The holiday season sometimes seems like a prostate exam: unpleasant and invasive, but something that you simply have to endure. After all, you can’t so much as go to the store for toothpaste without being bombarded by snowmen hawking cinnamon-scented kitty litter and limited-edition Christmas lunchmeats, while the saccharine sounds of Michael Bublé drip cloyingly from the speakers. Not a very pleasant experience.
However, I’m finding plenty of creative people who are trying to breathe new life into this time of year. So today I’m going to share with you the first installment of Unusual Christmas/Holiday Songs that Make Me Happy. (Or, perhaps more accurately, Make Me Sad or Wistful in a Pleasant Way.) Hopefully some of them will make you happy, too, regardless of your relative level of Grinchliness.
Sarah McLachlan – River
Taken from her 2006 holiday album, “Wintersong,” this song hits me in all the right places. It’s a melancholic piano piece that toys with familiar melodies, and skates skillfully between minor and major keys.
Now, I know that this is a cover of a Joni Mitchell song. So of course, substantial credit must be given to her. And hers is brilliant and contemplative; however, I heard Ms. McLachlan’s first, and she brings a certain ingenuous subtlety to hers that, for me, cuts a little deeper than the original. I’m not saying it’s better, simply that I like it a little better.
The song begins on familiar territory, with a variation on “Jingle Bells.” Well, it’s been outfitted with a new sequence of chords. Then the lyrics begin:
It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees.They’re putting up reindeer,singing songs of joy and peace.
Then, she drops immediately into a minor key; and it’s not a basic minor chord. I haven’t been able to quite figure it out, but I think it’s a 9th, which adds an edge to a minor chord. It’s a jarring transition, made much stranger by the new theme in the lyrics:
I wish I had a river, I could skate away on.
Then, just as quickly as the minor key arrived, it flies. The major chords bring back happy lyrics, but they’re laced with irony:
But it don’t snow here, it stays pretty green.I’m gonna make a lotta moneyThen I’m gonna quit this crazy scene.
Then, right back into the minor chords and the skating-away motif. So she’s addressing the complexity of the holidays, how the density of tradition and obligation can sometimes be isolating.
The song continues to play with love and loss; she mentions making her “baby cry”; she was “hard to handle”, and as a result lost the “best baby” she ever had. And, again: “I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” Winter holidays are all about huddling together with loved ones, while outside the world shines, frozen and still. But she’s lost the one with whom she’d share it, and because it doesn’t snow where she lives, she can’t even use the weather to skate away from her loss; the rivers aren’t cold enough.
After another chorus, the song closes with another variation on “Jingle Bells”. But this one is changed; the chords skew further and further away from the original, until it cracks into dissonant chords, like splintered ice. The comfort of loved ones and the pleasure of wintry weather are stripped away, leaving only the cold.
I hope you are having a merry Christmas/Advent or a happy holiday season, whichever applies to your lifestyle. If there’s someone in your life who’s wishing they could skate away, maybe it’s time to reach out.
What do you think? How do you feel about this time of year? What are some of your favorite/most cherished holiday songs? Leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!
I love the idea you are pursuing of exploring “deep cuts”.
Outside, it’s actually cool for Southern California. Christmess is 8 days away and I cannot wait for the silly season to recede into the rear view mirror. I used to love Christmas. Loved opening those shiny packages. But it was always offset by the struggle to find enough money to give an equal number of things away.
We have a house full of stuff that I’ve collected over the years. The last thing I need is something else. So this year I’ve asked people for the alphabet. It’s been met with puzzled reactions but that has been part of the fun for me.
We use the alphabet every day. Some of us convey ideas, hopes, dreams, experiences and the like. Some of us put it together in odd ways that confound smell check on our glowing little boxes. I’m asking people to put letters together in a cunning order and tell me something from their mind, their heart, their life. Surprise me. I suggested that if someone did this for me, I would get a really big piece of paper, draw a large “Q” on it, wrap in with a ribbon and be done with it. It’s the creativity and originality that I’m so excited to receive this year. Something from the heart, not the credit card. My mom asked if she could bake cookies in the shape of letters. That was exactly the creativity I was hoping for from people. Surprise me. Surprise someone on your list.
I’m surprised to find a bit of guilt and shame that I won’t be handing out something with a receipt in my pocket. I need to get creating letters too. The Elves haven’t been at the keyboard for a while. This crazy idea is on me.
Now here it is, December 17, 2014. It will be dropping down into the 50’s tonight in Los Angeles. Someone joked that he’s been shoveling sunshine out of his driveway. I’d love to live somewhere that I couldn’t wear shorts as I walk the dogs past yet another inflatable snowman. Or the icicles came from Mother Nature and not Home Depot. Taking a break from work, I found this latest blog post. A brilliant collection of letters, cunningly arranged. (I stole that idea from Douglas Adams. A wizard with the alphabet. I miss him.) I head on over to see the Inkwell Hatchery. I’ve been eagerly awaiting to hear more about Joe Walsh. I remember when that song first hit the airwaves. (Hotel California and Sultans of Swing, too.) You did such a wonderful job of describing the songs that I need to go back and listen to them with headphones now. You’ve added depth and history to part of the soundtrack of my early years.
I’ve also got to head over to i-tunes and download Miss McLachlan’s – River. Sounds familiar but again, you’ve added such depth to the work that it deserves a fresh listen. Words for the ears.
Thank you for the words. Best Christmas present in years. You really made this holiday for me.
-t.