Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over, from Family Christmas Online™


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Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over, from Family Christmas Online™

Many 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.

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 (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.

To hear an MP3 file of this song as it might be arranged in A for fiddle, here.
To hear an MP3 file of this song as it might be arranged in G for banjo, here.
To download the sheet music of this song in A, click here
To download the sheet music of this song in G, click here

Christmas time will soon be over,
Christmas time will soon be over,
Christmas time will soon be over
Then we'll join the band.

Come on gals, let’s go up the river,
Come on gals, let’s go up the river,
Come on gals, let’s go up the river,
Then we'll join the band.

(Jack White sings "Let's go to the river," which I think is easier to sing).

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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