Christmas isn't Christmas

I love my classic Christmas songs. They're just fun to sing even though some don't even mean a thing except for ushering in a festive mood such as "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "Jingle Bells".

Perhaps it's because they are only heard and sung once a year in the month of December. Or perhaps it's because their tunes are created for easy listening. Whatever the reason may be, I still love them all, including the more contemporary ones such as "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and "Miss You Most at Christmas Time".

However, one song I heard in church this Christmas really struck a chord. "Christmas Isn't Christmas" by Jimmy and Carol Owens really stood out among all the other songs both from a lyrical and melodic perspective. I find that the lyrics have are simple enough yet have a very profound meaning. The chorus goes like this:

Christmas isn't Christmas, till it happens in your heart,
Somewhere deep inside you, is where Christmas really starts,
So, give your life to Jesus, you'll discover when you do,
That it's Christmas, really Christmas for you.

I have discovered that I am attracted to songs with a rather active chord progression and where the bass moves in a semitone sequence. It's really fun to experiment with chord inversions by substituting the bass with either the third or the fifth note and even more fun when replacing notes with unconventional notes not usually found in classical pieces.

What I find exciting about listening to a new song is that I like to reconstruct the song from memory and experimenting through trial and error until I get the chords or notes to my liking. I try not to search for the sheet music unless I am absolutely dumbfounded and stuck.

Here's an audio only file I found of the song on YouTube. I hope you enjoy listening to this song as much as I do.