THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Librarians With Hickeys, "Listen, The Snow Is Falling"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Listen, The Snow Is Falling

Written by Yoko Ono

Produced by Mike Crooker

Single [B-side of "Jingle Jangle Heart"], Big Stir Records, 2021

Listen.

Each year, as the calendar turns from November to December, I'm generally not yet ready to play or listen to Christmas music. When holiday music comes on the radio during that (to me) too-early-for-Christmas season, I change the channel. It's just not what I want to hear, not at that moment.

Librarians With Hickeys' wonderful cover of Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" first reached my ears at the dawn of December 2021, right around the time I began to face the certainty that my mom wouldn't be around for much longer. She passed just after that, on December 9th. "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" was one of the songs from which I tried to draw solace.

LWH's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" is the virtual B-side to the group's digital single "Jingle Jangle Heart." From the press release accompanying the single's release: "The flip side is a cover of Yoko Ono’s excellent 'Listen, The Snow Is Falling' which was the B-side of John and Yoko’s 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' single (for those of you keeping score at home). This version is based on a demo that singing Librarian Ray Carmen made in the early 2000s, and comes complete with a keyboard part played on an old 1985 Casio SK-1 toy sampler. Ray recorded new vocals, and producer Mike Crooker gave it a new mix and EQ wax so it shines like new. He also added sleigh bells and a gong. Get it on!"

Prior to falling for the Librarians With Hickeys cover version, I'm not sure that I'd ever heard Yoko's original, even though it was the flip side of one of my very favorite Christmas records. Her original is also wonderful and sublime--Yoko haters need not comment here--but there is something about Librarians With Hickeys' take that reaches inside of my soul as if to say:

"It's okay, Carl."

I have always sought refuge in my music. This song's contemplative feel suited my fragile mood, a comfort and a catharsis, a beautiful ache that keeps inviting me into its comforting embrace. Beautiful ache? Yeah. The soundtrack to beautiful ache.

The calendar's pages sometimes tend to flutter by a bit too quickly for my taste. But that's me. Whether you're lighting your tree, finishing your eight days of candles, celebrating (or preparing to celebrate) whatever other magic you hold dear, or just hitting the pause button until you can catch up, the radio is on. As the snow falls, the music continues. Maybe it's mocking us, but...no. No, it's trying to remind us of all we've ever cherished, all that's ever provided meaning, all we've ever held dear, and all that has ever held us in turn. 

If we had never loved, maybe we would never have been hurt. But if we never love, we never live in the first place. 

Listen.

Another calendar page turns, and will turn again soon, to ash. Matches, candles, the spark's remnants all covered in short order by the snow that falls, the years that pass, the regrets that sting, the promises that slip away unfulfilled. That is the nature of things, no matter how we try to hold on. For now: Just listen. Let's sit together by the fire. Let's listen for as long as we are able.

Snow falls. I can hear it. I can feel it. And it will be all right.

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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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