BURNING TO THE SKY

There is something about Christmas that brings out the music in just about everyone. There is, of course, the ubiquitous muzak that we usually begin to experience in mid-November and seems to carry on well past December 25. But cheesy renditions of “Let It Snow” are not really what bring me joy. My musical Christmas memories are more organic.

One great thing about Christmas is the gifting and receiving of music. It may seem quaint now, but I still like buying CDs and vinyl for people. Perhaps that’s because 40 years ago, I’d nearly always get some music under the family Christmas tree. Broad hints would be dropped to the parental units about the best choices of music to buy. One very clear memory for me is the Christmas of my 17th year. I came home from working my part-time job as a nighttime security guard at St. Joseph’s Heritage to my family opening Christmas presents. Needless to say, I was a bit bleary-eyed, but that was overcome by the excitement of a very nicely wrapped gift that contained a vinyl album. A double album. It was Quadrophenia by the Who and, at that point in my life, I was immersed in the writing of Pete Townshend. So that was a Christmas gift that I always remembered (and still have).

It was also in my late teens that I began learning to play guitar. The ability to negotiate a few chords somehow led to playing guitar while caroling. The non-guitar player might assume Christmas carols are simple and can be banged off with little effort. I may have thought that too until I looked at the chord sheets. For some reason, the writers of the classic carols did not adhere to the structure of folk music and blues. They preferred to have a chord change with nearly every word of the song. Sadly, many carols were horribly mangled as I tried to negotiate this rapid-fire chording. To this very day it is still a challenge to pull off “Good King Wenceslas” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” on the six string—well, unless you are Bruce Cockburn.

While carols are tricky, there are a few more modern Christmas songs that are a bit friendlier to the guitarist raised on British blues and American rock. One of my all-time favourites is “Run Rudolph Run” by Chuck Berry. The song encompasses every guitar lick Berry knew, and tells the tale of Rudolph leading Santa’s sleigh down a freeway. There are many covers, but the version done by Keith Richards in 1979 remains the greatest, as it is both scorching and fun. Super fun to play too.

Christmas is also a great time to share live music with others. A couple years back, my friend Jacquie Kennedy invited me and Thunder Bay jazz musician Robin Ranger to play a Christmas song for a holiday feed she was doing from her gym. It was during the pandemic, so this was the closest thing to a party she could have. Robin and I were both gym members, so we agreed. On the chosen Saturday afternoon before Christmas, we got dressed in some Christmas-type clothes and went to the gym to do the show. We had decided on Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again,” a jaunty little tune with more than a little George Harrison influence. Robin and I ran through it a couple of times and then were ready to go. We both had a blast, and Robin played his bass like the Grinch after he discovered the joy of the season.

Having negotiated that song, Jacquie requested one more. A carol of course. We slightly bobbled “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” but in the most joyous way possible. That musical joy, my friends, is what Christmas is all about. Merry Xmas.