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Winter's Tale

by Louis Rive

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about

I wouldn’t call the a ‘Christmas Song’, more a song that just happens to be set at Christmas time. That said, it’s seasonal enough to justify the extreme last-minute nature of the release as I feel the moment may have passed if I waited until the festive period, 2023.

The song is an autobiographical look at the simple act of writing a message to someone at this time of year. I come from a culture in which emotion, especially positive emotion, has always been seen as taboo; a sign of weakness or excess, depending on the expression. Christmas then, has always been a difficult time, being decked in expectant celebration and a sense of boundless joy. ‘Winter’s Tale’ is about how I would like to express these emotions, but often cannot.

This is a Christmas present to all the fans who have supported my music over the years.

lyrics

Louis Rive – A Winter’s Tale

Oh mother dear did I write to you?
When my hands were cold and blue
From the 14th floor of this tower so tall
Return to you know who

Just a paper and a pen, old scribble-di-di-di-di
Season’s greetings written at the start
Sooner or later, now or then, I hope you keep good company
I mean it from the bottom of my heart

So let it snow, let it snow, watch the fire slowly glow
On a TV screen subscription it’s the only way to go
Deck the halls, deck the halls, with your funeral shawls
Proudly standing silent but there’s pride before the fall
Pre-printed prediction. Merry Christmas

Well the family’s fine, hardly perfect but we’re trying
Cos you take nothing for granted here and now
Memories of 2017 under a polyproplene tree
Surrounded by a thousand plastic flowers

Five gold rings, five gold rings, as the choir softly sings
Their frozen breath’s angelic and we’re waiting in the wings
Once in royal David’s city, leather boots no time for pity
But the cattle shed’s dilapidated looking far from pretty
Corporate card collection, Merry Christmas

Precious little Christmas cheer, quartered way out here
Sent out with the early morning mail
Well I hope it’s not the last, signed and sealed, second class
Won’t you write me when you’ve got something to tell

Silent night, holy night, solely right, violence might be
The answer to the question when you’re looking for a fight
Jingle bells, jingle bells, when the biting wind chills
The fingers round the biro as I write this winter’s tale
Blue and black indifference, Merry Christmas

credits

released December 13, 2022
Music and lyrics by Louis Rive
Recorded and mixed by Ciaran McIntyre (Matchbox Sound, Glasgow)
Mastering by Kenny Inglis

license

all rights reserved

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about

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Louis Rive Glasgow, UK

Louis plays folk music; not the kind about orcs, glens, wizards etc, more about people and places. Like Tom Waits and Judy Collins if either of them wrote about Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. Closer tae home he wants to follow on from top lyricists like Michael Marra, Liz Lochead, and Hamish Imlach. ... more

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