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After The Holidays

Image by Robert Karkowski from Pixabay

Greetings during this time of short days and long nights in the northern hemisphere.

I hope you are warm and well as you read this blog post.

Right now in Massachusetts we are graced with a beautiful full moon shining down on our snow-less streets.

I first shared the song “After The Holidays” (in the player at the top of this page) three years ago in a blog post about the challenges of feeling lonely during the holiday season.

As you may remember — or perhaps you have blocked it out of your memory in order to be able to move on with your life — three years ago things were not going well in the USA.

Many hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID — with dead bodies being stored in refrigerated trailer trucks until funeral homes and crematoria could catch up with the demand for their services.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

It was a very challenging winter holiday season.

And 2023 has brought new challenges — and tragedies — into our lives here on planet earth.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Wars continue to grind along, destroying human lives along with the lives of countless other beings caught in the cross fire. Pollution continues to seep into every ecosystem here on planet earth. Climate change continues to increase with catastrophic consequences.

My heart goes out to anyone who is feeling hopeless, who is feeling distraught, who is feeling alone, or who is feeling unloved during this holiday season.

And although I am fortunate to have a life partner + family + friends with whom I can gather during the holidays, I can vividly remember how heart-broken and grief-stricken I felt when the first big love of my life chose to end our relationship many decades ago…

Image by Scott Wynn

“After The Holidays” taps into those feelings of raw desperation.

It was written by John Meyer.

His friend Judy Garland performed it on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1968.

Mr. Meyer is still alive and living in New York City.

Earlier this month I tracked down an email address for him so that I could let him know I had released a version of his song.

And much to my (happy) surprise, he was kind enough to give it a listen.

Here is how he responded:

“Will, I’m impressed.

Image by Stephen C. Fischer

You’re note-perfect — good for you!

Others bend the melody to suit their often tasteless predilections.

And I like that you take your time with the song, investing it with real poignancy.

Thank you for sharing.

Merry Christmas!”

Needless to say, I am delighted (and relieved) that he responded so positively to how pianist Doug Hammer and I interpreted his song.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Image by Mariya from Pixabay

And I will gently point out that this is yet another winter holiday song written (or co-written) by Jewish composers/lyricists — joining a beloved list of favorites including “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver Bells,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow,” and “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”

Here is a link to my version “After The Holidays“ in case you might like to stream it.

And as I have explained before, if you “like” one of my songs or add it to one of your playlists, that will improve the algorithmic sharing of my music.

Thank you to the John Meyer for writing such a moving song.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so sensitively on my version of John’s song AND for being such a diligent engineer/producer.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his terrific graphic design work.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay — and to Scott Wynn — for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

May your 2024 be full of peace and hope and determination…

49 thoughts on “After The Holidays”

    • You are very welcome, Audrey. I am spending time right now with a joyful almost-three-year-old who is improving my mood and outlook considerably. A happy and peaceful new year to you, too!

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    • You are very welcome, Michelle! And thank YOU for adding it to your Christmas playlist. The Spotify algorithms remain intentionally shrouded in mystery… but I have been told that action is something that they apparently notice and respond to in a positive way. A love-filled holiday season to you and yours!!!

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  6. Lovely rendition–and so thrilling to have John Meyer endorse it, especially when he openly says that he finds many versions to be duds! Thank you for sharing it here, and good for you for actually learning the music. These days ‘on key’ seems so weirdly subjective to too many singers–it confounds me.

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  7. OMG, you wrote to John Meyer and he wrote back to you! Big Wow! I am a huge fan of writing letters (you know I do it all the time with my class), and more often than not, I get a reply. You must be over the moon! That speaks volumes for your song and for John Meyer. Yes, after the holidays is tough, but the one constant that brings a smile and some joy into our lives is music. It pulls us through the bad, tough times and cheers us through the good times. Just think – your song made a difference, Will. John Meyer’s words said so. My heart is full!

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  8. There is such feeling in your version of this song, Will! This might be one of my very favorites of yours. How wonderful that you wrote to John Meyer–and that he answered you with such lovely feedback.
    Wishing you a happy new year!

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    • THANK YOU!!! The feedback from Mr. Meyer is a lovely way to end 2023. And I am very glad that you enjoyed our rendition. The holidays are not an easy time for all of us… Let us continue our activism AND our creativity in 2024!!! ps: I recently recorded another bittersweet cover song called “Cry If You Want To” (in honor of my nephew whose father recently died) which I hope to release in 2024. You might like the emotion in that one, too…

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  9. What a poignant rendition that was of this song, which was new to me. Truly lovely. I’m so glad you had the courage to send it to John Meyer–and I’m delighted with his response, and with your sharing it here.

    I hope this coming year brings greater peace for us all and progress toward repairing our world and all its inhabitants. Warm New Year wishes to you, Will.

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  15. Poignant, sensitive and beautifully delivered, Will. It is not a song I had knowingly heard before – and I’m wondering why. A belated very Happy New Year to you. You mention the traumas of three years ago. I’m a cynical person, but usually fairly positive at mankind’s general progress. I have to say that, as we get into 2024, I feel the world is less safe than it has been for a very long time indeed. I am mindful of history and how things can so easily escalate. It does strike me that the only person likely to benefit from what is happening in the Middle East is Putin. God knows what will happen if the democratic world fails to get its act together. This stuff is bigger than any individual nation’s parochial petty hang-ups.

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    • Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. I agree with you whole-heartedly on all counts. Here in the USA we continue to walk a very fine line, teetering between those who acknowledge the rule of law and those who don’t. I remain grateful for every day I still have running water, electricity, an intact roof over my head, food to eat, and toilet paper. Things CAN change very swiftly — in political systems and in environmental systems (Britain would/will be a very different place to live if/when the Gulf Stream changes course, for example…) However, a LOT of previous disengaged people are now firmly re-engaged with our political processes here in the USA; so I feel a little bit of hope regarding this next year’s elections. Yet that hope is certainly tempered. by the reality that lots of MAGA folks have a lot of guns, ammunition, explosives (plus resentment, unhappiness, grievances and a desire for vengeance) stock-piled. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

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      • Hmm. It strikes me that the world would be a lot more secure if the MAGA folks recognised that AIAG and it needs to be used responsibly. Hangups do not make positive policy. Over here, many of us havve been voting for who we believe will cause the least harm for many years. Next time, I suspect that many simply won’t vote. What will happen first – domestic political revolution or the peace dividend? God bless food and toilet paper! 🙂

    • You are very welcome, dear Glenn. And thank YOU for making time to visit my blog and listen to a song. Music still inspires me to get out of bed in the morning…no matter how gruesome the media headlines might be.

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      • Loved her as a child and I think there is a longing for those days. My 16 year old grandson wears a bowler and loves orchestra, beautiful complex melodies. I think the misery in the world is causing people to seek meaning and beauty. There’s a great need for positive messages and genuine human feeling.

      • I have a bowler, too, but I don’t wear it often enough. Hurrah that your grandson loves orchestra and beautiful, complex melodies… and bowler hats! And I agree about the need to genuine human feeling — especially as AI technology makes it easier and easier to create fake everything — essays, letters to the editor, video clips, sound recordings, etc. I am hoping there will be an increased appetite for live, in-person performances to counter balance all of the AI fakery in our lives.

      • Me too! AI is so perfect and cold it’s not that hard to spot (now anyway)and the things I read written by AI are confusing. I know a solar flare big enough to take it all down would cause lots of pain but sometimes I find myself praying for them. Not for the pain but for a return to nature and our nature dependent humanity.

  18. Now that Mr. Meyer has passed on, I have no idea where I can purchase sheet music for this gorgeous song.

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    • I am sad to read that Mr. Meyer has died. I am not sure what we used (maybe a transcribed lead sheet?) when Doug and I recorded this song. It IS a song which deserves more performances/airtime.

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