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

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

-based

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

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

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charities as part of the Product Red campaign, headed by

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

and

Bobby Shriver Robert Sargent Shriver III (born April 28, 1954) is an American activist, attorney, and journalist. He was a member of the Santa Monica City Council from 2004 to 2012, serving as mayor pro tem in 2006 and as mayor during part of 2010. A member o ...

. It is The Killers' second

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

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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, best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal Minds'', for which he also directed several episodes. Gubler has appeared in ...

, 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 Santa's trailer with Flowers still tied up in a chair watching Santa dig up his grave. The band comes up behind 3 small trees, breaks the trimmings, and escapes 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. 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. Like the radio station's other festivals (including the Weenie Roast, LA Invasion and Epicenter), it is a festival organized by KROQ-FM to raise money ...

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 at the end of their B-sides album ''

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

Charts

References

{{authority control Island Records singles 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