Snowflakes On The Mountain
A Ray Bertram, Martin Goetz, & Robert Baitinger collaborative production
Just me. Just songs.
I was born with an undiagnosable brain dysfunction, having seizures, and with blue skin dur to oxygen deprivation. I would spend much of my youth on strong, mind-altering medication, I would ultimately end up being declared fully disabled on psychiatric grounds, and I've had to be committed to five different psychiatric facilities in three different states.
These days, the primary thrust of my overall creative efforts is the advocacy work that I seek to do for the mentally ill and the mentally disabled.
These are my songs.
Story behind the song
Wow - what an incredible story’s behind this song. First, you have to understand that, whenever you see our trademark picture of the guy in the dark longcoat and cowboy hat standing on top of the mountain next to one of our songs here in the SoundClick charts…that guy’s ME and me and my family LIVE on top of that mountain lol. And thirty miles from the nearest town, deep in the heart of the rural Arkansas countryside, our mountain’s a beautiful place to live, too - especially in the Winter when it snows. And we had several real pretty snow storms back in 2008 - one particular snow storm that year was especially beautiful - and enough snow fell to where everything pretty much stopped up here on top of the mountain…so I just sat at our kitchen table next to the window, watched the snowflakes falling on the mountain, and started tossing words and lines together about it. The resulting lyric quickly became called “Snowflakes On The Mountain” and, over the course of writing the lyric, all that I did was simply write down and record what was going on and happening around me on top of the mountain outside and inside our own little house…and I kind of liked how it came out.
Then, over the course of the following summer, my good friend Austrian singer/musician/producer Martin Goetz picked up the lyric that I’d written that snowy day and started working with it…and I instantly fell in love with his vision of how it might be best produced. Then, as is often the case, life happened, other events and projects interefered, and “Snowflakes” sat still for a little while. But then, some months later, Martin picked it back up with a vengeance…and with the added idea of making it our first Back Country Connection platform-wide production featuring as many of the people that we'd workedg with us as possible. And like a snowball rolling down hill, from there this song just picked up speed and got bigger and better as it went along. So special thanks to Martin Goetz for creating and “master-minding” this very special production…and also to Robert Baitinger (Germany) who assisted so much in the production and providing valuable contributions over the course of it all. Indeed, special thanks to EVERYbody who contributed so much time and effort into this production in so many ways.
Lyrics
Snowflakes On The Mountain
Verse 1:
Far away from the city
Miles and miles outta town
Snowflakes are falling
They just keep comin’ down
Up on the mountain
The snow’s gettin’ thick
And everywhere you look
It’s startin’ to stick
Everything stops moving
The whole world’s standing still
The snow keeps on falling
In the winter chill
Chorus:
Snowflakes on the mountain
They just keep fallin’ down
A white coat of winter
Covers all the ground
The whole wide world is quiet
It’s such a wondrous sight
Sparkling in the darkness
A mountain top silent night
Verse 2:
The pine trees are all white
Their branches full of snow
Our little road’s covered
But we’ve no place to go
We’ll just stay at home
And sit next to the fire
As the snow keeps falling
And the drifts get higher
We’ll pass the night
Cuddled up in the fire’s glow
The two of us together
And enjoy the snow
Chorus:
Snowflakes on the mountain
They just keep fallin’ down
A white coat of winter
Covers all the ground
The whole wide world is quiet
It’s such a wondrous sight
Sparkling in the darkness
A mountain top silent night
Outro:
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas…
...Merry Christmas to all
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas…
...Merry Christmas to all…
Executive Producers:
Martin Gotz, Robert Baitinger, & Ray Bertram
Produced by:
Martin Gotz & Robert Baitinger
Associate Producer:
Donovan Plant
Lyrics written by:
Ray Bertram
Additional Lyrics (Outro):
Martin Gotz
Music written by:
Martin Gotz
Used instruments:
Acoustic Guitar
Frensh Horn
Acoustic Bass
Dallas-Drums
Percussions
Acoustic Piano
Electronic Piano
Electric Guitar (played by Donovan Plant)
Sleight Rides
Strings
Organ
Vocal Credit List:
1st Verse:
Donovan Plant
Anders Larson
Martin Gotz & Theresa Bertram
Martin Gotz, Theresa Bertram & Anders Larson
Tony Atkinson
Anders Larson, Tony Atkinson (flat), Martin Gotz, Robert Baitinger (high)
Chorus:
Donvoan Plant
Anders Larson
Martin Gotz
Vince Denimarck
Robert Baitinger
Anders Larson
Johnny Hoeve
(All)
2nd Verse:
Vince Denimarck
Johnny Hoeve
Robert Baitinger & Theresa Bertram
John Surbaugh, Ray Bertram & Theresa Bertram
John Surbaugh, Johnny Hoeve, Vince Denimarck, Robert Baitinger
Backing Vocals:
Robert Baitinger, Martin Gotz
Snowflakes On The Mountain (c) Martin Gotz, Robert Baitinger, W. Ray Bertram
