My December

"My December"
Song by Linkin Park
from the album The Real Slim Santa
Recorded:	October 9, 2000
Released:	November 28, 2000
Length:	04:20
Time signature:	4/4
Tempo:	100
Key:	D Minor
Live debut:	December 17, 2000
Last performed:	March 10, 2008
Writer:	Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Joseph Hahn
Producer:	Mike Shinoda
Label:	Warner Bros.
The Real Slim Santa tracklist
Ralph Garman - The Real Slim Santa Stone Cold Steve Austin - The Bottom Line Linkin Park - My December Victoria Silvstedt & Ralph Garman - Santa Baby Weezer - Christmas Song Bobcat Goldthwait - Rudolf the Nine Inch Reindeer U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) William Shatner - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Fenix TX - Feliz Navidad Ralph Garman - Santa Claus: Behind the Magic Save Ferris - Father Christmas Ben Livingston - A Christmas Poem Travis - River Adam West - Batman: The Lost Christmas Episode MxPx - Coming Home for Christmas Ben Livingston - Shaq the Halls Eve 6 - First Noel (I Like Christmas) Andy Dick & the Bitches of the Century - Gassy Jesus 3 Doors Down - Jingle Bells The Vandals - Christmas Time For My Penis Bobby Slayton - The Pitbull Yule Orgy - Santa's Creepy Secret Don King - Christmas Wish Fuel - We Three Kings Peek The Rodeo Clown With 2 Paralyzed Legs - Christmas Harmonica Vast - The Grinch Blink-182 - Silent Night Sing Along Jiminem - Stanley Kevin & Bean - Untitled [extra mindless drivel]

"My December" is the third track on the compilation album The Real Slim Santa.

Background

"My December" was a song written and recorded specifically for Kevin & Bean's album The Real Slim Santa, a compilation of Christmas songs released by KROQ on November 28, 2000 made and available only in Southern California at Warehouse Records Stores.

In Jeff Blue's book "One Step Closer: From Xero to #1: Becoming Linkin Park", he explained how the song came together. On October 4, 2000, Linkin Park was offered a slot at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show because of how well "One Step Closer" was doing at KROQ. The station wanted a song, either a new one or a cover, for their Kevin & Bean Christmas sampler. Warner Bros thought it would go a long way to solidifying the band's relationship with KROQ, but the band was touring at the time. On October 10, the song was completed after Mike wrote it on the road and the band recorded it in Nashville. It was debuted on October 11 on KROQ. It was recorded at The Loft in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 9, 2000 (a day before Linkin Park's show in the city).

As mentioned above, the majority of the song was written by Mike Shinoda inside Linkin Park's tour bus. It was written and recorded in only two days. The band's photographer at the time, Joel Hendricks, explained that Mike wrote the song on his MPC. Chester was joking about having to record a Christmas song so quickly for KROQ that he originally sang, "Christmas time is a good time, to die" as a joke when he was working on his vocals.

Speaking to Theprp.com, Mike said: "We actually recorded it more recently, at a studio in Nashville. It was an idea sparked by the KROQ album. We figured, why not just write a new song, put it on that CD, and give it away for the holidays? So it'll be on our website soon." The inspiration behind the song was "being on the road away from loved ones." During a MSN Live chat in 2001, Brad said: "I like the song "My December." It's about going home."

At the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Night 1 show in December 2001, Chester said, "KROQ started playing the album before anybody else. They invited us to write a song and open up the show last year and this year we came back and we're headlining, it's just crazy." And then added, "This next song that we're going to play is a song that we actually wrote for KROQ Acoustic Christmas last year to put on their album, The Real Slim Santa."

Introducing the song in Fairfax, VA during Projekt Revolution 2002, Chester said, "Right now we'd like to do a song that's not on the album. We did it a charity album for a radio station in LA a couple of Christmases ago for these guys named Kevin and Bean out in LA. It does a lot of good for some charities and they've done great work and we felt we could something special for them. What was amazing was, that Mike wrote this song in about two hours man. It was fucking unbelievable. Unbelievable. We recorded in Nashville in a place where fucking Elvis used to record man. That was kind of creepy, you know what I mean? It worked out pretty well, I think."

"My December" was also released in 2001 as part of the UK editon of the "One Step Closer" single and Japanese edition of Hybrid Theory. During the same interview with Theprp.com, Mike also talked about the single: "The "One Step Closer" Import single will feature a remix (by me) of an older hip hop track of ours called "High Voltage", along with a slower song called "My December". What's nice for me about these things is that I did the majority of the writing on those songs, and I produced and mixed both."

Remixes

Linkin Park released a remix of "My December" on Reanimation in July 2002 titled "My<Dsmbr." The track was remixed by Mickey Petralia and Michael Fitzpatrick. Both also handled the programming. Keyboards were recorded by Mickey Petralia and Greg Kurstin. The track also features additional vocals by Kelli Ali of Sneaker Pimps.

DJ Crook of Team Sleep and DJ Shadow submitted a remix of "My December" for Reanimation as well, but their remix didn't end up being selected for release.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
My December	Kevin & Bean: The Real Slim Santa One Step Closer (UK Single) Hybrid Theory In The End (JP EP) LP Underground 2.0 Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:20	October 9, 2000	November 28, 2000	Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville on October 9, 2000.

Remix

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
My<Dsmbr	Reanimation	4:17	2001	July 30, 2002	Remix by Mickey Petralia and Michael Fitzpatrick. Features vocals by Kelli Ali and keyboards by Greg Kurstin and Mickey Petralia.

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
My December (Live)	Somewhere I Belong Reanimation (iTunes) The Year They Recalled Santa Claus (As Told By Kevin & Bean) Compilation Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:27	February 23, 2002	March 17, 2003	Acoustic version with Mike playing the piano part on an MPC, Brad on acoustic guitar, Joe scratching, Chester on vocals, Rob playing drums and Phoenix playing cello. Recorded during the Projekt Revolution 2002 Tour. Labeled "My December (Live From Proj. Revolutions)" on Compilation.
My December (Live)	Live From SoHo (iTunes Exclusive EP)	3:51	February 21, 2008	March 4, 2008	Piano version with Mike on piano and Chester on vocals, with a completely reworked piano arrangement.
My December (Live 2008)	Songs From The Underground A Decade Underground Compilation	4:15	February 26, 2008	November 28, 2008	Piano version with Mike on piano and Chester on vocals, with a completely reworked piano arrangement.
My December	Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:13	February 23, 2002 February 24, 2002	October 9, 2020	DVD only. Projekt: Revolution 2002.
My December	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:36	October 29, 2003	April 7, 2023	DVD only. Live In Seoul 2003.

Live

"My December" appeared infrequently throughout Linkin Park's live career. It debuted as an acoustic version with an extended piano intro at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show at the end of 2000, where it opened the show. This performance included Mike on piano, Chester on vocals, and Brad on guitar - the only time is has been performed in that lineup. It didn't appear in a setlist again until fall of 2001, where a second acoustic version was the encore opening after it was added on the third show of the 2001 European Tour. It was likely added in so that the band could rehearse it for show in London, England, which was planned to be filmed for a DVD release. The song replaced Chester's acoustic rendition of Dead By Sunrise's "Morning After". This version featured the same lineup as the previous performance with the addition of Joe scratching and triggering drum samples. The song was dropped on the following Family Values Tour, but returned just before the Countdown To Revolution Tour in its encore opener position. This version was another acoustic version, this time with the full band lineup: Rob was added in on drums and Phoenix played the cello. Mike performed on an MPC for these renditions, except for the second night at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas event, where he played on an actual piano. It remained in that general position until the final run of holiday shows, where it was moved mid-set between "Step Up" and "Pushing Me Away". It returned to its encore spot on Projekt Revolution 2002, but was dropped on one of the last shows of the year when the band opened for Korn in Mexico City, Mexico.

The song returned on the Meteora touring cycle when it was added into the set on the second night in Tokyo, Japan at the end of the 2003 Australian and Asian Tour so that the band could mix the setlist up a little bit from the night before. These performances mark the first time the studio version of the song was performed live with electric guitar and bass. It retained its position on the UK November Tour with an added guitar transition outro that went into "P5hng Me A*wy" before being dropped, ironically, before the run of U.S. holiday shows. Its encore position returned on the 2004 North American Tour with its guitar transition outro before finally being dropped on the Projekt Revolution 2004 sets. It briefly returned in 2006, where the new piano version of the song debuted and was performed on the first and last shows of the Japan Tour. The piano version of "Pushing Me Away" was played at the other shows instead.

The song returned at the end of 2007 on the Minutes To Midnight touring cycle, a new piano version with a completely new arrangement being performed after "Numb" at the band's last performance of the year at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas event. Being that the song is the closest thing Linkin Park has to a holiday song, it was added in as a holiday treat. It returned in the 2008 European Winter Tour in the piano slots in the middle of Set S and the encore opener of Set T. This carried over to the 2008 North American Tour, too. The song replaced "In Between" in Set R-2 at the show in Baltimore, Maryland (even though the piano version of "Pushing Me Away" was written on the setlist) and the piano version of "Pushing Me Away" in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was dropped at the stop in Detroit, Michigan for an unknown reason. The song was performed at the private Apple Store performance in New York City, New York and was featured on the live EP. It was dropped after the tour ended.

A shortened version of "My December" was reportedly soundchecked by the band before the One More Light album release party, but the song was not played in the set.

"My December" made its long-awaited return to the set at the first full show of the From Zero World Tour in Los Angeles, where a new stripped down version of the song was debuted. The arrangement features Mike on keys, Emily on vocals, Dave on bass, and Colin on acoustic guitar, with Mike, Dave, and Colin also providing harmonies. At the band's second night in Sao Paulo, "My December" was rotated out with "Friendly Fire", which had previously been dropped from the set for "Over Each Other".

Variations

Last Updated: November 19, 2024

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Intro	Piano Intro	December 17, 2000	December 17, 2000
Outro	Guitar Transition Outro	November 20, 2003	January 30, 2004
Alternative	Acoustic Version #1 (Mike/Chester/Brad)	December 17, 2000	December 17, 2000
Alternative	Acoustic Version #2 (Mike/Chester/Brad/Joe)	September 15, 2001	September 24, 2001
Alternative	Acoustic Version #3 (Full Band; Phoenix on cello)	November 20, 2001	February 24, 2002
Alternative	Piano Version #1	August 10, 2006	August 15, 2006
Alternative	Piano Version #2 (New piano arrangement)	December 8, 2007	March 10, 2008
Alternative	Shortened (First Verse and Chorus)	May 22, 2017	May 22, 2017
Alternative	Stripped Down Version (Mike, Emily, Dave, and Colin)	September 11, 2024	November 15, 2024

Personnel

• Written by: Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Joseph Hahn
• Produced & Mixed by: Mike Shinoda
• Additional Pro Tools by: Joe Hand
• Recorded at: The Loft in Nashville

Lyrics

Album Version

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear
 
This is my December
This is my snow covered home
This is my December
This is me alone
 
And I,
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I,
Take back all the things I said
To make you feel like that
And I,
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I,
Take back all the things that I said to you
 
And I'd give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to
 
This is my December
These are my snow covered trees
This is me pretending
This is all I need
 
And I,
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I,
Take back all the things I said
To make you feel like that
And I,
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I,
Take back all the things that I said to you
 
And I'd give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to
 
This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear
 
Give it all away (I)
Just to have somewhere to go to (I)
Give it all away (I)
To have someone to come home to (I)
 
Give it all away (I)
Just to have somewhere to go to (I)
Give it all away (I)
To have someone to come home to (I)

Gallery

• 

  The Real Slim Santa

• 

  Promo CD

• 

  The Year They Recalled Santa Claus (As Told By Kevin & Bean)

• 

  My December screen from Frat Party At The Pankake Festival

Cover Versions

Josh Groban released a cover of "My December" as a bonus track on the website exclusive version of his 2003 album Closer. The cover has also been performed live.

Belgian women's choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers recorded "My December" for their 2012 album December. The cover received a music video and radio airplay as well as a promotional single.