Dec. 23, 2013
by Bob Farrell
To many it’s just a warm, fuzzy time to sit by the fire and watch It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, or A Christmas Carol—harkening back to simpler times. To retailers it’s unadulterated commerce that starts at Thanskgiving. To the non-religious it’s just a Holiday, like Halloween or Labor Day. To a myriad of children it’s simply cashing in on gifts and goodies (we’ve all been guilty of that, right?).
To the lonely, or to ones who have lost a loved one Christmas time can be depressing. For some, who feel obligated to get with family, it’s an uncomfortable gathering that is tolerated—but never enjoyed.
But to many folks worldwide Christmas means exactly what Christmas truly is: a celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus.
And to celebrate this joyous event most want to share it—singing, laughing, telling stories, trading gifts, eating ourselves into a food coma—with the ones we truly treasure most: our family.
That Bob’s sentiment. Jesus is absolutely the reason for my season.
Sometime before Christmas 1982 I got a call from Amy Grant and Brown Bannister, who were at Caribou Studios in Nederland, CO, recording Amy’s A Christmas Album.
The call had to do with a song I had written with Brown ...
At the time I was still living in Oklahoma, but often went to Nashville to record F&F albums and to write songs. In the early 80’s much of that writing took place at the Paragon-Benson Publishing "kennel house" at 19th and Hayes (it was a former doctor’s office, the exam rooms converted to writer rooms).
The artist-writers you might find there on a given day was pretty amazing: Michael W. Smith, Dana Key, Eddie DeGarmo, Gary Chapman, Mark Gershmehl, Billy Smiley, Dann Huff, Steven Curtis Chapman—and many more.
Brown and I had been co-writing since he produced F&F’s A Portrait of Us All; songs such as "All You Need", "Fallen", "I Couldn’t Live Without You", "Talk To One Another" (from Brown’s solo project)—and "Heirlooms".
One day (probably early ‘82) Brown showed up at Paragon to write with me; he was really excited, came in singing a chorus/refrain he’d had in his head driving over after lunch with Michael Blanton. They’d been talking about their families.
The refrain lyric was:
All that I come from and all that I live for
And all that I’m going to be
My precious family is more than an heirloom to me
I loved it. And our first thought was to make an analogy between our blood-family and our family of God through the blood of Christ—focusing on the items we attach to those relationships: letters and family photographs; the bread and wine of the Communion Table.
Heirlooms.
We were off and running and soon had the music and lyric written.
Up in the attic down on my knees
Lifetimes of boxes—timeless to me
Letters and photographs yellowed with years
Some bringing laughter—some bringing tears
Time never changes the memories
The faces of loved ones who bring to me
Ok, fast forward to Amy’s call months later. Brown had played "Heirlooms" to her at Caribou and she too fell in love with it—only she had a special request: could we tweak the lyric and create a Christmas song? Made sense to me, and we came up with some new ideas on the phone, then I got off to let her re-write the second verse. Which she did—beautifully, I might add—and then they recorded the song.
Wise men and shepherds down on their knees
Bringing their treasures to lay at His feet
Who was this wonder—baby yet King
Living and dying—He gave life to me
Time never changes the memory
The moment His love first pierced through me
Jayne and I did a F&F version on Acoustic Christmas a couple years back; Amy sang it to us at the Lifeasaver Tribute Concert that she, Pat Terry Group, Susan Ashton, and several other artists staged to benefit our recovery after the Nashville Flood; and I suppose she sings it from time to time, like this performance at the Ryman in 2011, that I really love.
"Heirlooms" seems to touch a place in people’s souls by expressing something vital for them: that “my precious family is more than an heirloom to me."
The Amy who has carved such an enormous niche in worldwide pop music is today the very same lovely, sincere person Jayne and I met in the late 70’s. And we love her for the very same reasons her fans do: for her honesty, her vulnerability—her heart.
And I truly love the last line of this only song I’ve had the privilege to write with Amy:
My precious Jesus is more than an heirloom to me.
(lyrics from “Heirlooms” by Amy Grant, Bob Farrell, and Brown Bannister, circa 1982)
No comments :
Post a Comment