I first became aware of this song (specifically, the Nat King Cole version) last year.  I’d probably heard it before, but, until then, I hadn’t listened to the lyrics properly.  The first verse gives a list of Christmas presents that the little boy asked for and didn’t get, then describes him gazing forlornly at the other children in the street playing with their new toys.  The first verse ends:

“I’m so sorry for that laddie / He hasn’t got a daddy*/ The little boy that Santa Claus forgot.”

OK, you think, We’ve had the tragic first verse, so now in the second verse we’ll hear about how the other children felt sorry for him as well and decided to share their toys.  Or how Santa suddenly noticed his mistake and zoomed back to the boy’s house to drop off his presents.  Or how a handsome millionaire proposed to the boy’s mum and whisked them both off to his mansion full of Christmas trees and tame polar bears you can ride.

Instead of any of that, we get a repeat of the first verse, and then the song ends.

Seriously.  That’s where we leave him; orphaned, present-less and jealous, with Nat King Cole feeling sorry for him.  It’s like if Charles Dickens had ended A Christmas Carol with Scrooge taking his niece and nephew on holiday to the Bahamas, with Tiny Tim never being mentioned again.

There’s another odd detail in the reference to “last year’s broken toys.”  So…  Santa doesn’t forget him every year, then?  That’s something, at least.  And, what, he managed to break every one of his Christmas presents in the last twelve months?  Or did somebody else break them?  Details, song, details.

Anyway, this year, I’ve finally worked out what this song reminds me of.  Behold.

 

 

*”Just thought we’d throw that detail in there, just in case you weren’t feeling sad yet!”