Topic: New Chords Postings
"Step Into Christmas" was released in 1973, likely the most prolific and succesful year of Elton John's career. He began that year with the January release of the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player. Then, in October, came the release of the legendary Good-bye Yellow Brick Road double-album. The two albums combined produced a total of six hit singles, two from the former album and four from the latter. In late November of that year (after the first two single releases from GYBR), "Step Into Christmas" was released as a non-LP single. It reached #23 on the UK charts. Later, when the 1974 album Caribou was remastered and re-issued in 1995, the song was included on the CD as a bonus track. It's also been included on other Elton John compilation CDs.Most recently, the song has appeared on the 2005 Christmas fundraiser CD Elton John's Christmas Party. The CD was originally sold through music outlets located in Starbucks coffee shops, then later given a general release. Two dollars from each sale went to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The CD featured Christmas/seasonal songs from various artists, such as The Pretenders, U2, Kate Bush, The Eagles, and The Band. "Step Into Christmas" was the disc's opening track.
Chord chart:
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/crd/johnelton-stepintochristmas.txt
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs4OkFZWmfs
Posted by planet/zerofret
at 12:57 AM EST
Updated: Monday, December 15, 2008 12:59 AM EST
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Updated: Monday, December 15, 2008 12:59 AM EST
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ELP's "I Believe In Father Christmas" is probably my favourite contemporary Christmas song by a pop/rock act. After doing the tab of it, I was surprised when I looked on YouTube and couldn't find a copy of the version I had tabbed. The song has had three lives just with Greg Lake/ELP alone. The first version was Greg Lake's recording of it, released as a solo project. (
It's interesting to read comments at YouTube about this song, plenty of people saying that it's anti-religious, anti-Christmas, anti-Christian, etc. I think they mostly object to the first few lines of the second verse. It isn't the cheeriest Christmas song you'll ever hear, but I don't think it's any of those above named things, and Lake has made it clear in interviews that it's not meant to be any of those things. But I think it's a song of its time (written in 1974), a time when "message" songs were the order of the day. The Vietnam war was still ongoing. In the video of the orginal version, Lake sings the last line, "The Christmas we get we deserve", then there's a montage of video clips of the Vietnam war, finishing with a clip of a soldier arriving home and his young son running into his arms. Lake says the song protested the over-commercialization of Christmas, but to me it seems more like a loss of innocence song about how at Christmas adults fill childrens' heads with idealistic platitudes about peace on Earth and good will to men. But as those children grow up they realize that wars and crime and social ills go right on, even at Christmas time. I don't see the song as bitter or depressing; it just seems to be saying that Christmas itself isn't a magic panacea that makes the world a wonderful place. People have to do that. People have to make those platitudes about peace and good will mean something by their actions. The "Christmas we get we deserve" line suggests that the world is only what we make it. Which means there's always the option to make it better. So for me, the song sounds a note of hope and possibility, too. My two cents worth, anyhow.
Calling all "long-haired freaky people". 
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It's pretty common knowledge amongst listeners of Canadian rock music that Headpins were born as a side project of Chilliwack guitarist Brian MacLeod and bassist Ab Bryant, and that the project ultimately became a full time venture. Perhaps less well known is the fact that the band originally had a different lead singer. It's hard to imagine Headpins without Darby Mills' famous growl, but the band's first lead singer was Denise McCann. Remember the 1979 disco hit "Tattoo Man"? (
Today's riff entry comes from Nazareth, a band who took their name not from the Middle East city in the Holy Land, but rather from the first line of the song "The Weight" by The Band. ("I pulled into Nazareth, Was feelin' 'bout half past dead...") The Nazareth referred to in the song is Nazareth, Pennsylvania. And as a further bit of trivia, Nazareth, PA, just happens to be the home of C.F. Martin & Co. guitar manufacturers.