Nativity

Jim & Dee explore some less familiar songs of the season from Dee's album "Nativity," then Jim attempts a Gordon Ramsay recipe (clean version).

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Transcript

MAKING OUR WAY - A McMahon/Cheyne Podcast

Nativity (Season 1; Episode 3) - 11/29/23 

JIM: Welcome to Making Our Way. Just a quick announcement before we get to our show. We had advertised that we were going to have a story today from way back, a bit of mystery to it, and that story is ready to go, but we're going to save it for a future episode. Today, I was able to coax Deanna into the studio. We had a discussion about a Christmas album we did a year ago, and Dee is here to share some insights into that album her choice of music. And now let's join Deanna in the studio.

All right, we are on. So what are we drinking today, Dee?

DEE: I am drinking toasted crème brulée tea.

JIM: Toasted crème brulée tea. Is that a green tea, a black tea? What is that?

DEE: It is a black dessert tea.

JIM: That’s just in the tea. It's not like a creamer?

DEE: Yeah, exactly.

JIM: That's just the flavor of the tea.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: Do you take it black then?

DEE: No, I add creamer. I add a plant-based creamer. This is a Starbucks caramel macchiato.

JIM: Cool. All right, I'm having coffee. It is again, Buddy Brew, and it is the Black Lab coffee. Great stuff.

Now, about a year ago at Thanksgiving break, we were where?

DEE: We were in the Smoky Mountains.

JIM: And what were we doing?

DEE: We were finishing up Nativity.

JIM: Nativity is?

DEE: Our Christmas album.

JIM: Our Christmas CD. And so right after the theme music, we're going to talk a little bit about how we put that all together. Are you ready?

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: All right. By the way, this is Deanna. This is my wife.

DEE: Hi.

JIM: She's usually not with us because she's off working during the day, and then the retirees take the helm…

DEE: *uh-huh* 

JIM: …and guide through the show. So Dee, it's great to have you here.

DEE: Good to be here.

JIM: All right, here we go. I'm Jim.

DEE: I’m Deanna.

JIM: And we are making our way.

[music]

JIM: So, a Christmas album called Nativity. Lots of cover songs. I'm expecting a Mariah Carey song coming. Am I going to get it?

DEE: No.

JIM: No?

DEE: No.

JIM: Thank you. So what did you put on the album?

DEE: We wanted to go with a sacred album. So you're not going to find any secular pieces on there. And we wanted to do lesser known pieces that - and just kind of breathe some life into them, and any popular songs, then we would reinvent them in some way just to make them interesting.

JIM: So we start off with you doing an a cappella, Wasn't That a Mighty Day? 

[music excerpt]

JIM: And then that blends into - what is it, an Irish carol?

DEE: Yeah, it's the Wexford Carol…

JIM: Wexford Carol.

DEE: …which is a 12th century piece of music, and it comes from County Wexford.

JIM: County Wexford, and so you're singing this in…?

DEE: Irish Gaelic.

JIM: Irish Gaelic.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: You're a professionally trained singer. You’re at the Memorial University of Newfoundland for a couple of years, and then you go on to the University of Toronto. Do professionally trained singers learn other languages? What do you do?

DEE: Yes. Well, I was in the classical field, so it was required to do German lieder, French, Italian, and Latin were the main languages we had to learn, and we had regular lessons singing in those languages.

JIM: So you're able to pick up at least the pronunciation of different languages pretty quickly.

DEE: Um-hm, yeah.

JIM: And that's what you did with the Irish part of this song, right?

DEE: Yes.

JIM: And so it starts off with a little bit of, do you remember the text?

DEE: “Ó, tagaig' uile is adhraigí, An leanbh cneasta sa chró 'na luí.” That’s the opening.

JIM: And it's translated, "All I want for Christmas…”

DEE: [laughs] No.

JIM: It’s not?

DEE: ”Good people, all this Christmas time, consider well and bear in mind what our good God for us has done in sending his beloved son.”

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So, what I thought in this setting, is - it sounded like a um, - I saw this once. It was like a living nativity scene. And what happened is they would start off just with the Holy Family…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …and then they would bring in different characters to develop this whole nativity scene. So there would be angels coming in. There would be shepherds coming in. There would be wise men coming in. All sorts of animals. And then they would just pose there, a tableau vivant. They would just pose and hold the nativity there, and I thought, well, that's kind of an idea for a song. Because this song kind of goes through the different visitors to the manger, right?

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …and so after that introductory verse, which is kind of a “once upon a time” - so the first group that comes in is who?

The shepherds.

JIM: The shepherds, so, a pastoral scene. And for this, I grabbed a couple of Irish instruments. I used a harp, Celtic harp. And I used the Uilleann pipes. I had set this arrangement so that this verse would be in E flat. I put the pipes on, sounded just the way I wanted it to. Then I did a little bit of research on the pipes and found out they're actually only in D. So I had to kind of rearrange the entire song down a half step to accommodate the pipes. But it came off all right. 

[musical excerpt]

JIM: And so after the shepherds, and now more are coming in, so the music is going to get bigger. And who comes in next?

DEE: The wise men.

JIM: The wise men with their gifts. And we get like full orchestra for that part. 

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So after that big verse about the magi, it gets a little bit quieter. And we sing about Mary. What does it say?

DEE: “With Mary holy we should pray to God with love this Christmas day. In Bethlehem upon that morn there was a blessed Messiah born.”

JIM: Gets a little bit quieter again, more reflective. And then the piece ends with the Gaelic again…

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: …and what I did at the front and back of this, when you're singing the Gaelic, I've put it into an echoey acoustic, kind of like a church where you might be alone.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So that's Wexford Carol. Another one we put on actually came from an arrangement I did of Carol of the Bells, and I thought, I liked the arrangement that we should put it into a vocal sense, but I didn't want you having to be singing, “la da da da da da da da da da,” in all the way those words work…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …so I thought, what can we do? And I thought, I'd like to combine it with some other song. And the one I used was, I Heard the Bells.

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: This is Longfellow's poem, Christmas Bells. And so I did a bit of research on that and I found out some things. I've always known as Longfellow is this guy with this beard and I found out why he has the beard. It was 1861. He taught at Harvard. He lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His wife, this was his second wife. He had lost his first wife to a miscarriage. Now his second wife, they have children, and she's doing something with - like preserving locks of their children's hair, putting them in envelopes or something and sealing it with wax. And it's either the wax or a candle or something caught her dress on fire. Longfellow is off having a nap. He's awakened and he comes and sees the situation. He grabs a rug to try and cover his wife with it, but it won't put out the flame. So he just covers her with himself. She's badly burned. She lives through the night, but dies the next morning, and Longfellow is so badly burned that his face is scarred and that's what prompts him to grow a beard, to cover those scars.

So now he wants to keep his family very close. The Civil War is on. It hasn't reached up to Massachusetts except for people going away to war. And he didn't want his son to do that, but his son did. Then his son is wounded. He meets his son who's been wounded in Washington, DC, takes him home to Cambridge, and nurses him back to health. But now here comes Christmas time and he's awakened on Christmas morning hearing church bells. And this is what prompts him - his feeling about Christmas day that should be one of joy - he hears the bells, but this conflict is going on in the nation. So he sits down and he puts some words to paper. “I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” And so I thought, let's put this with Carol of the Bell. Do you know where I got the melody?

DEE: No.

JIM: It came from the Westminster chimes. [sings Westminster chimes melody] You do a variation on that. [sings melody] It passes by each of those tones along the way.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So that's a nice peaceful sort of start. But that's in F major (I didn't sing it in F major), but then Carol of the Bells, I wanted to drop down into D minor, and the minor key is more suited for the words that come up next. “And in despair, I bowed my head; There is no peace on earth, I said; for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” See that's right in the middle of the war. So the transition from the part in F major into D minor, there's a little bit of a question in the piano [music example] and Carol of the Bells makes its presence known.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So as the piece plays out, there was a part when you actually did sing the Carol of the Bells melody, right?

DEE: Yes.

JIM: It's a Ukrainian Carol. And then while we're recording, we got the idea of what?

DEE: Of doubling my voice, having me sing basically a duet with myself.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: I snuck one in for Newfoundland.

DEE: Yeah. “Come from away.”

JIM: Now “come from away” is actually, it's yes, it's a Broadway musical, very successful talks about the 9/11 and Gander and that but “come from away” - is that actually a Newfoundland phrase?

DEE: Yes, that's been around forever. Anyone who is not from Newfoundland comes from away.

JIM: Like me.

DEE: Right.

JIM: And then when Rob and Jan went up with us this summer, the three of us were coming from away and you were going home.

DEE: Right, exactly.

JIM: All right. So we put that in there and then a nice finish to Carol of the Bells.

DEE: *uh-huh*

[musical excerpt]

JIM: So we've got this Irish Carol, the Wexford Carol.

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: We have a Ukrainian Carol - Carol of the Bells. And do we have any that are made in America?

DEE: Yes. In my research trying to find some new or hard to find pieces, I came across the Smithsonian Folkways website, and there was a recording of a piece called Cradle Hymn. It's a part of the Ruth Crawford Seeger's 1953 songbook, American Folk Songs for Christmas. And there was a gorgeous recording that was done with Elizabeth Mitchell and her family. And that's called The Sounding Joy. And it was a trio of women singing Cradle Hymn. And it just has this gorgeous Appalachia feel to it. And I said, yes, I think we should record this.

JIM: I really like that. I'm glad you found that one. It has just a lovely lullaby-like feel to it.

DEE: Yeah, it's a nice gentle piece that just kind of sits there.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: Do you remember the very first song or arrangement I did for you?

DEE: Yes.

JIM: What was it?

DEE: What Child is This? And I was still living in Toronto at the time.

JIM: So this is back in ’97.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: All right, so you're in Toronto and I write this arrangement for you. So this is, I think that was the first thing we recorded for this album, right?

DEE: *uh-huh* It was.

JIM: I remember I had a RØDE microphone - actually that's the one I'm speaking on right now - and we recorded it on that and we just took our time with it, nice, slow sort of thing. The arrangement didn't change, but the tempo was very slow. Then when I wanted to bring it onto the album, a couple things. One, I wanted a different microphone for your voice. So I bought a Neumann microphone. I wanted to re-record…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …rather than try to EQ the thing. I wanted to re-record it so that could capture more of your voice. And then I wanted the tempo a little bit faster. So that was probably also the last song we recorded.

DEE: Yeah, I was just going to say it was the first one and it ended up being the last song.

[musical excerpt]

JIM: And then how did we finish up the album?

DEE: We finished with how we started with "Wasn't That A Mighty Day?" It starts the first version is a cappella and then you said, "I want to do it differently." And so we recorded me a cappella doing "Wasn't It A Mighty Day?" And then you wrote music around that a cappella singing that I did and it worked really well. And it's, as you described it to me, it's like it builds and it's like it's going up, up, up and it's sending it off into heaven sort of thing.

JIM: Yeah, I like the way that you did it. Well, actually what we did, there was a bit of a miracle here - or what I would call talent on Dee’s part - because when you would record it and we just did a number of takes, said, "Okay, try it this way; try it forward; try it back; try it reflective; try it big at the end,” and all these different things, we always started the recording without any instruments, I just gave you an A flat…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM:…and then you would sing through the whole thing.

DEE: Right.

JIM: “Okay, let's try a different take this time, do it this way. There's an A flat,” and you would sing through the whole thing. You held pitch all the way through, which is just one of the things that you do. I don't have to do auto tune on your voice at all. Everything is right there. And so to finish up the album, I went back and said, "Well, I've got these things that she did, a cappella. Can I put instruments to it?" And I remember it was one Sunday morning, I think it was just before we went to the Smokies…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: I put this thing down, I said, "Okay." It was like about a half an hour's work to do the close to the album of just, "I want some instruments there; I want some strings." We used a choir in "Oh Holy Night," so I brought a choir back in, and just let your voice go. And at the end, you just sort up to a high A flat and let it echo off into the distance, which I thought was a great effect, and that's the way we concluded the album.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: I really had a blast doing this.

DEE: Yeah, I know. You were really happy with how the ending turned out.

JIM: Well, the whole thing. I mean, you recorded in our Studio A…

DEE: [laughs]

JIM:…here at the Making Our Way Recording Complex. You were in Studio A, which is next door, which we call the library. And I was in Studio B, where we are now, which we call the piano room. And so you recorded it - all done. And then I had weeks and weeks and weeks of work to put the accompaniment on it. And every time, you know, I'm getting fatigued with trying to find just the right sound, just the right mood for things. And then every once in a while, I could enjoy, "Wait a minute, I'm just going to listen to Dee for a minute and see what her voice is doing,” and make sure that I was setting it in the right way, something that would compliment it. So I was very happy with the project when it was all done. And we were sitting at a coffee house in Sevierville, sending it off, saying it is done. And right now, if people were interested in having this album, where would they go?

DEE: They would go to cheynemusic.com, and they can download it on our website, or they can buy a CD, because some people like to have a hard copy.

JIM: Thanks for doing the album.

DEE: Yeah, thank you for writing all of the music and editing it. And I think we're going to be releasing some tracks from it, some solo things for people, if they want to purchase some items from the album for performance. Isn't that right?

JIM: That's a great idea. That is  - okay, I know what I'm doing this week.

DEE: [laughs]

JIM: Love you.

DEE: Love you.

[music]

JIM: And by that music, you know it is recipe time, and I'm on schedule this week, and I think I had said something about scrambled eggs. Are you ready for this?

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: What did you have for breakfast this morning, Dee?

DEE: I had yummy scrambled eggs.

JIM: Scrambled eggs. I got this recipe from Gordon Ramsay, watched how he did it, and I thought, okay, let's do it. So here's what we need. First of all, I don't do it in a pan. I do it in a…

DEE: Pot.

JIM:…a quart, a one-quart saucepan. I use an olive oil spray on the side, so nothing sticks. The idea is that these are going to be creamy eggs, not those big flat things that you get in the, you know…

DEE: Right.

JIM: …breakfast buffets. Nothing wrong with breakfast buffets. If you're going to have a last meal, it might as well be that. So we've got these wonderful eggs. Do you remember the eggs?

DEE: Yeah, they're Happy Eggs, and they are not the organic kind. They are the heritage kind, which is the best kind because the hens roam free, and they're not getting any feed, and so the yolk is super dark.

JIM: Remember when we went to the North Georgia Mountains…

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …for spring break, and we had a cabin that was - we rented a cabin that was on a farm…

DEE: Yes.

JIM: …and they had these free-roaming chickens.

DEE: And we got - we requested when we arrived that there would be fresh eggs, and they were the darkest yolk.

JIM: They were wonderful because that variety in a chicken's diet will produce a deep orange color.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: So we had these great eggs for it. So here's how we do it. We have a one-quart saucepan. Spray it around so that you're going to have a very slick surface. You don't want any egg sticking to the side while you're cooking this. And here's what Gordon Ramsay did, and I checked this out with Christopher Priest. Remember when we were up at their house - Christopher and Heather Priest? - and I was saying, "This is how I do it," and Chris gave me, "Yes, that's the way it's done." So you just put the eggs right into the - just break them right into the pan. Don't whisk them together yet. Just put them right into the pan with about a tablespoon of butter for about five eggs for the two of us - four or five, whatever we're going to do. And then you put that on the heat, and just let it set there. Then when the bottom starts to cloud just a little bit, I use a whisk.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: Gordon Ramsay used a fork, but that's when you're going to start, and you're going to get really busy with the eggs, and now all of your attention has to be right on those eggs. Everything else has to be done.

DEE: What’s your temperature?

JIM: Medium heat.

DEE: Okay.

JIM: And then you have to - you kind of have to watch how they're going, because if they get overdone, you've ruined it.

DEE: Right.

JIM: You want them kind of creamy. You don't want them to kind of dry out. So you have to take the pan off and let it cool a little bit while you’re...

DEE: But they're still cooking then.

JIM: Yeah, the heat of the pan will keep them cooking.

DEE: Right.

JIM: And then - so you've got this whisk action going, and you're keeping things from sticking to this side, because you want it all sort of like just fluffy and creamy. And then a little bit towards the end, secret ingredient, crème fraîche… 

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: …which we used to get at Whole Foods, and we found it at Greenwise Publix.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: And we've got some crème fraîche, just like a tablespoon, and just lop it in there. That helps to cool the eggs so they don't overcook. You mix it in. What a rich flavor. What a beautiful thing. But that's just the eggs. Then it's presentation.

DEE: Right.

JIM: Now this you kind of had to do ahead of time, because the eggs are the last thing, and they happen - boom! - and you're ready to go. So the other things you had to prepare. I got some on-the-vine small tomatoes.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: Just small tomatoes, but still on the vine. And some portobello mushrooms. 

DEE: Right.

JIM: And I put those with some olive oil. I put those in a skillet, and just let them set. And they're going to be sitting there cooking while you're doing the eggs. Then you want some sort of a bread that's like a good hearty bread. And you need it kind of thicker than a regular sandwich slice.

DEE: You want like a Tuscan sort of.

JIM: Yeah, it's a little bit thicker. So the one I had for breakfast was an Italian cheese bread.

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: I'm not going to do that one again.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: I like the bread, but not with the eggs. It's too much.

DEE: *uh-huh*

JIM: So you need something that is a little bit more earthy. And toast that. Then you just serve the eggs right on top of the toast.

DEE: Right, yes.

JIM: Bring out the tomato and the mushroom. Salt and pepper to taste, but do you know what I did? Do you remember what I did for this one?

DEE: No.

JIM: I cut down on the salt.

DEE: Okay.

JIM: There was this spice mix from Newfoundland.

DEE: Oh, I didn't know you put that in it.

JIM: Yeah, because again, it's the earthy taste. Your sister uses that as well.

DEE: Oh, yeah, I know. I didn't even recognize it because I'm used - oh, you didn't use a whole lot.

JIM: No, no, no. That and pepper.

DEE: Okay.

JIM: And then I put it there. You had it with your tea.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: You had the flowers right there. And that is just - I would anyway, but also, thank you for the way the house looks. Deanna has decorated this house for Christmas. It looks gorgeous. And she has some new design things for this year. Maybe we'll put a couple of pictures up on the website. So there it is. That's the recipe for excellent scrambled eggs. There we go.

[music ends]

JIM: And with that delicious recipe, we'll take our leave and invite you to join us at our Listener Line at cheynepodcast@gmail.com. Any comments you'd like to have about the show, they're welcome there. And Jan and Rob are right now making their way back from their Thanksgiving vacation in Michigan. And so they will be joining us again next week. So for now, thank you for listening. Until next time. And once more, Deanna.

[music]