Teejay - The Holly and the Ivy.mpg

Such a pretty carol, in so very many of the versions I've heard throughout my life. Most of my favorite versions involved lush chorales, with complex harmonies soaring and weaving through the sunlight of this tune.

I wanted to do a version myself, and experimented with dozens of variations; pressing every device I knew into trying to emulate those beautiful vocal arrangements.

But then I stopped, and considered the words of the additional verses of the song, which one rarely hears in other versions. Attributed as an "old French carol", the author(s) are unknown, but through various transcriptions - notably Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer -- the song reaches us with an intriguing and very playful rhyme. One could almost say they were poking fun at the English language... but not quite: there is a sincerity that belies the first assumption.

So, I went the other way, and decided to try a flat, dry, almost sterile vocal treatment. And once I had recorded the scratch vocals this way, the austerity of the track reminded me of what I think is one of the best-ever examples of a dry, flat production that still manages to shine -- Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen".

Getting close... but still not quite. It was *too* dry, so I added my own verse (necessary to somehow make columbian and cuervo fit into a carol!), and asked 'Till Tuesday, Marvin Gaye, and Al Stewart for a helping hand.

Thus armed, the song fell into place in the span of one evening, in June 2010... and here you are.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Teejay
• Christmas
• Reconstructed
• Holly
• Ivy
• Carol
• K23M4

[steigdg1]

You really nailed the instrumentals here, we need to do some Steely Dan...