I would work around the house while this album played, just letting it form a backdrop for the season, not paying too much attention to it. The music had an orchestra feel to it, but with the added power of electric guitars. Most of the songs were Christmas songs -- O Come All Ye Faithful, Carol of the Bells, Hark the Herald Angels, and the like -- but a few of the songs, sung by a rough male voice, were unknown to me and didn't really seem to belong on a Christmas album.
Over several years the sound of those Trans-Siberian Orchestra songs gradually grew on me. The energy of electric guitars seemed to fit more and more with Christmas as my husband introduced me to an album called "Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas," which is instrumental Christmas music performed by some of the world's top guitar players. (In case you don't know, which I didn't, guitar players sometimes refer to their guitar as their "axe.") My favorites from the Merry Axemas album are joyous renditions of "Joy to the World" performed by Steve Morse and the "The First Nowell" from Eric Johnson. ... But the very NOT calm version of Silent Night that this one guitar player dude wails out inappropriately? That rendition I can do without.
Anyway, I must have heard the Trans-Siberian Orchestra "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" album play at least once a year for nearly ten years before I sat down and really listened to it and understood what it was about. I was home alone one December evening when I put the CD into the player, and for the first time I decided to take the booklet out of the CD case and read it. What I discovered was a story.
"An angel came down
One night to the earth
A mission from God
To find out the worth
Of everything that
His children had done
Since that winter night
The birth of His son."
The story is told in paragraphs and photos in the CD booklet, as well as in the music and lyrics of the songs on the album. I sat there on the couch in my kitchen for over an hour, listening to the album and reading through the booklet. When the conclusion to the story came to me--sung by that rough male voice that I had originally thought didn't fit with Christmas--I needed a box of tissues to help me wipe away the tears.
"If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger. . .
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask."
I won't reveal the story in case you want to experience it for yourself. I'll just say that when I hear this album now, it causes me to ask, "How can I help God answer someone's prayers?"
This year when I listened to "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" what hit me emotionally was not so much the message in the lyrics, but joy of the music. Previously, I have thought of it as a Christmas album that was a bit too rowdy to play on the Sabbath. It had that raucous electric guitar, you know? But this year I was struck by how much absolute beauty, joy, and praise is woven into the music. ... If you are going to celebrate the arrival of your Messiah and gifts from your God, how are you going to do it? If you are a guitar player, you are going to sing out with that guitar as loud and as strong and as clear as you know how.
1 comment:
I too love this Christmas Album and it seems to be played at loud volume on my stereo. My oldest son used to play it often. Since he is off to college this year, I didn't hear it played much. One day while missing my son, I put this on and I cried. I thought about God's son and my son. I caught a glimpse of how much Heavenly Father loves us as I thought about how much I love my son.
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