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Escaping to Egypt

 

"And having been warned in a dream not to go to Herod, they [the wisemen] returned to their country by another route.

 

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.'

 

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and lefto for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"

 

Silver Bells

  Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24

 

This song was originally written about a cello player who was born in Sarajevo but left when he was fairly young. When he came back, he found the town in ruins. Every night, Serbs was bombing Sarajevo. But this cello player would not head to the bomb shelters; instead, he would go to the town square, sit on a pile of rubble, and start playing Mozart and Beethoven as the city was bombed.

 

Every night he would go to that same spot and play Christmas carols, creating a powerful image. It was his way of proving that the spirit of humanity was still alive there.

 

The writer used the oldest Christmas melodies he could find, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Carol of the Bells", to use in the song. The orchestra represents one side, and the rock band, the other. While the single cello represents that single individual, that spark of hope.