The McGarrigle Christmas Hour
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
1. Seven Joys of Mary
(Trad. Arr. By Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Choir: Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Ruben Mahr, Jane Adams, Jack McKeever, Beth Orton, Emmylou Harris, Lily & Dane Lanken, Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Organ: Tom Mennier
Pennywhistle: Jody Golick
Trumpets: Dane Lanken
Percussion: Brad Albetta, Martha Wainwright
Violin: Joel Zifkin
Mixed by Borza Ghomeshi
2. Old Waits Carol
(Trad. Arr. By Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Choir: Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Lily & Dane Lanken
Mixed by Frank Opolko
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
(P. Brooks / L. H. Redner)
Lead Vocal: Emmylou Harris
Harmony Vocal: Chaim Tannenbaum
Trombone Section: Patrice Richer, Tenor Bone; Michael Wilson, Tenor Bone; Trevor Dix, Bass Bone
Piano: Tom Mennier
Choir: Chaim Tannenbaum, Dane, Sylvan & Lily Lanken, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Danielle Boldue, Campbell Hendery, Jane, Kate & Anna McGarrigle
4. Il Est Ne/Ca Bergers
(Trad. Arr. By Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Voices: Lily Lanken, Martha Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Drums: John McColgan
Piano: Tom Mennier
Violin: Joel Zifkin
Pennywhistle: Jody Golick
Accordions: Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Mixed by Pierre Marchand
5. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve
(Frank Loesser)
Frank Music (ASCAP)
Vocal: Rufus Wainwright
Piano: Tom Mennier
Violin: Joel Zifkin
Mixed by Frank Opolko
6. Rebel Jesus
(Jackson Browne)
Shallow Turn Music (ASCAP)
Voices: Lily Lanken, Martha Wainwright
Piano: Tom Mennier
Drums: John McColgan
Guitar: Kate McGarrigle
Violin: Joel Zifkin
Pennywhistle: Jody Golick
Accordion: Anna McGarrigle
Mixed by Pierre Marchand
7. Some Children See Him
(W. Hutson/A. Burt)
Hollis Music Inc. (BMI)
Lead Vocals: Rufus & Martha Wainwright
Choir: Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Dane, Sylvan & Lily Lanken, Danielle Boldue
Piano: Tom Mennier
Violins: Joel Zifkin
Tenor Sax: Jody Golick
Mixed by Pierre Marchand
8. Merry Christmas And Happy New Year
(Martha Wainwright)
Querbes Services (SOCAN)
Lead Vocal & Acoustic Guitar: Martha Wainwright
Harmony Vocal: Lily Lanken
Piano: Tom Mennier
Bass: Andrew Hall
Drums & Bells: George Javori
Electric Guitar: Duke McVinnie
Violin: David Mansfield
Produced by Nicholas Hill
9. Counting Stars
(Kate and Anna McGarrigle with I. V. Dow)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Recitative: Ian Vincenzo Dow
Piano: Kate McGarrigle
Accordion: Anna McGarrigle
Vocals: Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Vinnie’s vocal was produced by Greg Prestopino
Mixed by Thorsten Laewe and Greg Prestopino
10. Spotlight On Christmas
(Rufus Wainwright)
Put Tit On Music / WB Music Corp (ASCAP)
Lead Vocal, Piano, Acoustic Guitar & Bells: Rufus Wainwright
Harmony Vocal & Bells: Martha Wainwright
Harmony Vocal, Electric Guitar & Bells: Teddy Thompson
Drums: Matt Johnson
Produced by Rufus Wainwright
Mixed by Tom Schick
11. Wise Men
(Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Lead Vocal & Classical Guitar: Kate McGarrigle
Drums: John McColgan
Pennywhistle: Jody Golick
Piano: Anna McGarrigle
Guitar: Joel Zifkin
Synth: Tom Mennier
Bass: Michel Pepin
Choir: Lily Lanken, Martha Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle
Mixed by Frank Opolko
12. Port Starboard Sox
(Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle, Dane Lanken, Pat Donaldson)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Choir: Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Pat Donaldson
Lead Vocal & Synth: Anna McGarrigle
Guitar: Eloi Painchaud
Bass, Drums & Flutes: Pierre Marchand
Mixed by Pierre Marchand
13. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
(Trad. Arr. By Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
Garden Court Music (ASCAP)/Admin. By Bug Music
Choir: Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Lily & Dane Lanken, Tom Mennier, Jordi Rosen, Jody Golick, Joel Zifkin
Drums: John McColgen
Pennywhistle: Jody Golick
Violin: Joel Zifkin
Guitar: Kate McGarrigle
Banjo: Anna McGarrigle
Mixed by Frank Opolko
14. Blue Christmas
(B. Hayes/J. Johnson)
Universal Polygram International (ASCAP)
Lead Vocal, Guitar & Mandolin: Chaim Tannenbaum
Harmony Vocal: Lily Lanken
Piano: Jane McGarrigle
Dobro and “Premier” Guitar: Michel Pepin
Violins: Joel Zifkin
Accordion: Anna McGarrigle
Mixed by Borza Ghomeshi
Tracks 2, 5, 11, 13 under license from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Track 10 under license from Universal Special Markets
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Produced by Kate & Anna McGarrigle
The songs were recorded at these location by the following people: Maison Radio – Canada, Montreal, QC, Frank Opolko and Pierre Plante * Globe Studios, New York, NY, Tom Schick * Studio Frisson, Montreal, QC, Michel Pepin and Don Murnahan * Church of the Advent, Montreal, QC, Rob Heaney * Natural Source Studio, St. Sauveur and Montreal, QC, Borza Ghomeshi and Marc-Andre Bellefleur * Monkey Boy Studio, New York, NY, Brad Albetta and Brian Fulk * Pierre Marchand at his Studio in Mille-Isles, QC * Sorcerer Sound, New York, NY, Tom Conklin * Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN, Matt Andrews * Le beau cote, Alexandria, ON, Pat Donaldson * Thorsten Laewe’s studio, Los Angeles, CA, Thorsten Laewe and Gret Prestopino.
Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, ME
Rufus Wainwright appears courtesy of Geffen Records
Martha Wainwright appears courtesy of Zoe/Rounder Records
Beth Orton appears courtesy of EMI Records Ltd/Astralwerks
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Design by Barbara deWilde
Cover Photograph by Howard Kingsnorth/Getty Images
Booklet back cover photograph by Getty Images
All captioned photography courtesy of the McGarrigle Family Archive
For Nonesuch Records:
Production Coordinator: Eli Cane
Editorial Coordinator: Robert Edridge-Waks
Production Supervisor: Karina Beznicki
We would like to thank our wonderful families and friends for their contributions to this recording and mention The Red Carol Book, edited by Healey Willan, as a source of inspiration.
A very special thank-you to Mike Leahy at Concerted Efforts for his support in seeing this through.
Kate & Anna McGarrigle are represented by Concerted Efforts: www.concertedefforts.com
Peace and goodwill to all of you
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We were coming onto Christmas sometime in the early 60s, and our mother asked us if we had ever thought of doing something for the less fortunate. We thought, “okay, we could do that,” and she suggested we free some orphaned children from their miserable institution for an afternoon and turn them loose onto the festive streets of Montreal, cheerfully decorated in this season of celebration.
She would call ahead to make arrangements, while we could raise the money by caroling, to “do something useful with those voices.” We earmarked the last Friday night before Christmas, a very good night, since people were hosting parties, and pockets get deeper as the punch bowl gets shallower. Our plan worked.
So, on Saturday morning, with the money from our previous night’s caroling, we went to the orphanage, which was out in this huge field, and there we were introduced to a six-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother, the two children whom the nuns thought would most benefit from our kindness. We cannot remember their names. They were tiny and poorly dressed, and we had never really seen orphans before.
Around noon we got them onto the bus, then off downtown. We showed them Santa Claus, stared at the beautiful department store windows, stopped for a little treat – hot chocolate and a bun – and bought a few little gifts, things they could share with the other orphans (as the nuns respectfully insisted). Then we took them home for the Christmas dinner that our mother was preparing for the occasion: some kind of bird, most likely a capon (her favorite), with all the trimmings, and some pudding for dessert. She had surprised us by decorating the table for the event – this was not a side of our mother people were used to seeing.
During the meal, between passing the cranberry sauce and the bread, she paused and in true “Gaby” fashion asked the little girl, “how come you two are in the orphanage, and why are you unadoptable?” to which the child replied that her father had put a knife in her mother’s back, killing her, and been subsequently jailed, and that she and her brother were sent to the “crèche” because there was no one to look after them, and that they were unadoptable because their father was still alive, and anyhow, they were too old. Point final. Stunned, we sat in silence a bit, then carried on with our meal, ate the dessert, and began looking at the clock – it was Saturday night and we had pals to meet, parties to go to – and we had promised the nuns to get them back before eight. At this point we all left the table, gathered together the few gifts, got our coats on, looked for mitts and hats and the wherewithal to brave the cold, checked our lipstick in the hall mirror, and went in search of our protégés. We found them in the kitchen. The little girl was standing on a chair at the sink, our mother’s apron wrapped around her like a huge sheet trailing on the ground, washing the dishes as best she could and quietly crying, quietly pleading not to be taken “back there. I’ll stay here and clean for you. I can wash dishes and make beds, and my brother can help. He doesn’t look it, but he’s strong. Please, can we stay with you?”
Nobody remembers exactly what happened, but our mother must have explained how this was impossible, and somehow we packed them into the car and dropped them off in darkness at the large, forbidding doors of the institution, that tall building with its steel cots and cribs that stood out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded on all sides by empty fields, where cleanliness was a poor substitute for love … Then we headed straight for the coffee shop where we were meeting the gang for some holiday mischief, some party or other. We were already quite late, and the gang hates to wait. Well, they were waiting, and we went to the party and got to dance with the ones we wanted to dance with, and Christmas came and we got the things we asked for, and life went on and we didn’t do too badly.
We never did see those children again, and we had long since forgotten that afternoon. But over the years, maybe because we have families of our own, they’ve come creeping back into our thoughts – the nameless six-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother – those little faces with the tiny voices. We would like, with this CD, to wish the two of them a very Merry Christmas, whoever they were and wherever they are.
– Kate and Anna
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Nonesuch
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