The Unexpected Charity Christmas Single

A lot of people asked me what I was going to do next when I announced that I'd be taking a step back from poetry earlier this year. I wanted to do something different, but even I was quite surprised to find myself recording a dodgy Christmas single recently! In truth, I'd been trying to write one for ages. We did make an attempt some years ago at high school, and sure enough the unintentionally resigned sounding 'Christmas Time (Again)' got its debut outing at the Year 9 Christmas Concert, complete with a whistling solo just 31 years after Otis Redding pioneered the technique in 'Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay'. The fact there was a never a second outing for 'Christmas Time (Again)' - Christmas Time (Again)... Again?! - says all you need to know about that one.

The new track 'Every Day Is Christmas In My Heart' is silly, fun and a bit crap. Everything about it is very homemade. The song was recorded in a bedroom, so small that we couldn't fit all 4 musicians in the house at the same time (we came up with a complicated shift system, involving a winch, a signal flare and a dumb waiter). The video - such as it is - was put together in another bedroom. It's very simple, so if anyone fancies having a go at a better one, fire away! And the CD packaging will be hand-cut (like posh chips) with real scissors. But surely that's the point, because it's Christmas, and it's all for a good cause, with all proceeds going to The Christie Hospital.

The single also features 2 bonus tracks (or b-sides as they used to be called). I'm slowly working on an album at the moment (of marginally more serious songs), which I guess you'd call the natural successor to the poetry. Track 2, 'A Twist Of Logic', is an acoustic version of one of the tracks planned for inclusion. Whilst Track 3, 'The Devil's Picnic', is a song so old that I wrote the lyrics on the back of a till receipt whilst working behind the counter of my corner shop nearly 10 years ago. I'm glad it's finally out there, complete with a cowboy drama in the middle 8...

You can download all 3 tracks, and support The Christie's continuing good work, for just £0.79! Or, if you'd prefer a (very) homemade CD, it's available for £2 including postage!

Buy 'Every Day Is Christmas In My Heart' at: markcharlesworth.bandcamp.com

mark.charlesworth@hotmail.co.uk