Christian Lee Hutson Re-Writes “Silent Night” For Holiday Loners
“Hutson fills his songs with an impressionistic overlay of non-sequiturs, off-handed musings, wordplay, punchlines, half-truths and embellished memories, all of which can often feel like an amalgam of some experimental chapter from James Joyce’s Ulysses and clever refrigerator magnet poetry.” – Inside Hook
Christian Lee Hutson released his sophomore album ‘Quitters’ on April 1 – a collection of short story-like songs that evoke the complicated feelings we all face when getting older - and has been busy ever since, selling out his first-ever headlining shows in New York, Los Angeles and London followed by his first-ever headlining tour that ran from July to August. ‘Quitters’ was produced by Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers and Hutson was also able to play these songs supporting Bridgers and Bright Eyes this past spring and in late August.
Known for his witty lyricism and development of characters, it only feels natural that Hutson would not only cover a classic Christmas song but adjust its point of view to that of one of his typically down on their luck protagonists. Today he is sharing a forlorn version of “Silent Night” following a narrator that is lonely during the holidays. The opening lines begin: “Silent night / Over the Rhine / Standing in the checkout line / Weather report on the radio / 65 percent chance of snow / I wanna call but I don’t / I wanna call but I don’t.”
“Some of my favorite songs are Christmas songs but they’re often about Jesus being born or old men riding on donkeys to give presents to a baby king,” Hutson explains. “Lyrically, they’re all pretty scary and I imagine this baby holding humanity hostage. So, I wrote my own version of one of my favorites about spending Christmas in Ohio."