Friday, December 23, 2011

"Happy Christmas" from Fragile Forest and Hybernation Music

Yes, it's that time of year again.  And so this is Christmas...and what have *I* done?  Another Christmas "cover tune" of course!

This year I recorded John Lennon's classic "Happy Christmas (War is Over)", a song released in 1971.  According to Wikipedia, this was a Vietnam War protest song, though I doubt many people realize that (I sure didn't).  Over the years, the song has gone on to top the charts of favorite Christmas pop songs.

Quoting from Wikipedia: "The lyric is based on a campaign in late 1969 by Lennon and Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven major cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko". In 1971, the United States was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War. The line "War is over, if you want it, war is over, now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards."

I tried various arrangements with me singing the "War is Over" part, and it just came off cheesy and not "authentic" to my ears.  So, I decided to just focus on the main theme of the song, sort of like the Moody Blues did on their holiday album "December", released in 2003.  I think the main thing that differentiates my version from all of the many cover versions I have heard is that mine is produced with no guitar whatsoever :-)

So, Happy Christmas everyone, and thanks for listening!




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