Christmas in Fallujah

I know some other blogs are on it already, but it’s a little early yet for me to start with the Christmas music. I’ll jump on that bandwagon, but in a couple of weeks.

I do want to get this song out there, though, because I think it’s great. Your opinion on “Christmas in Fallujah” is probably going to have a lot to do with your position on the war in Iraq. This blog is not about politics and I don’t want to mix my opinions in that area with my opinions on music. There are millions of other places you can go if you want a political perspective; you don’t need mine.

While I say I do not intend to use this space as a forum for my political opinions, I will also say I am aware “Christmas in Fallujah” is not exactly a pro-war song. Billy Joel, who wrote the song (although he does not sing on it), told Billboard the inspiration for “Fallujah” was partly born of letters he’s received from service personnel overseas, but also simply from years of the realities of war.

The song came to him quickly, Joel told the magazine, as did the realization that he wasn’t the guy to record it. “I thought someone with a young voice should be singing this, someone just starting out in life,” he says. “Plus, you know, I’m 58 years old. My voice isn’t the voice I was thinking of when I was writing; I was thinking of a soldier, someone of that age.”

21-year-old Cass Dillon, who had worked with Tommy Byrnes, Joel’s longtime musical director, does the vocals. Dillon dropped out of college two years ago and has been playing bars and coffee houses since.

I ripped this version of the song yesterday from a video on YouTube. A higher fidelity version was released today and is available on iTunes.

Christmas in Fallujah.mp3

Labels: current events, holiday, new stuff

posted by aikin @ 6:47 PM