"Snow" & how it was made. when yearbook began, a large part of the idea was obviously to document an entire year in the form of music... but i wanted to make very sure that "documenting" wasn't too "cute" - for example, i knew right off the bat that i didn't want to write a specific thanksgiving-day song... or an easter ballad. BUT... Christmas? i knew from the beginning that in addition to doing the annual sleeping at last cover of a Christmas song, i wanted to try my hand at writing my first original Christmas song. i also knew that it was going be a pretty big challenge, since there are so many incredible Christmas songs already out there.
so when the month of november rolled around, i began trying to figure out the approach i wanted to take for this song. the first word that came to mind was "family," so immediately i knew that that was going to be the centerpiece of this song. Christmas at it's best, is all about the closeness and warmth of family. but unfortunately, i know far too many people to whom Christmastime reminds them of the parts of their family that have been broken for years. in those circumstances, holidays are a truly challenging time for them. rather than the outpouring of love, togetherness and kindness that Christmas is meant to be about, it can be a time of feeling more alone and broken than any other time of the year.
so, i decided to write the song from that place. i of course didn't want this to be the saddest Christmas song ever written, so it was very important to me to be gentle with the subject and to focus primarily on hope.
you hear that note that drones in the very beginning of the song? well, that single drone is the very first sound that this song was born out of. i sat down and was playing around with sounds on my guitar.. i ended up looping that single note and set the guitar down and sat down at the piano. i played a few chords and quickly realized that this song needed to be completely simplistic and serve the lyrics, so the chords came together quick.
the first lyrics i wrote were the opening lines
"the branches have traded their leaves for white sleeves all warm-blooded creatures make ghosts as they breathe"
rarely do the first lyrics i write actually end up being the opening lines in a song, so i was thankful for these little image-based story-set-up type of words.. it helped the flow of writing the rest of the song. so, ultimately the core of this song came together in an afternoon.
one of my favorite films ever is "it's a wonderful life." although it first released in 1946, it's a new favorite of mine, actually... a few years ago, dan and his wife, therese told us about an annual event at a local movie theater that right around Christmastime, where they bring in the actress that played "zuzu" in the films, who signs autographs and does a small introduction to the film before they play it on the big screen. having only seen it once when i was very young, i hadn't really remembered much about it. goodness, what a beautiful and heart-wrenching film! brings tears to my eyes every single time i've seen it since. so i knew that somehow i wanted this song to have some sort of connection to the film... emotionally in the approach to the theme and Christmas in general, as well as maybe trying to subtly tie in a few images from the film. maybe you noticed, maybe you haven't, but here are the lines that i made reference to "it's a wonderful life."
"let our bells keep on ringing making angels in the snow"
those lines are in reference to the ever-famous line that little "zuzu bailey" says at the end of the film "every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."
next up is maybe a little more obvious and specific....
"like the petals in our pockets may we remember who we are unconditionally cared for by those who share our broken hearts"
those are of course in reference to george bailey's triumphant realization that he is loved and is important to those who love him, as he finds "zuzu's petals" in his pocket.
(side note: there's a scene where george bailey is sitting at the bar, praying for his luck to change... he says a few words to God, a single, barely noticeable tear falls, he gets up to leave and someone punches him square in the face. it's incredibly challenging for me to explain why that scene is so special and why it means so much to me, but watch it. i'll attach it below. to me, it's not only one of my favorite scenes in cinematic history- it resonates with me deeply)
the core of this song was recorded live - vocal, drone and piano together at once. i wanted the vocal and piano to play off each other and be as connected as possible, so that's the approach i went with. it was an especially difficult one to record, due to lots of traffic driving by (in the snow, which is apparently louder than dry roads) and how quiet of a song this is. every noise can be picked up.. i'm sure if you listen close enough you can hear some interesting things in the background.
so, there was a video project we put together around this song last december... we invited listeners to send us video footage of "snow" wherever they are in the world, so we could compile a community-made video for "snow." to serve as almost a visual Christmas card of sorts. my good friend and incredibly talented video dude, bob davidson collected all of these lovely videos of snow and assembled them into a beautiful music video. so proud of how it turned out!
hear the song (and watch the video) here:
and here are the lyrics, in their entirety:
SNOW
the branches have traded their leaves for white sleeves all warm-blooded creatures make ghosts as they breathe scarves are wrapped tightly like gifts under trees christmas lights tangle in knots annually
our families huddle closely betting warmth against the cold but our bruises seem to surface like mud beneath the snow
so we sing carols softly, as sweet as we know a prayer that our burdens will lift as we go like young love still waiting under mistletoe we’ll welcome december with tireless hope
let our bells keep on ringing making angels in the snow may the melody disarm us when the cracks begin to show
like the petals in our pockets may we remember who we are unconditionally cared for by those who share our broken hearts
the table is set and our glasses are full though pieces go missing, may we still feel whole we’ll build new traditions in place of the old ‘cause life without revision will silence our souls
so let the bells keep on ringing making angels in the snow may the melody surround us when the cracks begin to show
like the petals in our pockets may we remember who we are unconditionally cared for by those who share our broken hearts
as gentle as feathers, the snow piles high our world gets rewritten and retraced every time like fresh plates and clean slates, our future is white new year’s resolutions will reset tonight
love, ryan
p.s. here's that prayer scene i was talking about, from it's a wonderful life... (this youtube clip cuts before he gets punched, but it's still powerful.)
