Solstice, Etc.: The All Purpose Carol

Christine Lavin & the Mistletones: The All Purpose Carol

[purchase]

The Runaway Christmas Tree is the source of this wee slip of a song. The album is a family favorite in our house. Most of the content, as the title suggests, is Christmas oriented. But, for 58 seconds, there is this wonderful bit of inclusiveness. I wanted to conclude my posting for this week’s theme in that spirit. If your tradition has not been included this week, I encourage you to adapt this song to your needs. I don’t think Christine Lavin would mind, as long as you properly acknowledge her, and don’t put the result to commercial use. I hope all of our readers from whatever tradition have had/ will have a wonderful winter holiday.

Solstice, Etc.: Light One Candle

Peter, Paul and Mary: Light One Candle

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Hanukkah, from a purely Jewish point of view, is a minor holiday. I don’t think much is made of it in Israel. But, here in the United States, its importance is inflated. Hanukkah becomes a statement of Jewish identity in the face of competition with Christmas. There has always been, it seems to me, the fear on the part of Jewish parents that their children would convert to Christianity to get more presents.

But Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary remembers the true meaning of Hanukkah in his song Light One Candle. Hanukkah celebrates the freedom to practice one’s religion in the face of adversity, and the passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next is an essential element of any Jewish holiday. The holiday also recalls God’s promise to look after His children. And, oh yes, there was also some sort of military victory. That’s enough for any holiday to have to do.

For me, the rhythm of Yarrow’s song also recalls the touching of the shammas to the other eight candles to light each in turn. So Yarrow has perfectly captured the spirit of Hanukkah in a mere three minutes. No wonder any number of Jewish musicians have covered this for Hanukkah collections.

Solstice, Etc: Winter Solstice

Ralph Towner: Winter Solstice

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What does the Jewnitarian/Pagan set do on Christmas Eve? In my house, at least, once the kids are in bed, we generally turn on the tree, turn out the lights, light a fir-scented candle, and snuggle in front of the fire to something mystical, mesmerizing, and less-than-Christmassy. And though most of the year this sort of stuff is a bit too experimental for me, on a night like this, it's just the thing for atmosphere.

Avante-garde jazz guitarist Ralph Towner, who whet his teeth on the world of free jazz and improvisation with the Paul Winter Consort in the sixties after years of training as a classical guitarist, has long been known among the new-age set for both his preference for small-scale production sans amplification and his penchant for cross-genre fusion of folk music, Indian classical forms, and freeform jazz. Fittingly, this sparse, atmospheric track comes to us from Towner's 1975 sophomore solo album Solstice.

Solstice, Etc.: Hanukkah Medley

All Gods' Children: Hanukkah Medley

[purchase]

What would it sound like if Sun Ra's Arkestra was beat up by a klezmer band? Well, it would sound something like "Hanukkah Medley", the first song on the first side of the first All God's Children cassette (released before the apostrophe had migrated to the right of the "s".)

It starts out with a maniacal laugh, followed by a minute and a half of what sounds like the band warming up. Just when you're ready to give up on it, the noise dies down, bandleader Adam Bernstein counts it out, and we're off on a four-minute, high-speed chase through Klezmerville.

This is music full of energy, full of life. Dancing to it at their many shows in the '90s was a missed marketing opportunity for the next big aerobics craze.

A band that couldn't be pigeonholed, all four songs on that debut cassette sounded completely different from each other. There was a tango, a big-band version of a Woody Guthrie favorite, and the hard-to-classify Gulf War statement "Guns and Humus". The band would follow a similarly eclectic pattern for all their releases.

When I first posted an AGC song here, none of their catalog was commercially available. But as of last week, the complete AGC studio catalog, as well as many previously unreleased live recording are now available. The MP3 of "Hanukkah Medley" I've included here comes from my digitization of my own well-worn cassette. If you want the real deal, hit up the "purchase" link above.

Solstice, Etc.: The Cutty Wren

Steeleye Span: The Cutty Wren

[purchase]

There are two ways I can think of to find songs for Solstice. One can look among the works of neo-pagan singer-songwriters. Here you will find many appropriate songs. There are some musical gems, but also a great deal of music that is unlistenable. I am not plugged into this scene, so I don’t know how to tell the difference.

But, another method should be available. Surely, in places where solstice was once observed, there should be a vast body of traditional material. But, try and find it. At a glance, there would seem to be no trace left of these songs. Actually, there is indeed a vast body of traditional songs for solstice hiding in plain sight. What happened was, most of these songs are considered Christmas songs, and their pagan origins have become obscured over time.

Think about the current example. Maybe you know your scripture better than I do. Is there any reason a wren should be hunted on St Stephen’s Day? Not that I know of. And yet, in parts of the British Isles, that is exactly what happens. There are a number of wren hunting songs, and a ritual procession that goes with the hunt. The wren is placed atop a pole, wrapped in holly and ivy, and taken in ritual procession to be buried. A picture of one such procession can be seen above. You can see the holly and ivy bundle containing the wren. More pictures, as well as a fuller description of the procession and accompanying rituals, can be found here.

I have found references that indicate that the wren in these traditions was originally a gold-crested wren, like the one pictured above. These birds are now simply known as goldcrests. It’s easy to see how this bird could be thought of as the “king of all birds”, given the golden crown he wears. It’s also easy to see how he would be associated with the sun. Solstice, in pagan belief, marks the death of the old sun god, and the birth of the young sun. The old god was ritually sacrificed so that the young one could be born. This sacrificial victim would have been a special effigy made for the ritual. (The notion that the druids practiced actual human sacrifice comes from Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, and was probably nothing more than wartime propaganda; there is no archeological evidence to support this idea.) So it makes all the sense in the world that the wren hunt would be a survival of old solstice customs.

So there is probably more than you ever wanted to know about the hunting of the wren. Enjoy the song, and have a blessed St Stephen’s Day.

Christmastime: Christmas Blues/Blue Christmas Edition

Bob Dylan: Christmas Blues

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Heart: Blue Christmas

[purchase]

Screeching in under the wire once again, in an attempt to meet the midnight deadline - we're on the road for our annual family holiday trip to South Carolina and Georgia, with limited time and spotty internet here at the Knight's Inn in Aiken...

I empathized when Anne posted about having a hard time getting excited about Christmas this year... mine for a completely different, but equally valid, reason - this is my first time back to the Atlanta area since Mom's passing in mid-July, and I seem to be paralyzed... with sadness... and fear... and numbness. I really just want to stay home and hibernate until 2010, and am trying to find the proverbial silver lining - there will be so many triggers of grief, but there will be equal sparks of memory. We will uphold previous traditions and make new ones - Mom's spirit will give us the strength and the serenity to navigate this first major holiday without her... but, right now, the blues prevail... and the two songs above run through my heart and mind...

Much has been said about Bob Dylan's venture into Christmas music... and it is very hard to take seriously - however, the fact that "all of [his] U.S. royalties from sales of these recordings will be donated to Feeding America, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to more than 1.4 million people in need this year's holiday season" goes a long way toward lending credibility to the project (wonderful interview here)...

I've always loved the Very Special Christmas series and, no matter how many people cover Blue Christmas, my favorite will always be the one by Heart on Volume 2 - "won't be the same, dear, if you're not here with me" indeed...

Christmastime: Stocking Stuffer Edition

OK. I have a confession to make. There are a few songs that get played to death this time of year that I actually like. A lot. These are somewhat guilty pleasures for me. I share them in the hope that it isn’t just me.

The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping

[purchase]

Here, The Waitresses blew their credibility. This great new wave band had burst on the seen with a great come-on song, I Know What Boys Like. And now, a Chistmas song? And a corny one at that. But, this one hits me in my soft spot. I get choked up every time I hear it. And I am really not sure why.

The Pretenders: 2000 Miles (It‘s Christmas Time)

[purchase]

Here is a character who is far from home as Christmas approaches. The theme of separation and longing is a Christmas song cliche from the time of the dinosaurs. But The Pretenders put it over beautifully here.

The Kinks: Father Christmas

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And then there’s this one. The deceptively upbeat music frames a tale of kids who are desperate enough to rob a department stare Santa. Sadly, this song is old enough to be current again. On the plus side, The Kinks use this tale to call our attention to the needy, and implore us not to forget them at Christmas.

Christmastime: Christmas For Cowboys

John Denver: Christmas for Cowboys

[purchase]

We started our week with John Hartford on the silent river at Christmas Eve; we end it with John Denver on the lonesome prairie, that clear, high tenor ringing out his preference for the sky and the range, the saddle and the reins on Christmas Day.

The songs both come from and celebrate the opposite ends of the country, one with water and wheel, one with snow-covered plains; Hartford's Christmas is warm and damp with the deep South, while Denver's is cold, windy, and snow-covered. But stick 'em together, and there's something eminently paired about these two songs, something deeply akin about their songwriters.

Guess I've got a soft spot in my heart for songs - and men - that reject the trappings of crass overplayed commercial existence, to celebrate instead the beauty of a workingman's communion with nature, where the the work is sacred, the fire is sustenance, the wide-open horizon is the endless promise of another year, and the starlit sky is a Christmas tree lit from the heavens.

And who can resist one more coversong, for Christmas' sake?

Jars of Clay: Christmas For Cowboys

[purchase]

Christmastime: Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn

Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers: Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn

[purchase]

It's funny--we've posted a week's worth of songs about Christmas, and the closest we've gotten to the religious origin of the holiday is a song by Jethro Tull.

So let's get some religion with the Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers and their 1929 recording of "Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn". I got this on a wonderfully quirky CD called Where Will You Be Christmas Day? that includes a wide variety of pre-Beatles 20th century music split neatly into two parts: songs of a more holy nature (including this one), and songs that wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a church (sample song title: "Christmas in Jail--Ain't That a Pain"). It's a nice reminder of a time when regional music still existed and Christmas hadn't yet been commercialized beyond recognition.

Christmastime: Twas The Night Before Christmas

Wynton Marsalis: 'Twas The Night Before Christmas

[purchase]

It's a scientific fact that this song actually has the power to make you cooler. So if you're feeling a little pudgy around the waist; if you suffer from nostalgia for your more youthful years; if your idea of a good time is slumping into the couch and watching Grey's Anatomy, give this song a spin a few times. You just might find yourself wearing a beanie, reading Langston Hughes, and hanging out in downtown cafes until the sun comes up.

If you're not up for that kind of commitment, you may want to consider skipping down to the next song.

Christmastime: Holly Jolly Christmas

Martin Sexton: Holly Jolly Christmas

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What have we here? This is Star Maker Machine, right? I know I didn’t come here for the Christmas songs that are playing at the mall!

Yes, I know. Holly Jolly Christmas certainly fits that category. And I must apologize to Anne, who must have heard the song a million times this year. But Martin Sexton takes this hoary old chestnut and makes it new. And he accompanies himself with just an acoustic guitar, but he makes this song swing. So if anyone knows a mall that it is playing this version, please let me know. I want to finish my shopping there.

Christmastime: Christmas Island

Leon Redbone: Christmas Island

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Maybe visiting Star Maker Machine will help somebody win a trivia contest one day. Consider Lyle Moraine. Moraine was a film actor who appeared in over forty films from 1936 to 1975. But you don’t know his name. The vast majority of his appearances were uncredited. His best known film was probably Vertigo, but again, his appearance did not even warrant a listing in the titles. Moraine also wrote a song once, and that is possibly his best claim to fame. The song, Christmas Island, was a hit for The Andrews Sisters in 1946. There were a flurry of cover versions for about the next ten years, and then silence descended. In 1987, Leon Redbone rescued the song, and made it the title track of his holiday album. Since then, there has been another flurry of cover versions. Jimmy Buffet also made the song the title track of a holiday album. I can find no trace of any other song that Lyle Moraine may have written.

Thankfully, Leon Redbone, while not exactly a household name, is far better known. Redbone has made a career of rescuing old songs. He plays guitar in a style that shows a ragtime influence, and sings in what I would call a warm bass growl. His love of his material is obvious in everything he performs. His Christmas Island is no exception.

Christmastime: Christmas In New Orleans

Louis Armstrong: Christmas In New Orleans

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Christmas In New Orleans celebrates the fact that, in spite of the images of picturesque snowscapes, hot chocolate, ice skating, and rudy cheeks that are thrust upon our senses from every major media outlet this time of year, Christmas in fact comes in many shapes and sizes depending on where you live. Having grown up in the central valley of California, I know that sometimes Christmas involves outdoor tennis matches. Later in life I spent a couple of years in South Africa, so I know that sometimes Christmas is a hot summer day and a braai at the beach. Now I live in the Midwestern US where Christmas is cold and white. Louis Armstrong reminds us that for people in the Crescent City, Christmas is barefoot choirs, Creole beats, and a Dixieland Santa Claus. What could be better?

In fact, with it being -5 degrees outside as I write this, I'm sort of wishing I was there right this minute!

Christmastime: Christmas in Suburbia

Martin Newell: Christmas in Suburbia

[purchase]

Martin Newell's The Greatest Living Englishman is a minor gem of eccentric pop. If it sounds a bit XTC-ish, your ears aren't deceiving you--it was produced by XTC mastermind Andy Partridge. It doesn't hurt that, like Partridge (and Robyn Hitchcock and Ray Davies), Newell excels at detailing the minutia of English life.

"Christmas in Suburbia" starts out describing a pretty normal Christmas, where folks "jingle jangle by electric candle light", but by the end of the song, Martin is waking up in someone else's home with "an angel in the bed". Merry Christmas!

Christmastime: Birthday Card At Christmas

Jethro Tull: Birthday Card At Christmas

[purchase]

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album has three songs on it with 'Christmas' in the title. Two of them are re-recordings: A Christmas Song and Another Christmas Song. What a dilemma. But at least it narrows it down because in my opinion the entire album is magnificent and post worthy. Besides the two old Tull favorites, a new one for the album was added, Birthday Card At Christmas. It's Jethro Tull at their best. If you like Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull and/or Christmas music, or all of the above, this album is a must. It's an absolute gem.

Christmastime: Christmas Face

Fisher: Christmas Face

[Free Christmas Download]

I am having a really difficult time giving two-hoots about Christmas this year. In fact, I am really looking forward to it being over with. One reason for that is because I am working retail over the holidays and the constant Christmas music and lines of demanding people without so much as a chance to take a drink of water can wear anyone down. The stress of decorating, finding gifts, hoping packages arrive on time, and holiday guests and baking is a lot as well. It makes a season that is supposed to be joyful, calm and loving, none of those things for me.

But the main reason is that it's a lonely Christmas, as my boyfriend will be a state away and my brother and his wife just welcomed their first child into the world in late October and were instructed by the pediatrician not to travel with him for at least 2 or 3 months, meaning they will have to remain in California and the rest of the family in Pennsylvania (and you can't get time off from retail this time of year) for the the holidays, making it a lonely one for both of us.

This song has always touched me in a personal way in that sense, since the song is about being away from your loved ones during the holidays and being unable to feel the cheer people expect from you for Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
It doesn't feel the same.
But it feels like California is a million miles away.
And I can't find my Christmas face.

Christmastime: Merry Christmas From the Family

Jill Sobule: Merry Christmas From the Family

[purchase]

Although I learned later that this song is a Robert Earl Keen composition, I fell in love first with Jill Sobule's version on the You Sleigh Me holiday compilation - I remember laughing, wondering what was up with this crazy song... until she got to the harmonized Noel, Noel, The First Noel lyric, when I felt the prick of tears behind my eyelids...

It still hits me that way - they're wacky... they're imperfect... they're family. We can all relate - pun intended...

P.S. Todd Snider has covered this as well, but the bootleg version I have is low volume and virtually unlistenable - would love it if someone has one of better quality to share... :-)

Christmastime: On Christmas Eve

John Hartford: On Christmas Eve

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Master songsmith John Hartford was notorious for preferring life on the river to anything else, even music. So it's no surprise to find him lonesome and soul-searching on a full moon Christmas Eve, staring into the muddy Mississippi, wondering why he prefers the sound of the steam, the sight of the Pitman arm coming around again, the spanish moss and a bonfire on the moonlit banks to family.

To be fair, though, Hartford's simple, loving celebration of the lyrical elements of the Louisiana river setting is its own answer.

It's true that there are many lonely souls this time of year, yearning to be taken in by the company of friends. But for all those who prefer the company of the self at the holidays, this song offers an unparalleled template for comfort and joy.

We Are Family: We Were Family Edition

This week, we have had songs by brothers, sisters, and by parents and their children. But no one else has tackled married couples. Perhaps this has to do with a question: when should two (or more) people in a committed relationship of choice be considered a family? Surely, a same-sex couple, who can not legally marry, are no less a family than a heterosexual couple that can. And were Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer not a family because they never actually married? I wouldn’t think so. Still, society has its opinion, and those would have been controversial choices.

There is also another aspect to this. Were a couple who have since broken up a family while they were together? I don’t think the answer has anything to do with whether or not they had children together. I think the closeness they felt when the relationship was at its best is far more relevant. And the music they made together is often the best clue to this. Let’s look at three examples.

Richard and Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

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The most obvious example is Richard and Linda Thompson. They were married shortly after Richard completed his original stint with Fairport Convention, and they were together for many years. Their recordings together were always billed as being by both of them, and they achieved a style together that is demonstrably different from how either of them sounds on their own. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is a fine example of that sound.

Joni Mitchell: My Secret Place

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Joni Mitchell’s jazz period ended after the Mingus album, (how do you top that?), and the death of bass player Jaco Pastorius. At that point, she did two things that would have been unthinkable to those who had followed her career to that point: she married bass player and producer Larry Klein, and she decided to rock out. The albums from this “rock” period are some of Mitchell’s least known work, and her most uneven. The best songs from this time, however, are as good as any in her catalog, although stylistically different. Mitchell’s marriage to Klein eventually ended, but he worked on her most recent album, Shine, although they were no longer married. So I would say that Klein is still part of Mitchell’s musical family.

Suzanne Vega: In Liverpool

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My last example is also the most problematic. Suzanne Vega’s marriage to producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom only lasted for one album, 99.9 F degrees. I remember that the reviews at the time of the albums release hailed the album as a bold new direction for Vega. And I remember reading an interview with Vega at the time where she talked about how excited she was.

I saw Vega live a few years later, after the marriage was over. Vega reached a point in the performance where she was ready to take requests from the audience. But first, she cautioned us that she would not play any songs from 99.9 F degrees. But, to my ear, there was one song on the album that sounded like the rest of Vega’s material to that point. So I blithely shouted out, “In Liverpool”. Sure enough, that was the one song she had done with Froom that she was willing to lay claim to at that point, and it sounded great that day. So I don’t know how Vega feels about Froom or these songs nowadays. But I also don’t know if that answers the question of whether, however briefly, she and Froom were a family.

We Are Family: Country Brother Teams Edition

Delmore Brothers: I´ve Got The Big River Blues

Monroe Brothers: Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy

Blue Sky Boys: Are You From Dixie?

[purchase]

With Christmas approaching fast, it´s high time for some heavenly harmonies. And for these, look no further than the country brother teams of the thirties, aiming for that high lonesome sound. This is what inspired famous sibling combinations of a later date like the Louvins and the Everlys.

No matter if it´s Alton and Rabon Delmore from Elkmont, Alabama, Charlie and Bill Monroe from Rosine, Kentucky, or Bill and Earl Bolick from Hickory, North Carolina: these voices were made to soar together.