Paul Gilbert

A bit of seasonal cheer from 1997's Japan only release of Merry Axemas - A Guitar Christmas

"Steve Vai put this CD together by getting all sorts of wonderful guitarists to play Christmas songs on their guitars. I was called for the all-important job of providing the Japanese Bonus Track. The cool part is that I was asked to write an original Christmas song, and to stay away from covering a standard.

Believe it or not, I've written Christmas songs before, but they all have lyrics. Otherwise how would you know that it's a Christmas song?! I was told that this one had to be instrumental. It was good challenge for sure, plus I had a 3-day deadline to write, record, and mix it!

Thank goodness for deadlines, or I'd never get anything done. I just closed my eyes, visualized myself Christmas shopping, and soon the melodies came to me! The song is called "Mt. Fuji Christmas", and turned out to be one of my favorite instrumentals that I've written. If you've seen any of my recent clinic tours, I usually end my set with this song.

P.S. These last few years I've been getting more and more tired of hearing the same old Christmas songs playing over and over everywhere you go. I don't care if it's rearranged, played heavy-metal style or sung by Mariah Carey, I don't need to hear "The Little Drummer Boy" again! Even the good ones(and many of them are)have just been played TOO MUCH.

So my plea to all songwriters out there is this: PLEASE WRITE SOME NEW CHRISTMAS SONGS!!! And they have to be REALLY GOOD, so they will become popular enough to oust The Little Drummer Boy and all the "Rum Pum Pum Pums".

Remember that lyrics are very important. "Rum Pum Pum Pum" may be annoying, but it is CATCHY."