…The Story Behind The Song
December
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Writer’s Notes:
This was one of 2 songs never originally intended for this CD project. We thought to add it literally a week before we sent it to be pressed, to replace a song we decided to not include. It was also recorded 2 years prior to most of the others – and also not to their level of musical scrutiny (what I would call ‘demo mode’). As such, it involved a lot of last minute editing and an emergency trip to Frigo Recording to mix. But surprisingly, we’ve had numerous comments that this is their favorite song on the CD!
Believe it or not, this song – which begins “On a cold winter’s morn of December” – was actually written during a heat wave, from June 22-27, 2007 – the beginning of summer!
It was also written at a time when, due to medical vocal problems, I didn’t speak at all for nearly 4 months. In fact, it would be until January the following year before I could speak strongly enough to return to sales work – but still months after that until I could speak beyond 15 minute clips.
So yes, this song was written – and then taught to Natasha – in complete silence. During this same period, I also wrote ‘Hungry For You’ and ‘When He Died,’ in addition to others, which shall forever remain unheard.
Most of the time, I keep fairly detailed notes concerning what I was thinking and where I was when I wrote a particular song. But, upon returning to my journal, even I was surprised to see how many locations I visited to finally complete this song! The following is the actual excerpt from the journal:
“December” notes – this song was finished on June 27, 2007 – It was written at mostly the stone fortress in White Haven, but also the road to Hickory Run, White Haven Diner, Tunnel Road where I grew up, cemetery near Charlie Weaver’s, White Haven playground, Penn Lake, Francis Walter Dam, Solomon Creek, Moon Lake State Park, Nescopeck State Park (Lake Francis), and at Tom & Lisa Hill’s in Quakertown, PA – a song of the romance of our God, through the years.
Why so many locations? Well, truth is I’m not much of a lyric writer. When I write a song, I labor over the entire thing from top to bottom. But hands down, the music is usually right there for me – playing in my head in its completed form. However, lyrics to me are like a medical exam… not very pleasant, and I struggle with them incessantly.
Yet, I’m very particular. So I will work and work and work and rework until the story is cohesive and stated emotionally – until all vowel sounds and syllables match the music… and it just has to ‘sing well.’ I become even more particular in the case of a melody that emotionally resonates with me… and such was the case with December. I kept going from one location to the other to find the right inspirational atmosphere.
In the end, I believe December has become the one song I’ve written that I am most pleased with, from a lyrical standpoint.
Actually, the early title was “A Dance In December.” But I changed it for the CD, because that line never occurs in the song, and I was concerned about people knowing how to find it in an internet search. Poetically, it is a combination of the Song of Solomon (illustrating Christ’s romance of His bride), and “It Was A Very Good Year,” by Frank Sinatra… in the sense that it moves through the various seasons of life and relationships.
As such, I wrote this from a female perspective (but seriously, there’s no need to be afraid!). When I write songs, I usually hear the voice that’s ‘supposed’ to go with it… the texture of the voice (smooth or gravely) and whether male or female. From the start of this song, I’ve heard Natasha’s voice (or something VERY similar) in my head. The choice of having her sing it was, to me, affirmed when my brother-in-law David commented “this is a good song for her voice.” In fact, the only other singer I can imagine pulling it off equally well would be Celine Dion (just maybe???).
For the opening verse (“wandering back through the forest of days”), I pictured a very cold and snowy day, with an older woman, now living alone, staring out the window at the snow on the trees, as a fire crackled in the fireplace. Aware that she is in her latter days, she is now resigned to her advancing years. But rather than be defeated by the cold outside, she finds warmth in the comfort of her memories – which at first seem to be that of a life-long romance – but which reveal themselves as the reminisces of a woman toward her God.
She then describes both the opening and closing of that relationship in terms of dance. The dance is a symbolic picture of intimacy, freedom, and discovery. And though she is facing the impending close of her earthly chapter, she is heartened by the prospect of once again dancing with her God in the vigor of her youth.
In every respect, she recounts her life as one lived for and with her suitor (her God). Her testimony of faithfulness to Him throughout her years affirms the notion that our heavenly relationship is the richest and most fulfilling of all.
The bridge had to be a climactic return to her early passions… as if she was mustering up every once of emotion she possessed for this one last time… only to resolve it with the tenderness of abiding love. The bridge closes with the only phrase that ultimately serves to define this as a Christian song… “my Lord.”
Production Notes:
Being that we were up against the clock, and that I was revisiting an older recording done with a different production standard, I was walking into a landmine of editing. The vocal track hadn’t been scrubbed for crackles, pops, and breaths. The piano track was inferior sample quality, and the guitar track… well, I actually contemplated scrapping it altogether, or going to a sampled performance.
Frankly stated, I was frantic, with only 2 days to edit this to excellence, mix it down, and send if off to print. I literally pulled an all-nighter editing, drove 2 ½ hours to mix it, and returned early the next day, just to work this song into the CD.
The original piano was tracked in midi, so I still had the performance. But I had since purchased a better piano program, so I proceeded to re-track it with that. Much to my horror, there were clicks all over the new piano track! It turns out where some of the samples were clipping off in the initial attack. I literally had to go through EVERY note played and adjust its velocity to find the sample that did not click when sounded. That alone was a 12 hour process.
Although I loved Natasha’s vocal performance, I didn’t realize I had left it as unscrubbed as it was. I recall that when she originally laid down the track, and upon hearing my pre-edited copy, she wanted to re-record it! Normally, I would have gone along with that notion, if a singer wasn’t pleased with their performance. But in the interest of time (even back then), and because I really did like her track so much, it stayed.
For the bridge, I remember wanting a melody that would climb to this great climax. My initial inclination of the arrangement was to have full orchestra and tympanis crescendo in the ‘-vote’ of ‘devoted.’ But that was too stock. I’ve learned that going gentle can sometimes be more heart rending than going big. That’s just what we did – and it breaks down powerfully.
Natasha still felt the bridge still needed something, and returned to the studio when I wasn’t there. The following day I came in, and there they were… ghosts! She cascaded a four part sequence of smooth vocal harmonies – which were (in a ‘Dickens’ sort of way) like the ghosts of the 4 seasons past. This was a different thing for her to do, because she is a singer with an ‘embedded’ vibrato, in that it is counterintuitive for her to sing without it. I, in contrast, am one who really has to work to turn it on! It’s fascinating how different God has created us all!
If the ghosts and her vocal performance are the
The guitar part was somewhat inspired by a little known ballad by the Bee Gees that I‘d heard many years before, called “Reaching Out” (no, it wasn’t a disco song!). That guitar part arrested me with its beauty the first time I heard it, and this was my chance to employ something similar.
There is, however, a ‘secret trick’ we had to pull off in the mixdown, or we would not have been able to include this song. It was an embedded error that I did not catch until we were in mid-mixdown, 2 ½ hours away at Frigo recording – far from the home studio, where we may have been able to fix it. Marc and I ended up having to do something unorthodox to save the track, but I don’t want to point it out, or you’ll hear it every time it goes by. So I won’t!