# Christmas in Houston Blues (12-Bar)



## aj47 (Dec 5, 2015)

I really hate December, 'cause Christmas always brings me down.
Oh, yeah, I really hate December, 'cause Christmas always brings me down.
I want Christmas to be white, you know -- but Christmas here is always brown

You know while other folks are smiling, I almost always wear a frown
You know while other folks are smiling, I almost always wear a frown
I want Christmas to be white, you know -- but Christmas here is always brown

I don't wanna spend my Christmas stuck here in this Houston town
I don't wanna spend my Christmas stuck here in this Houston town
I want Christmas to be white, you know -- but Christmas here is always brown


----------



## escorial (Dec 5, 2015)

i'm feeling the message...christmas and brown seem so far apart..cool...christmas brings me down..yep


----------



## aj47 (Dec 5, 2015)

I had been wanting to write a holiday song (not necessarily Christmas, but it's that time of year) and we were studying 12-bar blues in my music theory class.  I was listening to "White Christmas" on the radio and thought, I should write about the brown Christmas we have here, and it all came together.


----------



## escorial (Dec 5, 2015)

it's a strange sensation to be inspired by a famous song and put your own unique twist on it...even though it is so far of from white christmas the influence is part of it...all musicians and writers take bits here and there and make it there own..well done


----------



## midnightpoet (Dec 5, 2015)

Yes, Houston.  My sister used to live there before they moved to nearby Pasadena, where (when we visited) we loved the smell of chemical plants in the morning (not!).  For some reason my brother --in--law decided he'd take us on a scenic tour of the ship  channel. Good times.:icon_cheesygrin:


----------



## aj47 (Dec 5, 2015)

I'm actually west of Houston, but everyone knows the name as it's the 4th largest metro area in the US.  The ship channel bridge is kinda amazing though (my daughter wants to be a civil engineer).


----------



## InstituteMan (Dec 6, 2015)

That sounds familiar to me. We lived in the Phoenix area, years ago. I kind of liked the desert, but it never felt like Christmas to me.


----------



## Wandering Man (Dec 6, 2015)

They used to chant about living in nearby Pasadena, where the air is "Greena." 
I wonder if you have a lyric for them?


----------



## aj47 (Dec 6, 2015)

Well _scow_ almost rhymes but the aroma is more ... organic solvent with a frisson of sulfur, the whole being reminiscent of stale flatus.


----------



## Firemajic (Nov 12, 2016)

It will soon be that time of year again, annie... I enjoyed the lyrics, and wondered if you might add  to it this year...  Thank you for sharing...


OO, I meant to ask you...  writing lyrics.... is it more difficult than writing metered poetry?


----------



## bdcharles (Dec 1, 2016)

Heh. I lived in Houston for a few years in the nineties (still visit family there) and I remember the winters being this wonderfully dreary time that really put a different spin, a different vibe, on the city. But it did seem to sort of shut down during the season, like it didn't know quite how to behave when the temerpature dropped below 65.


----------



## sas (Dec 7, 2016)

The only song I ever wrote was intended to be sung blues style. A musician friend said it couldn't be done. I wondered how that could be since I can sing it bluesy. Aha! Maybe it has something to do with bars. I know nothin' about those kind of bars. Hmmmm.


----------



## aj47 (Dec 7, 2016)

Post it.  In a workshop is fine.    We can then look at it together--I came to poetry through the side-door of songwriting.


----------



## sas (Dec 8, 2016)

Ok. I'm going to be gone much of December, so I'll throw it up in January. I'm curious to see exactly why it's not suitable as written for blues music. The words sure are.


----------



## SystemCheck (Dec 29, 2016)

astroannie said:


> I really hate December, 'cause Christmas always brings me down.
> Oh, yeah, I really hate December, 'cause Christmas always brings me down.
> I want Christmas to be white, you know -- but Christmas here is always brown
> 
> ...



Have you tried singing this out loud? 

Cause I'm not digging it in the slightest. 


I mean taking one line:

_I want Christmas to be white, you know -- but Christmas here is always brown

I want that white Christmas, ya know -- but it just won't snow. _That can _*still*_ be improved upon if the entire song is changed around. I could change this around but have always believed how you don't learn if someone else does the work for you. 

But for that particular line ask yourself what is appealing about a "brown" Christmas? Brown is rot, brown is poop, brown is mud, etc. Sure you don't want a sparkly Christmas scene but there are better ways to do it. From a lyrical standpoint you've pretty much just slung mud at your listeners really and they're going wow, wow what happened here. 


That first paragraph alone the way you have it, it would literally sound like this: start - stumble - stop, start - stumble - stop, start - stop. There is almost no rhythm. It somewhat rhymes. Such a method may work for poetry sure. But there is a reason why few songwriters will call themselves poets just as few poets will call themselves songwriters.


----------



## Gwenni63 (Jul 26, 2019)

Song of nostalgia! I'm leery of competing with the queen of Christmas miss Mariah Carey but you go right ahead.


----------

