2002 Hear the Bells

Описание: Hear the Bells

I wrote this on Christmas Day in 2002. I was forty-nine years old.

I came very, very, very close to discounting this from my video library and leaving it in the pile of other songs from the past that I had either not been too excited about or had simply forgotten. I would like to think that I had forgotten it. It was even on the first CD I ever did, which was called “In My Father’s House,” so I surely thought it was good enough to use it back then. I stumbled across it recently (December 2025) and decided to work with it.

The negative: My voice. The song really needs a solid baritone voice. I didn’t hit any bad notes, but I didn’t make the vocals “shine.” A better singer could have done that. I can carry a tune just fine, and sometimes I can really nail a song, but in general, my voice is far from a ten.

But it’s too late now. Even with the modern technology of vocal stripping and re-singing available, the harmonies would be affected and they are just fine. I guess a good singer could sing over my voice and it could be mixed back in to sound pretty good. I’ve done that before. But I think it’s just going to be what it is.

The positives: Kristin Kanady’s harmonies are great. She added so much to this song. Very ethereal. Another positive is just how great the melody line and chords are. It is probably one of the most intricate melodies I have ever written. It modulates all over the place and doesn’t even end in the same key in which it begins. And lastly, the message itself is wonderfully unique, even if I say so myself. Heaven will be Christmas Day forever? Wow. Christ’s gift to us never ends.

The images in this song came from an online, free AI source here... Thank you, whoever created it: https://perchance.org/ai-text-to-imag... Very easy to use. It’s not easy to get good results from AI platforms. Nevertheless, with this particular theme, I was able to get some wonderful images. I hope you like the video.

Written by Mark Fielding Darden, Christmas day 2002
Fishing Creek Studios, Oxford NC
Copyright January 18, 2006 #PAu3-019-605

A huge thanks to the friends who were with me back in those days. Mick Purdy played awesome piano on this song. Chris Kisgen just nailed the bass. And as I said earlier, Kristin Kanady added that wonderful high dimension to the vocals that only she can do. We are still close friends to this day. Thanks to all of you. Thanks also to Bill McDonald for teaching me how to use digital equipment back in those days. All that was relatively new technology. Peace and love to everyone, especially Jesus for making all this possible.