Tom Maxwell, the former lead vocalist and frontman for the Squirrel Nut Zippers, has released the holiday single “Jacob Marley.” Recorded live with his band The Minor Drag on November 26, 2011 at The Murphey School in Durham NC, the track is the first holiday release from Maxwell since the release of 1998’s Christmas Caravan by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. “I wrote ‘Jacob Marley’ after the economy tanked and the banks got bailed out,” Maxwell said in a statement. “It was a disaster – and rip off – of almost mythic proportions. In the song, cultural icons like Brother Rabbit (a nod to Br’er Rabbit from the Uncle Remus stories) and Jacob Marley (Scrooge’s dead business parter and spiritual benefactor in A Christmas Carol) appear but can’t change the situation. Extraordinary problems require extraordinary solutions, and I believe the Occupy movement and the social and political consciousness it represents is our last and best hope. Jacob Marley may not come back again, but we can handle this one on our own.”
The track is currently available through iTunes.