The Story Behind The Song, pt 10: Silver Bells
TRACK TEN // SILVER BELLS
The tenth installment of TSBTS, wherein we give a little glimpse behind either the song or the recording or both for our new album Come Let Us Adore Him. “Oh, give it up, Paul! It’s not Christmas anymore! It’s not even 2011 anymore!” To which I say, “Fine, read it next December if you want. But I will finish this. I. Will. Finish. This.” Nine down. Four to go. Let’s do this.
A friend of mine tweeted* to me, “I never thought anyone could make me like ‘Silver Bells.’ You guys did it, somehow. Still baffled. It was a miserable idea, fantastically executed.” And I take it as a total compliment. Anytime you can take someone’s paradigm of what a song is and flip it over, it seems like you’re doing something right. Unless the paradigm was that they loved the song and the flip is that you completely ruined it. And, even then, an argument could be made for the artistic merits of contrarianism and/or swimming upstream. Maybe.
This song, to me, encapsulates (and I haven’t looked but I am sure I have said this about some other songs. So be it. It’s not the worst thing in the world that more than a song or two have a sound/feel that sum up the band for me, is it?**) some of the things that make the Lower Lights work– great harmony singing by an ensemble of male/female voices, each with its own unique flavor; fine, subtle playing by a bunch of great musicians (we even imported Sam Cardon, who gave us some great, rolling piano playing); and a folksy spin on a song that’s typically pretty well known and, maybe, beloved. There’s something about Pat’s drumming, especially in the intro, that immediately takes me to a snowy downtown; it’s like the brushes are the snow falling on windows and the sloshing of cars and boots through the streets.
“Silver Bells” is a classic written by Jay Livingston*** and Ray Evans, who also wrote “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)”, for all you Doris Day and Wyclef Jean fans out there. It was originally written– and I am not one to kid about such things– as “Tinkle Bells.” Evans later said in an interview, “We never thought that tinkle had a double meaning until Jay went home and his wife said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?’”***
And on that note, let’s get to the players.
What/who you’re hearing
VOCALS: Dustin Christensen, Ryan Tanner, Sarah Sample, Debra Fotheringham
PIANO: Sam Cardon
PEDAL STEEL: Dylan Schorer
DRUMS/PERCUSSION: Pat Campbell
SLEIGH BELLS: Darin LeSueur
BASS: Brian Hardy
* Yes, I also dislike that verb. But it is the best way to say what happened. And, yes, in 10 years, it will probably make this blog post sound severely dated, like saying”Page me” or “Gag me with a pitchfork” or whatever. By then, however, I am assuming that the robots will have taken over and blogs will have gone the way of Max Headroom.
** IS IT?!?!??!
*** Jay’s brother Alan was no slouch either. He is best known for creating Bozo The Clown, as well as for signing no-names like Frank Sinatra and The Beatles to Capitol Records.
*** It is one of many, many slang words that children (and adults, who I would guess are always trying to figure out which term is most practical and least offensive) use for urination.
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