Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over, from Family Christmas OnlineTMMany folks first heard this tune through Jack White's inspired and authentic interpretation on the Cold Mountain soundtrack. If that performance brought back memories of the Bluegrass song "Christmas Time's A-Comin'," as recorded by Emmy Lou Harris on her classic "Light of the Stable" album, it should. If I have it right, the song on Emmy Lou's album is actually Tex Logan's update of the old fiddle tune that White used in the movie.According to the Bluegrass Messengers, the earliest known recording of this song was in 1928, featuring Fiddlin' John Carson And His Virginia Reelers (Okeh 45273). But the tune, like most old fiddle tunes, is probably much, much older, like the tune of "Lou, Lou, Skip to my Lou," one of many harmonically similar tunes. The Bluegrass Messengers classify this song as a "breakdown," which means that it consists of relatively short sections on which various instrumentalists can take turns playing improvised solos (think Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."). As a fiddle tune, it's usually played in A, although as a banjo picker, I'd tend to put it into G. The arrangement we did for the MP3 includes an introductory "instrumental" verse with a slightly more elaborate tune than the actual melody, which starts with the "second verse." To hear the MP3 version, click here. To download the vocal and piano sheet music for this song in pdf format, click here. To hear Amazon clips of various artists singing this song (and to buy any track that you like), scroll down the page. Christmas time will soon be over,
Come on gals, let’s go up the river,
Amazon Sound Clips and RecordingsThis is a new feature to help our traditional Christmas music pages "connect" a little better to our readers in 2010. To help you get a feeling for how various artists perform this song, we're providing a link to the "sound clip" feature on Amazon. By clicking on the arrow, you can hear a 15-25 second clip from each artist. If you decide to buy and download a recording, just click on the Buy MP3 button next to the artist you want and follow the instructions.If the little boxes on the right don't have song, artist, or album names when you first view this page, try hitting the refresh button.
"Christmas Time's a Comin'" ClipsTex Logan's version, "Christmas Time's a Comin'" adds a catchy verse and many more lyrics. My favorite version of THAT song is Emmylou Harris' version from her classic Christmas Album The Light of the Stable . A few other great versions are listed below.
More Great Sound Clips of This Song
Unfortunately, the only decent clips for "Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over" are already listed on this page. But Amazon has dozens more great sound clips of "Christmas Time's a Comin'" by first-tier artists like Ricky Skaggs, Dolly Parton, the Judds, and Patty Loveless. But if I try to put even the best ten or so on this page, it won't load very well on some computers. So if you want to browse the rest of the clips for yourself, please click the following link:
If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul
If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul
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