SOUNDTRACK: SUFJAN STEVENS–Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas Vol. III (2006).
Disc Three of the Sufjan Christmas collection is my favorite. It returns to the more mellow, folksy style of the first disc (and is replete with banjo!). It opens with some thing of a reprise of “O Come, O Come Emanuel” (only a minute long). It’s piano and vocals and very pretty. It proceeds to his boppingest, Christmas song on the whole set: “Come on, Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance” with multiple singers and lots of instruments (and a fugue pattern of voices, too). It continues with two traditional songs: “We Three Kings” (possibly the best version I heard all season) and “O Holy Night.” I’ve mentioned that “O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs, and this version is quite good, with lovely harmonies (from different people listed although, no one credited specifically for the track) and the way it builds to such a full song by the end.
Despite the title, “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!” sounds beautifully reminiscent of Sufjan’s catchiest banjo-infused songs on Illinois (the mellow ones without orchestration). “Ding! Dong!” is a short instrumental. “All the Kings Horns,” is an original. And the disc ends with “The Friendly Beasts,” which some will note is Sarah’s favorite Christmas song. I like this version more than most others, although the doubling vocals make it a little hard to understand.
So, hooray for Vol. III!
[READ: January 5, 2009] “Some Women”
Alice Munro continues to be shockingly prolific. At this rate I’ll have read her entire forthcoming short story collection before it even comes out.
This story is a meditative look back on the narrator’s childhood. One of her earliest jobs was sitting for Young Mr Crozier, who was dying from leukemia. His stepmother, Old Mrs Crozier was an unpleasant woman who more or less resented the narrator’s presence (and seemed to resent her stepson’s presence.)
What is so good about the story is the way Munro sets up the beginning, with the narrator’s disbelief at how long ago the story took place, and how much has changed in her own life since then: dirt roads, sprinkled with water to keep the dust down, waist cinchers, etc.)
Young Mr Crozier is married, but his wife teaches two days a week (there is much discussion about whether this is proper, but it is conceded that she will need the income once he dies). One day, another woman comes on the scene. Roxanne is Old Mrs Crozier’s masseuse (a practically magical word that narrator hasn’t heard before). After giving the massage she hangs around with Young Mr Crozier and the narrator, playing card games. She tries to make him laugh and engage him (he is for the most part a taciturn fellow–as you might expect from someone in his condition). The narrator is somewhat horrified by her, as it seems quite clear that she is actyaully flirting with the man.
The climax of the story surrounds Young Mr Crozier’s actions on the last day of school. The last day that his wife will be away. He also makes the narrator complicit in his actions…. I hope I am leaving this tantalizingly open ended, because it may not be what you think it is.
It’s hard to rave over a Munro story because all of her stories are so good. They are well written, with beautiful word choices. They are evocatively scenic. They are also quite sad, but redemptive. And of course, they are set in Canada.
I too loved this story, and found while reading it recently I couldn’t help but be aware of how much Munro was doing that seemed to break–and break beautifully–so many of the ‘rules’ of story writing. So a recent post of mine addressed that; maybe you’ll find it interesting.
Munro, I know, breaks rules all the time, and can do it so well, but this particular story seemed to really stand out for me, both in how unique it seems and how odd.
Thanks Wellcraftedtoo. I’m really becoming a Munro fan. I don’t seem to be able to click to your site….what’s your address?
I’m at wellcraftedtoo.wordpress.com; hope you can find me.
Am now working my way through J. Lahiri’s latest collection of shorts and while she is tremendously talented I am missing Munro–she stands a head above just about any other current story writer for me!