When I was a kid, growing up in Arkansas, it didn't seem odd to have a white christmas. These days it does seem odd. Weather changes, as do the holiday traditions. I don't expect to have a white christmas this year, but while performing a show in SecondLife recently, I did decide to do an impromptu, and decidedly non-traditional, version of the song "White Christmas".
Now to say it is the song "White Christmas" is to say it uses the lyrics for the traditional song penned by Irving Berlin. The melody is by no means reminiscent of the original.
Whether I gave a 'new sound' to the christmas classic, or 'ruined a perfectly good song', depends on your perspective, but I do think it's a good idea for us to step outside the box now and then and challenge ourselves to re-invent the world a bit.
As songwriters, musicians, husbands, wives, children, parents, friends, people we can get so comfortable with doing things the way we have always done them, that we don't see other possibilities. It's not a bad thing to try something different, go a different direction, and see what you can do. Irving Berlin, who wrote 'White Christmas', according to some accounts, had the task of writing a song for each of the major US holidays for the movie 'Holiday Inn'. Because Berlin was Jewish, writing a Christmas song was not the most natural thing for him, and he wasn't sure after he wrote it that it would 'fit the bill'. The movie's star, and a friend of Berlin, Bing Crosby, assured him it was worthy. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bing Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" is the best selling single in the world of all
time. So, the best selling single of all time was written about christmas by a jewish songwriter who didn't celebrate christmas. He stepped out of his comfort zone, and generations of people have been glad he did.
What's your 'White Christmas' going to be? How will you challenge yourself to expand your boundaries, to do things that perhaps stretch you or take you in a direction that give the opportunity for growth? I'm dreaming... are you?
-♫ M ♫-