“Matt, listen to me. I kick ass at Silent Night”
– 9 yr old pupil.
Categories
Tag: Christmas
Let’s both be bad tonight
A Christmas romance with hidden depths
Download mp3 demo Chords (pdf) Lyrics (pdf)
I grew up on the beautiful wordsmithery of Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin as mediated through the golden voice of Ella Fitzgerald, so this kind of thing was bound to come out at some point. Musically it started as something like a victorian hymn but once I hit on the ascending major scale of the chorus I boarded the jazz train and never looked back. In the verses I’m obviously trying to channel Burt Bacharach.
The initial idea, based round the concept of the chorus having a completely different meaning when set up by verse 2, has been hanging around my notebook forever, but it’s only recently that I had the guts (and ability) to turn it into a song. It’s one of the few songs that I’ve written entirely on the piano.
Kiss me beneath the mistletoe
Come press your lips to mine
You’ve been a good girl all year long
Let’s both be bad tonight
Don’t you want to go down this road?
See where a kiss may lead?
Head over heels? Perhaps. Who knows?
Let’s start with a kiss under the mistletoe
The end of a year
I’m drinkin’ and singin’ with people from work
She’s standing so near
Her perfume is drawing me in
Her breath so warm on my skin
She presses close to me whisp’ring…
Kiss me beneath the mistletoe
Come press your lips to mine
I’ve been a good girl all year long
Let’s both be bad tonight
Don’t you want to go down this road?
See where a kiss may lead?
Head over heels? Perhaps. Who knows?
Let’s start with a kiss under the mistletoe
I leave her unkissed
Make some excuse and go home to my wife
My true christmas gift
I find her unwrapping herself
Mistletoe on her belt
She presses close to me whisp’ring…
Kiss me beneath the mistletoe
Come press your lips to mine
I’ve been a good girl all year long
Let’s both be bad tonight
Don’t you want to go down this road?
See where a kiss may lead?
Head over heels? Perhaps. Who knows?
Let’s start with a kiss under the mistletoe
This worn out year is almost through
A true life Christmas ballad
Download mp3
The gifts are wrapped, the tree looks great
Some Yuletide crap on an old mix tape
Let’s light the fire and warm our feet
As our children will themselves to sleep
The scent of pine, the manger scene
A glass of wine, Die Hard on TV
This worn out year is almost through
But can I spend one more hour with you?
Things go unsaid
Life gets in the way
And I forget
What I need to say
It’s five a.m. How can you sleep
Now that our bed has become a trampoline?
And childish hearts they want what’s new
But I just want one more hour with you
I need some tea, you want some toast
I need to pee but what I need the most
Is just the time to show you how
I love you more than ever now
My love is old, my love is true
Let me spend one more hour with you
Categories
Throw Some Gold On Him… Tim Hawkins
Here’s Tim Hawkins on another dumb Christmas song to avoid…
Related Posts: Tithing explained
A late pressie from Integrity Music for y’all
Free MP3s
Trouble getting to sleep? Visions of sugar plums dancing in your head?
Download an MP3 of “What Child Is This?,” from Lull-A-Bye Baby: Christmas.
Like the Baloche Christmas Offering song but think it would be better with even more worship leaders on it?
Download an MP3 of “Offering (Christmas Version),” from Worship & Adore: A Christmas Offering.
Related Posts: 13 free Paul Baloche downloads
Jamie Brown @ Worthily Magnify has a good post called ‘Say No To Syrup.’
he says There’s nothing wrong with syrup… on pancakes. There is a problem with syrup in church. It tastes sweet and it makes people feel happy, but it has no nutritional value. Half an hour after the service is over they’re hungry again. You’ve missed your chance to feed them eternal truth and you can’t get it back. Oh the deceptive allure of syrup. How do you know if you’re getting syrupy? Try asking the following… Is Jesus presented as the glorious Savior or as a cuddly little baby?… Will [the visitor] hear predictable, fluffy, Ford Taurus commercial background music – or will he hear the good news of the Gospel?… Does the song reference there being snow on the ground?… Does it “beat around the ‘gospel bush’”?
Jamie also took the time to big up Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” as one of the all time greatest Christmas CDs. I heartily concur with his comments
[It] masterfully tells the story of salvation in twelve songs. The first five songs deal with themes such as the Passover, Israel’s longing for a King…“Matthew’s Begats” [is] the genealogy of Jesus Christ set to a bluegrass tune. It works. Really. I can’t say enough good things about this album. It’s full of rich, biblical truth, and tells this familiar story in a fresh way. I only have one small quibble with a phrase he uses on the first song, “Gather Round Ye Children”, where he says Jesus “gave up his pride and came here to die like a man”…that phrase could be seen as implying that…Jesus was prideful, and the wording of Jesus coming to “die like a man” might be a bit confusing. All in all, though, a fantastic CD and a good resource for some special songs to sing during Advent. And the rest of the year too.
Related Posts: Labour Of Love
Family Man
I have lots of kids. Groucho & Chico hated Santa from the get go, both in his department store incarnation but most especially in the “Hey kid, I’m gonna sneak into your bedroom while you’re asleep” mode that scared the stuffing out of ’em and I was glad to put their minds at rest. Harpo and Zeppo on the other hand quite like the jolly fat guy, and once again I’m all conflicted. Jon Acuff @ Stuff Christians Like sums up the dilemma and the options nicely…
1. We can welcome Santa with a creed like “Arms wide open.”
2. We can kill Santa
3. We can combine Santa and Jesus
My friends have a theory that if you tell a kid for 6-8 years that there’s a magical, semi all knowing entity named Santa and then pull the rug on them later, it will be harder for them to believe in God. The idea is that if I can’t trust that what you told me about Santa is true, why should I believe you about God. I think they raise a good point…
It will be easier to focus on the true meaning of Christmas if you go ahead and pop the Santa sleigh into neutral, tie the gas pedal to the steering wheel with a bit of festive ribbon and ghost ride Santa over a cliff. Killing Santa would allow you to focus on Christ’s birth…
My fingers felt a tiny crackle of lightning just typing the sentence, “We can combine Santa and Jesus.” God is a jealous God. If you try to make Santa the fourth member of the trinity, or put a red hat on Jesus, please buy at least 10 copies of the Stuff Christians Like book first, because then at least people will have something funny to read at your funeral…
If you’re in need of more serious council Noel Piper has some wise words on the DG website
And here’s someone who took the ‘Kill Santa’ option too seriously…
Related Posts: 3 Wise Men: #1 Kauflin on killer Church tunes
Bob Kauflin on GOOD congregational christmas songs
He recommends
On Christmas Day – Matt Osgood
My Soul Magnifies the Lord & Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy) Chris Tomlin (both on his new album, Glory in the Highest)
Light of the World – Matt Redman
Comfort Ye – Daniel Renstrom (from his CD On the Incarnation)
Related Post:Take Chris Tomlin home for Christmas
Unrelated Post: Great High Priest
Categories
Labour Of Love
At our recent Christmas meeting we sang a beautiful song by Andrew Peterson called Labour Of Love. A few people have asked me about it so I thought I’d post it. It’s performed here by Jill Phillips & her husband Andy Gullahorn.
From the same concert (and album) Andrew Peterson performing Matthew’s Begats.
Related Post: Family Man