For this sixth of twelve days of classic Christmas songs, our classic Christmas song of the day is “This Christmas” by soul legend Donny Hathaway. Mr. Hathaway wrote (with Nadine McKinnor) and recorded this one back in 1970 but it didn’t do much of anything at the time. It really got big in 1991 when it was included on Atco Records’ Soul Christmas compilation album and since then it’s become a welcome staple on holiday radio stations and playlists.
“This Christmas” features Mr. Hathaway on keyboards and bass; Phil Upchurch handled the electric guitar while Morris Jennings played drums. I particularly like the syncopated horn line in alternating measures of 4/4 and 3/4. That horn line is accompanied by a rapidly moving chord progression that goes Db – Cm – Db – Ab and really propels the song forward. The song itself is in Ab with some very interesting changes. The chords in the chorus (two per measure, pretty much) go Ab – D7 – DbMaj7 – Gb11 – Cm7 – Fm7 – Dhalfdim7 – Dbm7, then back to that two-bar horn lick (played twice). Wicked changes.
The lyrics are typical Christmassy stuff, and that’s fine. The only thing that catches my ear is the self-focus, as in “And this Christmas will be/A very special Christmas for me.” Not us, not you, but me. Okay, that.
Donny Hathaway lived a short but stellar life. He started out in the late ’60s working for Curtis Mayfield’s Custom Records in Chicago, where he arranged and produced records for the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions, and Curtis Mayfield himself. In 1969 he was signed by King Curtis to Atco Records as a solo artist, where he released a series of not-quite-hit singles, including “In the Ghetto Part I.” He had more success duetting with Roberta Flack on “Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You.”
Unfortunately, Donny Hathaway suffered from depression and paranoid schizophrenia throughout his entire life. On January 13, 1979, during a recording session in New York City, Donny began acting irrationally, seeming paranoid and delusional. He was stalking around the studio, muttering that white people were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine for the purpose of stealing his music and his sound. Understandably, the powers that be cut the session short and sent everybody home. Just hours later, Donny Hathaway jumped to his death from his 15th-floor room at the Essex House hotel. It was ruled a suicide; he was just 33 years old.
Donny Hathaway left behind a lifetime of great music, including “This Christmas.” Shake a hand everybody, shake a hand.
