“River” (It's Coming On Christmas) by Ellie Goulding (Joni Mitchell Cover), Friday, December 30, 2022

 

Today, I listened to Good Christian Fun's latest episode, a Second Service repost because the Kevin and Caroline were probably enjoying the holidays too much to record a new episode. In the episode, the hosts and their guests picked their favorite Christmas songs like a sports draft. One of the songs Kevin chose "River" by Joni Mitchell, a pick that was mocked by the others. However, since I heard the words, "It's comin' on Christmas," I haven't been able to get the song out of my head.

I WISH I HAD A RIVER I COULD SKATE AWAY ON. Joni Mitchell is one of the great singer-songwriters of the '70s. "River" comes from her Blue album. Most of her catalog was pulled from Spotify, along with fellow Canadian Neil Young, in response to Seth Rogan's Covid misinformation. "River" is a Christmas moment on an album of many moods. It may be awkward to include a future Christmas standard on a general album--think of the future evermore when "'tis the damn season" is a standard! On the episode of Good Christian Fun, Kevin was play-mocked for how "River" isn't that recognizable as a Christmas song, and maybe that's what makes it a great song. Today's version is by British pop star Ellie Goulding, but the song has been covered on several Christmas albums including Sixpence None the Richer's The Dawn of Grace and Barry Mannilow's A Christmas Gift of Love. The cast of Glee covered the tune as well as Harry Styles and Olivia Rodrigo. 

AND HE LOVED ME SO NAUGHTY. The theme of "River" is missing your home. Christmas music is northern-hemisphere centric. Snow, reindeer, evergreens, cold weather are all common tropes of Christmas music, but in the song Mitchell is in a warm environment missing her hometown in Saskatchewan. Musical fame had brought the singer-songwriter to California where the seasons don't change. Of course many of us don't have white Christmases. Even in New York after I moved to North Carolina doesn't have a white Christmas every year--though most of the time they have white Thanksgivings and even white Halloweens. The truth is that the mythology Christmas songs prescribe is mostly false. It doesn't magically snow on Christmas Eve in Disney other than the soap bubbles they pump in Kissimmee, which is quite disappointing for a New Yorker to experience at Christmas. Sure the orange trees froze one year when we went down to Florida to visit our grandparents, but we were swimming a few days before that. As we near the end of the holiday season, I wonder how much just accepting Christmas for what it is and not trying to make it something that it's not will make the holiday better.  Yes, I want a river to skate away on where Christmas is more magical, but ultimately the spirit of Christmas adapts to its surroundings. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Photograph" Ed Sheeran, Saturday, February 3, 2024 (updated repost)

Image
  Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record.  LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
Read more

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

"All of Me Wants All of You" (Helado Negro Remix) by Sufjan Stevens, Sunday, February 27, 2022

Image
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
Read more