Happy Birthday, Jesus!


Happy birthday, Jesus
We’re glad you came to Earth
‘Cause once a year we have a bash
To celebrate your birth
It goes on every year
We drink a lot of beer
And wish that you were here at Christmas

Starting life inside a barn
Must have been the pits
But Jesus Christ, dude, you’re the man
And Christmas is the shit
I say raise your glass
Get up off your ass
No bar should be passed at Christmas

It’s the time of year
You’d do well to find good cheer
And you’ll always find it here

Santa Clause is big and fat
And he rides up in his sleigh
But hang him on a wooden cross
And he’d too waste away
Kringle’s such a bore
A total sell-out whore
I want something more at Christmas

It’s the time of year
You’d do well to find good cheer
And you’ll always find it here

Happy Birthday Jesus is an original composition written by Joe Legg and yours truly for The Real Happy Hour podcast. I performed and recorded the music, with Joe, myself and Jules on vocals. It appears at the end of Episode 20, Holiday Homecoming.

Two Hearts


One of my early goals with this website was to share some projects in progress. It seemed like it might be fun, an illuminating gift for those with an interest in creative process. But with that in mind, it didn’t take long for me to realize there aren’t many unfinished things I actually want to share, because (wait for it), they’re unfinished. Duh. And the curse of romantic idealism strikes again!

Nevertheless, here I am doing it. Two Hearts is a recent composition, and one that took some effort for me to get a feel for. There’s a fine line between delicacy and passivity, cliche and comfort, and this song made me look carefully at both of those dynamics. The recording is a single guitar part (doubled), and a few vocal passes for laying out harmonies.

I made a couple temporary mixes I wasn’t particularly jazzed about, but this time, the sticking point was a question of what effects to apply to the tracks. When all you have in a recording is guitar and voice, the sonic setting can have a tremendous impact on the overall feel, and that was certainly true here. On this mix, I used a plugin from PSPAudioware – PSP Echo. It was my first experience using the software, and I found it did a fantastic job of creating a subtle effect that fell somewhere between delay and reverb, putting the track in a really nice space.

Two Hearts

Some days
I wake and wonder how much farther we can go
Some days
There’s a spell that I fall under
No more questions- I only know

I know some loves grow stronger
And I know some loves will fade
I believe this love will last longer
Than anything two hearts have ever made

Some nights
I’m laying in the shadows and thinking how all of this will end
Some nights
I’m showered in a light that leaves no doubt
Love will always win
Yeah love will always win

Chorus

The harder you hold to what you have
The more it slips away
If you let it go it can return
The more that you want
The less you’ll have
It’s always been that way
God it’s been hard for me to learn

Sometime we’ll both be looking back on moments we thought would never end
Somewhere a dawn will be breaking
And love will rise again
Yeah love will rise again

Chorus


Easier Than That


It’s easier than breaking your heart
It’s so much easier than falling all apart
There isn’t anything that you can do
Just open up your heart and let it come to you
‘Cause baby, love is easier than that

It’s easier than losing your mind
It’s so much easier than crying yourself blind
I know you’re hurting, but what’s done is done
Trouble is you think that you’re an unlucky one
But baby, love is easier than that

Easy doesn’t mean
That things will always seem to go your way
Who’s to say?
You don’t know where you are
And near is sometimes far away
As the crow flies

It’s easier than remembering it to death
It’s so much easier, just like letting in your breath
There isn’t anything that you can do
Just open up your heart and let it come to you
‘Cause baby, love is easier than that
Yeah baby, love is easier than that

©2022 Matthew Sigmon