I’m finding I’m running low on Christmas songs that are narratives. Most Christmas music speaks to the moment rather than tells a story. I was thinking “I Saw Three Ships” but I already did that. Luckily for me I thought of one: Chris Rea’s 1978 classic “Driving Home For Christmas.
What’s that, you say? You didn’t think the song was that old? Well, that’s when he wrote it. It wouldn’t appear in the world until the B-side single off of his 1988 album New Light Through Old Windows, the a-side belonging to “Hello, Friend”. While not as popular on the original release (the B-side rarely gets fame: see also the underappreciated “Captain Santa Claus & His Reindeer Space Patrol“, which I made a Captain Yuletide story out of) it has gone on to be the one you know, and is even part of my Christmas music “Yule Log” playlist here at the Spotlight. So what is the tale of this recent classic?
Hey, I found an official lyric video. I don’t get to do that very often!
I’ve never travelled more than two or three towns away to see my extended family so I can’t completely relate, but the song seems to speak to people who live far from home or drive all over for work (one commenter to the official lyric video mentioned her father was a truck driver and this song make her think of him–dude never missed a Christmas) trying to return to family for the holidays. For some this is a recurring story. So what inspired it? Well, if it’s still up when you read this, Rea himself has a video going over that.
Catch more from Chris Rea on YouTube
It case that disappears from the net before I do, the song was originally written for Van Morrison in 1978, something he wrote while he and his wife were driving home, though not necessarily at Christmas. They were just stuck in traffic. so they joked about driving home for Christmas. When the lights allowed, he wrote down lyrics. Oh, don’t worry. His wife was driving. Writing lyrics while driving is more dangerous than texting. Never write song lyrics and drive, kids.
Van Morrison turned it down so it stayed put away until Rea needed a song to tune a piano with and that one worked. It was slapped onto the B side of “Hello Friend” and later strings were added for the version we all know today.
Is it a good song for actually driving home for Christmas, though? While Rea has said elsewhere that he’s been known to sing it out the window while trapped on the M25 (not being British I can only assume it’s a traffic-heavy stretch of road, like I-84 in Connecticut at some parts of the day–and a death trap thanks to speeders at other parts, especially the area near Waterbury dubbed “the mixmaster” because someone really poorly designed the entrances and exits in that area as they cross with Route 8 and leave the regular roads in Waterbury) to the delight of the other drivers. However, this article suggests that being a slower song it might make you sleepier than something like Wham!’s “Last Christmas” on the highway. Slower songs are approved in urban driving. I would think a relaxing song would be good stuck in traffic stressing out about getting home, but I never travelled that far for Christmas so what do I know?
Another example of how you can never truly figure out what will become popular. Not all the charts, not all the focus groups…some things just really connect to people and while you can try to figure it out, things will always surprise you. You can’t chase an audience. Just make good stuff from the heart with passion and effort, and your audience will find you.
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