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"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHoping to rescue fans from another seasonal onslaught of &amp;quot;Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Jingle Bells,&amp;quot; the Hives have teamed up with Cyndi Lauper on a new Christmas track entitled &amp;quot;A Christmas Duel.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Growing up, it was only &amp;apos;O Holy Night,&amp;apos; which I really like now but being a young punk, it was the enemy,&amp;quot; the Hives&amp;apos; Howlin&amp;apos; Pelle Almqvist tells Rock Daily about his motives to reinvent the conventional Christmas song. &amp;quot;I think Christmas is just our excuse to go full-out Phil Spector and use two drum kits and the bells and whistles. We wanted to have this juxtaposition of really sweet music and nasty lyrics.&amp;quot; The song would fit nicely on Spector&amp;apos;s own A Christmas Gift To You with its Wall of Sound production and girl-group call-and-response verses, but it&amp;apos;s the lump-of-coal lyrics that set &amp;quot;A Christmas Duel&amp;quot; apart from everything you&amp;apos;ll be hearing between Thanksgiving and New Year&amp;apos;s. &amp;quot;I bought no gift this year and I slept with your sister, I know I should have thought twice before I kissed her,&amp;quot; Pelle sings on the track, with Lauper responding with lyrics like &amp;quot;I bought no tree this and I slept with your brother, I wrecked your daddy&amp;apos;s car and went down on your mother.&amp;quot;\r\nAs for how the collaboration took place, &amp;quot;We came up with the song and we figured it was a duet, and we&amp;apos;d always hoped to do a duet with Cyndi Lauper. We thought she had a really cool voice,&amp;quot; Alqvist said. &amp;quot;We listened to her first album a lot on the tour bus.&amp;quot; Asked whether the &amp;quot;Girls Just Want to Have Fun&amp;quot; singer was a fan of the Swedish punks, Almqvist responds, &amp;quot;Isn&amp;apos;t everybody?&amp;quot;\r\nThe band will escape the Scandinavian winter this Christmas and take their families on vacation to Australia. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s gonna be weird not having a white Christmas.&amp;quot; After a year of heavy touring, the vacation will likely extend into 2009. &amp;quot;We&amp;apos;re eventually going to make a new album, but first we&amp;apos;re gonna take the rest of the year off,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;d like to spend enough time in my house to be bored.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;A Christmas Duel&amp;quot; will be available as a free download at the Hives&amp;apos; website starting this Friday, November 28th, but you can preview the whole thing in the video above.\r\nRelated Stories: &amp;#x2022; Photo Gallery: Step Onto the Hives&amp;apos; Tour Bus &amp;#x2022; Album Review: The Hives, The Black and White Album &amp;#x2022; Q&amp;amp;A: Howlin&amp;apos; Pelle Almqvist"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-hives-and-cyndi-lauper-engage-in-a-christmas-duel-20081124>