Category: Holiday Music

A sauropod dinosaur and its baby.

My daughter put me in time out for swearing the other day. I was driving her home from school on garbage day and making good time, until I turned down a street with a garbage truck on it. “God damn it,” I muttered, and she caught me. I find myself having to answer lots of “why” questions, as well, and having to think about reasonable answers to these queries, some of which I’ve never thought about before. This song is about how raising kids causes you to change your own behaviors.

Musically, this song is pretty much all diatonic. It makes heavy use of minor III, but otherwise is fairly straightforward.

I spent some time on this one, since my cold has been making it harder to sing. It was recorded in my home studio, using Amplitube for the heavy guitars and Line 6 Helix simulation for the clean ones. Drums are Blasting Room and vocals are via my SM-7B.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2024 Day 21: “How You Make Me Better”” →

The album cover for "Creepy Santa Doll."

This year, my annual Christmas album was an EP. Due to a number of circumstances in my personal life, I didn’t have time to record a full album. As a sort of trade-off, I decided to go with all original songs this year. The title song is about a Santa doll that my parents have had since I was very young (pictured on the cover above).

Creepy Santa Doll

An EP of original Christmas songs.2023-12-25


Deck Them Halls

Winter Break

Midwinter's Nap

Creepy Santa Doll

My Favorite Xmas

A Gift to Myself

 

Continue reading “2023 Christmas EP — “Creepy Santa Doll”” →

Album artwork for "Christmas Spirits."

Here is a new version of a track I originally wrote and recorded in 2013. This version is from 2021, when I re-recorded every original Christmas song I had written since 2006, for my album 16 Christmases at Once.

 

 

The entire album, 16 Christmases at Once, is available on my Bandcamp.

Lyrics

It’s that time of year when you charge the cheer
And you see what the barkeep can muster
After all I’m told it helps with the cold
(I can’t say as much for the bluster)
So you grab a Santa glass and choose what you want to pour
That one is gone in a flash so you make yourself one more

Don’t be afraid of Christmas spirits
They’re here to help you along
Mixing alcohol and family
What could possibly go wrong?
Give a cheer for Christmas spirits
Pour yourself another glass
You’re the king of merriment this year
A reveler of taste and class

With two days to go and you aren’t going slow
So many drinks are sweet like candy
Festive Irish Cream, it’s a Christmas dream
Tom and Jerry’s with some extra brandy
The eggnog needs some spice, and now it’s tasting fine
And later if you’re nice some hot and boozy mulled wine

Have you lost track of how many you’ve had?
Singing along loud to every song
Your singing’s not that bad

It’s Christmas Eve and the days have been a blur
You take some Alleve, Uncle Ralph calls you amateur

The kids are already up, but it’s not late enough
Why can’t you sleep another hour?
You’ve gotta pounding brain and your joints are in pain
The Christmas cookies all taste sour
You find it hard to smile as you squint at the Yule log
Opening gifts sure takes a while and you need some hair of the dog
And Bloody Marys are festively red!