The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #158304   Message #3744262
Posted By: Stevebury
15-Oct-15 - 10:25 PM
Thread Name: DTStudy: Nero's Expedition
Subject: RE: DTStudy: Nero's Expedition
I learned 'Nero's Expedition' years ago, I don't remember where from. But it became a staple of our rounds-singing group.

The song was written by Louis Hardin (Moondog) and issued on the LP "Moondog II" (Columbia Records, KC 30897, 1971), along with 25 other rounds and canons. These were re-issued on the CD "Moondog" (CBS, MK 44994). The LP liner notes (remember when LPs had large inserted liner notes?) include notation for all of the rounds (or "madrigals" as Moondog chose to call them).

The version I learned from oral tradition (and which is posted in Mudcat) differs from what Moondog wrote in several ways. It was hard to unlearn the version I first learned and to re-learn it the way Moondog wrote it.

What Moondog wrote differs from the version on Mudcat in the following ways:
Notes:
measure 1 -- E natural; G natural (!)
measure 4 -- no A flat
measure 7 -- G natural; E natural
Rhythm:
eighth notes not triplets in measures 1, 4, 5, 7
measure 2 -- quarter, quarter, half (not syncopated)
measure 3 -- whole note
measure 5 -- half note on beats 1 and 2
measure 7 -- first beat is an eighth rest plus eighth note (i.e. not tied over from measure 6)
measure 8 -- syncopated: half plus eighth, and dotted quarter
measure 11 -- last note is a half note.

The version played at the Florida Renaissance Festival (link above) appears to match what Moondog wrote.

Incidentally, Moondog spelled it 'sudd' not 'sud'. The definition I found is "Floating masses of vegetation that often obstruct navigation on the White Nile. (Arabic, obstruction, from 'sadda', to obstruct.)"