"Look Lowell, I understand the sentiments and know you mean well and I appreciate that you don't want me to spend the festive season on me Toblerone but last Christmas really wasn't good for me. I did all the work and you just sat there all day watching Strictly while I cooked and cleared up. I don't need you to buy me a gift but if you do some Blue Stratos from the corner shop and a Poinsettia from the Shell garage doesn't really cut it. Would a decent bottle of Carmenere be too much to ask? Look T-Bone Walker is on his lonesome this year - why not visit him? It's warmer in California and he doesn't have cats so you won't be sneezing all day"
Lowell was one of the great West Coast blues guitarists who recorded for Chess in the early 50s in a career than spanned nearly 50 years writing hits for B.B. King among others. He also penned the mighty 'Tramp' that Otis Redding made into the recording it undoubtedly was.