They say that creativity is ten per cent inspiration and 90% perspiration. When working with Lourdes de Rioja it is most certainly unreconstructed application because she runs a tight and tautly canvassed ship. Have you ever worked with a devoted perfectionist who neither slumbers nor sleeps? The good news is that we usually get what we want at around the 58th take, but there are always nagging concerns about a) the light b) your microphone c) that shirt is wrong d) didn’t I say you should get your hair cut? e) could you re-record it with a different headset f) look towards the rising sun g) don’t slurp your tea h) enunciate…
When Whirlwind de Rioja suggested this as our Christmas song, I had my doubts. After our earlier efforts for “Resistiré”, that uplifting anthem for lockdown that spits defiance, this felt a little dirge-like and sad for the festive season. But on subsequent listening I detected a “seize the day” message that chimes neatly as we emerge from seizing the mask and sanitiser.
I listened again and saw a small stumbling block. How should we render “follar” (fuck, screw) without shocking colleagues, parents or the AIIC Advisory Board?
I spent a few days asking colleagues for temperate synonyms – the same question also gave me and my children a hysterical family Zoom. Meanwhile Lourdes had sourced all the clothes and bling she needed for her dressing up box and was working hard on channelling rock stars and rappers. I put my pressing “follar” query to her and was told drily that I was the English A and should get with the plan. Creatives, what are they like?
We hope you enjoy our effort. The plaintive tone may not be as Chistmassy as a snowflake on a robin, but it does resonate at this unusual festive season. Think of it as a modern take on “Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty, / Youth’s a stuff will not endure.” You know, Twelfth Night, which marks the end of making merry.
We’re all champing at the bit to get back to some kind of normality in both our working and our social lives, whatever that may ultimately mean. Perhaps we could reasonably call it the restive season. We offer this as its anthem.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Lourdes, Phil and Fiona.
