Cyrena Wages @ Christmas
Winter gives us an excuse to unwrap Cyrena's 2024 Christmas delights.
Last Christmas, after a busy year promoting her debut solo album, Vanity Project, Cyrena Wages released two very different Christmas tunes. We dig into them again, as those nights get longer, the days get colder, and the only thing to live for is some turkey and baubles.
Blue Christmas
Joke: what type of Christmas do they have in the home of the blues, the Mississippi Delta? A: A blue Christmas. Explanation: it’s not white, it’s more melancholy than that. A blue Christmas is therefore the opposite of a white one. Even their snowflakes look blue, without you there to enjoy them with.
And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That’s when those blue memories start calling
You’ll be doing all right
With your Christmas of white
If you’re in Britain and under 60 you might not recognise this as an Elvis Presley track. It turns out he was not the first to record this all-time Christmas classic, but it is hard not to think of him when you hear it.
It’s great to hear Cyrena in a duet, and Butch Walker does a fab job. The sense is that they had a fun time recording this one, practicing their Elvis vibrato or whatever the correct term is. The video clip is Cyrena hanging balls on her tree for the holidays. It’s not quite as deep or blue as you might expect, and a nice way to kick off that bluest of seasons.
Unwrap Me
This is a completely different room altogether, more of a chilled party room, and a C. C. Wages original, alongside her amazing friend Amie Miriello and someone called Johnny Black, a name you should note for 2026. This is much more fun. You only need to look at that artwork. Is that a tree or are you just pleased to see me?
I’ll be hanging round the Christmas tree
Look for the mistletoe and find me underneath
Just waiting on you to unwrap me
It turns out that this guy, as for some of Cyrena’s other guys, might not actually be real. And Elvis is never far away from this born-and-raised Memphian. She refers to herself pejoratively as a dime store Priscilla. Yes, I vastly prefer this one. It cheered me up every time I played it this year, even in July.
Even if you’re just a drunken fantasy
Just waiting on you to come and unwrap me
With hindsight, and only with hindsight, I believe this funny song prefigures Cyrena’s forthcoming 2026 album, Miss Melancholia. It’s in the neighbourhood of blues, somewhat reflective, but still funny. It’s wistful, inward-looking and slower. But those words… she still can’t help but make light of her situation.
I understand Cyrena has some deep-seated reservations behind the holiday season. I mean, unless you’re a child, Christmas is a sad time, isn’t it?
There’s still one more chance to catch Cyrena live in 2025! She is opening a new garden stage at the historic Hotel Pontotoc in Memphis on 6th December. Tickets still available!