Great Holiday Songs You May Not Know - Day 2

I love Christmas.  I love the idea of transformation.  Scrooge, George Bailey, Grinch -- they ring true in my heart. Hope triumphing over cynicism.

That's why one of my favorite Christmas songs is a little known one -- Christmas, by Blues Traveler.  It's honest and it's real, and I can see it laid out and performed as a one-song opera.  Do you ever do that?  Do you ever hear a song and you can just see it performed, stage musical style?

If I had a church of my own and a corral of talented, willing folks, here's what I'd do:

Characters:
Singer 1: cynical, disillusioned
Singer 2: the teacher
Choir

Christmas
Blues Traveler 
Words by J. Popper Music by T. Anastasio and J. Popper

Singer 1:
Comes the time for Christmas
And I really have to ask
If this is feeling merry
How much longer must it last

I wish a one horse open sleigh
Would come carry me away
But I've been waiting here all day
And one just hasn't come my way

Now excuse me if I'm not being reverent
But I was hoping for a miracle to hold me, wash me
Save me from my righteous doubt as I watch helpless
And everybody sings

Choir (with joy):
If it's Chanukah or Kwanza
Solstice, harvest or December twenty-fifth
Peace on earth to everyone
And abundance to everyone you're with
Laha da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da da
Laha da da da da
Laha da da da da

Singer 2 detaches herself from choir and crosses to Singer 1, singing:

Comes the time for Christmas
And as you raise your Yuletide flask
There's like this feeling that you carry
As if from every Christmas past

It's as if each year it grows
It's like you feel it in your toes
And on and on your carol goes
Harvesting love among your woes

Singer 1, singing to Singer 2:
I want to buy into the benevolent
And I was hoping for a miracle to hold me, wash me
Make me know what it's about
As the longing in me makes me want to sing

Singer 2 and Choir:
Noel or Navidad
Season celebration or just the end of the year
Christmas can mean anything
And I mean to keep its hope forever near
Laha da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da da da
Laha da da da da
Laha da da da da

Singer 1:
As if a cold and frozen soul is warm to love
By love's own hand

Singer 2:
So goes the prayer if for a day peace on earth
And good will to man

Singer 1:
At twenty below the winter storm it billows

Singer 2:
But the fire is so warm inside
And the children while nestled in their pillows
Dream of St. Nicholas's ride

And how the next day they'll get up and they will play
In the still falling Christmas snow
And together we'll celebrate forever

Singer 1, interrupting:
In defiance of the winds that blow

My god in heaven now I feel like I'm seven
And spirit calls to me as well
As if Christmas had made the winter warmer
Made a paradise from what was hell

Both Singers:
As if a cold and frozen soul is warm to love
By love's own hand

Choir Crosses to Singers, singing with them:
So goes the prayer if for a day peace on earth
And good will to man.......

 (Rounds of the song, sung over each other by all)

Singer 1, (all by himself, smiling)
I wish a one horse open sleigh would come carry me away
And I'll keep waiting through next May
Until Christmas comes my way