'Ring Out The Bells!'

This is another of my Christmas songs from my Maybrick44 Youtube channel. Written (as ever) with Harvey Summers its about the way I feel kids grow up too soon these days and how, instead of spending time outdoors with their mates, kids spend more and more of their time indoors playing computer games. With mobile phones seemingly thrust at them as soon as they can walk I fear the kids of today are being put under pressure to grow up far more quickly than is healthy. Christmas should remain a time of wonder for children for as long as possible I feel and trying to make an 8 year old act like a member of the Political correctness executive is wrong in my opinion. Making mistakes, doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing, acting in the wrong way is all part of learning and if kids are prevented from making small mistakes when they are young they will inevitably make bigger (and potentially more damaging) one when they are adults.

The video (or most of it) was again filmed at Church-in-the-Wood in Hollington and 'the old man working quietly at a bench' is actually my Dad, Ian. Dad is a lover of re-painting old wall plaques so his shed is the nearest thing to what Father Christmases workshop might look like I know of. Harvey was keen to stick this out as a single after we recorded it but I hear it more as an album track because of its long intro. The chorus is a really smashing one though and I like the way it ends as well - even though I sometimes think it comes a bit soon bearing in mind the time it took the song to get going...

I hope you like it and if you have kids of your own, I hope you take a moment to think about my message here. Christmas is really a time for children but we are all kids inside and I don't think we ever really lose our inner child so it makes good sense to allow ourselves proper time to develop so that we have no regrets about our younger years when we get older.

I am gradually working towards enough material to produce a Christmas album but the way things are financially these days that could be a long way off yet so for now you will just have to listen to my stuff here or on my Youtube channel!

Much love x

'Retro Home Movies On Youtube'

There are some lovely old Christmas home movies to watch on Youtube and I never get tired of watching excited kids open their presents or cause havoc by getting bored at the dinner table or by falling over strewn wrapping paper...

Christmas is after all a time for children and I think that applies more so now than ever. The world these seems to expect kids to 'make the effort to grow up as soon as possible' and it seems as soon as they can we stuff a mobile in their hands, push them out the door and tell them to be independent.

Christmases back when I was a kid though were so much more family orientated and I have come across a couple of lovely heart-warming videos to share with you here that prove my point. This first one is of an American Christmas and dates from 1970...

The second home movie I want you to take a look at is of a family enjoying Christmas 1975. I love the way tiny tots are like cats and get into everything. Watching them is a bit like playing the video game 'Lemmings' because you have to prevent them from doing all kinds of daft stunts! 

I would love to have had a family but things just haven't worked out for me in that way. Have had every emotional hang up you can shake a stick at over the years and taking responsibility for looking after a wife and kids has never been something I have thought I could do. Its a real pity because I'm good with kids and love them to pieces. Still, watching loads of retro home movies, recalling owning the toys that they unwrap and thinking of so many of my own 'childhood  happy Christmases I have to be glad for what I HAVE had rather than sad for what I have not...

'Now For Some Telly Welly!'

If there is one programme that is essential viewing in my house at Christmas every year other than 'A Christmas Carol' (the Alastair Sim version) it has to be 'A Cup Of Tea And A Slice O' Cake' - The Worzel Gummidge Christmas special from 1979? Worzel Gummidge was and still IS my favourite programme of all time. I know its a kids show but the acting is so wonderful throughout and the interaction between John Pertwee (so brilliant as Worzel) and The Crowman (played by my favourite actor, Geoffrey Bayldon - I met him for the first time earlier this year and told him so) really pulls on my heartstrings. Not only are there many adult jokes hidden in the script the programme says so much to me about the harshness of the world and how that can often be seen in such an innocent yet black & white way by children. If, like me, you really don't feel like you've ever grown up (and don't really want to either!) then a healthy dose of crazy Worzel comedy slapstick is just what the doctor ordered over Christmas. Have a watch here of this wonderfully British piece of festive magic and remember to raise your glass this Christmas Eve to dear old John and the rest of the cast who have now sadly departed - Geoffrey Bayldon is still with us (aged 89) at the time of posting but raise a glass to him anyway!

'The Snowman And The Girl'

I am such an old softie at heart and the biggest kid on the planet still at age 48 and so every year when Christmas comes around I get inspired to either write a Christmas song, story or poem. This poem shows what a romantic old dreamer I am. Idealistic, simplistic and childlike it relies on quite a few old Snowman cliche's (and sounds better when I read it aloud that it probably reads off the page because I know how it goes!) but I still want to share it with you! 

‘The Snowman & The Girl’ by Tony May

There was a lonely guy

With Charcoal for his eyes

Who one cold December morn

Found himself born

In a field upon a hill

He stood no shelter from the chill

Of the blast of winter winds

Raindrops as sharp as pins

Then one day he chanced upon

A girl singing a sad song

Her love had left her cruel

And she knew not what to do

Reaching out a twig

His wooly scarf he did give

The girl to dry her tears

His words to soothe her fears

Soon they fell in love

Like two turtle doves

They spent their time together

No matter what the weather

On Christmas day they were wed

Inviting all their friends

Owls and foxes,

The kids from the boxes

It all seemed so right – a very happy sight

Dancing shadows on the ground

That giggling musical sound

Then one January day

The snow cleared away

Leaving nothing of her love

Though she found his hat and gloves

But that night the frost was keen

And upon her car windscreen

The next morning she did find

A letter her love had signed

It said I will be away

For its hard to say

But if you trust in me

I know that we’ll see

Days as before

When the wind blows from the north

All my love for now

From your beloved frosty clown

Cry no tears tonight

For I am alright!

And so my story ends

Of the snowman and his friends

Of the girl and her love

Of two turtle doves…

Antony May 6/12/12