Welcome, Laptop Sessions fans! Today is Day One of Jim Fusco’s 14 Days of Rock’n’Roll Christmas!
I’m excited to bring you the first song, which is a cover of Elvis Presley’s classic, “Blue Christmas”. It’s a great song and was a lot of fun to do (except for that high harmony part the Jordanaires sang!). I hope it does justice to the original.
The full 14-song series is complete and all free to download. And remember, they’re completely FREE to download! Just click the down arrow icon at the top right of the player below.
Happy holidays from the Laptop Sessions music blog!
It’s official: the Christmas season is upon us yet again! I, for one, found it difficult to concentrate on the work I brought home this weekend, choosing instead to listen to Christmas music — specifically that on Bob Dylan’s new 2009 holiday album Christmas in the Heart (see my review here!) — and playing some of my favorite seasonal songs on acoustic guitar. One of my new favorites is a song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks titled “Must Be Santa.”
Now, before you get too excited, I should begin by making it very clear that tonight I am covering Bob Dylan’s rendition of “Must Be Santa” and NOT the performance “popularized” by Mr. Music and the Cool Kids Chorus.
Please don’t be disappointed…
Seriously, though, if you would like to hear that rocking version, you’ll just have to download it for yourself. Or the versions by Mitch Miller, Raffi, Point Sebago Resort, Glen Burtnik, Miss Lisa, Miss Molly, The Friel Brothers, The Angel Choir, The Holly Players Orchestra, The Hit Crew, Mary Lambert, Bob McGrath, Kids Sing’n, the Pokemon Christmas Bash band, or Lorne Greene with the Jimmy Joyce Children’s Choir — good luck finding that last one.
If you’re craving a good polka, then don’t miss out on the Brave Combo version (which, ironically, is the closest in style and arrangement to Dylan’s).
And who could forget the Kids Rap’n the Christmas Hits version?
These cover songs range from boring to funny to vomit-inducing and back again. This brings me to the Bob Dylan version, which is a breath of fresh air when played beside these other covers. Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” is a frantic, polka-inspired three minutes of Christmas spirit, accordions, and bright choral vocals built up around Dylan’s gruff lead. Recorded nearly half a century after Mitch Miller first recorded the song in 1961, it is interesting to see how our image of Santa and the general sound and style of Christmas music (i.e. both sets of chord changes as the song progresses a la so many other seasonal favorites) really haven’t changed much in all this time.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Dylan’s album — and his recent work in general — is an homage to a simpler time in American popular music.
That is perhaps why Dylan’s new album, time-ravaged vocals and all, has slipped in so quickly among my favorite Christmas albums of all time. Although it was recorded earlier this year, there is a sense of nostalgia and even timelessness in each of its tracks. Somehow, he has managed to record the songs in a style that seems very natural from his current studio band. Indeed, Dylan has seemingly reached further and further into the past for the styles of his past several albums. In this sense, 2009 was the ideal year for him to record an album of traditional favorites and holiday songs from earlier in the century.
I don’t think any music will ever usurp the positions that The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album and the Moody Blues’ December currently hold in my heart. The Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays, Brian Wilson’s What I Really Want For Christmas, and America’s Harmony are certainly the next runners up. Some of my attachment to this music is admittedly due to my own personal memories, such as listening to the Beach Boys each year as my family decorated the tree and attending a Moody Blues Christmas concert with two of my dearest friends several years ago. That being said, there is also a universal element to the music on these records that I can’t imagine any fan of rock music being able to deny. Somehow, these aforementioned bands have managed to incorporate religious hymns, classic rock Christmas songs, and originals into unified works that I look forward to dusting off each and every year.
For now, I’m wading into the music of season via this new Dylan album. After all, this is the punchline of a joke I’ve been making for as many years as I’ve loved Bob Dylan — “Imagine if Dylan recorded a Christmas album!” My friends and I would laugh, but I was always privately jealous that their favorite bands — the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, etc. — had recorded Christmas albums or at least a Christmas song or two.
Now, I have my secret wish, and I couldn’t be happier!
Yes, Dylan’s voice is rugged, and truth be told, I was a bit hesitant to embrace this album when I gave it one listen upon its release a month ago. However, it only took a second listen for me to get hooked.
Whatever music you may enjoy listening to at this time of the year, I hope you’re enjoying it.
F
They say you’re coming around to this cold New England town.
Well, that don’t mean much to them, but that sure means a lot to me.
G
You’ve seen many parts of the world, reporting on the Vietnamese.
All I want to see today is you in your red and green Christmas fleece.
G
Strange things have happened to me on these snowy Christmas eves…
They say you’re coming around, but they don’t say anything else.
Don’t leave me here in the dark; please lead me out in the cold.
Let me know that you’re coming for sure. (I’d wait forever for her.)
By now, you know that you’re the type of a girl who rocks the world
of a guy in a rural town.
Strange things are happening to me on this snowy Christmas eve…
E D
You don’t need a blanket, and you don’t need a bed.
E G
If all you’ve got’s my shoulder, baby, you can rest your head.
G C
Remember last Christmas, building the tree,
G C7
Lying under the branches, just you and me?
We were talking about Jesus, defining the Holy Ghost,
Wondering where our senses of humor went when we needed them most.
You don’t need a blanket, and you don’t need a bed.
If all you’ve got’s my shoulder, baby, you can rest your head.
I attended a Thursday mass in the center of town.
Looking out for your big, bright cathedral eyes.
I was always the one who tries, and you were the one.
And I in my sport coat, and you in your dress — we knew it was best…
INSTRUMENTAL (over G – C – G – C7)
G
Hay was all they had in the manger,
E
Hay was all that Mary had.
But that didn’t matter none to Mary ’cause
Good evening and welcome to what has become a Christmas tradition for me here at the Laptop Sessions. Each year since 2007, I have posted one yuletide original during the month of December. Last year, I wrote and recorded a song on Christmas eve, so this year I wanted to post another on the last Original Wednesday before Christmas Eve.
This year’s selection is one I wrote years ago and was first included on the Chris, Jim, and Mike holiday album Our Christmas Gift to You. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly when I wrote this song, but I certainly remember my first recording. I had never recorded using a multi-track mixer, so Mike lent me one that he had inherited from a local photographer. In its day, it had been a really nice system. Unfortunately, some of the controls were off and there were certain tracks that would become spliced together — I’m not sure how else to describe this. Essentially, I couldn’t lower or raise the volume on one track without another following it.
That being said, it felt like Mike was handing me a portable professional studio!
I rushed home late from Mike and Jim’s house that night, quietly snuck into my house (my parents were fast asleep), and set up in the small bathroom in the basement. After about twenty minutes of silent trips up to my bedroom, the mixer had been set up on the toilet, the microphone stands near the shower, the keyboard by the towel rack, and I was sitting on my stool with my back against the sink.
And yes, I am holding myself back from making the obvious stool/bathroom pun here…
The version I recorded that night was quiet and a bit sloppy, but it really wasn’t as sloppy as it should have been for my first recording. To be certain, many songs that I would record later on more reliable equipment seemed, at least to me, to be inferior to the overall feel of my first “Moment.”
The next version that I recorded was for the November 25, 2004 release of Our Christmas Gift to You. I felt very much like the rawer, indie cousin of my future bandmates, as my two songs weren’t as fully produced as Jim and Mike’s were. Still, it felt — and still feels! — exciting and, to be honest, like an honor to hear “Christmas Cards” and “Moment” alongside some of my all-time favorite Christmas originals, like “The First Snow” and “Christmas Evening.”
Although “Moment” sounds very quirky and I salivate just thinking about a day in the future when I might re-record it with a minimalist drum kit keeping time, I always liked it (and, of course, I’ll always have the MoU Christmas Concert 2006 CD to hold me over…). “Moment” is one of those songs that makes me feel something when I listen to it. Even now, years and years after writing it, I remember exactly how I felt the day I wrote it. It’s like being able to pick up a guitar or put on a CD and go back in time to the end of high school/beginning of college. As you’ll hear, it’s a song about a person who has just learned that the love of his life is returning to town after being away for a year, ostensibly as a journalist overseas. The narrator hasn’t heard from the person, only rumors, and is frustrated that no one seems to understand how important this news is to him. As the song continues, we get some flashbacks to the previous Christmas and a vague but satisfying real-time encounter set during a Christmas eve church service. The final line explains the title: “Hay was all they had in the manger — hay was all that Mary had; but that didn’t matter none to Mary ’cause Mary had Joseph to share each and every moment…”
If you’ve ever found yourself at Christmastime, connected to what used to be close friends merely by rumor and third-hand report, then you’ll understand where this song is coming from. For this recording, I tried to harken back to my first off-the-cuff, essentially one-take recording by staying in my pajamas and simply playing it once to rehearse it before hitting the “record” button.
The result? My third Original Wednesday post on the eve of Christmas.
The problem? I’m fresh out of original Christmas songs for next year…
I’ll just have to hope inspiration strikes before then!
When the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful, you know ‘tis the season that comes but once a year… Every Christmas, we love to listen to the classic seasonal tunes that we grew up listening to, and we love to invite new music for the Christmas season into our collections. For free videos of your favorite Christmas songs recorded as cover songs, you need look no farther than the music videos recorded for the Laptop Sessions. Each December, songwriters Jim and Chris look forward to recording covers of their favorite seasonal tunes and posting them online in their video blog entries for other fans to enjoy. Help spread the holiday cheer by visiting http://LaptopSessions.com!
