Ever Tried To Write A Christmas Carol?

[Steve]

Ever tried to write a Christmas Carol? Have you written a Christmas Carol?

I tried once. A long time ago. It was rubbish! Got as far as the second verse and scrapped it. I guess you need to be a bit religeous to go down that route. Or do you?

[Lazz]

Yes.

and.... No.

[Steve]

Yes.

and.... No.

I'm glad you've made that clear.

[AnneC]

Those of you who read my intro thread know that I'm a church music director, and those of you who didn't, you do now. I've written a few Christmas pieces for the choir to sing. One is a Magnificat (Song of Mary) with a Jewish traditional feel to it. The second was called "The Magi's Carol", a softer song from the point of view of the wise men. The third was one I wrote last month called "Little Baby" and it's a lullaby from Mary to Jesus.

[Steve]

You know you'll have to post some recordings of these delights? It's a new songstuff rule.

RULES

42a, All church musical directors must post their musical Christmas creations.

There you go! Told you so!

[AnneC]

I'll see what I can do :-D

[roxhythe]

Me in the "yes and no" chorus, too. I have written four Christmas *songs*. (Actually, 3-1/2. One was co-written with my teenaged daughter.) None are religious in any sense. One is old enough to be considered a "classic," and has actually been sung by carolers (but I don't know if that qualifies it as a Christmas carol). They are:

"I'm Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas" (1979)

"Santa's Fallen and He Can't Get Up" (2005)

"Even Roadkill Gets the Blues" (2006)

"Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire" (2007)

They're all on the Soundclick page (link below). This time of year, I put 'em mostly up top.

Last one is pretty obviously a parody--but the music is different: I couldn't replicate all them Mel Torme "fruity" chords, and it was going to come out country music anyway, so I did it as country music. The "Santa's Fallen" song was the title cut on the last CD.

Joe

Edited December 30, 2007 by roxhythe

[AnneC]

It's a bit late in coming, but I've put the lyrics up to "Little Baby" at http://annelyrics.blogspot.com

I don't have a recording of the song, but I have a midi of it. If anyone's interested in hearing the tune and wants to PM me and talk a noob through the process of posting it, I'd be happy to.

[Steve]

Hey! That's great! If you want to upload a Midi file, you need a website to upload it to. Or, you could send it as an email attachment! I'd like to hear it so I'll pm you my email address ok.