Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

FINALLYYYY!!!!

A New Thought For Christmas has been released. Sometimes I feel it's unfair. I love Melissa as much as any of her fans does, but I can't get her new CD ontime, I can't go to her CD Releasing Party, I don't have any of her souvenirs, I'm not a member of the MEIN, I can't buy her song books, and while I've travelled half the world, I still can't go to her Awakening concerts. Half of the problem is that I don't have a credit card. Well, I have one but it's in Rupiah and my parents will kill me if I use that for buying things from MEIN. Now that I have my own money in Euro I still can't buy them cause I don't have a credit card (it costs A LOT and I'm only here for one year, so what's the point???) and the shipping cost is still A LOT. Oh, and one other bummer: I can't find her live DVDs except for the Live and Alone, and even that one I suspect isn't the version a huge fan would like to have. Internet is my only salvation for videos and audios for interviews and appearances and such. Big thanks to the internet boardies!

Okay, enough with the complaining. I've got a pretty good internet connection here so I can even stream 'Ring The Bells' from the source. Haha. And I can listen to Amazon.com 30 seconds samples. The song I like most from the samples are 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and 'Glorious'. I don't know if my opinion would change once I listen to the whole CD, I'll make sure I write a review of the whole CD. But I doubt I'll have just one favorite. It never happens to me with Melissa. I never have any favorite of her songs.

What strikes me most about 'Ring The Bells' is that she did it with Salman Ahmad from Pakistan. It's heartwarming to me to listen to an Eastern moslem sings about peace with a Western lesbian. It's almost like hearing a peaceful duet between America and Iraq. The song itself has an Arabian atmosphere to it... which is strange at first cause I was expecting a Christmas song, but as the song goes on, it blends in beautifully, including Ahmad's Qawwali. This song doesn't need to be played in a Christmas setting, this is as much a peaceful anthem like 'We Are The World', but when I close my eyes and imagine Melissa and Salman sing together on stage decorated with Christmas tree and all of those red and green Christmas decoration on fake snow, maybe even with a background choir dressed as angels each holding a bell and ringing it during the song... well, it makes a very beautiful Christmas song. Gotta admit, my Christian friends may not like it cause it tells nothing about Jesus being born. But what the heck??? How many 'traditional' Christmas songs actually talk about the birth of Jesus? Jinggle Bells? Frosty The Snowman? Blue Christmas? White Christmas? I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus? We Wish You A Merry Christmas? Well I forget the lyrics to many Christmas songs... but my point is the same. There are many Christmas songs which don't necessarily talk about the birth of Jesus, but they focus on love, peace, and hope on earth. And that's what Melissa and Salman do.

Oh, come to think of it, there are one more song I've heard in this album. 'Christmas in America'. It's been released in 'The Road Less Traveled' before, so it's not completely new. I love that song too, and I bet many of the wives and mothers and families of the soldiers going to Iraq love that song more. "It's Christmas all around here, you're in someone else's land. So I send my only wish, hey Santa, tell the man. Hey mister, send my baby home, this December I don't wanna be all alone. Oh, Christmas in America, I need you in my arms, far away from harm. Mister, send my baby home."

I've ever heard Melissa sang 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' in Camp Christmas 1994, I think. She only sings about two lines solo, but damn how I love it. It was wonderful! When I saw the title on the tracklist, I KNEW I was going to sing lots and lots of 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' this year.

Okay, so that's two and a half songs down ( I count the HYAMLC as half coz I only heard her version a decade ago and it's not solo), that makes 7.5 songs more to go. Wonderful. I read a story of a fan who was waiting for her lover on the car with open window and people were looking at her in a strange way, and then she realized that she was rocking to 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' on October 1st!!! LMAO. That could very well be me if I've got my hand on the CD just yet.

Aaargh, ok, I'm sleepy, time to sleep. See ya around.