I do my best to write a Christmas song each year. Christmas nears and we are supposed to let the spirit bathe us, so we can put aside our normal concerns. But the concerns of 2020 are different. Maybe they cannot be put on the back-burner, not even for the sake of acknowledging Christ's birth. We don't know the date of Christ's birth anyway. The old radio voice Garner Ted Armstrong talked about Christmas having its origins as a pagan holiday.
Well, my family always marked the occasion like it was the most joyous time of the year. But in 2020? The pandemic looms. The lack of leadership from the federal level of government has been catastrophic. So many people dying. Yet this fellow named Trump got dangerously close to getting re-elected.
I have a line in my 2020 song which is a tip of the hat to Biden. Seems pretty modest, pretty reasonable. But Morris is in bright red Trump country - signs of that all over the place.
Before I continue, I invite you to listen to my 2020 Christmas song: "A Social Distance Christmas." Thanks so much for taking the time.
I originally wrote some of these lyrics when the pandemic first broke, late March. I published completed song lyrics as part of a blog post. Months passed. Finally I considered having the song recorded. I made adjustments. Instead of a line expressing skepticism about Trump (without mentioning him by name), I inserted "now with Biden we can hope." Initially I had "I'm not betting but let's hope." In other words, I wasn't betting that the president, Trump, could "rise above the usual mess."
And no, Trump is obviously incapable of rising above anything. He's not even working as president anymore. Just look at the exasperated gesture by Dan Gable at the White House.
My song exudes optimism re. Biden, and why not feel some optimism about him? You're accepting that he won, right? Don't you want America to take steps to get past this horrible disaster of the pandemic? Do some of you root for Trump to the exclusion of all other concerns? You don't even know him. Why this reverence? It's as if Trump is stepping in for God Himself.
Maybe there is a secondary virus going around and it's infecting the brains of Republicans. Maybe extraterrestrials are doing it. They haven't gotten to me yet.
I re-wrote one stanza of my song because I really wanted to use "dollars to donuts" as the first line. It fit the melody so perfect. I learned the expression from the movie "State Fair," the early '60s version with Bobby Darin. So I wrote "Dollars to donuts, we can overcome this menace." The menace is the virus. I don't write about extraterrestrials!
I write about how we can worship at home using the Internet. We are confined but we are also liberated with the Internet, so we can check how churches are doing all across the U.S. I have been fond of particular Lutheran churches in Austin TX and Des Moines IA. It's all there for free. "No one has to feel alone," I write.
I was rather, shall we say kinetic with a line expressing how severe the pandemic has become: "hit the fan." Obviously I don't use the oft-heard first word in the phrase. "Hit the fan" means something bad that gets dispersed widely. Rather descriptive. Maybe the line was a mistake - I'm not perfect.
Oh, the very first line of the song: "I'll blow you kisses." This leads to the title line: "In a social distance Christmas." I penned these two lines at the start and I knew I was off and running for a song. But I had a concern: "blowing kisses" is a way to ensure distance, yes, but blowing air should obviously be seen as unwise. I could argue "artistic license" for the word choice. The listener would "get the point."
Artistic license can be delicate just like irony and sarcasm. I asked Del Sarlette at breakfast one morning about the word choice and he felt it was OK, so that relieved me.
I wish to acknowledge again my Nashville TN studio collaborator, Frank Michels, along with Brent Gulsvig of Gulsvig Productions of Starbuck. He's the wizard who puts my songs on YouTube. If you need media transfer work to be done, contact the Gulsvigs, Brent and Lisa. They live along the mill dam road.
For the first time I did not use a tape cassette for communicating my words/melody to Frank. I used a podcast episode! I just sent a permalink to Frank. In fact, you can call up this podcast entry yourself from my public podcast page: "Morris Mojo" in the "Anchor" system. Look for the title of the song. I set up the podcast for free. Neat, eh?
Yes, songwriting is an adventure. It's different from my lifelong pursuit of journalism. You can make such a big impression with a simple, short song. The power of that amazes me. Roger Miller scribbled some lyrics on some motel stationery and 60 years later, people are still singing it. I am awestruck.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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