Robbie Williams tells Santa to stay ‘two metres away’ on coronavirus Christmas song

‘Let’s lie to Santa Claus, tell him it’s 1984,’ Williams sings on the contemporary festive song

Robbie Williams has released a Christmas song about surviving the festive season in the age of coronavirus.

The track, titled “Can’t Stop Christmas”, describes how everyone has had a “miserable year” and that it “feels like we’re at war”.

Williams then questions whether families will be allowed to gather over Christmas, asking: “So I wonder who’s gonna decide / If we can do the ‘Auld Lang Syne’.”

However, the chorus features a rallying cry that “nothing” is going to stop Christmas, as Williams sings: “You can’t take away our season / Like you can’t take away the wine / Santa’s on his sleigh / But now he’s two metres away.”

More references are made to the pandemic throughout, with Williams saying that he’ll be putting “socks and sanitiser” on his list and the choir singing of this dystopian time: “Let’s lie to Santa Claus / Tell him it’s 1984.”

“Can’t Stop Christmas” will feature on a new edition of Williams’ 2019 album The Christmas Present, which features duets with Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, Jamie Cullum and even Tyson Fury.

Read more: The 18 best Christmas songs, ranked

Earlier this year, a 2017 meme which shows Williams using hand sanitiser during a New Year’s Eve performance was repurposed for the age of the pandemic.