New Music :"Christmas In Fallujah," Video, Lyrics & Links

New Music :"Christmas In Fallujah," Video, Lyrics & Links



About This Video:
Live In Chicago, Billy Joel & Cass Dillon performing "Christmas In Fallujah".
Became Available on iTunes Dec. 4th

Proceeds to Benefit: Homes for our Troops

Billboard Magazine writes: Up-And-Comer Voices New Billy Joel Song

November 30, 2007, 12:50 PM ET
Jeff Vrabel, Savannah, Ga.

Billy Joel has broken his self-imposed retirement from pop for the second time in a year, but he'd almost rather you didn't know that.

The second new Joel-penned single since his last pop album, 1993's "River of Dreams," is called "Christmas in Fallujah" and hits iTunes Dec. 4. There are two major differences between it and the classics that have made him one of the best-selling artists of all time. First, there's no piano on it, and second, there's barely any Billy Joel on it, either.

Instead, for what Joel says is a first, he's written a song expressly for another singer, a 21-year-old Long Island native named Cass Dillon. Joel tells Billboard the inspiration for "Fallujah" was partly born of letters he's received from service personnel overseas, but also simply from years of the realities of war.

The song came to him quickly, Joel says, as did the realization that he wasn't the guy to record it. "I thought someone with a young voice should be singing this, someone just starting out in life," he says. "Plus, you know, I'm 58 years old. My voice isn't the voice I was thinking of when I was writing; I was thinking of a soldier, someone of that age."

Enter Dillon, a young singer/songwriter who'd spent a few years under the wing of Tommy Byrnes, Joel's longtime musical director. Dillon left college two years ago to pursue a musical career, and has spent the intervening years on the coffee-shops-and-bars circuit. Byrnes had played Joel several of Dillon's songs, and when it came time to find a singer for "Fallujah," Joel says Dillon "popped right into my head."

Compare it to Nirvana - In Bloom: Sub Pop Version Very similar music.



Billy Joel introducing Christmas In Fallujah,



The song benefits Homes for our Troops

http://www.homesforourtroops.org

Homes for our Troops is a non-profit organization that provides specially adapted homes for our nation’s wounded soldiers. We live in a world where “stringent” standards dictate that 60% of donations should be spent on program activities. According to their FAQ, Homes for our Troops spends 84% of donation dollars directly on the program activity it sells.

The Lyrics to Christmas in Fallujah by Billy Joel

"Christmas In Fallujah"
Words & Music By Billy Joel
Preformed By Cass Dillon
2007

It's Evening In the Desert
I'm Tired and I'm cold
But I'm just a solder
I do what I am told

We Came with the Crusaders
to save the holy land
It's Christmas In Fallujah
and no one gives a damn

And I just got your letter
And this is what I read you said

I'm fading from your memory
so I'm just as good as dead

We are the armies of the empire
We are the legionnaires of Rome

It's Christmas In Fallujah
and we ain't never coming home

We came to bring these people freedom
we came to fight the infidel

there is no justice in the desert
Because there is no god in hell

They say osama's in the mountains
deep in a cave near Pakistan

But there's a sea of blood in Baghdad
A sea of oil in the sand

Between the Tigris and Euphrates
another day comes to an end

it's Christmas In Fallujah
Peace on earth goodwill to men

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
Hoorah!



Another artist, Jefferson Pepper, with am CD song by same title: http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=41253

In general, holiday albums do not get confused with vehicles for social change. If you don't like in-your-face, change-the-world music, then stop reading now. Far removed from the typical bouquet of carols, Jefferson Pepper's Christmas in Fallujah is a holiday music anomaly. This is protest music at its finest, exploring the dark underbelly of America's social and political landscape. As for the artist's unusual name, I'm imagining some cross between Jefferson Airplane and Sgt. Pepper, but I could be wrong.

Jefferson Peppers MySpace :http://www.myspace.com/jeffersonpepper

Christmas in Fallujah
Written by: Jefferson Pepper
c2005 Jefferson Pepper

It's Christmas in Fallujah, to the victors go the spoils
We came to help the people, it's not about the oil
I came here to Fallujah with presents in my sack
I bring the gift of freedom through unprovoked attack

That's not the sound of reindeer up on your roof at night
We're coming down your chimney with guns and blinding lights
We're gonna take your husband, I'd like to tell you why
But I can't speak your language, I'm too overwhelmed to try

But Uncle Sam made a list, he's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get it right half the time that's close enough

It's Christmas in Fallujah, children snuggle in their beds
While the corpses of their parents dance around in their heads
Palaces and bridges, we burned them to the ground
'Cause someone got a contract to rebuild the whole damned town

It's Christmas in Fallujah, hear the bells begin to toll
I'm sorry about your mother, she's somewhere down in the hole
We came here to Falujah to win your hearts and minds
But when we bombed your building your family was inside

Don't blame it on us soldiers, we're only doing what we're told
Never had a spoon of silver, now I've got a broken heart of gold
And I'm gonna have to live with all these nightmares that I've seen
Never taught to know the difference between Osama and Hussein

But Uncle Sam made a list, he's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get it right half the time that's close enough