Norton, Christopher - A Blue Christmas (SATB & Piano)

for mixed choir (SAATB) & piano
Text: English (Nigel Forde)
Duration: 3'00''
Difficulty: 2/5
Use: Christmas


As the name suggests, this piece is about the less celebratory side of Christmas with an appropriately ‘bluesy’ style; a comical addition to your Christmas concert. This work is also appears in the Concerts for Choirs volume Christmas in Blue.


Text
It’s going to be a blue Christmas
A where-are-you Christmas;
Nothing much to sing about this year.
I’ll pile the fire,
I’ll pour liqueurs,
Pretend one’s mine
And one is yours
I’ll even write a note for Santa Claus.


We used to have a white Christmas
A hold-me-tight Christmas
With candles, tree and presents by the hearth;
We watched the stars,
Sang ‘Silent Night’
We crunched through snow
And cold moonlight
When I was yours and you were my delight.


Now the kings will lose their way,
Their star will fade and die;
The shepherds watch their flocks, but hear
No angels in the sky.
Our road to Bethlehem is choked
With icy thorn and briar,
And nothing warms our Christmas now;
No candle and no fire.


What’s happened to our true Christmas
Our me-and-you Christmas?
Nothing much to sing about this year.
I’ll pile the fire
With one log more,
Try to forget
I ever saw.........
Whose footsteps rustle, rustle at the door?


Nigel Forde


Christopher Norton
Christopher Norton came to the UK from his native New Zealand in 1977 on a University Scholarship and studied composition at York University with Wilfred Mellers and David Blake. In 1983, Chris was signed by Boosey & Hawkes and the first of the Microjazz series appeared – music which appealed greatly to children and teenagers but was sufficiently rooted in the classical tradition to be useful as teaching material. The series has expanded over 20 years to include music for all of the major instruments with piano, ensemble books and midi file/CD backings.


Chris is now well established as a omposer, producer, arranger and educationalist and has written stage musicals, ballet scores, piano music, popular songs and orchestral music as well as jingles and signature tunes for TV and radio. He has lectured all over the world on aspects of his work and likes to integrate traditional teaching methods with aspects of modern technology. He has also produced huge numbers of albums for the gospel market, with releases worldwide selling in excess of a million units.