Get Flash to see this player.
Having playback trouble, try the Quicktime player:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial
Fan List
Keywords:
multicollab (1), herd (2), christmas (172), holidays (6), world (114), feeling better (1)
Description:
This years multicollab has been extremely nice to work with. I've enjoyed every minute of it. It's so nice to have communication going on with so many macjammers while the project is in progress.
When I started recording the instruments I decided to go from the acoustic version I first put out as a sketch to a more band-like arrangement. We were so lucky to get Mike Watkins to play live drums on this, and I think he did a marvellous job.
Thanks to Dadai for sending me a track with his cool sax playing, which I was allowed to cut and paste from.
Extra credit to the children singing in the chorus. Thanks to Timothy for coming up with the idea of having his kids have a go at it.
Here are the macjammers featured in this in the order they (first) appear in the song:
Kevmikwa - USA(drums), Thoddi - Norway, moviz - UK, damiengh - USA, DWL - UK, sisters - USA, moorlandt - Belgium, jiguma - Australia, ledebutant - USA, Dadai - USA (sax), Alannah - Canada, Timothy Devine - and his kids - USA.
I've played the bass, guitars, keys and harp.
Previous years I've had the pleasure of working with these multicollabs:
2006: Let no one stay outside tonight.
2005: At Christmas time
Wishes of a peacful christmas goes to all of you. Remember... we're all in the same herd:)
When I started recording the instruments I decided to go from the acoustic version I first put out as a sketch to a more band-like arrangement. We were so lucky to get Mike Watkins to play live drums on this, and I think he did a marvellous job.
Thanks to Dadai for sending me a track with his cool sax playing, which I was allowed to cut and paste from.
Extra credit to the children singing in the chorus. Thanks to Timothy for coming up with the idea of having his kids have a go at it.
Here are the macjammers featured in this in the order they (first) appear in the song:
Kevmikwa - USA(drums), Thoddi - Norway, moviz - UK, damiengh - USA, DWL - UK, sisters - USA, moorlandt - Belgium, jiguma - Australia, ledebutant - USA, Dadai - USA (sax), Alannah - Canada, Timothy Devine - and his kids - USA.
I've played the bass, guitars, keys and harp.
Previous years I've had the pleasure of working with these multicollabs:
2006: Let no one stay outside tonight.
2005: At Christmas time
Wishes of a peacful christmas goes to all of you. Remember... we're all in the same herd:)
Lyrics:
The lyrics is written by those who is mentioned on top of each verse. I wrote the first and the chorus when I first put this song up, and asked for contributions to the lyrics.I have put the name of the macjammer who is singing in brackets along the lyrics.
Thoddi's contribution
It's time to think of someone else (thoddi)
It's time to lend a hand (moviz)
It might be to the one you're with (damiengh)
or to someone in another land (thoddi)
Dick Langfords contribution
You're so full of fine words (DWL)
You talk a good revolution (sisters)
But now is the time (DWL)
We need some solutions (DWL, sisters)
Moorlandt's contribution
Hello stranger, (moorlandt)
tell me what’s your name (jiguma)
We might be different (moorlandt)
but we feel the same (jiguma)
Speak your language, I will try to understand (ledebutant)
Let’s just walk on together and take my hand (moorlandt, jiguma, ledebutant))
Alannah's contribution
From every corner of this big globe (alannah)
Our voices can sing together
please listen, listen to our word
Damiengh's contribution
So come and join in our gathering (damiengh)
and sing within our throng (damiengh, sisters)
be a part of our multitude
to bring joy with our song
Moviz's contribution
The rich and the poor are so far apart, (moviz)
It's time for the people, if they have a heart
To speak up loud so they can be heard,
Use their voice, to bring hope to the Herd (moviz, sisters)
Timothy Devine's contribution
So open up your hearts my friends (timothy devine)
We need to begin to understand
There’s peace and love for all to share
Lets do it hand in hand
Refrain (everyone)
And now, come sing together
Hold hands around the world
Feeling so much better
We're all in the same herd
Hardware:
Fender USA stratocaster, ibanez acoustic guitar, ibanez SD bass, m-audio ozone, and loads of other stuff...Software:
GarageBand 02You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
damiengh
Think I be first here, and want to Thank Thoddi for giving me the opportunity to be part of such a grand project. Put me in the spirit for the holidays.
Great people and a great tune!
thoddi
You were one of he first ones to send me something on the song and have been enthusiastic and encouraging all through the process. Thank you:)
Amazing... you really out did yourself. I am smiling a smile a mile wide. So many voices and parts, so many fine contributions from individuals that could compete against one another... yet you have blended them into what one could imagine to be a planned one take performance of everyone, resulting in a tapestry of music. Outstanding... your best Christmas collab yet.
I am thankful to be a part of your song with these many fine artists.
Merry Christmas all!
thoddi
It's obvious how much joy that sax have given you since you got it. You have a cool style. Thank you for letting me dig into the track you sent me and use parts and snippes of it.
I appreciate much your encouraging and uplifting words:)
jiguma
What a great contribution for Christmas. I was so pleased to be able to do my 5 cents worth - and to share with Lisa and Walt was particularly pleasing.
Big THANKS to Thor for this labour of love!
Happy Christmas (etc) everyone, and all the very best wishes from Oz for 2008.
Neil
thoddi
Guess you are getting a nice tan, running around in your shorts and sipping to some cool Aussie beer, while we are gathering around he fireplace drinking mulled wine to get some warmth.
Thanks for your contribution to the song, and good luck with your new album.
Happy holidays)
lengold
to you all for a wonderful collaboration. Great song too.
Cheers & Merry Christmas to you all
Len
thoddi
Thank you for your visit and your nice words. I appreciate it much:)
All the best my friend.
So easy to think of ourselves, always... But when it comes to thinking about what "we might get" at the holiday our worlds tend to constrict into a small sphere about ourselves.
Nice contribution from you all - in the spirit of giving of yourselves and to share with others.
Thanks for this,
. - Harold
thoddi
Good to have you in the herd Harold.
You are a vital part of the macjams family, and I am always thrilled to see that you have beeen listening:)
Thanks, and merry Christmas to you.
davisamerica
very nice all!!
thoddi
And happy holidays:)
you set the perfect tone, which convinced all of us to jump in, hooves first. i liked alannah's verse in the midst of all the manly voices from the herd. how fun to bump up against each other in this cooperative effort. thanks for being our shepherd, thor. i have moooooooooch appreciation for your efforts here. it's actually a darn good song, isn't it?
anne
thoddi
You are the oil in the machinery in this, the butter on the bread and the sweetening of the cake.
Your silky soft harmonies is soooo good to listen to, and that is one of the reasons why you are so popular as a vocalist among this herd at macjams:) I certainly hope we can do some more collabs some time...
Thanks to you for holding hands and for vital feedback during the process.
Thor
timothy devine
Thank you Thor/this was, as you say, all fun, for sure.
It was such an incredible rush to work with your acoustic sketch. Being involved in the creative process, with such fine people from around the globe, doing the same thing. So cool! I thought about the others recording in there homes and feeling the same feelings, and wondered what lyric they would come up with, and how you could possibly put them together. It is amazing how it flows so naturally.
Beautiful!
really great playing on your part and recording as well.
I really dig the sisters harmonies and extra ooo's n ahhh's , perfect touch
Let me say, I can't get this song out of my head/not that i want to.
feeeeling sooooo much better.............
from me and the kids
love to all(this song gets me feeling that way)
peace
keep the dream
HH
thoddi
Your kids have put some christmas magic in here:)
I was stunned to hear the vocal track you submitted yourself Timothy. Very Motown sort of soul'ish feel to it. Hope you'll sing some more for us.
And thank you for your always encouraging support!
Thor
Alannah
... and almost questioned whether to even add this .... but the last line in my verse wasn't "listen to our whole world" .. HAHAHAHAHAHA it was "listen, listen to our word" .... so now this can officially go into the misheard lyrics forum ! hahahahaha but I think either way it sounds good .... I was actually hearing it the other way when listening while reading the lyrics ! My fav part has gotta be the KIDS ... YEAH KIDS !!!!! You RAWK KIDS ! ... totally MADE the song ! And truly .... kudos to THODDI for mixing such an ecclectic mix of voices ! Bravo !
thoddi
It is so easy to do that... you think you're pretty sure of what the singer sais, but...:) Well it should be fixed in the lyrics section now.
Thanks alot for joining again this year Alannah. I think you are the only one that has been in on all three of my holiday collabs.
Hope you'll make it a tradition:)
moorlandt
I think last year's Christmas collab was such a splendid song... Never thought that this year's version could actually even be better. Gosh, it's just wonderful, Thor... And be sure that I much enjoyed to contribute again. I guess you will be stuck with me forever, haha!
If that's OK for you, I will spread this song around as a musical Christmas cards to my friends and family. I'm very thankful for this. My love and best wishes to you and to all the great MJ-ers who contributed to this marvelous gem.
Walt
thoddi
It is so easy to do that... you think you're pretty sure of what the singer sais, but...:) Well it should be fixed in the lyrics section now.
Thanks alot for joining again this year Alannah. I think you are the only one that has been in on all three of my holiday collabs.
Hope you'll make it a tradition:)
thoddi
Arrrgh I pushed he wrong reply link... sorry about that...
Hmm, but do I mind you spreading this song to all of your friends Walter? Let me think for a moment... That would mean more exposure, more hits.. nah, you go right ahead;)
The magic of your voice when it appears is quite something Walter. And I hope you too (and U2 if they'd be so inclined) will make a tradtion of joining my christmas collab:)
DWL
if we get something as enjoyable and rewarding as this happening.
Fantastic work from Thor and the performances are exceptional.
It should be a hit :-)
Thanks to Thor for pulling this all together so well and thanks for the chance to take part and of course thanks to the other writers and performers for making this special.
Happy Christmas to all!
Cheers
Dick
thoddi
You have made a cool contribution to the song with your characteristic voice and good lyrics.
Moviz
a great job here Thor with the mix as well as the tune, playing and arrangement. it sounds really great and you'd think we were all in the same room. A privilege for me to be included with all these great artistes, so thank you for the opportunity. All the very best to everyone now and for the future, regards M
thoddi
It was nice to make your acquaintance and I'm very glad you chose to join us in this song:)
You delivered a great verse and a ditto vocal track.
Thank you:)
cchaplin
WAWAWEWA!
thoddi
ohwohweeeahhh
Mcboy
a beautiful thing....the commaraderie,.. the feelings.....soulful jack on sax.....man this is perfect for the holidays.......i'm singing as i read the lyrics...hehhhe...beautiful !!!!!
thoddi
Good to hear that you're singing... Next year I will call you in to do a verse;)
You are a good supportive friend and you always make me smile with your encouraging comments. Thank you very much.
Scott Carmichael
you've outdone yourself... You really put alot of work into this an it shows.... the best one yet... in another decade you'll have an album of MJ Christmas specials... lots of delicious momments thru-out...
I will have to loose some weight before I can get real comfortable being "in the herd"... but there's no one else I'd want to be in the herd with than you folks...
Mery Christmas
thoddi
All of the good people that joined in on this song gave me great material to work with, so putting the different contributors along the timeline came quite naturally.
I appreciate your visit much Scott. Thanks!
And you don't have to loose some weight to be in the herd... You're already in it.. as we all are:)
thetiler
Very nice to hear this terrific combination of Macjammers!
A great togetherness here! I have been on other music sites and really don't recall things like this happening. Maybe it's that Macjam's magic? :)
Very well could be!
Way to go!
ktb
Simply incredible that you can coordinate, mix, & produce something like this in the time you had. Its really astonishing. Kudo's to all involved. It sounds as if you were all in the same studio. Remarkable.
Cori Ander
What a CREATION! What a CROWD! Thank you Thoddi, Dick Moorlandt, jiguma, SISTERS, ledebutant, Alannah, DWL, Damiengh, Moviz, Timothy.
Wonderful!
Cori Ander
Sorry didn't see Dadai and Kevmikwa at first.
Thanks to you too!
sky shoes
What a great collaboration. I try to explain to friends that, on Macjams there might be a lead guitar part done in Sweden and a bass riff done in Kansas on this great site..... They always look at me askance...
I just read this morning how they have broken down the borders between Germany, Poland and the Czek Republic! How many people were slaughtered over the years for those.... Argh borders!? Not to bring up a sad subject but to point out there IS incremental progress in this tired old world. Your song is an anthem. God Bless and have a Merry Christmas.
Pete Dooley
Sky Shoes
The article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/21/europe/union.php
BloodSoul
this is like a super collaboration haha. this is really cool, very bluesy. good job-
This gave me goosebumps too too good !!!!!!!!!
kevmikwa
You've heard of an "impulse buy"? This was an "impulse track" for me.
I guess it was about six months ago that I excused myself from collabbing for a while ... not because I wanted to, but because my time had become too short.
I can't remember why I logged on to MJ on 12/5, but I'm glad I did - there was a note from Thor waiting for me (that he had penned three days prior) asking if I'd like to track some drums. After listening to his sketch, I just knew I had to be a part of it - the groove was so perfect, I was air drumming along at work. I actually "played hooky" from work the very next day and tracked some drums. It had been so long since I'd recorded, I had to relearn my setup!
As I said in a previous email: I'm completely humbled and amazed to be part of this gang on such a catchy song with expert production and an uplifting holiday message. Thanks to all the voices that Thor brought together.
Oh, and thanks for giving the sleigh bells a shot ... cliche, maybe, but I don't care!
Vic Holman
this is a tune that just leaves me a bit floored. very cool to hear so many contributors. comes together very nicely!
drakonis
Great great work, to everyone... Thor, thank you for putting this together, and bringing such great talent and sentiment to the forefront. Gorgeous piece of music, great lyrics, and awesome playing/singing by all of you. I feel the world becoming just a little bit better with your efforts. Ahhhh...
ttfn,
Drakonis
Makes me feel xmassy
peacepiano
Great group. Big thanks go out to Thoddi for putting this together. A real holiday treat!!!!
Thanks
Bill
apb
.. of the large vocal multi-collab. Hats off to you Thoddi (alot of time and patience to put in and it's not the first time) and this is without doubt the best large multi MJ vocal collab to date you've done and
at MJs I've heard.
The choices of who sings with whom, when, which voice works well together, is done better than a "do they know its Christmas" IMHO.
Lovely sentiment and everyone's heartfelt contributions make this very special, something to treasure. A cry out for viable, peaceful solutions. Well done all!
My only arrangement suggestion would have been to have the kids in from the last chorus onwards only. Great little solo, harmonica, keys, accoustic, bass and sax work too..how pro can you all get.. oh and mixwise, the drums at the chorus' (not verses) sounded a tiny bit muffled to my ears for some reason. Just observations and nothing that took any enjoyment out of this excellent song. I regret I didn't manage to contribute something, hopefully next year- so keep doing it! :o)
bud
I added my voice to the herd here at home. Great collab - bless you all.
dajama
to everybody. This has a wonderful anthemic feel, filled with spirit and outstanding performances. It's great to hear all those great singing voices in such close proximity. Nice playing throughout. Love the sax, in particular. Adds a lovely touch. Props to thoddi for setting this up. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to everyone. Peace.
guitapick
...a great concept and production...with a great message...
...best to all of you...
...the kids are so cool...
VicDiesel
Move over John Lennon!
Well, maybe not quite, but you all have done a great job here.
Victor.
aclarke
Is to one day have my act together enough to be a contributor to one of these very fine collaborations.
Excellent job, everyone. This is a very special song. The outstanding performances are just the icing on the cake.
Doadars Uncle
Nicely done, all!
Very deep, deep...
Peace,
Doug
echoroom
Great work - DWL gets the Bono part on this Live Aid!
Top hole!
Roxylee
and I want in next time. Wow, I feel like I'm at a MacJams concert. Truly beautiful, all of you.
Z293
With jems like this.
kristyjo
I'd love to have time (and energy) at this time of year to join in on this kind of great collab. You ALL did a great job. Thoddi, I don't know how you keep everything organized, but this is really phenomenal!
pablatone
That was wonderful guys, good job!
Thanks tim for the heads-up.
When I saw "holiday collab" I got to tell you, there's not a chance in hell that I am actually going to seek out another listen to " Jingle bell rock" etc. So as you can imagine this was a pleasant surprise. This site is surely filled with talented and open hearted people. Thank you for giving so freely.
This is an organizational tour de force, and just the sort of thing that restores my faith in production. I can only imagine how daunting the mixing of this was. The pacing is perfect.
Everyone who sang and played on this did a spectacular job: direct, fresh, confident and relaxed.
I'm very glad I stopped by.
mvh9591
One word "AWESOME"!
Thanks for the email notification Tim. Can't help but love this one.
Thanks again,
mvh : )
HipHopMoses
This is very "we are the worldish" if that makes any sense... Great job in bringing it all together I no mixing can be a chore when it's just yourself. Great message and delivery from you all.
Moses
TobinMueller
So heart-warming on so many levels. Thank you for this, everyone involved, especially the huge job of organizing and mixing it wall. The God of Thunder echoes around the world.
tsand19151
...just had to hear this again...... just a wonderful performance.....this drips soul. damn....
Aaron David
To get this many people together (successfully) and create this song puts the wonder and ironic simplicity of what MJ on display...
What a great community
Wow! This is tremendous!
Serious good music. Chocked full of emotion. My hats off to all the collaborators here and especially to the organizer/mixer thoddi. Fabulous stuff, man!
Great to hear the MacJammers joining together like every Christmas in one great song. This is just a great Christmas song. The words are very honest, very true. The first part is with me everyday and I'm sing it a lot. This song is downloaded long time ago and I'm in love with it. Just an amazing collaboration project. Kudos to all!
WOW .. Amazed
Take Care
- Yeman A. Al-Rawi
thoddi
This is very nice reading my friend. Thank you very much for your heartwarming words. I appreciate your visit much.
Knowing that someone still plays it makes me smile.
I hope you will join in the next christmas collab:)
ednetmonkey
This is great, Prince & Bob Sagg jumps to mind. But this has got a worthy edge to it.
Moses
does this tune sound terrific, it is just so cool! Really cool contributions from everyone!! Well done everybody ******************************************************************* lots of stars to go around! I really loved this, thanks everybody for making this what it was and sharing it!! The children's voices were a nice touch too!