Merry? Christmas?

Here on the longest night, the day on the calendar where we here in North America have the fewest hours of daylight and therefore the most hours of darkness, it seems fitting to share Born To Die.  My reaction when I saw this in the record store was "Well, that's cheery."  The opening song and title track reference suffering and shame.  "March of the Wisemen" certainly has a funereal dirge quality to it.  "I'm Goin' Home", sung by composer Ron Hamilton, speaks of being tired of what the Earth offers. 

If you're tired of Ho Ho Ho's and jingling bells, this may be your remedy.  While "Listen to the Christmas Bell" is more celebratory than the rest of the "Christmas Cantata", most of the chorale music, with three soloist numbers, is pretty much a downer.  Frank Garlock, President of the record label, says that Born To Die "contains some of the most beautiful Christmas music ever written".  He calls it "refreshing".  I'll let you be the judge.

This is Dread Pirate Ron's first full-length cantata.  I'm sure history shows whether he composed additional cantatas, but I didn't go look.

Eleven tracks.  Most of them reference Christmas.  

Enjoy?  Born To Die  download link