Music Notes

Midnight Clear, by Andrew Dale and David Chafe

My fourth track is a Christmas favorite from a rare gem of an album, Midnight Clear by Andrew Dale and David Chafe. I'm choosing the title track to introduce them to you, as it was the first one I found from them.

I believe it was on BBN, Bible Broadcasting Network, where Mom and I heard this version one evening a couple years ago. We don't usually listen to that radio station, because they play a lot of cringy baritones and exaggerated pipe organs from a century ago. This time, though, Mom liked the singer's voice and the simple, muted production, even though she doesn't usually care for pianos. I Shazamed it, tracked down the album, and added the whole thing to my YouTube account to save it because I keep forgetting their names (in my offline playlist, I have them down simply as "Andrew and David"...)

The duo is Canadian; they came together in 2007 solely for this special holiday album and are not affiliated with a band, being more of the classical type of artists. Andrew does the vocals and David plays the piano throughout, and that is all Midnight Clear has in the way of production.

This simplicity allows the depth and sincerity of Andrew's voice to shine through. I'm happy to have this on my playlist at last, because it's a song you don't hear often in public. As a kid the lyrics appealed so much to me, I memorized them straight off of that booklet of sheet music I mentioned in the previous post. Which means it's special for me to hear it now as it's supposed to sound rather than how I always had the words laid out in my head. The third verse is somber, different from what I knew as a kid; you can see all the verses on Wikipedia here.  

And now, enjoy a true Christmas classic

Words: 317.