("Merry Texmas 2001!" does not appear
on the photo of the actual CD cover)
On the cover: Christmas 1969
Carteret, New Jersey
Bill Babjak (drums)
& Jim Babjak (guitar)
Photo by James Babjak, Sr.
NEW! WHAT'S THE STORY
BEHIND THE PHOTO, TEX?
I was in the 7th grade and I heard rumors that the Beatles were breaking up. I could safely say that most of the kids in my class didn't really care. To them, the Beatles were passe. They were more into whatever was on the charts at the time. As far as I was concerned, Beatlemania was still in full swing. I wanted to play in a band. It was time to put my violin and accordion in the closet. I asked my parents for a guitar that year.
It was December of 1969 and I got a deluxe Japanese Teisco guitar with the strings about an inch from the neck which made my fingers bleed. Not only did I get the guitar, it came with an extra bonus--a plastic amplifier about 12" X15". It wasn't very powerful at all, but it was mine and it went with the guitar as a set. I'm sure that my parents couldn't really afford it. The set cost $75 and that was a lot of money back then.
They bought the guitar set for me at a store named "Two Guys" which was located in the town of Woodbridge, NJ. This store was amazing. It existed before K-marts and shopping malls. This was a one-stop shopping experience during a time when you had to go to several stores to get everything you needed. Most of my fondest memories as a child took place there. My parents used to buy their groceries there on Friday night and then we would go to Mayfair Pizza, also in the same town. Not only did Two Guys have groceries, they had clothing, books, gardening tools, cameras, bicycles, hot pretzels...everything you can imagine--even an arcade for kids to play in while their parents shopped! My parents would drive a half-hour from home just to shop there. There was nothing like this in Carteret.
But best of all, Two Guys had the coolest record department in the area. When you walked in, the top 100 singles were all on the wall and it was a beautiful site. Whenever a new single came out by the Beatles you could spot the picture sleeve from a mile away. Ask anyone who grew up in Jersey in the 60's and they'll have fond memories of this store. While we were recording the "11" album with producer Ed Stasium, who is also from Jersey, we were having a laugh over the way people would refer to Two guys as one word--Twoguys--and the accent was on the word "Two," so it sounded very Jersey, very funny.
My brother Bill (I still call him Willy) received a drum set that Christmas. It was probably made of cardboard. When we posed for that picture on the cover of the "From My House To Yours" EP, we didn't know how to play anything, not one note. But our dad was proud.
Three years later, I met Dennis Diken on the first day of High School. I told him that I played guitar and that he could come over and use my brother's drum set so we could play together. Well, he came over one day after school and before I could plug my guitar into the amp, he started to play and the drum set fell apart right before my eyes. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen up to that point. Where did this guy come from? What's my brother going to say? What about my parents? I don't remember what the outcome was, but soon after, I bought my first real guitar (a Gibson SG-200) and Dennis showed me his set of Ludwig drums (just like the ones real musicians used!). That was the start of what would one day become the Smithereens.
I took my brother Willy to see the Who at Madison Square Garden when he was 10 years old. Keith Moon was still alive and along with Pete Townshend must have been an influence on him because he and a friend decided to smash my Teisco guitar to bits on the street in front of my house in the 70's. That was the payback for ruining his drums.
Two Guys, the Teisco guitar and the drums are long gone...and the plastic amp? The last time I used that amplifier was during the Smithereens' early career in the very cold basement dressing room of the Dirt Club in 1982. At the time, the band was using it as a practice amp and for tuning the guitars. (Guitar tuners were an unaffordable luxury for me then.) That night the amp just started to smoke, and then the sound coming from it fizzled out. It died a very noble death. My dad had gotten his money's worth and that's all she wrote, but I still have the picture and the memories.
—Jim Babjak, 2002
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 Merry Christmas from Jim's house to yours!
In 2001, Jim Babjak released his own Christmas CD featuring three original songs:
- It's Love on Christmas Day
- Christmas Eve, Without Your Love
- Christmas Morning
This release was a total "Do It Yourself" project, literally "From My House To Yours" which is the CD's title. The production for the songs was done at the GripWeeds' House of Vibes studio in New Jersey. Then Jim burned the CDs himself from the master and designed the cover and tray card, working with a friend to produce everything on the computer.
In addition, each CD was individually numbered and signed by Jim, making each one unique and special.
Besides the three tunes, the cover is also a real treat...it features a picture of Jim, with his first guitar, in a Christmas pic with his brother (on the drums!). More about this special family photo appears on the left side of this page.
 Copies of "From My House To Yours" are still available —just $10 each. They can be ordered through the web site via the PO Box or PayPal or may be available at some upcoming gigs.
Don't miss out on the chance to own this rare & original release by Jim Babjak's BUZZED MEG!
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liners & songwriting notes
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IT'S LOVE ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Words & Music by Jim Babjak
Lead vocals, Drums—Kurt Reil
Guitar, Bass, &
Backing Vocals—Jim Babjak
Go to LYRICS
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Sometimes songs appear in the strangest settings and at weird times. This song came to me while I was lounging poolside at a hotel in Dallas, Texas in the middle of May as I drank a margarita. My subconscious was definitely following a bizarre calendar, but I think I read somewhere that John Lennon recorded "Happy Christmas" in June so maybe that's alright.
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CHRISTMAS EVE,
WITHOUT YOUR LOVE
Words & Music by Jim Babjak
All Vocals, Guitar—Jim Babjak
Drums—Kurt Reil
Cello—Jane Scarpantoni
Go to LYRICS
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I started writing this song in 1988 using the working title "Without Your Love." My original demo was just an acoustic guitar and a very poor violin performance on my part. A few years later, we toured with Richard Barone and he had a wonderful cellist in his band, Jane Scarpantoni. During a break from the tour, I asked Jane if she would put down this violin part I had in mind on her cello while I played the acoustic guitar. We recorded that demo in her living room on a four-track cassette tape recorder. Soon after that, I was sidetracked by other songs and more touring, leaving the song forgotten. I recently discovered this tape and after listening to it on my headphones, I realized that we recorded it in stereo with the guitar on one side and the cello on the other. This gave me the idea of transferring the original cello part on to 1/2 tape and building around it with all of the other instruments. It was a good excuse for me to finally write lyrics to a song I started 10 years ago.
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CHRISTMAS MORNING
(DEMO VERSION)
A/K/A WAKING UP ON CHRISTMAS MORNING
Words & Music by Jim Babjak
Tex Remy Music:Universal Music: BMI
Lead vocals, Guitars, Piano—Jim Babjak
Drums—Dennis Diken
Bass—Mike Mesaros
Backing Vocals, Sleigh Bells—Kurt Reil
Keyboard—Don Dixon
Go to LYRICS
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This is the first Christmas song I ever completed and it took me 16 years. I started working on it back in 1978. The focus of the song's theme were on the lyrics "Watching the snow melt into the ground"(Which was the original title) and "While the sun shines".
It was very Beatlesque and cynical which was not very characteristic of Christmas songs back then.
My songwriting was not very developed at the time so I left it in my folder and occasionally would add bits and pieces through the years until one night I was watching "It's A Wonderful Life" and it made my cry. The movie changed the whole angle of the song and then it wrote itself in 5 minutes. I just wish it didn't take 16 years and 5 minutes.
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"From My House To Yours" is still available this season though quantities are limited. Order yours today through the web site via the PO Box or through PayPal
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR MAILING ADDRESS HAS CHANGED--
orders should now be sent to PO Box 273
as noted on the TOP of the order form—thank you!
Wishing you a bright holiday season and a happy new year
from the
Tex Remy Music Group.
Cheers!
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