Joe Merkel: guitar
Mario Padovani: keyboards

Produced by Mario Padovani
Recorded & mixed by Paul Janocha at Side Door Studio
From the EP "My Favorite Things"
Released 2001

We got together to record "My Favorite Things" in November 2001. The horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 were still very much in our collective consciousness and our nation was now at war. Whatever innocense we as a nation still had was gone forever. We wanted to capture the somber feel that accompanied this holiday season.

Mario had come up with a minor key arrangement of "Silent Night". Now, as anyone who has ever worked with Mario can attest, he is, what we in studio circles call, a track whore. (My general rule of thumb when working in the studio with Mario is, take the total number of tracks available, add one, and that's how many he'll need). However, he totally blindsided me with this one: a stereo pair of tracks for the keyboards and one for the guitar. Three tracks! For a Yes Virginia project?! But this song couldn't have worked any other way. The haunting keyboard pads underneath Joe's simply understated guitar work, sometimes less really is more.

The overall effect is stunning, especially in the context of the merriment of the Christmas season. The slow drone of the keyboards in the intro, that build, appropriately enough, into a layered chord a la "2001", draw the listener in. There's also a few unplanned noises in the beginning as Joe turns the volume up on his guitar (we decided to leave those in to add to the uneasiness of the track). While the melody on the guitar is exactly what you'd expect, the minor key feel on the keys in the background tend to knock the listener off balance. Something doesn't feel quite....normal.

I think this song makes an extremely powerful statement without saying a single word. 

Peace,

Paul