Jimmy Francis is an actor, songwriter, and comedian from Southern California. Using his comedic gifts and unpleasant past experiences, Jimmy has recreated the Christmas classic, “White Christmas”. Previously known for reminiscing about an old-fashion Christmas setting. Jimmy takes white snowy winter and flips it to a warm sand-filled beach Christmas Day. Inspired by an old childhood memory where he was promised Christmas in Hawaii that sadly never happened, Jimmy remembers pouting as a child and wanted to recreate this into a happier memory we can all enjoy. The humorous and entertaining story he tells in this song “Christmas in Hawaii” has the perfect lyrics to capture his dreams of warmth and hula girls while distinctly highlighting his disappointment in his mom for lying in words like “it wasn’t meant to be”. You get the essence of the original holiday classic with additional relaxing tropical sounds evoking a Hawaiian/vacation vibe. I love the sad ending he portrays and the use of instruments including the; sax, drums, low bass, and ukulele.
A true Christmas original with a comedic twist and perfect way to highlight his talents as an accomplished comedian and new singer/songwriter. I wonder if his future singles will continue to depict a younger Weird Al, only time will tell. Thanks for the memory and a good laugh. You don’t have to pack your bags this Holiday, just throw on “Christmas in Hawaii” for instant transportation to the islands. Aloha!
Listen to “Christmas in Hawaii” here.
Hi Jimmy and welcome to BuzzMusic. I’m sorry to hear that you never got your Christmas in Hawaii but thank you for sharing this in such a unique and comical way. Given that this was a childhood experience way made you want to recreate it in her first single, years later?
I actually wrote most of the song shortly after the initial incident. Throughout the years, I held onto it as a possibility if I ever got to record music as a career. I frequently got involved with plays, improvisational comedy, sketch/variety shows and stand-up comedy where I planned to perform the song if I ever got on Saturday Night Live or a similar sketch comedy/variety tv or streaming show. The possibility of being on such a show came up several times, so I broke out the song I had written years ago asking another writer/performers if it was good enough to be on the show, they agreed it was, so I did some tweaking I’m preparation to debut it on a couple of different shows. Unfortunately, the shows never happened and I haven’t been able to get an audition for SNL (yet) but I kept thinking about using “Christmas In Hawaii” if I ever got on such a show that actually made it on air or the internet. Finally, I decided to try to record it myself and maybe post it as a video on YouTube. I met a producer/multi-instrumentalist who agreed to help me record it and gave me some names of indie music distributors so I could get the song on several major music platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, Shazam, Tidal, Google Play, Deezer, iTunes, Napster, Beatport, and MediaNet. I’ve been writing songs most of my life, the reason I chose this specific song, a comedic parody as my first single is that it kind of bridges both of my major ambitions music and comedy. It can either further my comedy career or launch a music career. It also gives an example of something that many songs I write to share in common which is combining angst with at least a little bit of humor.
Given that the Holidays are around the corner can we expect other Holiday parodies like “Christmas in Hawaii”?
I won’t be releasing any more holiday parodies this year but, interestingly, I did just come up with a parody of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” the other day that I might record for next year or post as text on a humor sight I sometimes contribute to called Humor Outcasts. This parody was inspired by a visit I had with my mother and sister where they were complaining about being sick and having dry skin from the cold weather and I started listing their grievances to the tune of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” while keeping the song title line in the same places it appears in the original song. Also exaggerating the misery at times while still frequently singing the line “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” which got laughs from both of them.
Given the parody style highlighted in your single, do you draw any inspiration from artists like Weird Al. Why or why not?
My sister made me aware of Weird Al and I’ve listened to some of his songs, in researching song parodies but I was more inspired by comedic songs and parodies in cartoons, especially an episode of “Family Guy” called “The Road To Rhode Island” where Brian and Stewie take a road trip and sang a song called “The Road To Rhode Island” which I learned was a parody of the title song to an old movie starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby called “The Road To Morocco.” I absolutely love that song (from “Family Guy”) and grew to love the original as well. I love cartoons and have always gone around singing songs that I heard in cartoons. I’d love to sing songs in cartoons or even comedy movies that, while not necessarily a musical, might involve spontaneously bursting into song on occasion. Or at least once. I wrote a screenplay that has one big musical type song and dance scene in it just because I thought it would be funny to have a movie that isn’t a musical have one big musical style song and dance scene in it out of nowhere just for the heck of it. I also love old Monty Python movies and the tv show that frequently involved comedic songs. So, while I respect Weird Al, I’d prefer not to only be known for song parodies. I am heavily influenced by other comedic music acts like cartoons, Seth MacFarlane, Adam Sandler, Monty Python, The Blues Brothers, and Steve Martin. Even many of my other musical influences like David Bowie, The Ramones, Blink 182 and Oingo Boingo have some form of humor in many of the songs. The ending of “Christmas In Hawaii” was inspired by The Chipmunks as well as the David Bowie song “The Laughing Gnome”, The Ramones song “Pinhead”, The Black Sabbath song “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” and The Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train.” Listen to any Chipmunks song, “The Laughing Gnome” and the ends of the other three songs and you’ll understand how the end of my song was inspired by and meant as an homage to those songs.
Who would you say are some of your musical aspirations?
My musical aspirations and influences include the above-mentioned cartoons, Seth MacFarlane, Adam Sandler, The Blues Brothers, Steve Martin, Bob Hope, Monty Python, David Bowie, The Doors, The Ramones, Pink Floyd, Oingo Boingo/Danny Elfman, The Cure, Cream, Nirvana, Blink 182, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen/David Lee Roth, Coldplay, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Inxs, Harry Nilsson, Simon And Garfunkel/Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty, Imagine Dragons, Leroy Francis, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Coconut Records, Jack White/White Stripes, Queen, Billy Idol, Buddy Holly and of course The Beatles. I’d love to be able to have success in both music and acting the way Jared Leto has. I have very eclectic music tastes.
Thanks for chatting with us at BuzzMusic. What can we expect from you in 2020?
As far as 2020 goes, I’ve entered some songwriting contests that will be decided in January, February and possibly March (I can’t remember if one goes through March or if they’re all definitely over by the end of February). The song I’ve entered is not a parody or even comedic so I’ll see what happens with that plus if anything positive happens from my current single “Christmas In Hawaii.” A short film I wrote, produced and directed called “The Predestined Oaf” has just been accepted to a competition. I’ve also submitted some poems for possible publication, I’m in talks with some record companies and managers plus I have acting representation getting me ready for tv pilot season. So hopefully something positive will happen next year.
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