In case the title didn’t tip you off, Virgin of the Birds lets us know right out of the gate that this is a Christmas song, with a comfortable “Be My Baby” beat and insistently chiming sleigh bells. The lyrics themselves are not your traditional holiday fodder, but the lines that do evoke the season are vintage Virgin of the Birds: “Kiss me on the mouth, it’s Christmas Eve / I have stars in my eyes, I have winter seeds.” As with any Jon Rooney number, “Christmas in the Borough of Our Birth” will likely have you doing some internet research on the fly. “What do I think ‘brutalist’ means?” “Wait, what actually is ‘Hosanna’?” “Who’s M. Emmett Walsh again?” But once you’ve settled into your own level of familiarity or ignorance with the various references and cultural touchstones, you can sit back and enjoy the music.
“Christmas in the Borough of Our Birth” is, like most of the best music, a triumph of collaboration. The classic VotB power trio lineup of Jon, Colin J Nelson, and Ken Nottingham is here enhanced with a spasmodic guitar solo from Bart Cameron (the Foghorns) and some delightfully demented sax playing courtesy Paul Beaudry (every band ever, probably playing behind you right now). There’s also some fine, tinkling Omnichord or Casio or something throughout that adds an extra layer of cheer (that’s probably Paul, too). The last two minutes of the song are given over to a raucous choir singing hearty “la la la”s, putting a jaunty bow on this admirably overstuffed musical gift. (Full disclosure: I’m one of the choir singers, along with most of the abovementioned crew, Casey Ruff, and Sam Russell. Keepin’ it in the BoW family!)
You had me looking over my shoulder for Paul. He wasn’t there.
He was as I wrote the review. I promise.