The Meaning of Christmas

Words by Karma Trease and Music by: Dana (Dan) G Jones, © 2005, Sung by D'Lynn Underwood, All music performed and recorded on midi keyboard by Dana. G Jones. The MP3 is located on the NEXT page.

Scroll to the bottom of this section to click on the link to go to the MP3 on the NEXT page.

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Background to Originals: I thought I would share some 
of the songs I had written during past Christmas seasons.
I may have mentioned to some, my great Aunt used to write a 
Christmas song every Christmas and send it as a Christmas card 
with a score of the song as sheet music inside the card as a Christmas message. 
Taking over that tradition after she passed away, I would not only write,
but also record the song. Then send it on tape with a Christmas Card 
so those who could not read music could appreciate it too. 

As I would write, I would play 
track on top of track to record the parts on my midi keyboard, 
and then pipe it out on two tracks of a four track tape recorder. 
“On Christmas Day”, I played the flute solo and clarinet solo 
 as live instruments, recorded on the third channel and vocals, on the 4th track. 
The only preprogrammed track would be some of the drum loops, 
but those I had edited and vocals were sung by friends. I would like to thank
D'Lynn Underwood for the Vocals on:
 “The Meaning of Christmas” and “On Christmas Day”.
The tape was done at home, so it is not of studio quality,
 and reproduction on CD/mp3 as 3rd generation. 
The recording quality therefore is not of course studio quality. 

After a few years, my Original cards inspired a Regional Managers Secretary, Karma Trease,
for Pier I (where I was a store manager at the time) to write a 
Christmas poem and send it as a card for Christmas. She found that while 
shopping for Christmas, the shoppers were fighting over merchandise, 
pushing and shoving, not caring for anyone but themselves ignoring the 
true meaning of Christmas. The poem was titled “The Meaning of Christmas”. 
While she was recovering from a terrible accident later that year
I decided I would write a song with her poem as my next Christmas song. 
It was a challenge since the poem did not follow a traditional song format, 
so I wrote it free form, as I did not want to change any of her words.

After that song, I had stopped writing Christmas Songs when my dad 
got ill and then passed away and for some reason have not had 
the motivation to write. I have a goal to start again next year 
now that I have a great new job that I love.
 Yes, prayers have been answered! I am so thankful!!!!

I wrote the music to “The Touch” which is a religious song and not necessarily
a Christmas song, but felt it would be fitting to share Hope and Joy 
for the up and coming New Year. I would like to thank Sammie Brown for singing the
vocals and writing the words. I would also like to thank Lou Armstrong for playing
guitar on one of the tracks. I hope you enjoy the songs. The schedule of when each
song will be posted is on the home page.

Note I have taken off the Quiz and other links and pages to put mp3 Original Christmas Songs

CLICK HERE

to continue on to the MP3 on the NEXT page of “What's New”.

Thank you.

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