Note
from Carly (2009):
Here
I am, back again. Since the release of the original album, I had
always wanted to add two more Christmas songs to complete the
album, and it felt right to do it this year.
On the first version of the album, Don and I decided to stay away
from "White Christmas" because of how roundly recorded it has
been over so many years. When I was in Los Angeles in May, I said
to my friend Carole Bayer Sager over a nice hot cup of chai: "The
only way it could work is if I recorded it with a legend..." Before
I could get the word 'legend' out, she was pressing an automatic
dialer and saying the words: "Burt, would you play "White Christmas"
for Carly? She's here right now." We were all on speakerphone,
and within four minutes of having the idea, we had agreed on the
key of the song and the recording schedule.
A few days later it was as it is now. We recorded it in Carole's
studio with Chris Papastephanou putting three mikes up. One for
my voice, one for the piano and one for Burt to do the funky 'Burt'
thing whenever he felt moved to. The funky 'Burt' thing is like
a soft, tender rain falling from dark, powerful clouds. He does
it with his husky voice mingled serendipitously with some sonic
jewelry... could be sleigh bells if you stretch. It's atmospheric
and caressing, and the world would be a much sadder place without
it.
"Forgive", is more of a hymn than a Christmas song, and it should
be sung or expressed every day. This is especially true if you
can get Andreas Vollenweider to fly from Switzerland to your house
to accompany you on his harp. We wrote it on the spot and recorded
it with Jimmy Parr in just a few minutes. The version is really
no more than a demo, but it doesn't seem to require anything else,
so call it a track.
In 2009, my song The Night Before Christmas was added to
the MP3 download version. I'm very proud of all of us who brought
this collection together. Carly Simon
Produced
and Engineered by Don Was in room 139 of The Peninsula Hotel,
Beverly Hills, CA in January of 2002.
