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Christmas Music (PIANO, CHRISTMAS TUNE) GK: Nice CD. Is it an old one? SS: Got it today. GK: It's a Christmas CD? SS: Yeah. GK: I thought you told your therapist you threw away all your
Christmas CDs. SS: I threw away the ones with the words. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
and the Vienna Boys Choir. It was the words that were upsetting me. GK: And then you bought this one? SS: It's an instrumental album. GK: Honey, the reason we're going to St. Kitt's for three weeks is to
get away from Christmas. SS: We will. GK: So why torment yourself? ---- SS: I'm okay. GK: You are? SS: I am. I'm okay. GK: Fine. SS: I'm just very very glad that we're not going to my family's for Christmas.
GK: Right. SS: I did that. You know what I mean? GK: Uh huh. SS: I did it. It's over. GK: Right. SS: I have to live my life now. I mean, I'm almost fifty years old. GK: Right. SS: It took me twenty-five years of counseling and therapy to realize
that. GK: Well, don't feel bad. SS: Don't feel bad?? What is that supposed to mean?? DON'T FEEL BAD???
GK: Sorry. It was just something to say. SS: DON'T FEEL BAD??? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT??? IT'S CHRISTMAS. OF COURSE
I FEEL BAD. I FEEL TERRIBLE. GK: Well, we'll go to St. Kitt's, we'll have a wonderful time.
SS: Christmas was devastating for me. --- "Don't feel bad."
GK: You want to look at pictures of our vacation condo? SS: Don't tell me not to feel bad. If you came from a family like my
family, you'd be just as messed up as I was. What a family. My brother
Joe reading Nietzche at the Christmas dinner table. Mama crying into her
Scotch. Daddy with a shotgun across his lap. Me with my face painted blue.
Head shaved. A big safety pin through my eyebrow. Nobody noticed. I was
invisible. GK: Well, it was a long time ago. SS: Every year Mom put on a big show to conceal the truth about how we
were ruining each other's lives. GK: Well, this year we'll have a good time. SS: Easy for you to say. You don't have the memories I have. I'll never
forget the Christmas --- (SHE CHOKES UP) GK: You sure you don't want to look at those pictures? SS: ---(WEEPY) the Christmas when I woke up Christmas morning about five
o'clock and I was really really messed up and doing a lot of drugs like
Nyquil and LSD and nutmeg and a lot of things and I went downstairs to
look in my stocking ---- and ---- (WHISPERS) there was no stocking there.
----- No stocking. ----- I sat there in the dark looking at the fireplace
where my stocking used to be. It wasn't there. Nothing. ---- And then
my mother came in and she said, "Merry Christmas" --- which
was just like her, to deny the whole thing ---- and I said, "Where's
my Christmas stocking?" And she said, "Well, where's my Christmas
stocking?" Trying to put the guilt on me. Boy! "Where's my stocking?"
Boy, did she do guilt. My family was the Beethoven's Ninth of Guilt. They
were the Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer of guilt. When it comes
to guilt, my family was the War and Peace of guilt. GK: Okay...fine... SS: What do you mean, "fine"? What does that mean? I'm talking
to you about pain, and you say "fine"? (MUSIC STOP) What did
you do that for? I was listening to that----- GK: Listen. I want you to close your eyes right now and take a
deep breath----and I'm going to put on another CD---- called "In
A Good Place"--- SS: Why----- GK: Don't talk. (MUSIC, NEW AGE, RELAXATION) I want you to take
a deep cleansing breath and then (SS INHALE) let it out (SS EXHALE) ----
blow it out ---- blow it out (SS BLOWING). And now another deep breath----
(SS INHALE) take a deep deep breath, all the way down, all the way in
----- and now blow it out (SS BLOWING)--- blow it all out. And now I want
you to go to that quiet place inside yourself -----the quiet place in
the sun ----- the sun is shining and there's this wonderful oil ---- and
there's fresh fruit, and you're in a good place, in the present, in your
own life now¼..with me¼¼the two of us¼¼..in
St. Kitts---What is it? SS (WEEPY): Why didn't she have a stocking for me? GK: Honey, please--- SS (WEEPY): All I wanted was my Christmas stocking. With an orange
in it. Was that too much to ask? (THE RELAXATION CD SEGUES BACK INTO THE CHRISTMAS SONG) GK: Hey, what's going on with this CD player---- (CLICKS) It won't
stop. It's broken. The thing won't stop. (MUSIC GETS SLIGHTLY LOUDER)
And I can't pull the plug out of the wall either. It's stuck in there---
I'm going down the basement and throw the circuit breaker. SS (WEEPY): An orange. That's all I wanted. One orange. GK: Okay. I'm getting you an orange. I'll be right back. Soon
as I turn off the power. SS (WEEPY): Just an orange. Is that too much to ask? One orange?
(MUSIC UP AND OUT, IMPASSIONATO) © Garrison Keillor 2002 |
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Singer and songwriter Andra Suchy talks about singing duets with Garrison, and her latest album, Little Heart.
Old Sweet Songs: A Prairie Home Companion 1974-1976
Lovingly selected from the earliest archives of A Prairie Home Companion, this heirloom collection represents the music from earliest years of the now legendary show: 1974–1976. With songs and tunes from jazz pianist Butch Thompson, mandolin maestro Peter Ostroushko, Dakota Dave Hull and the first house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band (Adam Granger, Bob Douglas and Mary DuShane).
