I’m pretty sure I never told anyone about the Christmas song I wrote last year. I wrote it, recorded it, uploaded it to YouTube, and then forgot about it. It’s called “Christmas Is Cancelled,” and I wrote it back in early November, so it was over a year ago now.
I was partially inspired to write it because one of my annual Christmas get-togethers with one branch of my family got canceled. It’s the one my immediate family has always informally called “the Cooley Christmas,” the one in which we get together with my dad’s side of the family. We decided to do a Zoom call with everyone instead. I wrote it after learning it would be cancelled, and completed it before the zoom call.
Let the record show I uploaded it to YouTube on November 11th, 2020. So far it was zero likes, and 65 total views on my official channel at www.youtube.com/scottcooley. So like anyone would, I logically thought I could boost the engagement by posting about it here in my blog that hardly anyone reads.
The official direct link to the song is here: https://youtu.be/VaK47yLMoL4
It occurs to me now that it’s still somewhat relevant, because yet another and 2nd consecutive Cooley Christmas has now been cancelled, although no zoom call has been planned this year.
We didn’t have a vaccine yet at the time, so there’s a line about getting one someday, and sure enough, we got one. As of this blog posting I just got my 3rd shot – the Pfizer booster.
There’s a line about telling Trump he was fired, and he’s not our president anymore, even though many don’t seem to believe it’s true. It’s the only time I’ve ever put anything even remotely political in one of my songs, but I felt compelled. That may explain why the view count is pretty low! I’ve alienated at least half of my potential audience, although they wouldn’t know that until well into the song, but who knows.
It really is nice to avoid the usual holiday hassles by having it cancelled, but I’m getting together with the other branch of my family, my mom’s side, tomorrow, and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s been resurrected this year, even though our Covid numbers here in Michigan are pretty bad again.
So, I do sort of dread the effort involved with holiday get-togethers, but I also miss them because I miss seeing everyone. The holidays were a stressful time of year to begin with, and with no end to Corona in sight, it’s even more.
Some high school kid about 20 miles from here just shot a bunch of other kids in the school a few days ago, so it’s got everyone talking. I got my hair cut today, and the barbers were all in agreement that sadly, all schools need metal detectors now, even outside the big cities.
I wrote this for a Christmas song contest that I lost (not even an honorable mention t-shirt). It occurs to me now that the contest and judges were all based in Nashville, and I suspect the vast majority of them are Trump supporters, so what was I thinking? A total waste of an entry fee.
Here are the lyrics:
Christmas is cancelled, and that’s alright with me
No indoor gatherings, due to Covid-19
Christmas is cancelled, this year we’re free
We’ll say hi on Zoom, forget about the tree
Christmas is cancelled
We’ll have less stress from driving, we’ll relax like never before
We’ll skip shopping and wrapping presents, let Amazon bring ‘em to the door
Christmas is cancelled, we’re stocked up with food and TP
We told Trump he was fired, that’s all the glee I need
We’ve celebrated your birthday Jesus, for over two thousand years
We need a second coming in two thousand twenty-one, to stop the dying, the fears and the tears
Maybe Christ is made up, like the news on the Fox channel
Our country’s getting’ bluer, and that’s better than getting dismantled
Christmas is cancelled, and it’s gonna be okay
We won’t lose hope, we’ll get a vaccine someday
'Till then enjoy a break from all the usual holiday hassles
Christmas is cancelled
And here’s the embedded official “video” of the song:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VaK47yLMoL4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So, that was my first attempt at a Christmas song, and I know I can probably do better, so maybe will give it another try someday. Hope you enjoyed it!
While I’m at it, on a related note, over 10 years ago now I recorded a Christmas album I titled “A Cooley Christmas” of my favorite holiday cover songs. Similarly, I never really told anyone about it, but it was back in the days when burning CDs was a thing, and I gave out a few copies to some of the Cooley relatives. I got a few kind, polite compliments from a few of them, but never did anything more with it. I only burned a few discs, and I’ve actually had a request for another copy a time or two since then, but don’t have the CD burning equipment anymore. However, I did upload them and make a playlist for the album on YouTube, which you can now stream for free.
Here’s the link to the Scott Cooley Holiday Covers Album “A Cooley Christmas” Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOHntjA2t1-DYZc9nSQN-y8HwPuCKzL4
Happy Holidays,
Scott
