"Don't Shoot Me Santa" is a song by

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

-based

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

The Killers The Killers are an American rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingd ...

. The song was released , as a digital download. A portion of the proceeds from this song went to

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

charities as part of the

Product Red Product Red, stylized as (PRODUCT) or (PRODUCT)RED, is a licensed brand by the company Red, stylized as (RED), that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries, namely Es ...

campaign, headed by

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

and Bobby Shriver. It is The Killers' second

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download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

single following 2006's " A Great Big Sled".

Track listing

* CD Single # "Don't Shoot Me Santa" - 4:04 # "Don't Shoot Me Santa" (Enhanced Video) - 4:34

Release history

Music video

According to Japanese Vogue, the video for "Don't Shoot Me Santa" was directed, edited, and co-produced by actor/director/model/visual artist

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, filmmaker, fashion model, painter, illustrator, director, and author. He is best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal M ...

, who is also a native of Las Vegas. The music video starts in a desert with a puppet version of Flowers and a puppet version of Santa in a puppet theater in Santa's trailer. Then, Santa pops up to say his part "I've got a bullet in my gun!" It goes to Flowers tied up in a chair with Christmas tree trimmings and Santa running around him. Later on, Flowers is tied up in Santa's car with Santa driving. It then goes back to the Santa's trailer with Flowers still tied up in a chair watching Santa dig up his grave. The band come up behind 3 small trees, break the trimmings, and escape in Santa's car, trailing him behind. Santa ends up covering up Flowers's puppet, and goes to the band (in puppet form) holding up a sign saying, 'Merry Christmas from The Killers'.

Ryan Pardey

The role of Santa (both singing, and acting in the music video) is performed by

Ryan Pardey Ryan Pardey is a musician, singer, songwriter, promoter, tour manager, actor, left-handed guitar player, and DJ from Las Vegas. He is best known as the singer and songwriter for Halloween Town, which has featured members of The Killers, Louis ...

. He performed this song live, with the band, at

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Almost Acoustic Christmas is an annual concert run by the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM. The first show was held in December 1989, though then it was simply called the KROQ Xmas Bash. In 1990 the show became bigger and attracted increasingl ...

in December 2007. He and Flowers were shown dancing together on stage, and he soaked Flowers with a water-gun.Video of The Killers performing the song with Ryan Pardey
/ref> The Killers have written a song about Pardey called "Questions With the Captain". The song appears as a hidden track on the end of their B-sides album ''

Sawdust Sawdust (or wood dust) is a by-product or waste product of woodworking operations such as sawing, sanding, milling, planing, and routing. It is composed of small chippings of wood. These operations can be performed by woodworking machinery, ...

'', but can only be found on the CD.

Charts

References

{{authority control The Killers songs American Christmas songs Black comedy music Christmas charity singles Music videos featuring puppetry 2007 singles Songs about Santa Claus Song recordings produced by Stuart Price Songs written by Brandon Flowers Songs written by Dave Keuning Songs written by Ronnie Vannucci Jr. Songs written by Mark Stoermer 2007 songs Island Records singles