MERRY CHRISTMAS the Song!

Merry Christmas Instrumental

Merry Christmas full song

CLICK above to listen!

Now that we have put out an instrumental version of "Merry Christmas", mixed by Jim, which brings out some of the great parts in the song, perhaps we can take a look back.

Mike wrote a great song, and we all pitched in to produce "Merry Christmas" an LW classic. By the way, Mike accidentally erased “Merry Christmas” at one point (reminds me how Brian Eno almost erased U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”!) but he was able to salvage a version of the song.

Greg plugged into the central effects and added some great guitar “wash” to the background of “Merry Christmas”, which we picked up from some producers of the time. (In concert, I had the duty of approximating this on Greg’s electric with swells and harmonics!) Plus, Greg does a great turn on bass in the song. Mike layered the synthesizers so very well, as he did on all the Christmas songs we did in the basement at 505. We have to mention Sully’s cute spoken section in the middle of “Merry Christmas”; that was awesome! Our beloved Mary Gillis liked to make fun of Kathy for that, but all in good fun.

This song eloquently shines with the joy of the “Reason for the Season” or “putting Christ back in Christmas” without getting at all overbearing, judgmental or preachy and it is attractive and inspiring. What a great gift!

 

Based on an earlier post

God is With Us - With & WIthout Vocals

To hear the backing track? CLICK this!:

God is With Us - Instrumental

And to hear the full version with vocals? CLICK this!:

God is With Us -W/Vocals

View of the Marist House across from our 505 Pleasant house (where we recorded this)

This is a song that I (Mark) wrote. I wanted to get the effect of chiming bells in the beginning, so I am plucking the C-G-G and then the E-C, with the change from the fifth to the third. And Greg, like some sort of genius decided to add those harmonic hammer-ons, which sound, of course, exactly like bells! (This basic effect is reprised at the end of every chorus.) The verses are in C and choruses in G.

Then Mike CHIMES IN with that da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaah riff that I had composed. I wrote the basic riff, but Mike RAN with it. He did it both on piano and synthesizer. And then he figured out how to continue the effect of the basic riff through all the chord changes, in a way that so sweeeet! so bellissimo! We then mixed the different instruments in a way that perfectly complemented the lyrics of verses and chorus. Mike really is the instrumental star here.

The bridge accomplishes a really cool key change sequence that ends back at the chorus. What Mike managed to do there is just so fantastic; listen to THAT and be amazed. How do you maintain the sense of the basic piano riff while going through all the key changes, meanwhile making it all seem as smooth as silk. I love the baroque-flavored harpsichord thing on the 'Gloria in excelsis deo' segue to the chorus. 

The way Greg chimes in with distortion at just the right times is beautiful, lending power to the key chorus declarations. Listen to Tony on the drums; he is using lower/deeper runs as accents during the chorus, a very nice expert touch, as usual. Dave adds perfect bass runs especially at the end.

I suppose we should mention the funny incident at the end. We were all in the cellar playing certain parts for the lead-in to the end when Mike played that one long C on the synthesizer. What you can't hear is that he was yelling at the top of his lungs, "WHAT'S THE CHORD?!?! WHAT'S THE CHORD!!??!". He finally remembered at the end, but that unintentional held note turned out to be effective and perfect for that spot!

We did some very nice vocal arranging on this, too, so be sure to listen to that. The guys liked to make fun of how I sang, "just LAHK me"! Please, enjoy!

Peace & Love & JOY,
Mark LaJOIE!

 
St. Cecelia

When Living Waters mentions the patroness of music, we think of Mark's song, the 'Two Feet Song', a rough version of which is found here: "Endless Dance of Love".

Cecelia was from one of the ancient patrician families of Rome. Her parents tried to marry her to a patrician pagan named Valerian. Here is an excerpt from her history:

Against her will, she was given in marriage to Valerian; but on the first night of the nuptials she thus addressed him: Valerian, I am under the care of an Angel, who is the guardian of my virginity; wherefore beware of doing what might kindle God's wrath against thee. Valerian moved by these words respected her wishes, and even said that he would believe in Christ if he could see the Angel. On Caecilia telling him that this could not be unless he received Baptism, he, being very desirous of seeing the Angel, replied that he was willing to be baptized. Taking the virgin's advice, he went to Pope Urban, who on account of the persecution was hiding among the tombs of the Martyrs on the Appian Way, and by him he was baptized.

Then returning to Caeceliia, he found her at prayer, and beside her an Angel shining with divine brightness. He was amazed at the sight; but as soon as he had recovered from his fear, he sought out his brother Tiburtius; who also was instructed by Caecilia in the faith of Christ, and after being baptized by Pope Urban, was favoured like his brother with the sight of the Angel. Both of them shortly afterwards courageously suf­fered martyrdom under the prefect Almachius. This latter next commanded Caacilia to be apprehended, and commenced by asking her what had become of the property of Tiburtius and Valerian.

The virgin answered that it had all been distributed among the poor; at which the prefect was so enraged, that he commanded her to be led back to her own house, and put to death by the heat of the bath. When, after spending a day and a night there, she remain unhurt by the fire, an executioner was sent to dispatch her; who, not being able with three strokes of the axe to cut off her head, left her half dead. Three days later, on the tenth of the Kalends of December, she took her flight to heaven, adorned with the double glory of virginity and martyrdom. It was in the reign of the emperor Alexander. Pope Urban buried her body in the cemetery of Callixtus; and her house was converted into a church and dedicated in her name. Pope Paschal I. translated her body into the city, together with those of Popes Urban and Lucius, and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, and placed them all in this church of St. Caecilia.

Her body was discovered incorrupt in the 800s and her remains revealed again in 1599. The famous scultor, Stefano Moderno was commissioned to memorialize the amazing site. Many noticed that three fingers were joined on one hand, and one finger pointed on the other, an apparent expression of faith in the Trinity. On her wedding day, she prayed continually and sang to God in her heart, which is why she was later named the patron of music and musicians.  

Her heroic, supernaturally miraculous defense of chastity must seem incomprehensible to our sense-based age. But she has precisely identified the core of happiness that makes a human heart sing with joy.

 Prodigal Song Has Come Back to Us!

A while back, Jim had sent me a very primitive concert that dated back to the early 80's, and on there was a rare copy of "Prodigal Song". (It was the climax of our 'Prodigal Daughter'-themed show, when Mike & Chuck were still with us. The show told the story of a young runaway girl who comes to her senses.) The cuts he had included the 'witnesses' or talks we would do before songs. I had put this on our extra LW Classic Tracks site with other raw material. Lately, I realized I could just trim off that intro and post the song on our regular site; what a find!

Prodigal Song on LW's ReverbNation site

Here, we see a song being born. It might have been one of the first times we tried it which is true of several songs in this concert - we were trying things out. I noticed some 'missing' elements that we eventually used to do. For instance, my guitar would join the melody line during the bridge, Greg was yet to find his preferred distortion, and the vocals got more developed in time. But, what a treasure it is! Tony's jazz sense on drums, perfectly melded to Dave's funky bass is on full display. It is a very rare case where we can hear Chuck's 'marching valve trombone' perfectly. 

I am thinking of putting out a 'classic live' album. Stay tuned, friends!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

St. Luke & Mary's Singing Heart

 St. Luke & Mary's Singing Heart

recent convert Roy Schoeman described Mary's voice as 'what makes music music'

Below is a PowerPoint about St. Luke, celebrated October 18. This reminds us of our song, the "Magnificat", which Denise sings so well. Luke loved Canticles, art & poetry; he had to have spoken directly with Mary; he heard her musical voice & wrote down her beautiful song, so prophetic & scriptural!

Magnificat by Living Waters

 More Than the Sum of Its Parts

Mark's recent demo recording, "Streams of Mercy", demonstrates something that's true of Living Waters music in general from the beginning. After Mark finished doing vocal & guitar tracks, he sent that mp3 to Mike; he wanted to add piano & strings. He put these together on GarageBand, sent it back for finishing and? voila! a great demo....

Streams of Mercy CLICK!

Here's Mark with his Ovation Legend II; it's kind of beat up!

Well! Let's just say what he did really enhanced what Mark had laid down. Just one example: go to 1:33 up to 1:53 where Mark is singing the quiet part of Christ praying from the Cross. Mark has just one guitar part going, high up on the neck. Mike is adding simple stroke chords on piano that perfectly match the tones in the guitar chords. (You probably wouldn't even have noticed it if it weren't pointed out to you.) This imperceptibly 'fills it in', and makes it 'work' much better. He did this sort of thing all over the final demo - so awesome!

This makes a point. It's ALWAYS been like this in LW! During arranging & practice, each member has added 'little' things that 'serve' the song. We could talk all day about it. This is especially true of the songwriting as well as the arranging. Mark would add a vocal echo as part of Mike's song, as in "The Joy"; Mike would add a keyboard riff to top off a song of Mark's, as in "Glory". What we end up doing is often far better than if we had each gone totally solo. And even when we 'go solo', one or another of us often steps in to help & give it that "Living Waters" magic.

Recording "Streams of Mercy"

Streams of Mercy DEMO! CLICK!

Mark Lajoie here! I thought you might be interested in how this recent demo got recorded last week.

I had done my own self-recording at times in the past. For instance, "Forever", "Tell the Whole World" and "We All Did It". We even released some of those on our interim album, "Still Flowing". This was probably NOT a good decision on my part; these were little more than my own GarageBand demos. Actually, many of our studio-recordings produced by Josh were based on demos I created, a much more sound process of creation.

BUT recently I have not had access to GarageBand or a producer. I now live in a very small place with several family members & limited income. My ability to create was, it seemed curtailed. However, the URGE to create has been persistently pressing me. I go to Mass every day now, and during Communion every day, this old song of mine, kept crowding into  my consciousness, insisting that it be expressed & shared. 

The song, is a very simple one: 3 chords, 4 basic notes. I received it at the age of 15 while on my knees before the Tabernacle. It brought me to where THE Victory was won for us by the King: to the Cross as He shares with us in the Bread of Life. This is precisely what is under attack right now and what people need to know. What was so relevant for a poor teen back then was perfect for those I want to reach now. I HAD to get this OUT of me!

Well, where there's a Will, there's a Way. I had done a very rough demo for "May I Receive You" using the Audacity app. That's basically for doing podcasts, and I had used it to do some pre-production recording for our LW podcast. After investigating, I figured out how I could get this app to serve as a studio app. I drove up to my son's house where it was quiet, while he was at work, and I spent the day there. I  plugged in my Ovation 12-string to my little Acoustic-brand amplifier, turning up the volume with a light effect. I then set my mic to omnidirectional so it could pick up both the live guitar (which sounds pretty awesome all by itself!) AND the amplified sound. I scrabbled to get a scratch track, laid down two different lines of acoustic, a lead vocal and a harmony. I added a simple bass line on the acoustic, and then was able to put it down a whole octave; sounds like a stand-up bass. This song needed bells, but they HAD to sound something like altar bells, so I recorded the chimes from my cell phone alarm!

I then was able to add some effects, pan tracks to either side and play with the mix. I created a demo. Mike kindly invited me to send this to him so he could add keyboards. He downloaded the mp3 to his GarageBand, added a sterling piano track and strings track, mixed it and sent it to me. What he did?? It was if he was reading my mind! He put in eXACTly what I imagined should be there. I then added the end echo track, and? voila! what I think is a wonderful demo!

I got it OUT of me!! I hope you sense the Power of where these words & images of Scripture take you.

Thinking of doing a proper job on "May I Receive You" next: stay tuned!!