A cover of a Christmas song that you probably never heard

[beatbyrd]

Hi, First of all, happy holidays to everyone on the RRF board. I just posted a really beautiful Christmas cover song originally done by the Cowsills on their 1998 "Global" CD. I'm shocked that it's not on heavy rotation on the radio stations that play holiday music. My cover features the Beatbyrd Nabbertwackel choir, all of whom had bronchitis during the recording. The song can be found on the "Christmas" page on my music website http://www.beatbyrd.com
Once again, happy holidays to all. Tom

[ram]

Thanks for posting Tom, a nice tune re-done very nicely. And happy holidays to you and yours!

[tamere]

nice tune, well done!

[admin]

Tom: This song is brilliant and I thank you for recording it and offering it here. I have enjoyed it so much I know that other RRF members will too and so I have placed it at the top of our consciousness for the Christmas period. Merry Christmas to you and all.

Here is a more direct link to the song.

http://www.beatbyrd.com/christmas

[walker]

Very nice, indeed. I've never heard this song before until hearing this version. Quite a nice introduction! I'm not very familiar with the Cowsills catalog, but this song has echoes of Brian Wilson to my ear.

[admin]

Tom: I would be most interested in hearing how you recorded this song. Outside of a cold, what other obstacles did you encounter in bringing it to fruition?

[jimk]

Very nicely done, Tom. I too have never heard this song before. Thank you for posting a link to it here.
JimK

[beatbyrd]

Tom: I would be most interested in hearing how you recorded this song. Outside of a cold, what other obstacles did you encounter in bringing it to fruition?

Thanks for the positive comments............
OK, here are the boring details..... It was recorded on a 24 track recorder, but due to bounces, 35 tracks were used. A stereo pair would count as 2 tracks in getting to the 35 total. There are 4 stereo keyboard tracks (each a stereo pair). The keys were all done on a Roland Juno-G (piano, low strings, high strings, bells). There are 8 mono tracks of vocal "Ahhs", mixed and bounced to a stereo pair. There are 8 mono tracks of regular sung vocals, some parts doubled due to the throat problem or to just beef them up. There's a mono sleigh bell track near the fade out. There are 2 mono tracks of a whispered "Merry Christmas everyone" near the end.
Aside from all the coughing (and the required jillion takes), the only obstacle was figuring out all the parts by ear. The Cowsills are siblings and have very similar vocal qualities, which makes it harder to distinguish the individual harmony parts. I have the same trouble with Beach Boys and some Byrds songs (where McGuinn and Clark sound similar). The flipside is that it's easier for one person to imitate that 'family' harmony blend once the harmonies have been figured out. All things considered, this one did take a long time to complete. I tried to make it sound 'cold and wintery', as well as peaceful/relaxing. Someone on the RRF mentioned that Bob Cowsill (he wrote it) was very talented and I agree with that opinion. Tom

[Zurdo]

wow, never heard it before, absolutely beautiful song, but in my humble opinion, it is not a Radio song, it is a Christmas-Morning-Music-To-Wake-Up-By, it brings out the child emotions in all of us. The piano phrasing is beautiful.

I love Christmas music, it is a very North American style of music. Not to mention I love The Cowsills since the 1970's, "I love the flower girl" has a special place in my heart. I still play it today, a song that never gets old.

don't be dissapointed by radio not adopting the song, as songs like these find their way eventually.

another good example is Burt Bacharah's "The Bell That Would Not Jingle", same thing, ignored by radio, but a fun Christmas song which captures the feelings of the Christmas and Winter season, just like your arrangement of this song by Bob Cowsill.

Merry Christmas!

[cjj]

Yes, WOW is right! Great work, sounds fantastic! I don't know how you do stuff like that, I have enough trouble laying down one measly bass track...

[Zurdo]

.....I have enough trouble laying down one measly bass track...

practice makes perfect

[melibreits]

Lovely song, and nice work!

Merry Christmas!

[rickyfricky]

GREAT song and VERY TASTEFULLY DONE, Tom!

The genius of Brian Wilson came to mind while listening.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.