It’s The Maine Christmas Song Played On a Ukulele
Back in the 80s, News Center feature reporter Bob Elliot thought Maine should have its own Christmas song. Bob was well known for his funny and quirky news segments, and as Maine kid in his late teens he was one of the funniest guys I remember on TV. He was probably one of the few people that could seek out someone to write a Maine Christmas song and not only get results, but have it become a Maine classic.
No matter how long you’ve lived in Maine, you’ve probably heard it.
In the more than 30 years since its release, many people have covered the song but it wasn’t until YouTube became a thing that we could actually listen to several of those covers anytime we liked. I was searching YouTube for the song because I needed to write a story, something I’m sure Bob had to do back in the day and was able to get a song written. That’s when I came across the most unique cover of the Maine Christmas song, a cover I never expected to see.
Eliza Ruth Watson recorded hundreds of videos on YouTube of her singing and playing ukulele. She did covers of The Beatles, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, along with TV themes like Saved By the Bell, Reading Rainbow and the theme to the sci-fi cult classic Firefly. The list of titles goes on and on.
One of those covers happened to be the Maine Christmas Song, which she uploaded in 2016 and it’s actually pretty good, something I honestly wouldn’t have thought would be the case on a ukulele. Check it out.