Alternate Takes and Stand Alone’s
When Recording Jans songs, I had the idea of doing them in the style of her favorite artists, but quickly realized that only the Beatles could make the White Album, and this was going to sound schizophrenic. This cut, however, was so much fun done in the style of the Eagles, I had to release it on its own.
Jan’s original idea for this was to open and close Holiday Traditions with two versions of the same song, with this one concluding with a more Christmas, orchestrated vibe. I thought it was lost forever, but I found an old backup disk with the raw multitrack on it, reassembled it and mixed it down. I think this is my favorite version with more upfront vocals and a cleaner sound.
This song was a true orphan. I wrote it in the mid-90s and rewrote it with Jan’s input while we were in Cornwall in 98, and recorded it in 2001 while living in Iowa. It was released Sept. 1st, 2001, on the now-defunct MP3.com. We revisited it when looking at new albums to record a couple of years ago, but Jan felt it sounded too dated and wanted an all-new arrangement. This might still come to pass as I’m considering a new version for a future project, but this is the one she sings on and while it didn’t fit any of the albums I just put out, it deserved a home in her digital legacy.