The True Spirit of Christmas!
Updated: Dec 8, 2022
It was Advent 2020 and I felt like giving a Christmas Gift to the world...
Last year I wrote a song about my understanding of the true spirit of Christmas which, if you believe, can last all year-long in every present moment; a child-like innocence and liberty which stems from surrendering our lives to "great spirit", being grateful for every small blessing and trusting in the provision and unfolding of the universe's "great plan" - truly exciting and especially necessary for artists and entrepreneurs living on the edge!
And so I dug out my old track and tried to record a guitar part but alas it just wasn't coming out professionally enough so decided to ask for some help from my brother-in-law, Giles Read, who had sent Music Eye his latest album recorded during Lockdown, which was beautifully heart-felt and very well-played! Luckily he was free and up for it and sent me such a brilliant backing track that it got me dancing around the room joyfully - a HIT!
So I did my best with the vocals(!) and sent it Kirk Andrews at Red Room Recordings - a contact I'd made through Dean G Hill, Music Manager, as we were all supposed to be releasing something on the Sound Angels "label" but it didn't come together this year.
I then contacted a few local photographers to see if they had a magical Christmassy scene for a lyric video and luckily Martyn Payne, photographer, offered to do a photoshoot if I'd just pay for the hire of the costume (he also did my Statue of Liberty image) and we came up with the idea of wearing a medieval* outfit, which just happened to be royal blue and gold (my favourite colours!) with St John's Church Frome as the backdrop (grateful thanks to Rev. Alsbury (Colin) for opening up St John's Church).
*I decided on the medieval look as it was a romantic era of "gentle and brave" knights and fair maidens which is inn-keeping (pardon the pun) with the True Spirit of Christmas!
Photo by Martyn Payne at St John's Church, Frome
The pose I liked the best "looks as if you are checking for leaks in the roof", said Martyn, so he added a crystal ball and because I didn't want to look like a fortune-teller(!) I researched the symbology of the orb and discovered the "Salvator Mundi" painting by Leonardo da Vinci - the most expensive painting in the world!!!
The Salvator Mundi - Leonardo de Vinci
I am pleased to report that this has been my most popular song so far! Listen to the track here