Wednesday, December 23, 2020

It's Christmas, so we'll stop (RIP Scott Hutchinson)

'One reason Frightened Rabbit are so important to so many people is because of the overwhelming mutual empathy in the room when they played live. The joy and force of the music, juxtaposed with the sadness and candour of the lyrics, created a sense of a crowd and band with their arms around one another.'
These lines come from a beautiful, heart-wrenching piece on the surviving bandmembers of Frightened Rabbbit, a Scottish indie rock band. Singer Scott Hutchinson took his own life two years ago, after years of struggling with depression. Scott and FR leave a beautiful legacy of songs.

There's two Christmas songs I'd like to share. 'It's Christmas, so we'll stop' is an intense seasonal song with a hopeful message, but only just.
So forget the names/I called you on Christmas Eve/In fact forget the entire year/Don't reflect just pretend and you won't feel scared/You won't feel a thing

Not a song to cover lightly, I'd say. I found a few, none of them as intense as the original, but good nonetheless. Cincinatti-band The Bell And The Hammer made a very sweet cover version on their brand new Christmas EP:
Butt Cashier (from 2018) is pretty good too:
This one's close to the intensity of the original, very sparse:
Not a real cover, it's the b-side to the original single. Powerful stuff:
Scott himself, covering Fake Empire by The National, and mixing it with It's Christmas so we'll stop:

Here's Scott himself again with another Christmas song (from 2012), written to raise funds for his niece Morven. Live version HERE:
This song got covered too, and very well too:

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