Merry Music Monday: Jingle Bells
The inspiration came from my pal, Jim Wilday. Jim invited me to sit in on a recording session he organized for a musical Christmas card he was recording. If the opportunity came up, Jim was hoping I would lay down some harmonies for the project (which I gladly did).
Just a few years later, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Wondering how I might help, I came across Habitat for Humanity - which was working to help displaced people rebuild and return home. I also discovered Music Rising - which U2’s The Edge founded with the goal of replacing the instruments of New Orleans musicians that had theirs’ lost or destroyed by the storm.
I took my pal Jim’s “Eggnog” idea and turned it into a fundraising project - with 100% of the proceeds going to Habitat and Music Rising. The resulting album is “Glen Muñoz presents: Xmas ‘05”. The follow-up is “Glen Muñoz presents: Christmas Sessions from NYC”.
Since then, I have produced numerous additional holiday singles . . . and continue to direct all proceeds to Habitat and Music Rising.
If you’d like to help them directly, click the icons below.
In the case of “Jingle Bells”, I had been listening to various renditions of the song and digging deeper into the additional, lesser-known verses. I learned that it’s less of a solemn holiday song and more of a rollicking party song. Yes - a rollicking part song from the 1850’s. Some even suggest it has its roots as a parlor song or as a drinking song.
So I re-imagined the song as how the free-wheeling version of Bob Dylan might have tackled it.
I invited my musical compadres Brendan Cavanaugh (guitar), Bradley Wegner (bass) and Sloan Marshall (keyboards) into the studio . . . and we recorded the accordingly sloppy rendition above.
Enjoy.
Thanks - and Merry Christmas.