The categories of Christmas music includes almost all genres of music. There are incredibly beautiful songs like “Silent Night,” that fill this category of music with musicality and beauty and then there are atrocious and annoying songs like “Holly Jolly Christmas.” Talk show host David Letterman feels the same way about Christmas music except for one exception, Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).
This was a special year for this song. After performing this song for almost thirty years on The David Letterman Show, she sang it for the last time earlier in December.
Also, this was the first year, I brought this song into my music classroom and helped my 5th graders perform this song at their Holiday assembly.
I was reminded of how great this song was when I watched 20 Feet From Stardom last summer (I wrote about this film in more detail in this post). One of the most powerful stories in this film is about Darlene Love. She was working as a maid after giving up on her singing career. She heard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the radio and decided that she recommit herself to music.
This was the story I told my 5th graders when I introduced this song to them. I also told them about how Darlene Love was not given credit for some of the greatest songs in pop music like “He’s A Rebel,” and how only recently she got her due for being one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music.
I taught them how to sing the back up part and the lead vocals. We explored the form and learned how to play the chord progressions on xylophones. At first some of the students who weren’t Christians were no comfortable singing this song. However after discussions on how other classes were going to sing music from different cultures. Also, the fact that this song was more about the universal value of togetherness and family more than Jesus Christ, my 5th graders really bought into this song.
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is one of the greatest Christmas songs and probably the greatest Christmas pop song because it embraces and reflects its genre authentically and beautifully. Like Phil Specter’s other masterpieces like “Unchained Melody” (which I discuss in this previous post), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), features and unbelievable production featuring and incredible, groove, depth of sound and most importantly, soul.
Darlene leans into the melody with a mixture of Gospel, teenage heartache and emotional depth. Throughout all of this there is joy at the thought of being together with the one that she wishes would come home. It is this mixture of feelings, which reflects not what Christmas used to be about, but what Christmas and holidays in general have become for so many people in our culture.
There’s nothing saccharine, cheesy or campy about “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." It’s spirited in expression, and its rocks. What else could want in a Holiday song?
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
Parenthood: Week 31 - A Jolly Holiday With Ollie
This was our first Holiday season with Ollie. In past years, we pretty much followed what our
families did for the Holidays. Diana and I tried to carve out some time for each other and would
save one Christmas present to open without our families. With this being Ollie's first Christmas
we felt that we wanted to take this a step further and really make sure this holiday season meant
something to our family.
When you are a kid, your parent split special occasions between your moms side and your dad's side. Then when you become married, you as an adult have to negotiate how these two sides work with your spruces families. You can't do four thanksgivings in one day, so you have to compromise. So Diana's father side got together, the Sunday before Christmas, Diana's immediate family spent Christmas Eve together and Diana's mom's side spent Christmas afternoon together. Then we spend new years with my side and the time we had for ourselves as a family was Christmas morning.
Many of the things that we do surrounding the holidays we do for our children's sake. We want to create an atmosphere of wonder and an element of awe. The problem is that sometimes in the pursuit of fulfilling our own expectations and the expectations we think others set for us, the stress can overshadow the point of holidays.
Ollie doesn't understand what is going on with the decorations, the music and the gifts. As much as he enjoys his toys, there is nothing that makes him happier than when Diana and I are both around. When talking about what Ollie would enjoy the most we realized a lot of the time when we are both home with Ollie we are tag-teaming. I'll be doing the dishes when Diana is putting Ollie to bed or I'll be playing with him while Diana is doing work. So we decided to make a point of spending Christmas morning together with our full attention on each other.
Christmas morning was really nice. While the presents were fun, it was even more special because we spent time together as a family. Knowing that people all around us were doing the same thing made it feel great to share in this tradition of being together for each other.
Ollie's world is his family. He is at the point when he can scoot around on the floor. Often when I'm playing with him, I'll put a couple toys around for him to scoot towards. While he has toys that he really enjoys, often he will scoot toward me or Diana instead of a toy. Ollie is almost always excited to see one us when we come home to him and many times after he wakes up from a nap, he is smiling at us. That's the way it should be for all of us. Unfortunately many families become soured by bitterness, regret and misunderstanding that causes a family to become less of a refuge.
Ollie like other babies remind us where our center should be, where our instincts draw us to to find comfort: our families. When our biological families fail us, we can find other people to be our family to find the comfort we find in our parents when we are younger. The potential lies deep inside of us to be that comfort for other people. It is up to us to keep this alive in our children and spread it to the people in our lives.
When you are a kid, your parent split special occasions between your moms side and your dad's side. Then when you become married, you as an adult have to negotiate how these two sides work with your spruces families. You can't do four thanksgivings in one day, so you have to compromise. So Diana's father side got together, the Sunday before Christmas, Diana's immediate family spent Christmas Eve together and Diana's mom's side spent Christmas afternoon together. Then we spend new years with my side and the time we had for ourselves as a family was Christmas morning.
Many of the things that we do surrounding the holidays we do for our children's sake. We want to create an atmosphere of wonder and an element of awe. The problem is that sometimes in the pursuit of fulfilling our own expectations and the expectations we think others set for us, the stress can overshadow the point of holidays.
Ollie doesn't understand what is going on with the decorations, the music and the gifts. As much as he enjoys his toys, there is nothing that makes him happier than when Diana and I are both around. When talking about what Ollie would enjoy the most we realized a lot of the time when we are both home with Ollie we are tag-teaming. I'll be doing the dishes when Diana is putting Ollie to bed or I'll be playing with him while Diana is doing work. So we decided to make a point of spending Christmas morning together with our full attention on each other.
Christmas morning was really nice. While the presents were fun, it was even more special because we spent time together as a family. Knowing that people all around us were doing the same thing made it feel great to share in this tradition of being together for each other.
Ollie's world is his family. He is at the point when he can scoot around on the floor. Often when I'm playing with him, I'll put a couple toys around for him to scoot towards. While he has toys that he really enjoys, often he will scoot toward me or Diana instead of a toy. Ollie is almost always excited to see one us when we come home to him and many times after he wakes up from a nap, he is smiling at us. That's the way it should be for all of us. Unfortunately many families become soured by bitterness, regret and misunderstanding that causes a family to become less of a refuge.
Ollie like other babies remind us where our center should be, where our instincts draw us to to find comfort: our families. When our biological families fail us, we can find other people to be our family to find the comfort we find in our parents when we are younger. The potential lies deep inside of us to be that comfort for other people. It is up to us to keep this alive in our children and spread it to the people in our lives.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas Sermon from the Non-Christian
I did not grow up in a Christian household and while I celebrate Christmas with my wife’s family, I don’t embrace Christianity as the center of my spiritual life.
So what does Christmas mean to me?
That’s a difficult question, and not only for us “non-Christians.” Partially, it’s because more than any other religious holiday, Christmas has become an integral part of American culture. People continue to mourn the commercialization of this holiday. Charlie Brown had issues with this in 1965, yet we seem as a culture to not really care to make movements away from the shopping and gift giving.
It’s because there’s nothing really “wrong” or “bad” about giving people gifts. Yes, it can steal our attention from more important things in life but at the same time thoughtful gift giving can really help us focus on the people that we love.
Commercialism can get annoying, but let’s move past that and consider the central story of Christmas:
Two Easters ago, I wrote this “Easter Sermon For the Non-Christian,” focusing on how we relate to Mary’s suffering more than Jesus’ on the cross and how there’s a powerful connection in the story of Easter to our own lives. The connection we have to Christmas is the central experience of the miracle of life.
Childbirth seems so common and unremarkable sometimes. About 350,000 babies are born every day worldwide. So what’s the big deal? People get pregnant and they have babies? Well, it's not that simple.
There’s a woman who tried to have a baby for ten years with her husband. They went through numerous fertility treatments, which not only cost a lot of money but also had physical and emotional tolls. They finally met their baby after the wife’s sister carried the baby to full term and delivered their baby.
Even with our modern medical technology people continue to struggle to have babies and woman continue to face childbirth with levels of risks. After talking to my brother about his wife giving birth to my niece, I realized there is nothing commonplace or insignificant about the birth of a child.
One of the things that we think about on Christmas is the impact Jesus Christ had on other people’s lives. Something I see every time I talk to a parent is how much their children change their own lives. President Obama related that the most difficult moment in his life was when his daughter Sasha was in the hospital for meningitis:
So what does Christmas mean to me?
That’s a difficult question, and not only for us “non-Christians.” Partially, it’s because more than any other religious holiday, Christmas has become an integral part of American culture. People continue to mourn the commercialization of this holiday. Charlie Brown had issues with this in 1965, yet we seem as a culture to not really care to make movements away from the shopping and gift giving.
It’s because there’s nothing really “wrong” or “bad” about giving people gifts. Yes, it can steal our attention from more important things in life but at the same time thoughtful gift giving can really help us focus on the people that we love.
Commercialism can get annoying, but let’s move past that and consider the central story of Christmas:
The Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Messiah.Let’s strip down this story for a second and take away the spiritual part of the story.
Mary gave birth to Jesus.Christmas is a celebration of a birth. Yes, there is the layer of Parthenogenesis and what Jesus grew up to become but without those things, it is still a miraculous story.
Two Easters ago, I wrote this “Easter Sermon For the Non-Christian,” focusing on how we relate to Mary’s suffering more than Jesus’ on the cross and how there’s a powerful connection in the story of Easter to our own lives. The connection we have to Christmas is the central experience of the miracle of life.
Childbirth seems so common and unremarkable sometimes. About 350,000 babies are born every day worldwide. So what’s the big deal? People get pregnant and they have babies? Well, it's not that simple.
There’s a woman who tried to have a baby for ten years with her husband. They went through numerous fertility treatments, which not only cost a lot of money but also had physical and emotional tolls. They finally met their baby after the wife’s sister carried the baby to full term and delivered their baby.
Even with our modern medical technology people continue to struggle to have babies and woman continue to face childbirth with levels of risks. After talking to my brother about his wife giving birth to my niece, I realized there is nothing commonplace or insignificant about the birth of a child.
One of the things that we think about on Christmas is the impact Jesus Christ had on other people’s lives. Something I see every time I talk to a parent is how much their children change their own lives. President Obama related that the most difficult moment in his life was when his daughter Sasha was in the hospital for meningitis:
"I still shudder when I think of those three days; how my world narrowed to a single point, and how I was not interested in anything or anybody outside the four walls of that hospital room -- not my work, not my schedule, not my future."In celebrating the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating one of the most significant human experiences. We’re taking a moment to think about this event, the birth of child and honor it not simply as a point of religious salvation, but as the center of our shared humanity.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Buffy's Christmas Tree Lights
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| IS NOT SURE WUT 2 DO WIF THEES LITEZ . . . |
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| MAYBE I WEAR THEES LITEZ?!? |
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| HOWS I LOOK?!? DIS DOESNT SEEM RITE. . . |
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| I FINKZ THEY LOOK BETTR ON TEH TREE!!! TIEM 2 TAEK NAPZ . . . |
Friday, December 30, 2011
It's A Jolly Holiday With Buffy
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| Christmas 2009 |
Growing up Christmas was a time when my family got together, exchanged gifts and shared a nice meal. We aren't Christian so this holiday lacked any significant spiritual meaning. As I got older Christmas meant less and less in my family but that’s okay. We have our own traditions and great times that we spend together outside of this holiday.
When I married Diana the question of whom we would spend Christmas with was an easy one to answer. Where my family didn’t hold too much importance in this day, Diana’s family did. So we would spend a day, sometime before Christmas with Diana’s dad’s extended family and then on the day itself we went to church and spent the afternoon with my mother-in-law’s extended family.
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| Christmas 2010 |
Buffy is part of all of our Christmas traditions. She comes with us to pick out the tree that we cut down by hand every year. She sits under the tree waiting patiently for Santa to come. Of course when Santa does finally comes she excitedly greets him.
Of course Buffy gets presents,
Some of which like Christmas sweaters she’s not a fan of. . .
Buffy comes along with us to Diana’s family celebrations and proceeds to chase around Diana’s little cousin’s and give Grandma a hearty lick hello. It’s cute how Diana’s relatives not only check to see if Buffy will come but expect her to be there and often greet her first when we arrive.
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| Christmas 2011 |
The shopping, the commercialism and the stress of this time of year can kind of put a damper on Christmas cheer but I’m quickly reminded of what Christmas really is about when I watch Buffy run and down the aisle of Christmas trees and strain against her leash to enter Grandma’s house.
More than anything in the world, Buffy simply wants to be around the people she loves and share with them the adventures of life. For me, that’s the greatest about Christmas and Buffy is a beautiful reminder of the magic of this holiday.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Holiday Gift Giving For The Opposite Sex
One of the challenges for men and women this time of year is buying gifts for the opposite sex. This is one of those lists of tips to be applied generally. There are exceptions to every single one of these tips/rules for gift giving. In no way am I implying that I’m an expert in gender roles and the developing relationship between women and men in the 21st century. These are simply good guidelines that if you follow them, more likely than not you will observe a sincere smile when your gift is received.
Woman:
1. Avoid giving things that imply that your significant other needs to be more organized, like wallets, bags and organizers. You may think that he wants to replace that wallet which is currently more duct-tape than leather, but he doesn’t AND he doesn’t want you trying to “fix” this part of his life.
2. Don’t get some kind of bobble or key chain that is really feminine that you expect him to carry and keep with us all the time. It’s a nice thought, but more likely than not other guys will make fun of him for the “I love you” dog tags you had made.
3. Unless you are 100% sure of the style and size of an article of clothing that he wants, don’t buy it for your man. One of the biggest fears guys have is of girls who try to “change” them. I agree, your man needs to actually learn how to dress for work but gifts aren’t the way to do it. Then we feel pressured to like the clothing and wear it and it’s a bad vibe. Go shopping with your man and show him a bunch of stuff he should wear, that’s fine, but don’t spring it on him on Christmas morning.
4. Electronics. This one is hard because most guys buy electronics they want and are very picky about things like video games and iPhone cases. We're oddly particular about brands and specifications. A lot of guys really like researching this stuff. Maybe you can green-light one of these kinds of purchases, but don't do it yourself.
5. Some Good ideas:
Men:
1. Don’t buy a girl a purse. This is a highly personal purchase. It’s just like how you are happy with your old wallet and you don’t want a girl to buy you a new one. Leave that one alone.
2. Unless you are 100% sure of a size and a style of clothing that she likes, don’t buy a girl clothing. What you buy sends inadvertent messages about what you think about her body, the kind of woman she is and the kind of woman that you want her to be. It’s thoughtful, I agree, but it’s a big roll of the dice. Maybe once your married think about doing the clothing thing, but before then, bad idea.
3. Woman don’t care about TV size, how many megapixels a digital camera has or the memory in a laptop. They want electronics that are functional, easy to use and are in cute colors. If you are going to buy electronics for her, bring along another woman and really listen to the questions she asks the salespeople.
4. It’s a good rule of thumb to not buy things as gifts that remind woman of chores associated with being a housewife. Vacuum cleaners, dishtowels, pots, and irons, probably will not go over well. Cooking stuff can be a great gift, if she like to cook, otherwise, it sends of message of trying to get her to do something that she’s actually not that into.
5. Some good ideas:
Men & Woman
Probably the best gift you can give this holiday seasons is a hand-written note. You don't need fancy stationary, a piece of notebook paper will do. Just speak from the heart. Write about how grateful you are for all he or she has done in the past year. Write about how much you cherish your partner as a person. Tell about the meaning that their presence brings into your life and express how much you are looking forward to your future together.
You attach this note to any gift, even a toilet plunger and I promise you''ll see some tears welling up in your loved ones eyes.
Woman:
1. Avoid giving things that imply that your significant other needs to be more organized, like wallets, bags and organizers. You may think that he wants to replace that wallet which is currently more duct-tape than leather, but he doesn’t AND he doesn’t want you trying to “fix” this part of his life.
2. Don’t get some kind of bobble or key chain that is really feminine that you expect him to carry and keep with us all the time. It’s a nice thought, but more likely than not other guys will make fun of him for the “I love you” dog tags you had made.
3. Unless you are 100% sure of the style and size of an article of clothing that he wants, don’t buy it for your man. One of the biggest fears guys have is of girls who try to “change” them. I agree, your man needs to actually learn how to dress for work but gifts aren’t the way to do it. Then we feel pressured to like the clothing and wear it and it’s a bad vibe. Go shopping with your man and show him a bunch of stuff he should wear, that’s fine, but don’t spring it on him on Christmas morning.
4. Electronics. This one is hard because most guys buy electronics they want and are very picky about things like video games and iPhone cases. We're oddly particular about brands and specifications. A lot of guys really like researching this stuff. Maybe you can green-light one of these kinds of purchases, but don't do it yourself.
5. Some Good ideas:
- CD box sets
- Nerf Dart Gun
- miscellaneous licensed products (i. e. Simpsons’ Duff Beer Can) from TV shows, movies and video games
- comic books: everything from Superman to Calvin & Hobbes
- stand-up comic albums
- humorous t-shirts featuring cultural references from his childhood
- sports and film memorabilia
- Food: Bacon, sausage, popcorn, beverages, potato chips, salsa, steak. Guys like food. Food as a gift is a great idea that is under-utilized. I’m not talking about cookies and chocolates, we get plenty of those during the holiday. Get your guy some real food.
- Books: Guys actually do like to read. We just aren’t really into The Notebook. Do some research into what your man is into and find a fun, easy to read novel that reflects their interests. Don’t buy a book that is “good for us,” find a book that we would really like.
Men:
1. Don’t buy a girl a purse. This is a highly personal purchase. It’s just like how you are happy with your old wallet and you don’t want a girl to buy you a new one. Leave that one alone.
2. Unless you are 100% sure of a size and a style of clothing that she likes, don’t buy a girl clothing. What you buy sends inadvertent messages about what you think about her body, the kind of woman she is and the kind of woman that you want her to be. It’s thoughtful, I agree, but it’s a big roll of the dice. Maybe once your married think about doing the clothing thing, but before then, bad idea.
3. Woman don’t care about TV size, how many megapixels a digital camera has or the memory in a laptop. They want electronics that are functional, easy to use and are in cute colors. If you are going to buy electronics for her, bring along another woman and really listen to the questions she asks the salespeople.
4. It’s a good rule of thumb to not buy things as gifts that remind woman of chores associated with being a housewife. Vacuum cleaners, dishtowels, pots, and irons, probably will not go over well. Cooking stuff can be a great gift, if she like to cook, otherwise, it sends of message of trying to get her to do something that she’s actually not that into.
5. Some good ideas:
- Stuffed animals
- Picture frame with a picture of you together
- Photo album:especially in this day and of age of digital photos, getting some photos printed and put together means a lot
- Calendar of cute puppies
- Coupon not for 10 minutes of your “affection” but for you to do a certain chore that is usually her responsibly,
- Jewelry (keep it simple)
- A DVD of her favorite film that you might think is a “chick flic” and a promise that you will watch it with her.
- My Little Pony
- Potted plant: these last a lot longer than a bouquet of flowers
Men & Woman
Probably the best gift you can give this holiday seasons is a hand-written note. You don't need fancy stationary, a piece of notebook paper will do. Just speak from the heart. Write about how grateful you are for all he or she has done in the past year. Write about how much you cherish your partner as a person. Tell about the meaning that their presence brings into your life and express how much you are looking forward to your future together.
You attach this note to any gift, even a toilet plunger and I promise you''ll see some tears welling up in your loved ones eyes.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Turkey Tango
Anyone know any Thanksgiving songs? This song is really underrepresented in popular music, but luckily the general music teachers have this covered: THE TURKEY TANGO!!!
Those kids were good but these ones are REALLY moving:
OMG, girls doing this in pairs!!
I'm not sure if they know who is leading.
The best part of this one is the fact that there is a dad who sings along with the song. I hope those kids are dressed up as turkeys, but I'm not sure, those skirts are kind of weird.
And yes, I have done this with my student and they love it.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!
Those kids were good but these ones are REALLY moving:
OMG, girls doing this in pairs!!
I'm not sure if they know who is leading.
The best part of this one is the fact that there is a dad who sings along with the song. I hope those kids are dressed up as turkeys, but I'm not sure, those skirts are kind of weird.
And yes, I have done this with my student and they love it.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!
Friday, December 24, 2010
What It Means To Give (and more importantly receive)
This year more than any other year I’ve been wrestling with my own gift giving philosophy. I enjoy giving gifts and of course I enjoy getting gifts but within the whirlwind of the Christmas holiday it become a lot more complicated.
There's multiple approaches to giving gifts. First there's the idea of getting gifts off of people’s lists. This is much more pragmatic and allows people to get things that they actually want or need. However if two people are spending the same amount of money on each other, what’s really the difference between this and buying gifts for themselves (which an awful lot of people do doing the holiday season which is a whole different issue)?
Well, there is effort put into going out and shopping. Being involved in buying something probably in a store that you would not normally go to yourself can mean a lot however personally would rather go off the list.
When you think about the gifts that really mean something to you, what do you think of? I don’t really remember the gifts I got off a list. I think of a picture frame my friend Morgan made for me with little construction paper cut-outs of Diana and I. I think of a little teddy bear my mom gave me on the last day she was helping me move into college my freshmen year and I think of a thank you card Diana randomly wrote telling me how thankful she was to have me in her life.
Does this mean that other gifts I’ve gotten are less valid, or less worthy? It appears that way but not really.
Not every present can deeply meaningful and that doesn't mean they aren't worth giving. Some of the gifts I bought for people this year are more pragmatic, things that I know they want. Other things are stuff that they wouldn’t think to buy for themselves and one thing I’m giving this year didn’t cost me any money whatsoever but took more hours than I can count to put together.
Who knows, maybe the most pragmatic gift will be the most meaningful. You never know. Like the love of a song, what’s meaningful isn't always logical. You can’t control how people receive the gifts you give but you can control how meaningful the gifts you receive are to you.
My parents aren’t big on celebrating on specific holiday. They feel that you shouldn’t have to wait for specific days in the year to celebrate sharing life with people you love. The same things applies to giving.
We give to each other time, care and love throughout the year. That is the true expression of giving, not a couple gifts bought during the holiday season. What makes gifts meaningful is not the gift itself but the spirit of the person giving it.
When you are sharing gifts with each other this weekend think about the person giving it as much as the gift itself. Think about all of the things that person has given you in the past year. If you keep this in mind, I promise no matter what you receive it will mean the world to you. And just maybe whenever you look at the gift it will remind you of how that person makes your world a little brighter every day.
There's multiple approaches to giving gifts. First there's the idea of getting gifts off of people’s lists. This is much more pragmatic and allows people to get things that they actually want or need. However if two people are spending the same amount of money on each other, what’s really the difference between this and buying gifts for themselves (which an awful lot of people do doing the holiday season which is a whole different issue)?
Well, there is effort put into going out and shopping. Being involved in buying something probably in a store that you would not normally go to yourself can mean a lot however personally would rather go off the list.
When you think about the gifts that really mean something to you, what do you think of? I don’t really remember the gifts I got off a list. I think of a picture frame my friend Morgan made for me with little construction paper cut-outs of Diana and I. I think of a little teddy bear my mom gave me on the last day she was helping me move into college my freshmen year and I think of a thank you card Diana randomly wrote telling me how thankful she was to have me in her life.
Does this mean that other gifts I’ve gotten are less valid, or less worthy? It appears that way but not really.
Not every present can deeply meaningful and that doesn't mean they aren't worth giving. Some of the gifts I bought for people this year are more pragmatic, things that I know they want. Other things are stuff that they wouldn’t think to buy for themselves and one thing I’m giving this year didn’t cost me any money whatsoever but took more hours than I can count to put together.
Who knows, maybe the most pragmatic gift will be the most meaningful. You never know. Like the love of a song, what’s meaningful isn't always logical. You can’t control how people receive the gifts you give but you can control how meaningful the gifts you receive are to you.
My parents aren’t big on celebrating on specific holiday. They feel that you shouldn’t have to wait for specific days in the year to celebrate sharing life with people you love. The same things applies to giving.
We give to each other time, care and love throughout the year. That is the true expression of giving, not a couple gifts bought during the holiday season. What makes gifts meaningful is not the gift itself but the spirit of the person giving it.
When you are sharing gifts with each other this weekend think about the person giving it as much as the gift itself. Think about all of the things that person has given you in the past year. If you keep this in mind, I promise no matter what you receive it will mean the world to you. And just maybe whenever you look at the gift it will remind you of how that person makes your world a little brighter every day.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Week 11: Simple Gifts
Teachers often talk about how much they learn from students. Sometimes this “learning” comes from research that goes into preparing lessons and other times the students literally teach teachers things. And it was my students who taught me the meaning of "Simple Gifts."
For the past month, I’ve been preparing for our Thanksgiving Assembly. This program is like a school play involving students acting out stories telling about the origins of Thanksgiving and Native American folklore. My part involved teaching my third graders “Simple Gifts” with an Orff accompaniment (those xylophone instruments). Closing the assembly with “Simple Gifts” is a much-loved tradition in this school and I was more than happy to teach this song.
“Simple Gifts” is a song composed by the Shakers, a religious organization formally known as the United Society Of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. They were most active in the early 1800s and lived in communal communities. This group got the nickname “Shakers” because of the way they danced. Music and dancing was central to the Shakers spiritual experience and “Simple Gifts” like many of their songs is a dance tune.
Aaron Copland popularized this song including it in the music he composed for the ballet, Appalachian Springs.
An arrangement of this song was also performed at the inauguration of President Obama.
That is pretty much where my knowledge of this song stopped.
Last week ten minutes before I was going to teach a class, I found out I was going to teach a different class. Without a lesson plan I hurriedly created a worksheet about the song “Simple Gifts.” The first two pages were a fill in the blank lyric activity and on the last page I asked my students to write down their three favorite “simple gifts” from the song and to come up with three “simple gifts” that were not in the song.
The worksheet did a nice job of filling up most of the lesson and at the end I brought the class together to discuss what they had written down. After going through the worksheet, I asked my students to define a “simple gift.”
They told me that “simple gifts” are not things that you can out put in a box. One of my students articulated that a simple gifts is something that you do for each other. When I asked them what wasn’t a "simple gift," they gave me examples like video games and televisions and when I asked them to come up with “simple gifts” they responded with the idea of sharing and being kind.
Thanks to my third graders now I understand why “Simple Gifts” is a fitting song for Thanksgiving. The most important gifts in life, the things that we are thankful for are not things that you can put a price tag on. They are things that we do for each other and with each other. In thinking about the gifts that we are thankful for it encourages us to pass on those gifts to the ones we loves transforming the act of thanksgiving to an act of giving.
For the past month, I’ve been preparing for our Thanksgiving Assembly. This program is like a school play involving students acting out stories telling about the origins of Thanksgiving and Native American folklore. My part involved teaching my third graders “Simple Gifts” with an Orff accompaniment (those xylophone instruments). Closing the assembly with “Simple Gifts” is a much-loved tradition in this school and I was more than happy to teach this song.
“Simple Gifts” is a song composed by the Shakers, a religious organization formally known as the United Society Of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. They were most active in the early 1800s and lived in communal communities. This group got the nickname “Shakers” because of the way they danced. Music and dancing was central to the Shakers spiritual experience and “Simple Gifts” like many of their songs is a dance tune.
Aaron Copland popularized this song including it in the music he composed for the ballet, Appalachian Springs.
An arrangement of this song was also performed at the inauguration of President Obama.
That is pretty much where my knowledge of this song stopped.
Last week ten minutes before I was going to teach a class, I found out I was going to teach a different class. Without a lesson plan I hurriedly created a worksheet about the song “Simple Gifts.” The first two pages were a fill in the blank lyric activity and on the last page I asked my students to write down their three favorite “simple gifts” from the song and to come up with three “simple gifts” that were not in the song.
The worksheet did a nice job of filling up most of the lesson and at the end I brought the class together to discuss what they had written down. After going through the worksheet, I asked my students to define a “simple gift.”
They told me that “simple gifts” are not things that you can out put in a box. One of my students articulated that a simple gifts is something that you do for each other. When I asked them what wasn’t a "simple gift," they gave me examples like video games and televisions and when I asked them to come up with “simple gifts” they responded with the idea of sharing and being kind.
Thanks to my third graders now I understand why “Simple Gifts” is a fitting song for Thanksgiving. The most important gifts in life, the things that we are thankful for are not things that you can put a price tag on. They are things that we do for each other and with each other. In thinking about the gifts that we are thankful for it encourages us to pass on those gifts to the ones we loves transforming the act of thanksgiving to an act of giving.
‘Tis the gift to be loving,
‘Tis the best gift of all,
Like a warm spring rain bringing beauty when it falls,
And as we use this gift we may come to believe,
It is better to give than it is to receive.
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler
I grew up surrounded by Jewish people.
At least a third if not more of the people in my school were Jewish. I had no idea that Jewish people were a minority of the world population. When December rolled around it seemed that just as many people were talking about celebrating Chanukah as Christmas.
A couple things became clear to me in elementary school. If you were Jewish you got your gifts earlier and instead of one night of gifts there were eight. My elementary school logic concluded that having multiple nights of gifts and celebrations was for superior. I mean eight nights!! How could that not be better?
One of the early hints that Jewish culture was not prevalent as Christian culture was the fact out of all of the Holiday songs we sang in school and I heard on the radio, the only Jewish one I knew “Dreidel, Dreidel”
I don't know if the "Courtney Cox" counter melody is part of the original song but it seems to work. . . she is Jewish, right?
I realize that there are other Chanukah songs out there they are not as well know as other Christmas songs like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” Leave it to Adam Sandler to help fill the gap in our culture with “The Chanukah Song,”
Saturday Night Live has a long tradition of musical comedy like this clip of Andy Kaufman doing this early sketch from the sketch comedies show's first season.
Adam Sandler added to this tradition creating a song to reassuring Jewish children who felt that they were the only Jewish people in their neighborhood that they weren’t alone.
In “The Chanukah Song,” Sandler lists off people in popular culture who are Jewish and what becomes instantly apparent is that even though only 1.4% of the population in America is Jewish they have made amazing contributions to popular culture. Captain Kirk, Spock, James Caan, the Three Stoogies AND the Fonz. Seriously, Asian-Americans make up 5% of the population in the United States and what have we contributed, Mr. Sulu, Bruce Lee and John Cho.
Adam Sandler has a great time with this song. He sets up hilarious rhyme that seem to come out of nowhere, “You don't need "Deck The Halls" or "Jingle Bell Rock" 'Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.”
Then there are the unapologetically preposterous rhymes. Yes, yarmulke does rhythm with Chanukah, but not a lot of other words do so Sandler gets creative. There’s “Supersonicah,” “gin and tonicah,” “wannakah” and of course the crowd favorite “smoke your marijuanikah.”
I don’t know what the spirit of Chanukah is, I’ve never celebrated the holiday and my knowledge about "miracle of the container of oil" is weak at best. But for me “The Chanukah Song” is about a sense of pride. Adam Sandler reminds us in a joyous and hilarious way that Jewish people are not alone and have plenty of people in our culture to take pride in.
Adam Sandler may have been a kid growing up feeling like the only Jew in his community but he’s created a song about Chanukah that people who aren’t Jewish sing along to, revel in and share in the Joy of being a Jew.
Not too shabby.
At least a third if not more of the people in my school were Jewish. I had no idea that Jewish people were a minority of the world population. When December rolled around it seemed that just as many people were talking about celebrating Chanukah as Christmas.
A couple things became clear to me in elementary school. If you were Jewish you got your gifts earlier and instead of one night of gifts there were eight. My elementary school logic concluded that having multiple nights of gifts and celebrations was for superior. I mean eight nights!! How could that not be better?
One of the early hints that Jewish culture was not prevalent as Christian culture was the fact out of all of the Holiday songs we sang in school and I heard on the radio, the only Jewish one I knew “Dreidel, Dreidel”
I don't know if the "Courtney Cox" counter melody is part of the original song but it seems to work. . . she is Jewish, right?
I realize that there are other Chanukah songs out there they are not as well know as other Christmas songs like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” Leave it to Adam Sandler to help fill the gap in our culture with “The Chanukah Song,”
Saturday Night Live has a long tradition of musical comedy like this clip of Andy Kaufman doing this early sketch from the sketch comedies show's first season.
Adam Sandler added to this tradition creating a song to reassuring Jewish children who felt that they were the only Jewish people in their neighborhood that they weren’t alone.
In “The Chanukah Song,” Sandler lists off people in popular culture who are Jewish and what becomes instantly apparent is that even though only 1.4% of the population in America is Jewish they have made amazing contributions to popular culture. Captain Kirk, Spock, James Caan, the Three Stoogies AND the Fonz. Seriously, Asian-Americans make up 5% of the population in the United States and what have we contributed, Mr. Sulu, Bruce Lee and John Cho.
Adam Sandler has a great time with this song. He sets up hilarious rhyme that seem to come out of nowhere, “You don't need "Deck The Halls" or "Jingle Bell Rock" 'Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.”
Then there are the unapologetically preposterous rhymes. Yes, yarmulke does rhythm with Chanukah, but not a lot of other words do so Sandler gets creative. There’s “Supersonicah,” “gin and tonicah,” “wannakah” and of course the crowd favorite “smoke your marijuanikah.”
I don’t know what the spirit of Chanukah is, I’ve never celebrated the holiday and my knowledge about "miracle of the container of oil" is weak at best. But for me “The Chanukah Song” is about a sense of pride. Adam Sandler reminds us in a joyous and hilarious way that Jewish people are not alone and have plenty of people in our culture to take pride in.
Adam Sandler may have been a kid growing up feeling like the only Jew in his community but he’s created a song about Chanukah that people who aren’t Jewish sing along to, revel in and share in the Joy of being a Jew.
Not too shabby.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by The Jackson 5
Now I never believed in Santa Claus.
My parents being immigrants and not Christians did their best with Christmas. They did the gift thing, got a tree decorated the house but that was as far as it went with my family. We visited Santa in the mall and took pictures with the guy but there was never any illusion that anyone but our parents were responsible for getting us gifts. It wasn't so much that my brother and I were motivated to be good because of Santa but rather our parents.
Now perhaps having an outside influence, an omnipresent force like Santa to remind kids to be good is helpful but it kind of seems like a parental cop-out. I mean if your child is acts better when you mention Santa Claus as opposed to behaving well just for you then it seems you may have some behavior and respect issues to deal with.
The one song that most directly addresses the Santa Claus myth is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Originally performed on sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1934, this song became an instant Christmas classic.
Now most recordings of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" come from the perspective of an adult warning a child to be good. The words are a little ominous and foreboding saying telling a child that they should not only be good for Santa sake but "good for goodness sake."
Just think about the lyrics a second. Every line of the verse starts out with "you better." If that's not a veiled threat I don't know what is. I mean the song never explicitly describes what will happen if you are bad but I got to wonder if there isn't something punitive involved with Santa besides not getting gifts. This in addition to the fact that Santa is kind of a stalker is kind of disturbing, I mean this guys knows EVERYTHING!!
Here's the thing, I actually like this song the connotations don't work from me but it’s different hearing the words come from a child. This is one reason that my favorite version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is by The Jackson 5.
Not that it was enough for The Jackson 5 to break out with "I Want You Back" (which was one of the first posts I wrote), but the Jackson 5 and the geniuses at Motown continued to revolutionize popular music.
The Jackson 5 reved up the "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," adding a classic up tempo Motown beat. They also changed the melody on the line "Santa Claus is coming to town." Instead of starting low and rising up and down using broken thirds, it starts on high note out of nowhere falling down before jumping up for another high note. I mean Michael just gives that high note everything that he's got. You can just picture him closing his eyes, throwing his head back and letting free his voice.
In Michael's hands this song is less about being good or being bad, but just celebrating the fact that Santa is on his way. Michael captures a child like joy and innocence like other children singers but his vocal power and expression adds a layer of soul to his performance that takes this song to a whole different level.
The Jackson 5's version is so influential that many artist like Bruce Springsteen “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is as the Jackson 5 did modifying the melody and mimicking the Jackson 5's joyous spirit.
Listening to Michael makes you feel that he actually believes that Santa coming to town and his joy makes me want to believe in Santa Claus.
My parents being immigrants and not Christians did their best with Christmas. They did the gift thing, got a tree decorated the house but that was as far as it went with my family. We visited Santa in the mall and took pictures with the guy but there was never any illusion that anyone but our parents were responsible for getting us gifts. It wasn't so much that my brother and I were motivated to be good because of Santa but rather our parents.
Now perhaps having an outside influence, an omnipresent force like Santa to remind kids to be good is helpful but it kind of seems like a parental cop-out. I mean if your child is acts better when you mention Santa Claus as opposed to behaving well just for you then it seems you may have some behavior and respect issues to deal with.
The one song that most directly addresses the Santa Claus myth is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Originally performed on sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1934, this song became an instant Christmas classic.
Now most recordings of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" come from the perspective of an adult warning a child to be good. The words are a little ominous and foreboding saying telling a child that they should not only be good for Santa sake but "good for goodness sake."
Just think about the lyrics a second. Every line of the verse starts out with "you better." If that's not a veiled threat I don't know what is. I mean the song never explicitly describes what will happen if you are bad but I got to wonder if there isn't something punitive involved with Santa besides not getting gifts. This in addition to the fact that Santa is kind of a stalker is kind of disturbing, I mean this guys knows EVERYTHING!!
Here's the thing, I actually like this song the connotations don't work from me but it’s different hearing the words come from a child. This is one reason that my favorite version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is by The Jackson 5.
Not that it was enough for The Jackson 5 to break out with "I Want You Back" (which was one of the first posts I wrote), but the Jackson 5 and the geniuses at Motown continued to revolutionize popular music.
The Jackson 5 reved up the "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," adding a classic up tempo Motown beat. They also changed the melody on the line "Santa Claus is coming to town." Instead of starting low and rising up and down using broken thirds, it starts on high note out of nowhere falling down before jumping up for another high note. I mean Michael just gives that high note everything that he's got. You can just picture him closing his eyes, throwing his head back and letting free his voice.
In Michael's hands this song is less about being good or being bad, but just celebrating the fact that Santa is on his way. Michael captures a child like joy and innocence like other children singers but his vocal power and expression adds a layer of soul to his performance that takes this song to a whole different level.
The Jackson 5's version is so influential that many artist like Bruce Springsteen “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is as the Jackson 5 did modifying the melody and mimicking the Jackson 5's joyous spirit.
Listening to Michael makes you feel that he actually believes that Santa coming to town and his joy makes me want to believe in Santa Claus.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Auld Lang Syne
On New Year’s Eve across American, right after the countdown to midnight, people will sing “Auld Lang Syne.” Though people make jokes about not knowing what this song means and may not understand why it is sung on New Year’s Ever, it is a fitting and powerful song that speaks to beauty and struggle in life and questions the power of memories in shaping ourselves and our future.
“Auld Lang Syne” is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. Scholars aren’t sure if the tune that we sing the poem to, a traditional Scottish Folk song, was the intended by Burns but it has become synonymous with the poem. “Auld Lang Syne” translates literally to “old long since” but means “long, long ago.”
The performance that I’ve included is by Dougie MacLean one of Scotland’s most important musicians and composers. He is best known for writing the opening song for the film Last of The Mohicans titled “The Gael.” There is something very genuine about his performance that is not only due to his accent. His simple performance is a reminder of the folk tradition of the song and the reflective nature of the lyrics.
The tune itself is built around a pentatonic or 5-note scale. A quick way to play the scale is to play just black keys on a piano. This scale is of the first scales that teachers teach to students in elementary school music class because of its simplicity and ease of harmonization. The construction of this song contributes to how easy it is to learn and sing
“Auld Lang Syne” has a consistent phrase structure throughout the melody and repetitive rhythmic pattern. What brings interest and longing to the song is the contour, the way the phrase moves through higher and lower notes. The first phrase of the verses leads up to a higher note and the second phrase of the verses comes down ending on a lower note. The chorus starts high, dips down and then gently rising up again. The highest note of the melody, “we’ll take” which sets up the last phrase, descends to the lowest note of the phrase on the words “auld lang syne.” There is a sense of drama as the melody in the verse leads to the last phrase of the chorus, which has the widest and most dramatic contour of the entire melody.
“Auld Lang Syne” opens with a question that the song will examine through five verses.
[verse 1]
Should auld (old) acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld (old) acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?
The verse starts by asking if we should let go of memories of people in our past and then the song asks if we should remember the days in our past. These questions tie together the people in our lives with the days in our past reminding us that it is the people who made those days meaningful. .
[chorus]
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for days of auld lang syne.
There is something very meaningful of paying tribute with a toast filled not with liquid but our kind words. This helps us remember the good parts of the past and color our memories not with bitterness but the same good will we would like to share with all of the people in our lives. The next two verses speak of great times shared with people in the past and how those things have changed.
[verse 2]
We twa hae run about the braes,
(We two have run about the slopes,)
And pu’d (picked) the gowans (daisies) fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony (many) a weary foot,
Sin (since) auld lang syne.
[verse 3]
We twa hae paidl’d in the bur,
(We two have paddled in the stream)
Frae (from) morning sun till dine (dinner time);
But seas between us braid hae roar’d (broad roared)
Sin (since) auld lang syne.
The act of running through a field and picking flowers is a joyous form of walking while wondering, tired and lost is one of the saddest ways we move through life. Paddling a boat with a friend is an image of peace while that same water becomes a roaring sea is an image of violence. Things change in life and sometimes the activities that once brought us joy transforms into struggles through the responsibility and circumstance of adulthood.
[verse 4]
And surely ye’ll be (buy) your pint-stowp! (pint cup)
And surely I’ll be (buy) mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
Instead of looking back, this verse looks to the future. It looks forward to a time when friends will get together share a drink, and speak with fond words in tribute to times past. The song brings the realization that reminiscing about good times with friends in itself is something to look forward to in the future.
[verse 5]
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere! (friend)
And gie's (give) a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught, (good-will draught)
For auld lang syne.
The first verse ask a question in the present tense, the second and third verse reflect on the past, the fourth verse looks to future and fifth verse brings us back to the present. It’s like a friend convincing a friend of the importance of the past sharing handshake an expression of friendship and trust. This song not only convinces us that the past is worth remembering but that sharing a moment together is the past way to pay tribute to those times long ago.
I’ve been very fortunate in the past year. There are so many moments that I’ve gotten to share with people that I’ve love that mean so much to me. The picture at the top of this post is the first dance I had with my wife during our wedding reception. When I think of the question “Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days o' lang syne?” that moment with my wife in my arms surrounded by the people that we love comes to mind and my answer of course is no. And I hope I never do forget moments like that which bring me solace and strength.
Have a great New Year. Take a moment and share a great memory from the past year with a friend. Honor those times by filling the new year with wonderful moments with the people that you love that in future years you will reminisce as days of auld lang syne.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
Is Christmas a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? Yes. Is there other traditions attached to this holiday that have little to do Jesus Christ? Yes. Is a necessarily a bad thing? Yes, but only kind of.
Christmas in many ways seems like a disingenuous holiday. Research has shown that Jesus Christ was most likely born not in December. Early Christians celebrated Christmas in December to overshadow pagan holidays that celebrated the winter solstice. There was of course no snow when Jesus was born, the Coca-Cola Company created the modern day image of Santa Claus and retailers aren’t thinking about baby Jesus when they are pumping Christmas music over their speakers the day after thanksgiving and holding holiday sales throughout the month of December.
It’s slightly annoying sometimes (well it was REALLY annoying yesterday when I was trying to find a parking space at the mall) but despite all of the artificial and over-commercialization of Christmas, American culture has changed Christmas in a true national celebration of what is most joyous and important in our lives. Moreover, I can’t think of song that exemplifies that better then Mariah Carey’s Christmas masterpiece, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Almost every pop artist you can think of has released a Holiday themed album or song, most of which are focused on Christmas. Most of these songs are ok, some are just painful and a few of them are inspired. What is it about “All I Want for Christmas Is You” that has made it have a more beloved than let’s say “'Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)” by John Denver?
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country” is one of my favorites songs, but a song that features son pleading to his dad to not get drunk so his mom won’t cry on Christmas is just wrong. ANYWAYS, moving on . . .
Mariah Carey and her writing partner Walter Afanasieff utilized musical allusions so that the music, even without the lyrics we would instantly recognize this as a Christmas song. The first sound we here are orchestral bells that bring to mind a toy piano which places us in the mind a child anticipating opening presents of Christmas mornings. The chimes that follow remind us of church bells and Mariah Carey’s gospel inspired opening takes us to Christmas service. Then come the sleigh bells from “Jingle Bells” one of the most beloved Christmas songs (which has a hilarious third verse in which the narrator falls in the snow is passed by a “gent” who laughs at him and drives away). This is enough to put us in the Christmas mood but there is even more to this song.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” creates an enthusiastic and joyous energy through th rhythmic organization in the music. After the introduction of the song, the piano enters with the sleigh bells. The piano is dividing the beat into three equal parts, emphasizing every three notes (0.51 into the song):
1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
Right when Mariah comes in the piano part changes still dividing the beat into three parts but accenting every two notes it plays (0.57 into the song):
1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
The speed of the notes stays the same however the piano line accents them differently.
If you take the rhythm from the first line “I don’t want a lot for Christmas” and identify which subdivided beats the words fall on it looks like this:
1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
I___Don’t_Want_a lot_for__Christ-mas
If you look carefully you will carefully you will notice that “-lot for Christmas” accents every three divided beats its’ just shifted over one note. Now if we superimpose the melody emphases over the piano emphases we see an interesting relationships.
Beat-------1------2-----3------4------5-----6------7------8
Melody-1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
Piano---1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
Only during beats, 1, 3, 4, 6 & 8 does the emphases in the melody line up with the emphases in the piano. When the verse gets to the line “All I Want for Christmas Is You” the melody and piano line both emphasize ever three subdivided beats creating a sense of arrival and resolution. The bass line, which seems rhythmically dull keep these two lines from drawing apart by maintaining a consistent beat. Whenever two instruments that are emphasizing subdivided beat in different ways the music has an chaotic energy that is like the feeling of kids engaging in different activities during recess, but like teachers who supervise recess the bass line keeps them the frameworks makes sure this energy never gets out of control.
My favorite moment in the song is at the end of the bridge singers, which features a fascinating development in the back-up singers part that helps create the energetic climax of the song. From the beginning of the bridge, the back-up singers change notes predictably every 4 beats. The part changes with the line “and everyone is singing” when the back-up singers hold their note for this entire line which is 8 beats long. In the next line the “I hear those sleigh bells ringing,” the back-up singers change the notes every 4 beats starting before “I” and changing their note on “sleigh.” Then the back singers drop out and punctuate the third beat of the next two measures accented “bring” and “need” of “Santa won't you bring me the one I really need.” Finally, the back up singers come earlier then we expect in the next measure on beat two instead of beat three emphasizing “my” of “Won't you please bring my baby to me?” The changes in the back-up singers make the bridge drive forward without actually the song speeding up. It expresses a frenzied almost uncontainable child-like excitement that propels the song into the last verse.
Mariah Carey goes through a Christmas journey in this song. The song starts with her disregarding many American Christmas ideas that really don’t have anything to do the birth of Christ. She doesn’t want presents or stocking. She doesn’t think that Santa Claus can make her happy. She’s not looking forward to snow or reindeer. All she wants is for Christmas is the one she loves. In many ways, Mariah is describing what is at the core of the holiday season for many people, including myself, which is sharing time with the ones we love.
Then in the bridge, something changes. She sees the Christmas lights and the excitement of children. She hears people singing and sleigh bells ringing and she eve asks Santa to bring her baby to her, even though she said earlier that Santa could not make her happy. She falls into the magic of the seasons and it’s a heartwarming transitions in which she accepts what is all around as part of what makes her happy making the final verse even more joyous and celebratory.
I’m not Christian and I understand that it’s challenging for non-Christians to have a religious holiday pushed into their face and the middle of the culture. It does overshadow over cultures but we do live in Christian-centric society. I’m not saying that because the majority of Americans are Christian that means our society doesn’t have a responsibility to acknowledge other religions holidays. It does and honestly, we do a pretty mediocre job of learning about other religions. How many Americans do you think can effectively explain Ramadan to their children? But let’s not be bitter about this.
The emotions and the meaning of Christmas in America is something that we can celebrate without mentioning Jesus Christ and understand without ever going to church. If we as non-Christians can do this, it helps us gain and understanding into the spirituality of Christianity, which gives us perspective to help others understand our own beliefs.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” is about wanting what is important. It’s about taking a look around and enjoying the happiness of people around you and it’s about looking on the bright side of life.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s as my friend Sara told me last night: a song about a girl who wants to get laid on Christmas.
Either way, I hope you all have a great time during the next couple of days celebrating whatever you are celebrating and sharing this time with the people that you love.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters by Elton John
One of the challenges of being an immigrant to the United States is the holidays. When my parents who came from Taiwan, raised my brother and I, they made an effort to participate in the major holidays in order to provide an “American” childhood. Some holidays made more sense then others. My parents understood Valentine’s Day, which correlated with a similar Taiwanese holiday, but others like Halloween were a little bit more mystifying. Seriously, why do you dress up as characters in our popular culture and beg for candy from complete strangers?”
Thanksgiving made a little bit more sense. The stories of the pilgrims and Native Americans did not mean much to my family, but the idea of coming together as a family and sharing a meal did.
One Thanksgiving when I was young, we went over to a family friend’s house and before we ate, we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. As I pondered the yam dish in front of me that for some reason had marshmallows in it, Thanksgiving started to make sense.
The true meaning of thanksgiving is for families to take a moment out of their lives to share a meal together and reflect on what they are thankful for in their lives. When I think back on my Thanksgiving experience I think about the times with my family, the three Thanksgivings I spent with college friends and the current tradition I now have of sharing that day with my wife’s family. What I am most thankful for in all of that are the people I shared those times with. As Elton John sang, “I thank the Lord for the people I have found” from his song “Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters.”
There was an Elton John before The Lion King and after “Your Song.” A daring, compassionate and audacious artist, Elton John not only revealed himself but also reflected the world around him. From 1969 to 1979 Elton John released thirteen albums including the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The pace and quality of his albums is something rarely seen in popular music. Elton John released Honky Chateau his fifth solo album in 1972. “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters” was the second to last track on Honkey Chateau, an album that included other popular songs like “Honky Cat” and “Rocket Man.” Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist, wrote these lyrics after hearing a gun go off in New York City. Elton John considers this one of his must underrated songs and plays it frequently to describe his love for New York City.
There is a balance in lyrics between keeping them specific enough so that they connect to peoples feelings but ambiguous enough that they relate to different peoples’ lives. Bernie Taupin is a master of expressing themes and emotions through his lyrics while maintaining this balance. This song is about looking back at an experience and realizing truths about the world and the way people live their lives. Along with these realizations comes thanksgiving for the people in our lives. Sometimes it is in our struggles that remind us of the beautiful people in our lives.
Elton John carries on the tradition of popular piano players from artists like Little Richard. From a young age, Elton John trained as a classical pianist. This foundation allowed Elton to explore different types of music including, Jazz, Country, Blues and Rock music. “Mona LisasAnd Mad Hatters” features subtle and skillful piano playing. Elton varies the background creating motion between the vocal phrases with rising and falling shapes while outlines the chords of the song. The piano line seems organic and natural but is also deliberate and intentional providing a foundation for the emotional setting of the song.
From the affirmation of the melodic leaps to the longing of the held notes, Elton John creates a melody that is introspective and honest. Not often thought of as a great vocalist, Elton John demonstrates his ability to sing in an effortless way, clearly expressing the lyrics while drawing us in like a master storyteller. The clarity of his voice has slight edges and tension, which reflects a worldliness and understanding of the deepest levels of our humanity.
This is one of my favorite, if not my favorite song of all time. I first heard this song when Elton John performed it on a televised concert after the attacks on the World Trade Centers on 9/11 to honor the work of the firefighters, policemen and other heroes. It seemed so fitting. Here was a song about New York City, about a loss of innocence but more then that, a song of thanksgiving. I had always enjoyed Elton John’s music but never thought of him as master musician until I bought Honkey Chateau and delved in to the vast catalog of the music he recorded.
My wife and I featured this song during our wedding ceremony. We wrestled with the idea of having a pop song performed at the wedding. What we came to was that the genre of the song was irrelevant. This song is a musical statement that reflects our lives growing up. But more important it expresses how thankful we are for the people in our lives. After all that that was said and done, it really was the people in our lives that made our wedding day so meaningful.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I’m not sure if it really matters that we recognize the original intention of Thanksgiving. If the personal meaning that we get Thanksgiving relates to the pilgrims, fantastic. If it’s not, no big loss. My parents found great meaning in the simple act of breaking bread with people we care about and I hope that you all do too.
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