I always make it a pont to avoid Christmas music as long as I possibly can each year... this year I didn't hear a Christmas song until the day after Thankgiving (a holiday I believe they call "Thursday" in the rest of the world). I was happy with that. I thought about not writing this week but decided to do something constructive with my cynisism instead.
Special thanks to Bruce Springsteen 's "Secret Garden" for the mood I was in while writing this.
"Twenty-Fifth of December"
I think its somebody's birthday
But that was a long time ago
Im on my way to another double shift
So they don't turn off my telephone
The highway is empty
Cept for this lonely pick up truck
The shopping malls are silent
Its nice that something shut them up
My folks live just a few towns over
But I haven't talked to them in years
Twenty-fifth of December
But there aint no Christmas here
And all the drunks are pretty quiet
Seems nobody wants to fight
And I'm not complaining, No. far from it..
I don't wanna see the cops tonight
The bum on the corner
He comes in begging folks for change
And I can't blame him really
It hurt to throw him out today
I gave him the coat off my shoulders
And bought him a cheap six pack of beer
These streets are getting colder
And there aint no Christmas here
(bridge)
They took his good name
and replaced it with an X
A light bulb in a manger
in a nativity set
Something's been lost
In all this holiday cheer
The church doors are locked
And there aint no Christmas here
Twenty-fifth of December
And there aint no Christmas here
-marv
Note: I am not a religious person at all... but as a writer I think its good thing to be able to put yourself in someone elses shoes and to take someone elses feeling as your own.
Andrew Delaney & The Horse You Rode In On ---> http://www.myspace.com/andrewdelaney
You can and should buy my album "Scoundrels!" in mp3 format on amazon.com or iTunes etc...
Note: I am not a religious person at all... but as a writer I think its good thing to be able to put yourself in someone elses shoes and to take someone elses feeling as your own.
As a religious person, I think you did a spectacular job of representing some of my feelings at Christmas time.
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Cynical indeed, but fun in a darkly humorous kind of way...well I liked it!!!
"They took his good name
and replaced it with an X"
Clever AND subtle....
The true meaning of Christmas does seem to have been lost - it's an orgy of drinking, eating and watching the Great Escape these days....Thanksgiving is an English holiday though, we just save it till the 27th of Dec....."Thank **** that's over for another year!"
Seems like it's almost a contest these days to see who can have the most lights outside their house....hell, our street looks like Blackpool illuminations....couple of people this year have got projectors that throw images onto the side walls, I just wonder how much THEY spent....
I do still enjoy watching the little ones unwrap the presents though......
Great song, Marv, you've captured the new spirit of Christmas perfectly....it'll never be a hit though!!!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Hiyas,
I agree with Vic, this won't be a hit (but just to clarify, you did capture the new spirit of christmas perfectly) ... this song is more honest than what people want to hear during christmas. For me, that makes it even a bigger reason to be heard. Like Seinfeld said about some holiday (can't remember if it was christmas and my quote is taken somewhat from the top of my head): That's what I like about the holidays, people being helped by other people, other than me.
I think a lot of people read about the charity and feel well with themselves, knowing that the poor and needing around them is being helped, though they don't help out themselves.
I especially like the way you work in the line "But there ain't no Christmas here". That hit me hard each time, well done!
:)
-man
"I wish there was an over the counter test for my loneliness"
Marv.
This is some great stuff
It kind'a got me in the same mode as I get in when I hear Telegraph Road with Dire Straits
You sure did a great job putting yourself in someone else's shoes.
I can't say I have anything to ad that has not been said.
Blessings.
Olav
Man, are you related to Tom Waits :lol: :lol: That was great :!: I hope you post a MP3 soon--the dog
Hey Marv,
This was (for me) one of your "grows-on-ya" songs. On the first reading, I didn't much like it. (too somber) On subsequent readings, I could kinda "hear" how you'd do it. Although that's dangerous to say, because you have a knack for putting things together vastly different than I expect, in ways that are usually better than I'd have thought. Started getting images of the bums and drunks in a "Southside Chicago" sorta scene, fire barrels,... cardboard on heat grates, etc... Finally, when smokindog made the reference to Tom Waits, and I went back and read it again, and it all kinda fell into place.
In the final analysis, you really did capture the spirit of Christmas for many many people in this song. Dealing with their own anxieties, yet reaching out to help others, or make a difference for someone in their own way.
The more I read it, the more I like it.
-- Scratch 8)
"...if heartaches were commercials, we'd all be on TV" -- John Prine
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