“Christmas Eve Blues”

[dhanners623]

Since it is the holiday season, here is “Christmas Eve Blues.” The backstory as best I remember it:

Years  ago, I attended a church in St. Paul named House of Mercy. It was a fairly progressive place with a lot of musicians, artists and creatives. The music veered towards what Ralph Stanley termed the old “blood music,” meaning there was none of that horrible contemporary mind-numbing “worship” music. The church had its own record label, House of Mercy Recordings. It  released some darn-fine secular records. (As an aside, the church once booked Stanley for a couple of shows. It was a few months before “O Brother, Where Art Thou” came out. After the movie, his fee skyrocketed.)

One fall, they announced they were putting out a Christmas album of musicians in the congregation. I sought out the music director and said, “Hey, I’d love to be on it. I’ve got a song that would be perfect!” He informed me they’d already decided who would be on it. I wasn’t one of them.

A few weeks later, he called and said they had room for one more song. The space was mine if I wanted it. But, he said, because of deadlines, I’d have to come in and record it the following morning. “Great!” I said. “I’ll be there!”

There was only one problem. I had overstated things somewhat when I had said, “I’ve got a song that would be perfect.” I had no song. I hung up the phone and realized I had less than 24 hours to write and edit a Christmas song.

“Christmas Eve Blues” is what I came up with. I recalled the lonely stretch of I-10 between San Antonio and El Paso. Miles of flat nothing. So I stuck the song’s protagonist on the road. (Songwriter’s Tip: When in doubt, place your song’s protagonist in Texas and, for good measure, throw in a phrase or two from the Bible. The latter is a tip from Woody Guthrie and even though I committed to Islam several years ago, I still do it from time to time. Like Guthrie, I do it because it’s a language everyone seems to know.)

The original version had three verses of six lines each; this edits the verses down to four lines each.

And yeah, no Gibson content. I’m playing the song on a Chicago-built 1954 Stella H929, the same model Elvis played in “Jailhouse Rock.” The ladder bracing provides just the hoarse, dry tone the song needs.

So Merry Christmas, y’all….

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by dhanners623

[Murph]

Dig it.

[Murph]

3 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

 I recalled the lonely stretch of I-10 between San Antonio and El Paso. Miles of flat nothing.

I've traveled that stretch of road dozens of times. Between the Phoenix (Mesa/Apache Jct.) trips to Fredericksburg Tx. and the Mesa trips to Lake Charles, La. I knew every Stuckey's and rest area along that route.

I-10 wasn't done at one point and there was a long uphill climb, eastbound, with a rock wall to keep you from going over the edge. As a young hippie in an air cooled VW van, I once held up traffic on that hill for several miles. I need to research that place.

Thanks for the memory.

[dhanners623]

18 minutes ago, Murph said:

I've traveled that stretch of road dozens of times. Between the Phoenix (Mesa/Apache Jct.) trips to Fredericksburg Tx. and the Mesa trips to Lake Charles, La. I knew every Stuckey's and rest area along that route.

I-10 wasn't done at one point and there was a long uphill climb, eastbound, with a rock wall to keep you from going over the edge. As a young hippie in an air cooled VW van, I once held up traffic on that hill for several miles. I need to research that place.

Thanks for the memory.

That’s a road song right there…..

My folks used to drive VWs — We had a Beetle at one point in the ‘60s, then a Squareback, then another Bug. From ‘65 to ‘69, my late brother was in the USAF, stationed in Klamath Falls, OR. We’d drive out there every summer and experienced about every mountain road in a VW. And we experienced the wrath of every long-haul trucker, too. My only memories from Texas from that time was that it was HOT.

In ‘68, my grandparents came over from the UK for a visit and the five of us drove out to Oregon in a Beetle. It is 2,100 miles from Casey, IL to Klamath Falls, but mom always wanted to see the sights so we never took a direct route there or back home. So imagine four adults (three of whom smoked like smokestacks) and one hefty 13-year-old (me) in a Bug for 5,000 miles or so….

[AnneS]

Nice—puts me just in a Christmas mood. 😅

Nope, you can never run too fast… great line.

[dhanners623]

4 hours ago, AnneS said:

Nice—puts me just in a Christmas mood. 😅

Nope, you can never run too fast… great line.

Thanks. And yeah, I was never able to run fast enough….

For the sake of background, here is the song as it was originally written. I’m ambivalent about the version below. It is longer, but I wonder if the additional lines add anything to the story, other to prove to the listener I know Wabash semi-trailers come in lengths of 48 feet and 52 feet. I’m open to hearing others’ thoughts re: shorter-vs.-longer.

Christmas Eve Blues © 2023 by David Hanners

It’s 11:42 on a lonely Christmas Eve

Night sky sparkles like eyes you once believed

Stretch of Texas highway, I'm all by myself

Save for a conscience that's guilty as hell

Haul my woes behind me like a 48-foot Wabash

Hoping over the horizon I’ll find something that’ll last

(Chorus)

I'm out here on I-10

With the ghost of Christmas past

When you're running from your troubles

You can never run too fast

 

Through the static comes a preacher from Plaster City, California

It's like he's talkin' just to me; Says, "Boy, thought I’d warn ya:

“Wide is the road that leads to sin

Few who knock on Heaven’s door are worthy to enter in

And the drunkard’s hand is like a proverb in the mouth of fools

But the lonely and afflicted can lay down and be made new”

(chorus)

I think of Mary and Joseph out on the road

They were the lucky ones ‘cause they knew where they were goin’

We're all just pilgrims on a highway, searchin' for direction

Tryin' to fill the empty miles between birth and resurrection

All I ask of mercy is bear me on your snowy wings

I am a lowly sinner too tired to sleep

(chorus)

[zombywoof]

I grew up with VWs as my Dad began using Bugs as his work car in the early-1960s.  He finally stopped driving them when they broke $2K.  I will, however,  never forget the unexpected lane changes my last VW which was a bus was subject when hit with wind gusts when climbing up too far above sea level.  I swear at times I thought I was going to have to put it in reverse to even make the summit.

When it comes to Xmas Eve blues though the Pogues have got to have that one down with Fairytale of New York.  You have to figure that any story that begins in the drunk tank is not going to end well. 

Edited December 24, 2023 by zombywoof

[Murph]

13 hours ago, zombywoof said:

 You have to figure that any story that begins in the drunk tank is not going to end well. 

Jerry Jeff Walker made lemonade, writing Mr. Bojangles.

[zombywoof]

30 minutes ago, Murph said:

Jerry Jeff Walker made lemonade, writing Mr. Bojangles.

So did Sean MacGowan and the Pogues as the ballad took on a life of its own going on to become the most requested X'mas song in the U.K. and Ireland.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by zombywoof

[MissouriPicker]

21 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Thanks. And yeah, I was never able to run fast enough….

For the sake of background, here is the song as it was originally written. I’m ambivalent about the version below. It is longer, but I wonder if the additional lines add anything to the story, other to prove to the listener I know Wabash semi-trailers come in lengths of 48 feet and 52 feet. I’m open to hearing others’ thoughts re: shorter-vs.-longer.

Christmas Eve Blues © 2023 by David Hanners

It’s 11:42 on a lonely Christmas Eve

Night sky sparkles like eyes you once believed

Stretch of Texas highway, I'm all by myself

Save for a conscience that's guilty as hell

Haul my woes behind me like a 48-foot Wabash

Hoping over the horizon I’ll find something that’ll last

(Chorus)

I'm out here on I-10

With the ghost of Christmas past

When you're running from your troubles

You can never run too fast

 

Through the static comes a preacher from Plaster City, California

It's like he's talkin' just to me; Says, "Boy, thought I’d warn ya:

“Wide is the road that leads to sin

Few who knock on Heaven’s door are worthy to enter in

And the drunkard’s hand is like a proverb in the mouth of fools

But the lonely and afflicted can lay down and be made new”

(chorus)

I think of Mary and Joseph out on the road

They were the lucky ones ‘cause they knew where they were goin’

We're all just pilgrims on a highway, searchin' for direction

Tryin' to fill the empty miles between birth and resurrection

All I ask of mercy is bear me on your snowy wings

I am a lowly sinner too

I love this song.  Lots of great lines.  I tend to agree with your ambivalence about the 48ft Wabash.  As a retired truck driver, I understand your reference to a 48ft., but some folks likely know very little about trailers and not get the link…….Either way, this is good stuff.

[kwalker201]

very well done