Words & Music by james madison thomas
Vocals by Joseph F. Fish
One Little Child, third in the Tryptich, is one of the first songs I recorded on my shiny new TASCAM 8–channel Reel-
to-Reel. This was a major upgrade from the cassette recorders
I'd been using. I was in over my head and had to sell it, but it
really was a keeper.
One Starry Night (The Manger Scene) is the second song in the Triptych. This was recorded before I had a digital keyboard, but I did like the patches in that keyboard. I can't remember what kind of electric piano it was, Yamaha, I think, but I remember the music teacher who bought it from me. Joe did such a great job
singing this. It's kind of a tongue–twister. I remember Christmas
Eve, driving around putting cassettes in mailboxes, I was so excited about the song.
Joseph's Dream is the first song in the Triptych. I remember using two cassette recorders and having some pitch issues bouncing tracks because they didn't play at exactly the same speed. The thing
I love most about this melody is the augmented 4th, which is rarely used. It was called the devil's interval in early music. Maria from West Side Story is the classic example of the use of it, but it didn't phase Joe to hear and sing it.