including the Gigolo Aunts, Dispatch, Green Day, Man Overboard, Bad Religion, Warrant, Lit, Bowling For Soup, Save Ferris, Letters to Cleo, Smash Mouth, Cary Brothers, Action Action, Everything, Deer Tick, OK Go, The Unlikely Candidates,[8] Cheap Trick, Matt Nathanson, Chris Jericho, The Riverboat Gamblers, and Lauran Hibberd.