Chimneyside Chats with Eloah
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| Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design |
Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what Eloah frontman Elmar C. Fuchshad to say:
Back in the 90s, the idea of writing a “holiday song”, or actually a “holiday hit” (no need to be modest here, that was what we were aiming for) was a fixed idea of Peter, our guitar player back then. I always had trouble with this idea, since whereas I understood the intention - hey, let’s write a song that people associate with certain holidays and that will thus be played again and again - I had trouble with the notion that it was the band who would have a choice in that.
Okay, if you write a song about Christmas, for example, you’re pretty much giving a broad hint. But I was (still am) not sure whether such a hint is necessary for a song to be chosen by the listeners as their holiday song. What I personally don’t really like about the whole approach is that as a band, you set out to write a song for your audience; even more, you expect the audience to associate that song with a special occasion in their lives.
Like many bands that claim to write their music for the fans, for me, this is a somewhat presumptuous attitude. Yes, it is a beautiful thing if a certain song can be connected to a specific event in one’s life; but at least for me, the bands who wrote those songs did not choose the moments or the events that created this association. In other words, shouldn’t we as a band stick to what we do best - create music that we enjoy - and then spread that joy? That being said, of course I tried to write a “holiday hit” back in the 90s - and no, it did not become a holiday hit.
Perhaps because I could not help it and developed it into something personal, because our original idea of just singing about how “everything was fine because the sun did shine” was so awfully shallow that I just couldn’t identify with it. But, I did actually feel fine during that time, mostly because I had just gotten out of what nowadays psychologists would call a toxic, unbalanced relationship, and I put that in the lyrics of the stanzas: “I don’t care what you are doing, I don’t care what you are saying, I don’t care about you at all! You won’t change my smile today, you won’t break my heart today, because I don’t care about you anymore.”
With this introduction, the chorus of “Today I’m fine just as the sun does brightly shine” did get a deeper, personal meaning, and the song felt right. Nevertheless, the song back then was only released on a demo. Only this year, more than 20 years after its composition, it was released properly, and it is called “Time to Say Goodbye”. Please enjoy it – especially during the holiday season?
Okay, if you write a song about Christmas, for example, you’re pretty much giving a broad hint. But I was (still am) not sure whether such a hint is necessary for a song to be chosen by the listeners as their holiday song. What I personally don’t really like about the whole approach is that as a band, you set out to write a song for your audience; even more, you expect the audience to associate that song with a special occasion in their lives.
Like many bands that claim to write their music for the fans, for me, this is a somewhat presumptuous attitude. Yes, it is a beautiful thing if a certain song can be connected to a specific event in one’s life; but at least for me, the bands who wrote those songs did not choose the moments or the events that created this association. In other words, shouldn’t we as a band stick to what we do best - create music that we enjoy - and then spread that joy? That being said, of course I tried to write a “holiday hit” back in the 90s - and no, it did not become a holiday hit.
Perhaps because I could not help it and developed it into something personal, because our original idea of just singing about how “everything was fine because the sun did shine” was so awfully shallow that I just couldn’t identify with it. But, I did actually feel fine during that time, mostly because I had just gotten out of what nowadays psychologists would call a toxic, unbalanced relationship, and I put that in the lyrics of the stanzas: “I don’t care what you are doing, I don’t care what you are saying, I don’t care about you at all! You won’t change my smile today, you won’t break my heart today, because I don’t care about you anymore.”
With this introduction, the chorus of “Today I’m fine just as the sun does brightly shine” did get a deeper, personal meaning, and the song felt right. Nevertheless, the song back then was only released on a demo. Only this year, more than 20 years after its composition, it was released properly, and it is called “Time to Say Goodbye”. Please enjoy it – especially during the holiday season?
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