“WHY THIS ALBUM WAS”
DECADES IN THE MAKING
After writing and demoing over a hundred songs, including one completed musical, and writing concepts and lyrics for another two musicals, I guess I should call myself a songwriter. For some reason, that still seems presumptuous to me, but I’ll take the compliment if any would choose to bestow that on me. Of course, whether or not I’m a GOOD songwriter is for you to decide for yourself.
Looking back, I was always enamored with songs, and lyrics — especially the magical melding of imagery and song, a la the decades of Coke’s TV commercials that featured a life-affirming, feel-good, kumbaya parade of Americana B-roll scenes. All of the above led me to take Poetry Writing in college while I was earning my BA in Biology.
After three years of teaching Life Sciences to what were then designated as “junior high” students, I naively decided I could make a great living writing and producing multi-image presentations. It was decidedly not a great living through those very lean early years that had me questioning my if I was actually talented enough to earn money. Slowly, through amateurish networking and cold-calling, my disparate efforts and evolving experience gradually led to work writing and producing for advertising, sales promotion, event marketing, business communication, speech writing, business theater, marketing, product and brand development, and creative messaging consulting.
I freelanced the great majority of that career, and promoted my “creative brand” with seasonally themed missives that let my clients and prospective clients know that I was, indeed, still alive and available to help them with their projects.
One holiday season, I sent out the following simple free verse musing, purposefully under-designed with the text lying naked on a single page of faux parchment paper:
It’s That Time Of Year
Deep in the dark of
the longest of nights
the sun forsakes the sky to fend for
itself in the growing numb of
December
It’s that time of year
when bare chocolate branches don
frosty confections
when crystalline lace spins
window-pane webs
It’s that time of year
when we warm our hearts by
life-long fires
when friendships grapple in
their annual embrace
when wide eyes wonder
when wise eyes sigh
when memories and hopes
become one
No, I didn’t turn that poem into a song, but as time went on, my self-promo material became much more involved, with extensive video production, but usually just for a goof. I also began writing and producing holiday songs to send out. In fact, I set a goal for myself of writing a holiday song every year, and I’ve been doing just that for over a decade, giving me all the content I needed for a fully populated Christmas album — decades in the making.
I partnered with tech-whiz, art director, designer, creative director, bass player and former client Byron Sletten to up-produce my decade-plus of completed, recorded original demos by using AI instruments and singers. Puke here in superior, dismissive disgust if you must, but I’ll let the hard-fought results of our efforts speak for themselves. (NOTE: If you think getting AI to do what you want it to do without it hijacking and destroying your original vision, please be my guest, and after the 50th iteration of a single song with which you’re still not satisfied, let me know how that’s going for you.)
So, judge these songs on their own merits; better yet, just listen to them for your own enjoyment. I can honestly say that they’ve become some of my favorite holiday songs, and I believe there’s a song in this album for everyone.
Mike Ankelman