Okay, so seven or eight years ago I’m standing in the J. Crew store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, doing a little Christmas shopping, when I hear a fantastic cover version of “Deck the Halls” over the in-store sound system. I’m a sucker for a great Christmas cover, so naturally I walk up to the front counter to ask the cashier about the song.
“Is this Book of Love?” I ask, thinking it a rhetorical question. What other band has a female lead singer with such a beautifully bored delivery?
The guy behind the counter shrugs. “I have no idea. We use a music service. They just send us the CDs, and we play ‘em.” He looks behind me, at the long line of busy holiday shoppers. He doesn’t offer to go around back and check the CD’s case to confirm the artist for me. I can’t really blame him for that. Much.
So I leave the store, the syncopated fa la la’s echoing in my head, certain that it had to be Book of Love, and that a little searching on the Muze system will help me track it down.
Fast-forward seven or eight years…and I still don’t have the song. Muze had no record of it. iTunes doesn’t either. Neither do any of the dozens of Christmas music compilations I’ve checked. They have versions by SheDaisy, and Whitney Houston, and any number of other artists…none of whom sounds remotely like Book of Love.
My greatest Christmas wish is that someone out there can help me find this song. The song might be by Book of Love…or it might not. The vocal is a dead ringer for BOL’s Susan Ottaviano, but maybe it’s just someone doing a great impression of her. The lyrics are standard “Deck the Halls”, but the arrangement tweaks the melody a bit–particularly on the fa la las. Instead of “fa la la la LAAA, la la la LAAA”, it’s more like “FA la la la, la LALA la la.” Got it?
So, how about it? Have you heard it? Can you find it? Will you help make a young(ish) girl’s long-held Christmas dream come true?
