LIANE HANSEN, host:
Now a final word about seasonal food: Fruitcake, the runt of the Christmas litter of baked goods, the butt of jokes and inspiration for a holiday novelty number.
(Soundbite of song, "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey")
Ms. LAUREN MAYER (Singer-Songwriter, "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey"): The fruitcake that ate New Jersey never shows any mercy...
HANSEN: Last week, I had a conversation with choral scholar Philip Brunelle about the origins of Christmas hymns and carols. He also addressed the song we're listening to.
Mr. PHILIP BRUNELLE (Founder, Artistic Director, Vocal-Essence): For every popular Christmas song that we know, there are about, I'm going to say, a hundred, that never made it. I mean, no one anymore sings "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey."
(Soundbite of song, "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey")
Ms. MAYER: (Singing) ...as the last crumbs of Newark falls from his fork and next on his menu is old New York, with all of its fixings turned like debris on the Jersey Turnpike...
HANSEN: Well, that little snippet may just, for better or worse, lift "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey" back onto the Christmas pop charts. After last week's show, we received an email from the songwriter.
Lauren Mayer wrote: I'd love to know how you found my song and I'm delighted to have been played on NPR. That makes me an overnight success after 30 years.
Lauren Mayer lives in San Mateo, California, and we've called her to hear more about her overnight success. Hi, Lauren.
Ms. MAYER: Hi, Liane. Thanks for calling.
HANSEN: Have you been getting a lot of calls about your song?
Ms. MAYER: Oh, my gosh. Yes. And they didn't mention my name on the program but people recognized my voice. Or thought it was the kind of warped, weird thing that I might have written. And I got texts and emails and Facebook messages and phone calls from people I haven't seen in 30 years.
HANSEN: Walk us through this. How did you come to write this particular song?
Ms. MAYER: I wrote it probably, maybe 25 years ago. I was working in a lot of piano bars in San Francisco, and just came up with all my own novelty songs. And I had written a song called "The Fruitcake that Ate Milpitas." Milpitas is known as the armpit of the San Francisco Bay, it's sort of the butt of jokes like New Jersey is nationally.
And I had just thrown this thing together to have a holiday song. And I had submitted a bunch of songs to a publisher, and there is a gentlemen named Justin Wilde(ph) and he signed the song up and had me tweak it a little bit and make it New Jersey instead of Milpitas, and also make the lyric a little more logical.
HANSEN: What do you mean making the lyric, "The Fruitcake that Ate New Jersey" more logical?
Ms. MAYER: He did not think that my progression in the lyric that I had originally submitted to him made enough sense. And he wanted me to make it very clear why this poor, innocent fruitcake turned homicidal.
HANSEN: Did the fruitcake have a motive?
Ms. MAYER: Yes, it got tired of being ignored, I guess.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Did it get any airplay 25 years ago?
Ms. MAYER: Not really. Well, I had only recorded it maybe - I don't know - 10 years ago. The thing had been sitting around. So I think it's on iTunes. I think we sold five copies.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. MAYER: And I had never put my own comedy album out for the holidays, although I'm in the process of doing that now, partially because of my overnight success, thanks to WEEKEND EDITION.
HANSEN: Lauren Mayer wrote the song, "The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey." She joins us from her home in San Mateo, California. Happy New Year to you, Lauren. And good luck with your comic endeavors.
Ms. MAYER: Thank you very much and great to talk to you.
(Singing) The moral of this tale of woe and hurt - have a fruit cup, and skip dessert. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.