Lyr ADD: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)

Subject: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 03:17 PM

After the Rick Fielding concert last month, Bill D sang a couple of great songs. One was "Rivers of Texas" with the "pole the boat on" chorus that my friend Mrs Lev prefers. Another was "The Key of R," which is hilarious. And Bill and his ancient and venerable autoharp performed it so well.
So, Bill, now that I've buttered you up, can we have the lyrics? I've searched the database and the filter; but the forum search keeps crashing on me, so I guess I can't be completely sure you haven't posted it before.
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

---

Genie made a YouTube Video of me singing "Key of R" (with my own tune, not the official one) at the 2008 Getaway.
-Joe Offer, 14 August 2009-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 03:22 PM

....well, I suppose a search for R would crash, huh? -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 05:14 PM

WE don't have Key of R, but we certainly do have Rivers of Texas. Under that name.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 06:15 PM

well, Joe I thought I had posted those words..but I don't find it..(Barbara...didn't we discuss this?)..anyway...I'll type them in a bit later..maybe tonight after supper...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Tiger
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 07:33 PM

There's a nice version of this by Richard Dobson. Slightly different words.

Sandy - is your recording available?

....Tiger

Subject: ADD: Key of R^^^
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 11:12 PM

The Key of "R"

"I am a young folksinger, I've traveled far & near.
I sing about the pain of life and other things I hold dear.
And when I sing about all the agony I endure,
I always sing in my favorite key..I sing in the key of 'R'.

cho:
Oh, the Key of R is a wondrous key,
That nobody else sings in but me.
Some people think I'm sharp or flat,
But the Key of R....just sounds like that.

I sing about my Mother, and how her life was hard.
She raised 12 kids and worked in the mines, and rendered her own lard.
She sewed our clothes and slopped the hogs, and other things like that.
And when I sing about her, I sing in the key of R..flat.

cho:

I had a good 'ol hound-dog, his name, of course, was Blue,
And we growed up together, when the world was fresh and new.
But, ah, my friends, that old dog died...and no dog could be finer..
And when I sing about old Blue, I sing in the key of R..flat..minor..

cho:

I sing about America, the land where I was born.
Its purple mountains, azure amber waves of grain and fields of corn.
Her oceans and her deserts are a little bit of heaven,
And when I sing of this land I love, I sing in the key of R..flat..minor..seventh..

cho:

But mostly I sing of lost loves...and I seem to lose them all.
The lovers who have left me, would fill a union hall.
And the pain of unrequited love, it never seems to finish
And when I sing about it, I sing in the key of R..flat..minor..seventh..diminished.

cho:

And now my song is finished, and I hope you sang along,
Bearing in mind that the notes we sang were never...ever...wrong.
And though we ruined the meter, and we had to stretch for rhyme,
We sang in the very best key of all, we sang in the key of R..flat..minor..seventh..diminished...with a suspended ^9th."

cho:
^^

---

added to DT Apr99

---

Note from Joe Offer:
As shown below, songwriter was Libby Anthony. She was a member of Women, Women and Song.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 04:15 AM

Well, Bill, I think the good people of the Sacramento Song Circle are going to be subjected to this song Friday night. I don't remember the tune, but I don't really think that matters....
I'll make one up as I go along, in the key of R flat minor seventh diminished with a suspended 9^th
-Joe Offer-

Say, Bill, who is/was the songwriter?
It's not listed by ASCAP/BMI.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 04:22 AM

Yes, Bill, we discussed it before, but I don't think all the lyrics were posted. It's Mary Litchfield, Bellingham, and I believe the group was called Women, Women, and Song.
Good luck on the intervals, Joe.
Or maybe it's a recitation. Have fun.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:13 AM

Darn it Bill, what I missed while sweatin' in that basement bathroom!

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Ferrara
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 07:48 AM

Bill didn't mention that the chorus changes each time; the last line of the chorus uses the "key" mentioned in the associated verse. For example, the chorus for the fourth verse (the one about America) ends with,

"But the key of the key of R..flat..minor..seventh..
just sounds like that."

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 10:53 AM

and the tune is a 'bit' like "The Bastard King of England"..if you know that. I think that it is also almost identical with some other well-known tune..I just cant remember what!. I will mess with Noteworthy and see if I can create it....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:48 AM

Sorry I've overlooked this thread. Yes, our recording of "Rivers of Texas" is still available, but only as one of our "custom" cassettes. However, I refer you all to Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs, the original source for this song, wherein the chorus changes periodically. Caroline and I prefer (now) to close the song by repeating the chorus with the:

Li, li, li, lee, lee lee, pole the boat on,
My Brazos River sweetheart has left me and gone.

chorus that Irene Carlyle (spelling?) actually sang when Randolph collected the song from her. Most of us "revival folk" have chosen to keep the words to the chorus the same from verse to verse in order to let audiences sing along with us. Switching the words around in mid-stream seems a bit sneaky.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: rich r
Date: 10 Apr 99 - 03:56 PM

Ian Tyson has recorded the song with alternating choruses, but he probably doesn't qualify as "revival folk', at least not any more.

rich r

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Apr 99 - 04:29 PM

I am pleased to report that the "Key of R" was a big hit at the Sacramento song circle last night. Thank you very much, Bill and Rita.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Ferrara
Date: 10 Apr 99 - 05:15 PM

I sent the tune to Joe as either a MIDI or a Noteworthy Composer file, I forget which. If anyone else wants to try it, give me an e-mail. The only question I have is about ownership or copyright. The tune and words have been through several people by now and are being supplied courtesy of Bill's and my memory, but -- Barbara? -- any thoughts whether the author would mind my posting the tune here? I don't know why I should cavil if we've already posted the words, but I don't even know whether the author has recorded it yet and I know some songwriters are quite worried about having their songs sung or passed around before they're recorded. - Rita Ferrara

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 10 Apr 99 - 07:52 PM

I heard this sung at Seattle Folklife a year or three back -- want to say it was Rawson, but am not sure.

It's not the right tune, but the lyrics would fit "I am an old cowpuncher," would they not??

-- MA

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 06:48 PM

Hmmmm. The Digital Tradition says that "Key of R" was written by one William Day, which I assume is our very own Bill D. While I have great respect for Bill's talent and imagination, I don't think he's the songwriter.

Up above, Blessings Barbara says that "it" was written by Mary Litchfield of Bellingham, Washington - but since more than one song is discussed in this thread, the identity of "it" is a bit uncertain.

So, although I firmly believe that Bill D added much to this song, who really wrote it, and when?

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 07:04 PM

yes, Joe..Mary wrote it, in, I believe, her role as part of the group "Women, Women and Song"....I did NOT write it, I was merely the one singing it when Dick G heard it...I hope the DT doesn't give the impression I had anything to do with it. It was brought to the Getaway maybe 8 years ago by Dick Hamlet, of Oregon, who heard it from the source...(he and Corrine were there last October. also)...Several poeple have stolen it from ME since, and I ALWAYS tried to be sure credi twas given properly...but you know how these things go...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 07:49 PM

Thank you, Bill. I knew you'd 'fess up to it.

-Joe, one of those who stole it from you-

I tried to steal "You Don't Even Care" from Roger in Baltimore, but it just didn't work for me. You have to have Roger's inimitable talents for that one.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 11:10 PM

Joe..I think if you REALLY mean it, it WONT work..*grin*

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 03 Feb 01 - 08:40 PM

Hi gang, I just heard from Tom Rawson, and this is what he says:

"Libby Anthony wrote the Key of R. Yes, she was in Women, Women and Song. It will be on my next album which will be happening soon. I'll let you know."

So, now we know.
Blessings,
Barbara, who wishes she could get her WW&S tapes back, or buy new ones.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 03 Feb 01 - 08:48 PM

So, I had the right group, but the wrong woman.(Joe and I discussed this before, but I forgot to post the correction to the thread) All three of the women in that group wrote wonderful songs. I'll write Tom back and tell him about this thread and discussion, and ask if we can check with Libby to get permission to have the song here.

Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From:
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 01:40 PM

It reads wonderfully. IS there a tune available?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 04:01 PM

sure is....but in my head!..and I don't know how easy it is to transcribe (I have simply never done note writing from my head)....I'll sing it to you..grin*..(It goes 'sort of' like The Bastard King of England, if you know that...but different)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 04:14 PM

well, we don't seem to have a midi or Noteworthy file....Maybe I could just sing it onto a tape......

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Hilary
Date: 05 Jan 02 - 01:26 PM

Wow, just found this song, did anyone know a tune to fit the words ??? Good song.

H

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jan 02 - 09:42 PM

hmmmmm...maybe I need to figger out how to make a .wav file of me singing it and post it on my little site, since it keeps getting attention (I 'think' all I have to do is use the Windows recorder and a mic)....let me think (am suffering thru 5th day of bad chest cold right now)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 01:37 AM

I would suggest an RA file, which would be much smaller, and sound about as good. Of course, you'd have to download Real Producer, but then you would have it to use for other things as well.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Mudlark
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 02:45 AM

GREAT song...thanks for posting...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 02:58 AM

Tom Rawson...Dick and Corinne...WW&S...I'm getting homesick! I know I heard somebody sing this song sometime, but I don't remember who it was or when. (There, aren't you all glad I shared that?) Actually, it was probably Flip Breskin, which makes sense since it was born in Bellingham.

Aloha,
Mark, rambling again...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 10:39 AM

Ok, I'm gonna try RealProducer....it seems like I need to get off my butt and learn to do it, for various projects...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Tiger
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 07:50 AM

I'd love to get that tune - how about it, guys?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 03:49 PM

Well, I think I got the jump on BillD. Click here for a page with my recording of the song, which I'm told bears no resemblance to the original tune. There's also a MIDI and Noteworthy file from Ferrara, a far more trustworthy source than I.
Ferrara's rendition of the tune has been harvested for the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:55 PM

ahhh...Ferrara said we had sent that tune!...but I couldn't find the original anywhere....thanks, Joe...(you did change some details of the tune, but it still retains the basic 'flavor')

(bear in mind, folks, that neat as this song is, you 'can' overdo it real easily...it is great to spring on a group for the first time (especially if there are insrtumentalists there who can DO those chords), but then the novelty diminishes a bit. (I do it on at with the Autoharp...which multiplies the comedic effect)

(I did download RealProducer...once I dug and struggled thru Real's strong-arm inducements to *BUY_BUY_BUY* the $199 PRO version...they don't want to allow you to get the free version until you have EXPLAINED to them why you are being so cheap and silly)...now, I shall try to USE it.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 10:42 PM

Can this song be sung a capella? (asks this a capella singer)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:58 AM

If you sing it in the cappella, Jon, they'd probably kick you out. Maybe not. We used to sing Engelbert Humperdinck songs in the vestibule of the cappella, and they left us alone. In fact, they stayed far away from us....

I sing it without accompaniment, and it works fine.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Tiger
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 07:39 AM

With apologies in advance to the other 'cats, I'd really like to get BILL's tune. Are any of the above like his, or are they just made up?

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 04:28 PM

Yeah, Tiger - the MIDI and Noteworthy tunes on my site ARE the tunes Bill uses. The recording is my own tune, which I worked up before I got the tune from Ferrara.
If we nag him enough, maybe Bill will make his own recording.
Note that the songwriter was Libby Anthony. Bill D is just the most infamous singer of this song.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 07:15 PM

Bill is *croak* trying to just speak an entire sentence without coughing...you would NOT like what 9 days of chest cold does to my singing!....but as soon as I can. (hey, maybe that promised CD from Tom Rawson will come out and give is ALL some definative version!)

As to acappela, it's as Joe says....it just has a different effect if you fake those chords, DO the chords, or refer to the chords

(Ummmm...'the' Jon Bartlett who sang at the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap about 1977?...from whom I stole "The Hippies and the Beatnicks-O" ...and who sang ALL of 'Thaïs' with Jon Eberhart?)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 04:45 PM

Yes, I see from recent threads that Jon, from Vancouver is now cookiefied and amoung us...welcome!

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:40 AM

Refresh : So what's the status of getting a tune file out? MIDI or otherwise?

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:17 AM

Hi, Liland - I have the MIDI and Noteworthy files of the original tune posted on my Website, along with a recording of me singing it with my own (inaccurate) recollection of the tune.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:48 AM

Could I just check whether the lyrics posted are correct?

The line:
It's purple mountains, azure waves of grain and fields of corn.

doesn't make any sense to me. Should it be:
It's purple mountains, azure waves and fields of grain and corn?

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:04 AM

No, Paul, it's "azure waves of grain", the allusion being to Katherine Lee Bates's amber waves of grain (in America the Beautiful). However, "It's" should be "Its".

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:23 AM

OK, thanks Liland.

Not being American, I'm not very familiar with 'America the Beautiful' and hence missed the allusion.

Cheers.

Paul

btw, I love a punctuation pedant. You might like this site (if you've not seen it already).

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:36 AM

Thanks for the link. I concur in its prescriptions.

"America the Beautiful" is one of the songs frequently mentioned as a better choice by those who opine that our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", is too bellicose. OTOH some feel it is, while less bellicose, too theistic for our modern secular state with its constitutional disestablishment of religion. Like other patriotic songs (though not as much as "God Bless America") it has been overused since September 11th last, I think.

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 10:40 AM

ummmm...it just hit me...did I post azure waves? *sigh*...since I got it orally, and my post is from memory, I can't imagine that the author would have written 'azure'....It certainly ought to be amber, as the only blue grain I know of is in exotic corn and surrealist paintings.

Ok, everyone...quick..alter your memories to reflect this revelation.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 11:09 AM

Well Bill...........Hmmmmm............I'd say we have a case of the "Folk Process" at work here for whatever reason. It seems that some and perhaps others who have learned it from them are now singing "azure" instead! Considering the humorous nature of the song, it could well work as Liland sees it. Given the right circumstance, I can see a time 20 years down the road when the word is debated.......much like they are here now..........and fortunately we have this thread to set the record straight. Sadly, azure will show up two other places and there will be a debate over authenticity and..................LMAO!!!! I love it!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 12:00 PM

...but, on the other hand, I will be immortalized as a source!! Me and Almeda Riddle...wow!

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 12:06 PM

I can see the headlines..............

DAY JOINS THE IMMORTALS

Then someone will notice it was a late night typo and after reading your other posts, relegate you back to the masses...............

DAY SIMPLY AN IDIOT

But it will be good for awhile though and you'll have your moment (however fleeting) of fame.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Roger in Baltimore
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 06:21 PM

Just a ditto of Joe for Jon. Yes, this song not only can be sung acappella, it does very well without accompaniment. Don't be put off by Bill D.'s description of how to present it. He's mighty particular about performance, so his suggestions are great, but find your own way. And remember: no one, I repeat, no one, can out Bill Day, a Bill Day performance.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 07:37 PM

.....same to you, buddy! *grin*

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 05:07 AM

Bill, did you do this at the Getaway?(and if not you, who did, I remember a lady was involved in the performance, and an autoharp) someone certainly did as I remember stuffing my sleeve in my mouth not to laugh too loud and interrupt the singing....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 08:23 AM

Micca...I believe the people who originally brought it to me, Dick Hamlet and Corrine McWilliams, did it ...I was not at that workshop..(he plays banjo)...I don't think I did it at all, but I have done it several times late at night, so perhaps I forgot...*shrug*..(maybe you heard it twice...*grin*)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: MMario
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 09:27 AM

I heard it at least three times during the weekend - and I wasn't there all day saturday - so it may have been done more often.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Micca
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 11:53 AM

Bill, it was, the name Corrine rings a bell, and it was on stage in the "volunteer" evening concert on the stage and they did the "flat, diminshed" part beautifully, it was a "change of underwear" moment,If I had had any..

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 11:59 AM

BillD

Is there any chance of you posting an mp3 / wav / real audio / whatever of this, somewhere?

I'd really love to hear it

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 01:01 PM

Paul...yeah...I'm over my cold, and I guess it's time for me to see just how simple it is to mave a .wav file..(and maybe to turn it into an MP3)...I'll poke into the innards of this machine and see if I can re-create MY version...(I assume you have messed with the midi?..It is 'close', but voice is better.)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 01:05 PM

Thanks a lot, Bill

Looking forward to it, audio is about 1000% better than midi...

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 03:26 AM

Well, not to hurt anybody's feelings, my source for the "azure" reading was Joe Offer's website, so I'm not sure how much credit or blame can attach to Bill D. And I do actually think it's good in context. If I ever sing it in public, I'll sing it "azure"... ;-)

The tunes remind me more than anything, at first hear, of Tom Lehrer's "Rickety Tickety Tin" (sp?)... "...she did every one of them in."

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 09:42 AM

Liland...that there's a perfect example of the folk process! We'll never know if I got it right from Dick H., whether Joe got it right from ME, or whether one of us changed it accidently...and until we hear from the author, we are not even sure how it was originally...I hear it in my head as 'amber', as the humor seems to lie in the 'key' part, and the descriptions are sung as if they are totally serious.....but when you look what is done to Scots dialect, it is a minor issue...*grin*

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Jan 02 - 11:03 PM

Paxton's Marvelous Toy is the other tune that it reminds me of.

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Feb 02 - 12:02 AM

ok...I made the Windows sound recorder work today...pretty simple, actually...so tomorrow I will attempt to produce a representation of how I do "The Key of R"...with Autoharp!(yes, a suspended ^9th chord IS a bit strange on a 21 bar autoharp...but that's the point...)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:07 PM

Any luck, Bill?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:25 PM

funny you should ask...I got my cataract operation out of the way and I was just setting things up last night. I got a new recording system and can convert to any format now..now I need to tune the poor old autoharp (it's been months) and give it all a whirl....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:33 PM

Any luck, Bill?

The link to Joe's tune doesn't work either.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Micca
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:41 PM

Bill, Joe Offer sung this at "Sharps FC" here in london UK tonight!!! I dont think they had heard it before!! they were impressed

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:49 PM

*grin*...had to look all over the hard drive...I have it in RealAudio or MP3...2.9 megs or 2.5 megs..(I sang it in a hurry and one key too ^high, but it will give you an idea of how it can go...)

now...how to convey it, since it is twice the size my little website allows me?...can you get BIG emails?...or would Pene Azul post it on Mudcat temporarily?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:52 PM

Joe, bless him,..*grin*...has 'folk-processed' the tune I got a lot! Dick Hamlet supposedly got it from the source....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 04:28 PM

Paul M??is that you? are you still there?

give me some feedback...*grin*...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From:
Date: 17 Dec 02 - 06:19 AM

what is the status of a sound file being posted?

I can offer web space to hold it. you'd keep your web page(s) where they are and just include a link to this one file which would be on one of my machines.

I just heard it performed at philcon (pilly sci-fi con) and found a midi that is enough for me to get the singing right (or close enough) but I don't have the skill to re-create the chords from the simple melody notes so I want them in order to play it.

to that end, is there a set of lyrics that includes chords? that would be extremely great.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 02:45 PM

Dear Mudcatters,

Haven't posted for ages, now living on the other side of the country, but I simply MUST post to this thread, as I've been singing "Key of R" for years and know the source. So HERE is the REAL story!

The group, "Women, Women & Song", was based on Vashon Island, near Seattle, Washington. I grew up on the island and heard them (Velvet Neifert, Libby Anthony, & Mary Litchfield Tuel) at several concerts and the open-air stage at our hometown festival every summer. They even performed on a public radio show once or twice. They produced two recordings before the band broke up, but Mary Litchfield Tuel is still songwriting & records an album from time to time.

The way they tell it, the three of them were attending an open mike somewhere in the Seattle area, and, upon hearing a pitch-challenged singer at the microphone, one of them turned to the other two and said, in an angst-ridden voice, "WHAT key is he singing in?!?" And the song, "Key of R", was born... (probably on a cocktail napkin, with help from all three women & later refinements by Mary.)

I've heard them perform the song countless times, and have sung it myself (a cappella) at gatherings in Alaska, Colorado, Maine, and even at a ceilidh on the Isle of Iona, Scotland! I know it a little differently than the DT has it (i.e. starting out, "I'm an earnest young folksinger..." and, yes, it is AMBER waves of grain!), but you have it mostly right, allowing for Folk Process. My only wish is this: could the DT entry be edited to reflect Mary Litchfield Tuel as the REAL author? She's a splendid songwright and deserves all the credit she can get.

Moran Taing/Muckle Thanks,

--yir auld Scots freen & sangster-lass, Cuilionn

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 02:54 PM

Cuilionn, when I spoke with Mary on the phone a couple years back, I asked about the song, and I thought she said at that point it was by Libby. Are you anyplace where you can talk to her and ask? Also, I was contacted by Faith Petric recently, who was searching for the author (Mary) of "The Way of Sex" because Frankie Armstrong wants to put it on her next album. I passed on the addy and phone # I had from a couple years ago, and so assume they got connected. I enjoyed the WW&S songs much when I heard them at Seattle Folklife years ago, and it's nice to see them surviving and spreading.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:05 PM

Well. I'll be jiggered... hmm. At least we've narrowed it down to Mary or Libby-- who, by the way, is the most brilliant director of musical theatre productions I've ever seen. I'm trying to track down my old cassette tape of "The Key of R" (title of their second recording) so that I can check the liner notes and we can verify this once and for all. I'll e-mail my mom, back on the island, and see if she can call Mary or find her liner notes quicker than I can! Stay tuned...

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:12 PM

durn, Cuilionn! it's good to see you again!...one of those names we all wonder where they went.

anyway....what a thread, huh? It has gone round & round, and by now, with your addition, it is "On Record" as to who was involved and to what degree...*grin* The song is a wonderful little thing, and as you see, it has travelled widely..

(I know that attempts are made to update the DT every year, but that process requires something more complex than just eidting one of these threads...we will see what we can do!)

I still have the sound file I made trying to approximate the tune, but I could sure do it better...**IF** anyone still wants it, I will upload it somewhere convenient temporarily. (I believe it is close enough to what Dick & Corrine brought me originally that it reflects what was written)

Cuilionn..is there any 'official' recording of this anywhere?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:15 PM

wow...the speed of the WWW is way ahead of me! I look forward to more info!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 06:24 PM

Well, folks, here's the DEFINITIVE word: Barbara's right, I'm wrong, and I'm munching happily on a drumstick of fresh-caught & well-roasted crow...

Mary Litchfield Tuel, past member of the group "Women, Women & Song", sent the following to me via e-mail:

"Libbie (or as she prefers to be known professionally, Elizabeth W.
Anthony) wrote the Key of R and I told her at the time it was a work of comic genius and it still is and I still think so but it never hurts for other people to tell her so. It has been passed around quite a bit, and I have heard it attributed to me, but I didn't write it, Libbie did, and it would grieve us both for people to get that wrong..."

Mary also states that, although the album containing "The Key of R" is out of print, their first album, "I Won't Wait to Be Happy" has been remastered as a CD. It's another great collection of songs, from the wise and whimsical to the jolly & hilarious. If you'd like to order it, you can reach Mary by e-mail: [e-mail].

So, the authorship question is solved... but I'm still looking for my old cassette of "The Key of R" so I can give you Mudcatters the "official" version. (Not that it's much different from what you've got, just that it might be nice for comparison's sake.) I know it's around here SOMEwhere... just obscured by all the Scots & Scots Gaelic recordings that have piled up around it.

An Beannachd Oirbh/Blessings,

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 23 Jan 04 - 12:05 AM

Don't know if folks had a chance to read this before it went to the bottom of the heap, so...

refresh!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R - Bill D???
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 12:34 PM

Cuilionn, it's great to see you here, again!! You've been missed.

kat

Subject: DT Correction: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 11:10 PM

Couldn't find my "Key of R" tape--must have lent it out--but I found a cassette tape I recorded off the radio back in 1988 or 1989, when "Women, Women & Song" were featured on a local show. I copied down the lyrics from that, and I'll post 'em here as well as posting one o' them there "LYR ADD" threads. Note that these original lyrics have a few significant differences from the lyrics currently available in the DT. Here you go:

THE KEY OF R
Copyright (1988?) Elizabeth W. Anthony (of "Women, Women & Song")
[Title track of WW&S's second album]

I'm an earnest young folksinger and I travel far and near
And I sing about the pain of life and other things I hold dear
And when I sing about the agony that I endure
I always sing in my favorite key; I sing in the key of "R"
        
CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R... is a wondrous key
                That nobody else sings in but me
                And some folks think I'm sharp or flat
                But the key of R... just sounds like that!

I sing about my mama, and how her life was hard
She had twelve kids and worked in the mines and rendered her own lard
She milked the goats and sewed our clothes and lots of things like that
And when I sing about her, I sing in the key of "R-flat."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat is a wondrous key...]

I had a dear old hound dog; his name--of course--was Blue
And we growed up together when the world was fresh and new
But oh, my friends, that ol' dog died, and no dog could be finer
And when I sing about Ol' Blue, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor"
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor is a wondrous key...]

And oh, I love America, the land where I was born
Her purple mountains, amber waves of grain and fields of corn
The oceans and the deserts are a little part of heaven
When I sing about this land of mine, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor-seventh."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor-seventh is a wondrous key...]

But most, I sing of lost loves--and I seem to lose them all
The lovers that have left me would fill a union hall
And the pain of unrequited love just never seems to finish
And when I sing about it, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor-seventh-diminished."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor-seventh-diminished is a wondrous key...]
                
And now my song is over, and I hope you sang along
Keepin' in mind that the notes we sang were never, never wrong
And though we faked for rhythm and we had to stretch for rhyme
We sang in the very best key of all; we sang in the key of "Rbm7dim with a dominant ninth."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of Rbm7dim with a dominant 9th is a wondrous key...]

---

(Lyrics transcribed from a tape of a live radio performance c.1988-1989. The song may also be found on a recording called, oddly enough, "The Key of R", by the group, "Women, Women & Song.")

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 11:18 PM

And the correct ...answere came for LaughKating

Sell Done!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 01:59 AM

Hi, Cuilionn - I deleted your extra "Add" thread and harvested the lyrics. It's best to answer requests in the request thread - we're pretty good at picking up corrections, but duplicate lyrics submissions tend to confuse things.
Click here to play our MIDI of the song - is it correct?
Thanks a lot for posting the lyrics.
E-mail me if you need help resetting your Mudcat cookie or password.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: GUEST,Mary Litchfield Tuel
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 02:25 AM

Well, this is what I get for surfing the net late at night. Glad you finally got the authorship and the lyrics straight. The way we used to do it was with Libbie playing guitar and me playing mandolin (the only song on which I have played mandolin, ever, in my life). Libbie made up the chords as she wrote the song, and I made up mandolin chords that seemed to go with the guitar chords. Glad the song is still out there being sung. Libbie just directed a local production of The Sound of Music here on Vashon Island - it has one more weekend to run.
If you want to know anything more about Women, Women & Song - drop me a line. Obviously I have nothing else to do.
Mary Litchfield Tuel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 02:36 AM

Hi, Mary - I hope you'll drop by more often. I've had a lot of fun singing "Key of R," even if I never did get the tune right. Hope you don't mind that I resorted to making up my own tune.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: GUEST,Tom Rawson
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 04:31 PM

Hello Key of R aficionados!
I have recorded Key of R. It's on my new CD, "Where the Coho Flash Silver". Libbie Anthony attended the Vashon CD release party last week.
If you'd like a copy of the new CD, go to my web site,
http://www.tomrawson.com/
for ordering info.
Disclaimer: I use a capo on the 2nd fret, so it's actually in the key of S.
--Tom Rawson
Seattle WA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 06:10 PM

*big smile*...well, Thanks, Tom! It's a fine song, and it gets pried out me several times a year here in the Wash DC area.

(Can't use the "Key of S" line, 'cause I do it on the *autoharp*...which has it own humorous vagaries due to my inability to 'do' more than 3 of those chords)

I guess I'll have to get that CD!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: MartinRyan
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 06:35 PM

Hmmm... Wonder if I could do a little Irish adaptation on this one? Reckon you transponders owe us a few, anyway!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 06 - 12:11 AM

Yo Bill! That's very impressive to play 'R' on the autoharp! I'm waiting for someone to try it on the hurdy-gurdy. --Tom

Subject: Lyr Req: The key of R
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 10:01 AM

I've heard this fab song recently, anyone have the words, please?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The key of R
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 10:11 AM

The Key Of R - DT and Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony) - thread and Key of R midi - Mudcat Midis

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The key of R
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 10:14 AM

Key of Aaarrgh OUGHT to be a West Country song !

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The key of R
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 10:17 AM

Thanks

I searched the title first & it wasn't found

Maybe I spelt 'R' wrong?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFAxlvdWMFI

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 10:25 AM

Joe,

Just seen you on You Tube, brill!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The key of R
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 12:28 PM

I ought to beat on Joe to get him to pound the real, correct, original tune (*grin*) into his head,(the Mudcat midi tune is pretty close) but I suppose the folk process being what it is, it's a hopeless idea.

It's fun, no matter which tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 05:01 PM

Aw, gee, Bill, I'm glad you've almost come to the point of tolerance. I really tried to learn the song the right way, but it just didn't come (mostly because I didn't have a recorded or printed source to learn from). There's a YouTube recording of somebody else singing the song here (click) - is that closer to the original tune?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 05:16 PM

hmmm...in some places, he gets closer, and in some places he just wings it. He doesn't even do it the same in each verse. Of course, he is 'making it his own' by changing a few words to reflect his banjo references. I wonder where he picked it up?

(When Dick Hamlet brought it the Getaway, he had recently gotten it directly from the source, and I recorded him.)

I repeat...the Mudcat midi is pretty close, allowing for the limits on 'phrasing' and emphasis.

I have neglected to actually order that CD mentioned above, but I'll bet IT is close to the original!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 05:25 PM

Oh! I am now listening to an MP3 of a radio program that Tom Rawson was interviewed on, and it says he does Key of R on it.

http://www.tomrawson.com/songs/KOHOinterview.mp3

(This posted before I actually hear it....so I'll say more later! *grin*)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 05:39 PM

Well.....gee...it's still a bit different tune than I remember. I'll never know for sure unless I hear Libby Anthony do it, I guess.

To me, he rushed it a bit and didn't allow it to creep up on you,,,*grin*...and maybe his CD is different, and maybe he does it slower with a crowd 'watching'.

Whatever, it's fun and says a lot about taking music seriously.

(I see that *I* have morphed a couple of the words. I'll listen to me and see if I need to 'adjust' them.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 05:43 PM

(I will admit that I think a lot of songs are 'rushed'... pace is a really important part of delivery)

and...100

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Cuilionn
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 10:19 AM

Nope... just listened to Tom. While I applaud him for crediting the original composer accurately, his tune varies somewhat from the original. Also, a goodly part of the comedy of the original was the intentional halting awkward out-of-keyness of it. The first time I saw it performed by Women, Women & Song, I believe Mary actually untuned her instrument to perform it. (Think of a struggling new player of mandolin or guitar, with those slight pauses while they try to get their fingers, with only occasional success, into the proper places.) This song should never sound too smooth or polished!

By the way, I think the song can work out great when sung a capella. You can veer even more widely with pacing and out-of-keyness and sound just as awful as possible, without that pesky guitar shackling you to the tyranny of standard pitch.

--Cuilionn

P.S. If you think "The Key of R" is brilliant, I wish you could hear the Gershwin parody they did about the challenges of Northwest gardening: "The Rhapsody We Blew."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 01:05 PM

huzzah! I am relieved that *I* didn't accidentally play fast & loose with the tune and 'spirit' of the song.

"...a goodly part of the comedy of the original was the intentional halting awkward out-of-keyness of it."

*grin*...exactly how I pace it on the autoharp!...which allows another element of silliness as I pretend to find chords that are not ON an autoharp.

I even like to pause about verse 3 and say to the good musicians in the audience...."I see you're way ahead of me!" as I get ready to rhythme "finer" with "minor"...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Genie
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 01:13 PM

Here's our own Joe O singing in the key of R at about 2 AM in the Peace Cabin at the 2008 Getaway:

Joe offer sings "The Key of R"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 02:00 PM

It sounds like Mary Tuel may put up a sound file of them singing this song so we all can get it right.
Or maybe even do a video with Libby so as to get it out there. That would be lovely.
She suggests that we send Libby a couple bucks for downloading either. (Don't have it up yet, though she did send me tune file from the original recording. PM me if you want it.
And you know, people, tunes do matter. If someone writes a song, it is words and a tune, and they compose both of them. I think we owe it to songwriters to at least TRY and sing what they wrote.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Barbara
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 01:53 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 02:12 PM

Me? I'll be glad to get it as close to the way it were wrought as possible.

"I think we owe it to songwriters to at least TRY and sing what they wrote." Of course, we all know that once it escapes, it may be taken in and ....ahem: "improved"... by all sorts of riff-raff. ☺

(the 1st to put a tune to "Barb'ry Allen" must be thrashing in the grave by now)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Genie
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 04:12 PM

Barb, I agree: "Tunes do matter. If someone writes a song, it is words and a tune, and they compose both of them. I think we owe it to songwriters to at least TRY and sing what they wrote."

I like Joe O's version of Key Of R, but if that's not Elizabeth Anthony's original tune, I'd like to learn hers.   Joe might even feel the same way.

Does anyone know if the tune you use is the original one, Joe?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 04:18 PM

As I & Joe have said before, Joe just 'winged it' with a tune because he couldn't quite remember mine....which I got from Dick Hamlet who said he got it from the original group. Try the Mudcat midi tune, as that is 'reasonably' close to what Dick Hamlet & I do.

I do hope Libby posts it somewhere, so we we can have an *official* version to depart from. *grin*

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Barbara
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 08:29 PM

PM me and I'll send you the original along with Libby's address for to make a donation to.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:17 PM

I first heard the song from Bill Day. I think I heard the original Women, Women, and Song version once, but I don't recall where. But I wanted to sing the song, so I used my vague memories and made up what I couldn't recall. I'm not likely to try to learn another tune, being the recalcitrant old curmudgeon that I am.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: GUEST,Velvet Neifert
Date: 07 Jun 10 - 10:44 AM

Hello to all. I am a former member of Women, Women and Song. I just happened to stumble upon this thread. Just wanted to say that although the lyrics posted are close, they aren't quite correct. Some of the other information in the thread is also incorrect. Mary and Libbie both still reside on Vashon Island. If you want the correct lyrics it would be best to contact Libbie. I can give you that info. Look me up on Face Book so I can contact you without spreading info all over creation. Thanks, Velvet Neifert

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 11:43 AM

Key of R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)
From: GUEST,Iiridayn
Date: 06 Sep 22 - 04:58 PM

http://audio.holdenvillage.org/node/13071 has a recording by the original artists starting at around 22:20