“This song is a true story. As true as a 6-year-old can remember a pivotal event, years and years later. At the very least, I believed in Santa so much that I hallucinated a sleigh sailing across the moon from atop my father’s shoulders on Meriday Lane, 2 blocks from my house. I know the exact spot. And it may be the first time in my life that I suspected not everyone believed me, on my return home. So be it. But the vision of that sleigh informs my subsequent belief that the magic of holidays exists somewhere in all of us grown children. I saw that sleigh. I did.” – Liz Kennedy
LYRICS:
“LIZZY’S CHRISTMAS SLEIGH”
Liz Kennedy
Yes, I’m not a kid
And no, can’t be young again
Yet at yuletide
I go back in time
To when I saw the sleigh
I did
Maybe only children see
And when those carols start to sing
On the street or some big store
I behold that sleigh once more
Here’s the story
Once
I was hoisted high
It was Christmas eve
We ducked outside
Underneath the sky
Dad at 6 foot three
That’s high
Look up, Lizzy, I heard him say
And I could see a sleigh
We headed home, Dad and me
And everyone, they were all singing
Chorus
Deck the Halls
We Three Kings
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Chestnuts Roasting
And Christmas White
Oh Holy Night
The Costco Chorus sings on high
Jingle Bells and Silent Night
Interlude 1
I saw that sleigh
And it sailed across the moon
On its way
And that moon so big it fell down to earth
I almost touched the sleigh
As the years go by
Family far and wide
Do I decorate
Must I bake
Hang the sleigh that Ben once made
Or I’ll fly out to St. Paul
With Sammy’s new in-laws
And I’ll bring along Ben’s sleigh
And we’ll sing those songs all day
Then walk through snow outside
And let Winston look up in the sky
And we’ll sing
Chorus
Deck the Halls
We Three Kings
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Chestnuts Roasting
And Christmas White
Oh Holy Night
The Costco Chorus sings on high
Jingle Bells and Silent Night
Interlude 2
Can you see the sleigh
When the songs play
Did you the sleigh
Sailing across the moon
On its way
And those song can take you far away
Can you see the sleigh
After going through a whirlwind of life changes, the San Francisco based singer-songwriter, Liz Kennedy, has come to see songwriting not as a choice but something she has to do. She says music sustains her and offers a way forward. Her decade plus as a critically acclaimed recording artist has brought her confidence in her ever-unfolding identity as a quirky, often humorous and ever insightful storyteller committed to honesty and finding something unique to say.
Jaffe, whose credits include Maria Muldaur, Lenny Williams and Magic Christian, is the renowned engineer and producer of Studio D in Sausalito, where legendary artists like Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr and Carlos Santana have recorded. One of the greatest influences on Kennedy’s development since she took the plunge into recording, he has helmed all her previous recordings, Clean White Shirt, A Good Peach, Nothing Like an Angel, Speed Bump, and Hike Up Your Socks. Jaffe adds numerous string textures to Kennedy’s songs, including acoustic and electric guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and ebow.
Kennedy describes herself as honest and observant and adds, “I sure hope I can easily laugh at myself.” Her songcraft – where the lyrics always follow the music – perfectly reflects that thoughtful self-assessment. The fascinating part of the process is not knowing just where the inspiration will come from. “It’s strange how emotional pain and joy can equally send you racing to the piano to capture something … whether it’s a butterfly or a heavy brick.
After graduating from Stanford University, where she studied anthropology and journalism, she settled in the Bay Area and worked for film companies that made TV commercials. Long before reality TV became a mainstream part of our culture, Kennedy specialized in casting real people (instead of professional actors) for commercials. She also married and raised two children. In her later 40s, around the time she began realizing she had “songs in my head” that had never been recorded, she met Jaffe, who liked what he heard and encouraged her to take her work as a singer/songwriter more seriously. In addition to her growing catalog of recordings, she has performed over the years at such renowned Bay Area hotspots as Sweetwater Music Hall, the Throckmorton Theatre and Club Fox. Kennedy enjoys performing live in an intimate setting and finding a connection people make to her songs. I love to hear what someone gets from a song, in their own way. A good song should translate into another person’s language. Yet before performing there is recording. “I’ve had inexpressibly sublime moments in the studio, listening to what these great musicians bring to my songs,” she says. “I have literally fallen to my knees with the joy of an unexpectedly beautiful touch. There’s no greater moment for me than when we are all listening to the finished product and loving what we hear, experiencing our collective ownership.”
