A Christmas Gift For You: Sam Huber And The True Groove Allstars Resurrect a Long Gone Marvin Gaye Christmas Song, “I Want To Come Home For Christmas”

If you are used to Sam Huber the soul man screamer, fundmaster, here is a reminder that the Finnish superstar is more than capable of crooning, of delving deep into the feelings of the song and truly interpret them, check out his 2019 take on “Isn’t It A Pity”.

Last week we received a Christmas song from the team with “Santa Clause Wants Some Lovin'” (here), a sweet and sexy Christmas song, but that isn’t the follow up Christmas song, “”I Want To Come Home For Christmas”. According to Music Crowns (here):

“Originally written by Forest Hairston, as a tribute to the troops unable to make it home for the holidays, Gaye added lyrics and spun it into a mind-blowing, heart-searing missive from the perspective of a P.O.W. in Vietnam. Recorded in 1972, arguably the height of his career and his political activism, the song was so somber it didn’t see release until 1990, six years after his untimely death, when it came out (in an eerily prescient way) during the Iraq war.

“Huber, an admitted Gaye fanatic, found the song and it immediately resonated with him. “It’s a serious and sad song about a prisoner of war in Vietnam, longing to spend his Christmas with his family,” he relates. “As soon as I heard it, I thought about the conflict in Ukraine and how this song is chillingly, and sadly, very timely today.” “What Marvin did on the original, the spoken word section that completely breaks the groove but then he goes right back into it, is too far ahead of its time. Not to mention that the lyrical content was way too heavy for 1972,” comments producer/arranger Tomás Doncker. “In that context, I can understand why it wasn’t released. Very few people would have gotten what he was going for. When I approached it, I realised that text, that spoken word moment, was very apt today globally – not just with regard to Ukraine. It’s something that needed to be addressed and I applaud Sam for taking this on. Rearranging any Marvin Gaye song is daunting, there’s so much going on on multiple levels, but Sam killed it. I’ve worked with him for a long time and this is one of the most intense performances he’s done.”