It Was ‘Just Another Christmas Song’

That’s the name of our 100th original Christmas song, which we introduced at our sold out annual Christmas show Dec. 20 in Little Theatre 1, Rochester. N.Y. Once again we bucked expectations because “Just Another Christmas Song” is a sincere, heartfelt ballad—much like most of the Christmas songs that get released every year. 

Yes, we can do that, too.

We built the night around our celebration of that 100th song. Major Malik Evens sent us a nice congratulatory letter, which we blew up, mounted and displayed in the lobby to greet everyone who entered.

Congratulatory letter from Rochester Mayor Malik Evans

And we produced two videos, which we played that night, one before each set. You can view them below. Thanks to everyone who attended and / or contributed their time, thoughts and skills into making this a memorable night. 

We opened the show with a man and woman on the street interview asking what our 100th song should be about and what we might do that would be special to introduce it. 
Before we played the 100th song to open our second set, we showed a video in which we coerced a bunch of friends, strangers and community icons to offer their congratulations on our milestone. 

Coming Dec. 20: Our 100th Original Christmas Song

The world’s largest ball of twine in Cawker City, Kansas was initiated in 1953 with a single scrap, growing gradually over the years thanks to the persistence of its originator, Frank Stoeber. 

The same deliberate path has led Watkins and Rapiers to achieve the world record for original Christmas songs performed by a musical act with a total that this year will reach 100. The band’s century song will be unveiled Dec. 20 at the Watkins and the Rapiers annual Big Little Christmas Show in Rochester, N.Y.’s Little Theatre One. It comes 26 years after we performed our first original Christmas song. 

The world’s largest ball of twine, according to some sources, in Cawker City, Kansas.

A Timeline of Our Christmas Song Introductions and Milestones

Here are all of our Christmas song titles and the years they were introduced, giving you some sense of how we managed to accumulate 100 original Christmas songs.

1997

In our second year playing as a band, we added a Christmas song to our December repertoire. It was:

  • Santa’s Got a Gun

1998

We had our first Christmas Show on Dec. 17, at the Rose & Crown on Monroe Avenue, Rochester (now the Rosen Crown), filling an entire set with Christmas songs, many freshly written. Founding member Rob Goodwin introduced “Warden Please” to us onstage that night, and we played it live without having heard it before. Original songs introduced:

  • All I Want for Christmas
  • Big Guitar
  • Fruitcake
  • More Like Christmas
  • The Night Hank Williams Passed Away
  • Proud Mary
  • Santa’s Little Secret
  • Warden, Please
  • When Jesus Christ Met Santa Claus
  • With the Family There
  • Xmas in Texas

2002

The band performed irregularly for several years after founding member Rob Goodwin moved to Montana, but by 2002 we were back on track and reinvigorated our Christmas show. Songs introduced:

  • Christmas for the Red, White and Blue
  • Christmas on the Border
  • Feed a Bum
  • Pink Slips
  • Unhappy Holiday Inn
  • Where Angels Fall From the Sky

2003

  • He Wore Black
  • The Miracle of Man
  • Wildfire

2005

  • Christmas, Christmas Baby
  • Rockabilly Christmas
  • Why Won’t Christmas

2006

  • A Date with Santa Claus

2007

Steve Piper and Rick McRae joined the band in 2006, and Steve made his first Christmas song contributions in 2007, co-writing two of the new tunes that year (asterisked below).

  • All the Stars at Christmas*
  • Are You Man Enough (to Say, ‘Merry Christmas’)
  • Drunk at Christmas*

2008

Rick McRae contributed his first Christmas song (asterisked below). 

  • Christmas in July (Kerry)
  • The Henrietta Carol*
  • It’s Christmas Time
  • Santa Needs a Bailout
  • Secret Santa
  • We’re Running Late for Christmas

2009

We achieved a major milestone on Dec. 18 at the Flipside Bar and Grill, when for the first time we played three full sets entirely of Christmas songs, nearly all of them originals. 

  • Don’t You Hear What I Hear?
  • Everybody’s Got a Christmas Song But Me
  • Happy Crimble
  • The Santa Claus Parade
  • The Two Days of Christmas

2010

  • Black Friday
  • Christmas Lights
  • Elvish Man
  • I Can Wait

2011

  • Christmas Cookie
  • Christmas on Wall Street
  • Christmas Time Around the World
  • Don’t Expect a Christmas Card  From Me
  • Little Trauma Boy

2012

  • Four Days ‘til Christmas
  • Happy Crimble (2)
  • The Little Things of Christmas

2013

  • Arise Ye North Pole Workers
  • Cool as an Icicle
  • Santa Land
  • Today, Tomorrow and When

2014

Pete Hasler supplemented our lineup for our Christmas shows for the first time in 2013 and came out in 2014 with his first contribution to our original Christmas repertoire, “Christmas Lights Untango.”

  • Bills, Bills, Bills
  • Christmas Lights Untango*
  • Christmas Time is Bringing Me Home
  • Open Enrollment Period Waltz
  • Season of Joy
  • War on Christmas

2015

  • The Great Christmas Eve
  • Have a Heeby, Jeeby Christmas
  • I Died
  • Johnny Wants a Doll for Christmas
  • The Night of the Meek

2016

We staged our first multi-media Christmas show in the Little Theatre, a vintage movie house in Rochester. 

  • The War on Christmas is Over
  • Do Something Kinda Vaguely Good for Christmas
  • I Drive Your Sleigh
  • The Little Christmas Lights

2017

  • Gabriel Says
  • A Real Santa Claus
  • Secret Santa (Pete)
  • Why Do Scientists Hate Santa?
  • My Roof Caved In

2018

  • Bob Dylan’s Christmas Lights
  • Christmas in the Orphanage
  • Christmas Songs No More
  • The Gift of the Magi Holiday Fair
  • I Remember Christmas
  • Last Christmas
  • Tinsel the Christmas Tapeworm

2019

  • The Christmas Ice Cream Man 
  • The Christmas Tracker
  • Lump of Coal
  • Santa Baby on the Radio
  • They Booed Santa Claus
  • The Watkins Christmas Show

2020

We didn’t play any Christmas shows this year due to the pandemic, but several band members wrote and recorded Christmas songs, and posted them on our YouTube channel. Listen to the 2020 playlist here.  

  • The Wonderful Smells of Christmas
  • No You Got It All Wrong
  • Please Don’t Take Away My Christmas
  • Saying Merry Christmas Again
  • Zoom for the Holidays

2021

  • Black Friday, White Christmas
  • Cash for Christmas
  • Christmas Pirates

2022

We played our first Christmas in July show on July 7 at Marge’s Lakeside Inn, leading us to create two new “Summer Christmas” songs. By December, the band had written its 100th original Christmas song, which will be played for the first time at our Dec. 20 multi-media show. 

  • At Christmas Time
  • Big Easy Christmas
  • Christmas in July (Pete)
  • The Holiday We Need
  • No Summer Break for Santa Claus
  • Ukraine Flag on Top of the Tree