Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Blue Christmas


Apologies for the silence over the last few days. Crazy times.

I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week in Chicago for a work event, and while there, I noticed something odd about the hotel we stayed in.

It was a nice enough hotel, decorated for Christmas and the staff were appropriately cheery, but there was a problem with the music. I sat down for lunch shortly after arriving and after about 10 minutes of sitting while waiting for my food I noticed that I had heard no less than three different versions of Blue Christmas. It was no big deal at that point, but the song faded, and sure enough, the next song was another artist singing the same depressing song:

I'll have a Blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me

And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That's when those blue memories start calling
You'll be doin' all right, with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue, blue blue blue Christmas

You'll be doin' all right, with your Christmas of white,
But I'll have a blue, blue, blue blue Christmas
Now I'm all for artistic expression, and it's a well written song, but to have it on a loop in a hotel lobby where most folks are away from their loved ones (obviously, it was a Monday in a freaking hotel) seems a bit cruel.

I ate my lunch and counted, and nine times the song played, each time with a different singer, tempo, and musical style. I can honestly say that I felt depressed after that lunch. I finished my work for the day and went to my room around 9:00pm. The next morning I went down for the work event for breakfast and was greeted by more versions of the same song, but there were other songs interspersed between them.

I finished up with the work event around 11:30am and made a run for the airport to try and get an earlier flight than my scheduled 6:00pm flight home, on the way through the lobby I heard another version of that song!

I got to the airport quickly, but all flights were full, which is expected, the week before Christmas and all that. I decided to explore the airport and grab some lunch.

I sat down with my food court Chinese food and checked some emails, and then it happened.

"I'll have a Blue Christmas without youuuuuu"

What the heck? - I thought, this has to be my imagination.

Nope, it was an acoustic duo playing Elvis style Christmas songs next to the food court.

Fin.

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