Adam Sandler first performed his nonsensical “Thanksgiving Song”on Nov. 21, 1992 on “Saturday Night Live” when he was just 26 years old and “SNL” was still funny.
Twenty-one years later, the song pops back on the radio every now and then because it is one of the only songs that is actually about Thanksgiving. (Cranberry sauce and stuffing just isn’t as catchy as mistletoe or Santa Claus, so Thanksgiving is usually left off of the pop culture cannon and glossed over for the much more marketable holidays.)
Sandler’s album “They’re All Gonna Laugh At You!” came out in September of 1993, so “Thanksgiving Song” is technically 20, even though the song itself is 21. The comedian himself is now 47 and many of the pop-culture references in the song are decades older than that, including references to Elvis, Cheryl Tiegs and Darryl Strawberry.
Other more scandalous lyrics include references about Mike Tyson and VD (a term that hasn’t been used since this song came out) and “masturbating with baby oil,” which is apparently a thing.
It’s not even really about Thanksgiving at all. Still, since “Thanksgiving Song” is one of the only Thanksgiving songs, here we all are.
LISTEN: