Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

I’ll See You In My Dreams: Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021

What better way to say goodbye to 2020 than with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing “I’ll See You In My Dreams”?

Springsteen SNL 2020

As we say goodbye to 2020, which has been full of struggles, everyone will have their own way of ringing in the new year. We have lost so many people to the pandemic. But while collectively there has been so much loss and heartache, life moves on with births, marriages, and other events that have given joys too.

What better way to end the unusual year than with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s performance of “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” The song, from one of the best albums of the year, Letter to You, is a fitting coda to the year.

I’ll see you in my dreams,
When all the summers have come to an end;
I’ll see you in my dreams,
We’ll meet and live and love again;
I’ll see you in my dreams,
Yeah, up around the river bend,
For death is not the end,
And I’ll see you in my dreams.

Springsteen made a statement with his choice of songs for the show. The album Letter to You features many rousing songs, new and old. Yet, Springsteen did not choose the title song about his connection with fans. He did not choose other songs that can be interpreted as referencing our current national leadership. He did not choose songs from the 1970s that he finally released officially on this album. No, with the year and pandemic on his mind, he chose the two songs most about loss and remembering lost friends and family: “Ghosts” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams.”

Saturday Night Live performances are somewhat notorious for not having the best sound. But the rough-around-the edges performance of the E Street Band, which has not been able to perform live this year, makes this version of “I’ll See You In My Dreams” even more endearing.

Bruce’s ragged vocal chords, the lyrics of loss, and the absence of two band members who chose not to travel due to Covid concerns, help make it the perfect performance for ending 2020.

Wishing you a happy and healthy new year.

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    “Life is Beautiful” With Matthew Ryan

    Matthew Ryan plays piano for the affecting songs of hope and sorrow on “Life is Beautiful.”

    Life is Beautiful Ryan

    Through recent troubled times, Matthew Ryan has maintained a special connection with fans by consistently releasing wonderful timely (and timeless) new music. In just the last two years he has released several EP’s of vital heartfelt music to comfort us in difficult times. Most recently, Ryan put down his electric and acoustic guitars to sit at the piano for the five tracks on the EP Life is Beautiful.

    Ryan had never fully composed songs on the piano before, but the songs show his diligence and talent, as he spent his summer developing his connection to the instrument. And in October, with some help from friends, he put together the intimate recordings.

    Ryan explains about the new EP on Bandcamp: “It’s been such a hard year. This for me was like finding switches that lit certain constellations at night. I can’t know how you’ll receive them. I can only hope that these songs and their wide minimalism offer to you some version of what they gave to me: A place for my anger, hope and sorrow, and an embattled but resilient faith in each other.”

    Life is Beautiful features three new songs, along with instrumental versions of two of them. The songs are: “Don’t Say Goodbye Yet,” “Untitled Verses for Distance,” and “Tyrone.” The latter two songs also appear as instrumentals. The tracks are available on Ryan’s Bandcamp page for download.

    Below is “Tyrone.” Ryan describes it as “a story song describing the power of music.” You may find the rhythmic sound of the piano seeping into your soul as the lyrics and Ryan’s voice take you to another place.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    There Will Be Another Christmas

    Science fiction author John Scalzi and singer-songwriter Matthew Ryan release a new Christmas song for 2020 and beyond.

    Days before Christmas, singer-songwriter Matthew Ryan and science fiction author John Scalzi have released a holiday gift with a free download of their new Christmas song entitled “Another Christmas (Until I Am There With You).” It is a special holiday song for this difficult year, offering hope and a reminder we need to keep looking ahead.

    Scalzi explained that while dealing with an illness that was likely Covid-19, he found it difficult to work on his current novel. So, he decided to try something different in writing a Christmas song.

    He continued, “I wrote words that reflected where I was in this winter season, missing family and friends and looking toward when we could all be together again. And when I was done I looked at what I wrote, and I thought ‘This kind of feels like a Matthew Ryan song.’ So I got in touch with Matthew. He took a jumble of words and made them beautiful. He didn’t have to, but he did, and I’m grateful.”

    So, Scalzi concluded, “This is from both of us to all of you. It has love and hope in it. May it help you through the end of a long year, and into a better year for all.”

    The song fits perfectly for this year (“I know this year is hard for you /
    It feels like it’s meant to break us”), and you may find it bringing a tear or two. But it is also timeless, as we all have encountered our own individual bad years, longing for something in the past or the future.

    Yet, this year, for our collective grief, “Another Christmas (Until I Am There With You)” is a wonderful holiday gift. “So have some faith it won’t be long / Until we’re once again together.”

    “Another Christmas (Until I Am There With You)” is available for free download on Bandcamp until New Year’s Day 2021. I’ve already added it to my Christmas music collection, looking forward to hearing it years from now and thinking of how we made it through this year.

    Happy holidays everyone.

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    We sang, “Silent Night” All Day Long

    Listen to John Prine’s “Silent Night, All Day Long” as we reflect back on a difficult year with guarded hope for the coming year.

    John Prine Christmas

    The world faced numerous losses this year. Although it is part of the human condition that we lose loved ones every year, this year was collectively difficult as we were struck by a pandemic that was not even on many of our minds one year ago today. As we watched the numbers climb on our television screens, we could lose track of the incalculable individual personal tragedies, largely because taking it all in would be too much to bear. The affected people we knew brought the impact home. And people in the spotlight killed by Covid, like Charley Pride, might bring together a divided country in unified grieving, if only for a moment.

    One of the earlier deaths of a national figure occurred in April, when singer-songwriter John Prine passed away from complications related to Covid-19. From his lyrics and his warmth, many of us felt a special personal connection to Prine, even if we had only heard his music and seen him on stage.

    And so it seems appropriate that for this Christmas, we remember those we lost and reflect on the coming year with one of Prine’s perfect Christmas songs from his 1993 album A John Prine Christmas, “Silent Night All Day Long.”

    We held hands and stared at the lights on the tree,
    As if Christmas was invented for you and for me;
    When the angel on the treetop requested a song,
    We sang, “Silent Night” all day long.

    Even as we are reminded, through memories of a year ago, that we can never know what tragedies and joys await us in the new year, we look forward to this coming year with guarded hope. As we persist through this winter, we pray for the changes from the new vaccines, new leadership, and the coming seasons.

    And most of all we keep our faith that, as in the images of love in John Prine’s song, somehow we will get through it all together.

    Peace to you this holiday season.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Mahalia Jackson: “Silent Night”
  • The Pines at Night (Matthew Ryan) Releases Full Album,”A Year of Novembers”
  • A “Song for a Hard Year” from The Pines at Night
  • I’ll See You In My Dreams: Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021
  • Everyone Needs a Little Extra “Love And Mercy” Now
    • ( Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Buy from Amazon and support this site

    “Hello Christmas” from Dion and Amy Grant

    Dion has released two new Christmas singles where he sings “Hello Christmas” with Amy Grant and gets help from guitarist Joe Bonamassa on “You Know It’s Christmas.”

    Dion Amy Grant Christmas

    Dion’s Christmas album Rock ‘n Roll Christmas is a mainstay of my holiday playlist. So, I’m happy to hear that the rock-and-roll legend is still creating new Christmas music after all these years as he recently released “Hello Christmas,” a duet with singer Amy Grant.

    Dion explained that traumas of 2020 led him to record the song singing to the holiday, “Need you more than I did last year.” Dion explained, “I was talking with a friend about how the world this year can use a little life-giving love and harmony. I told him that Christmas was the grace that changed my life and that I was looking forward to a shot of that this year.”

    Dion asked Grant to help out and found that her counter-melody made the song “sublime.” Check out their recording of “Hello Christmas.”

    Additionally, Dion released “You Know It’s Christmas,” featuring lead guitar by Joe Bonamassa. The inspiration for the song was considering what a bluesman would brag about Christmas: buying the perfect gift for his girlfriend.

    Christian author Mike Aquillina co-wrote both “Hello Christmas” and “You Know It’s Christmas” with Dion. Check out Dion performing the latter song below.

    What do you think of Dion’s new holiday songs? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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