As far as Christmas present swaps go they do not come much better than getting rid of a photo of a minor character from Star Wars in exchange for a specially written song from your all-time rock music hero.
That is what Richard Milne of Aberdeen did after winning a competition set up by Wildhearts frontman Ginger.
The prolific Geordie songwriter offered to record a specially written song on a subject of the winning fan's choosing in exchange for their most terrible festive prezzie.
Out of hundreds of entries - ranging from the bizarre to the downright disgusting - draughtsman Mr Milne is the envy of rock fans after sending in a framed photo of Star Wars character Kabe given to him by a friend a few years ago.
He said: "When I first was given the photo of this furry thing from Star Wars by a friend my reaction was like 'um, yeah, thanks'. I have no idea why I was given it as a present - but boy am I glad I got it now.
"Getting one of your heroes to write a song for you - and I'll have the only copy - has to be the best Christmas present ever. It's the stuff of dreams and I still can't get my head around it."
As well as being highly valued by Mr Milne, the song could be sought after by record collectors in the future, especially given the demand for rare records by The Wildhearts.
Ginger decided to run the competition through his new GASS project, which sees him release three new songs every month for a year.
The South Shields-born songwriter, who teamed up with fellow rock reprobate Courtney Love on single Honour, said: "I wanted to do something special for my fans for Christmas. Based on the fact that Ginger Associated Secret Society (GASS) is a song-based project, what could be more priceless than a personally written and recorded song of mine for the winner, on a subject of their choice, unavailable anywhere else, forever?
"If I could employ, say, Sparks or Cheap Trick to write a song about my kids it would mean more than any merchandise they could sell me."
The festive period was a busy time for the father-of-three, who celebrated turning 50 with an all-star gig before launching his next Pledge campaign Songs and Words on Christmas Day.
He added: "I'll be making available a tour DVD and a book, both called Songs And Words.
"They're based on the last 20 years as a songwriter, with the story of The Wildhearts onwards told through songs."
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