"IT'S CHRISTMAS!!"
This Christmas we have purposely featured the drawings of children.
The reasons are multiple,
but primarily due to the direct exuberance and pure pleasure
derived in viewing them -
free from preconceptions, often joyous,
and expressing an innocence and essence
frequently lost in well developed sophisticated works of art.
How often I have wished to have the freedom of vision of a child,
and simultaneously retain this needed body of knowledge that comes with age!
Christmastime is one of the magical celebrations we have to do just that.
It is, after all, about "new life".
It celebrates the birth of a baby with great majesty,
but also with an innocence and wonderment
to experience even the smallest things
we adults too often take for granted.
Some years ago, Neil Diamond wrote and recorded on "Tap Root Manuscript",
"Childsong".
It opens with a chorus of children's voices,
singing of the simple joys within nature :
'sunshine' bringing gladness to the 'weeping sky',
and 'wind' to make the 'quiet tree' dance and play.
And it ends :
"And you shall be glad
And you shall dance
And you shall come
To hear our song
And learn its tune
Before it fades away ..."
This Christmas, may you be glad...
and may you
dance!..
and may you hear this song ...
with all the joyous wonder so present in childhood.
It needs not fade away!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas illustrations by children, in crayon, and gouache :
By
Lease, through Dreamstime, & Shutterstock
"Tap Root Manuscript", released in October 1970,
was one of the most experimental albums Neil Diamond ever recorded.
Whilst the first side contained
five very familiar pop rock songs
( including "Cracklin'
Rosie", "Done Too Soon", and "You Ain't Heavy" ),
Side Two was a conceptual suite of related songs expressing an African theme,
entitled "The African Trilogy".
The 19-minute suite intertwined African folk styles with blues and gospel elements
to create what Diamond called "a folk ballet".
"The Trilogy"
both opened and closed with the children's chorus of "Childsong".
Despite the label's concern of the commercial viability of "The Trilogy",
the featured song "Soolaimon" rose to number 30 on the American Billboard.
"Soolaimon" has since become an international symbol
of hope and unity, and the celebration of life.
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