Lyr Add: Fields of Clover

Subject: LYR ADD: Fields of Clover - Jerry Rasmussen
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 09:28 AM

Looking back over last year, It was a hard one for many friends. Not many had a harder year than Animaterra or Kendall, but there are many other Catters who I've shared PMs with who have struggled through trials that might have discouraged Job. Some are going through them right now. Us being folk singers and all, it's part of our makeup to look back, through songs and stories. Some folks morn the passing of the "Good Old Days" and see life as a slippery, downhill slope.

When you're going through a painful time in your life, it's like being in a deep well. You can't see out of it. After you've come through it, you can often look back and see the good that came out of a hard time. And, it's sharing the hard times that creates the strongest friendships.

Many years ago, when Art Thieme and I were sharing our own hard years,
I realized the goodness that came out of seeing things through together, and I wrote a song about it. At the time, I was fed up with the constant bemoaning of the passing of the "Good Old Days," and in frustration told a friend, "The Good old days are yet to come."
I guess now, if I added a verse to the song it would be that some of the "Good Old Days" were the hardest.

This is for all of my friends who are struggling to get out of that well.

FIELDS OF CLOVER

One thing certain we all know
All things will come to pass
So when the darkness blinds the light
We know it will not last

CHORUS:

   For the good old days are still to come
   Though the hard times are not over
   For we must wear that thorny crown
   To walk the fields of clover

Count your blessings while you can
For blessings soon may pass
And though we know not what is to come
Let us toast the half-filled glass

Be your fortune good or bad
There is hope in every day
So for the burdens that we share
Let us lift our voice in praise.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: A Hard Year
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 10:15 AM

That is absolutely beautiful, Jerry. Your kindness and caring are always such shining examples for us all. Thank you!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: GUEST,Mary in Wisconsin
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 10:23 AM

Hey Jerry
A happy heart even makes a cold Shivering snowy Wisconsin day
seem pretty darn good .
Thanks for making me look at the positive this morning.
I'm the lady you sent the wonderful C.D.s to a long time ago.
I enjoy them so much Jerry.
Keep on singing and keep on praising !
Thanks

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Padre
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 11:05 AM

Jerry,
Thanks for the truly uplifting song. We all need such thoughts, but not all of us can express them so well. Blessings to you.

Padre

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 11:31 AM

Mary,

Jerry is originally from Janesville, Wisconsin. (Where might you be?)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 12:13 PM

Thanks, Jerry. Life is very good for me right now. And when I look back at the hard times, I can see now how hard and how easy they were all at the same time. Friends made the hard times easier. Were it not for friends, I don't think I would been able to dig myself out of the darkness.

I can never repay the people who helped me when I needed it. But I can balance out the debt by doing the same for someone else. If I can help, PM me.
Mary

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 03:44 PM

Oh, Jerry, thank you for this song. I'm not ready to sing it yet, but I'd love to hear it.
This has indeed been the hardest time of my life. I'm still struggling at the bottom of the pit, although sometimes I'm aware of the light that may be shining overhead. Good friends and music seem to be the "torchbearers" for me, letting me know that life goes on.

Will I really look back on this time in my life and see that good came of it?
That's hard to believe right now.

Allison

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 04:05 PM

Losing someone you love is NEVER good, Allison. But HAVING loved them has changed your life in ways that you will understand better as the pain heals.

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: kendall
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 05:20 PM

Thanks for the song, Jerry, and your usual kind words. People like you give folk music a good name.
It has been said that God never gives us more of a load than we can carry, but sometimes I wish he/she had a little less faith in my strength.
This morning I got word that a dear friend died last night. Looks like the start of another hellish year.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 05:31 PM

Oh, Kendall, I'm sorry.

Allison

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Peace
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 05:34 PM

I'm sorry, Kendall. It ain't the start of another hellish year. It's the final end of the last one. Bless you, buddy. Bruce M.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 05:35 PM

Thanks for the song Jerry. Would you kindly pass along the chords to us?

Animettera, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE. We can be counted on for help and a good word.

Kendall,when someone tells me that God only fills my plate with what I can eat I say then 'Please tell God that I'm on diet.'

Right now, due to help and encouragement, my 'Skipjack' has the wind from the stern and is on an even keel.

Walking Eagle

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 06:26 PM

Thanks, Jerry. We sometimes do need reminding of this simple truth. I wish I had the tune. Maybe Allison will bring it over with her when she finally makes it to Germany (something to look forward to!).

Kendall, I'm sorry for you and your friend. Unfortunately, life doesn't respect our man-made measurements but has its own rhythm. All we can do is endure and remember. Hope there'll be happier times ahead for you!

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: alanabit
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 06:35 PM

Jerry is right on the ball as usual. I am sorry about the loss of your friend Kendall.
I have been telling myself for years that I'm happy when see what I have and that I'm down when I want something that I can't have. All the people I loved changed my life for the better. All the people I love still are. Some other 'Catter will have to put that more articulately...

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: bbc
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 06:45 PM

Good one, Jerry. Thanks!

Barbara

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Menolly
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 07:59 PM

Thanks Jerry, Keep on going on Kendall and Animaterra,
I keep trying to make a fresh start, but it is 2 steps forward, 1 or 2 steps back. When one trouble seems to be dealt with - another comes along.
But I relish the times that are good and always try to see the glass life hands me, as half full. If I was not so "wealthy" many of the trials could not bother me. If I did not have a car, I could not have car problems. If I did not have a family, I could not have family problems. If I did not have loved ones, they could not hurt me. So I am wealthy and lucky and the sun may shine tomorrow.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 11:31 PM

Such wonderful responses! Sorry I don't know how to write music, or I'd put the music on here... The melody came from somewhere.. sounds Irish to me, and I'm as Irish As Ahnuld..

Such hard news, Kendall! I'm with brucie, though... believe this is the corner, not the downward slope.

I just got home from doing an extremely emotional evening of music with my gospel quartet. Our bass singer Joe's sister had her gall bladder removed four days ago, and Joe stopped by to see how she was doing before driving up to the place we were doing the concert. She suddenly couldn't breathe and he had to rush her to the emergency room. He called me from there to tell me he wouldn't be able to make it, and I started adjusting emotionally. But, she was checked out, and there was nothing wrong, so she went home with her daughter and son-in-law. Joe jumped in the car to drive up to where we were singing and ran into an enormous traffic jam caused by a multi-car accident. It took him nearly two hours to make a 30 minute run, and he arrived just as we were being introduced. When he walked through the door and saw us on our way up to the stage, he looked ashen and hunched over. Sometimes, you just have to keep on rolling, even when you don't think you have the strength. But, by the second song, he was at full power and we really ripped it up. Then, during the break, our tenor got a call from the Museum where he works and someone didn't show up for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, so he had to go work 8 hours, after the concert..

Sometimes it just keeps on coming.

But, then comes the calm and the peace. And man, does it feel goooood!

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 11:35 PM

I know the tune. If I can, I'll do a melody-line MIDI and send it to Jerry so he can check it over. OK Jerry? Then if you think I have caught it close enough you can forward it to people who request it from you.

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 07:05 AM

Oh Susan, I hope you'll be able to find the time!

Thanks for the good and kind words, folks.

Allison

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 07:47 AM

I just put up a new thread on the Annexe about friends in need, but reading the above posts here makes my paltry problems pale into insignificance, but nevertheless agree that at other times of real hardship recently- it was my very good 'friends in need' who showed their true colours to lift me up out of the abyss.


http://www.jonbanjo.com/forum/default1.asp

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 11:08 AM

Thanks, Susan... I'd be happy to have the song passed on..

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 11:40 AM

OK. I'll see if I can do it.

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 12:07 PM

Got it, I think. Jerry, PM me your email address and I'll send it in a form I think you will be able to click and hear. Can you click and hear songs that are in the DT? If so you will be able to hear this. When you agree that I have it right, I can either send it to Pene Azul to put in the Mudcat MIDIs for others to enjoy, or, if you prefer to protect its use, it can sit in your computer for you to send people who you give permission to use it.

~Susan

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: open mike
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 12:20 PM

((((((group hug))))))
When i was going thru a crisis period,
the most helpful thing said by a friend
was: "Remember, even when you cannot see
the sun because it is obscurred by clouds,
it is still shining away and you will see
it when the clouds clear. Meanwhile, you
can close your eyes and imagine the warmth
and light."
I want to thank all my mudcat friends for
their kind support during trying times and
I send that same loving energy to those of
you who are in that space now...let the
music lift you up!
As John Hartford called them: the GOODLE days..

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: GUEST,Mary V.
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 12:36 PM

Art Thieme asked where we are from. We live in Green Bay Wisconsin
Packer Country !!!
I know I know ...we choked !
Oh well it was a fun football season !
I really enjoy this mudcat forum so much.

Thanks to all of you....

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 07:22 PM

Hey, WYSIWYG: Now that I think of it, my e-mail address is with my profile. It's [e-mail].

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 07:28 PM

Toughest time I've ever had has been during the past year (12 months) or so. If it could go wrong, it did. Name it. But people have been beautiful. I have always been somewhat of a loner. I don't feel bad about that. It's a statement of fact with which I am comfortable. However, because I'm occasionally perceived to be stand-offish, I don't develop lots of friendships. I don't dislike people (in fact, I enjoy their thoughts and ideas), but I tend to be introspective and subsequently fairly quiet even at a party. A Catter wrote something that grabbed my heart on a thread, and I wrote to express my concern. That individual has written me many beautiful thoughts and shared some of his life story with me. In the time I have had to post to the 'cat, to read the thinking and arguments of others, I have made about a dozen friends here. They have been a God-send to me. When I look at tough times, and when I feel like giving up, I know there is someone who will really know what I mean when I stumble around with words. Folks, it really doesn't get much better than that.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 07:30 PM

There's one of the people I'm talkin' about two posts up. Thanks, Gerry.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 08:15 PM

. . . and I know he'll excuse me for misspelling his name, right, Jerry?

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 08:59 PM

MIDI sent to Jerry. Hope he can open it!

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 09:13 AM

Got it Susan: It sounds fine. I appreciate your doing it. Your description of the way I sing the song is way beyond my musical understanding... you mean I actually do all those things and I don't even know it? :-)

If you would, please send it to Jeff.. you obviously are far more knowledgeable about these things than I am. I just sing 'em.

Thanks again..

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: MMario
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 11:04 AM

WYSIWYG - I can post midi's too.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Tinker
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 11:11 AM

Jerry, could you save me a weeks travail and post chords to go with this ??? Thanks everyone...

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 11:28 AM

I think I heard it a capella with a grop singing along on the chorus. If Jerry doesn't have chords, I can work those up too.

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 11:38 AM

Jerry-- yes, you do all those things!

I've sent it to Mmario with some suggestions about asking you to clarify the "permissions" details. As soon as you and he work out what info you want posted with the tune itself, he can install them in the Mudcat MIDI page for everyone to enjoy!

I was very happy to do this. I could try more if you need sheet music for anything, as long as they are as easy and quick as this one.

~Susan

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 11:45 AM

groUp, not grope! LOL!

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 12:08 PM

I are the group, Susan... just multitracked myself. I'm glad I sent you a copy... I couldn't find the tape of the song, myself. And Tinker, I'll sit down and write out the chords for you. When I was warming up to do a concert with my group Saturday night after having been told that our bass singer couldn't come, I started singing this song, playing guitar along with it. It'll only take a couple of minutes to do the chords...

I'll post them after I finish shoveling out our driveway..

And thanks again, Susan..

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: MMario
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 04:20 PM

Jerry - I'm posting the midi with you at the tune author and a note to refer to this thread (which will be linked shortly) for copyright information and permissions.   If this is not satisfactory I can remove it from the midi page

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 04:51 PM

Thanks, MMario... I'm sure it will be fine..

JJerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 05:25 PM

Instant gratification. I would definitely do that again!

Much more fun than transcribing from sheet music.

~S~

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 09:41 PM

Hey, Tinker:

I've been singing this in the key of C, but playing along with the midi file it seems to be in the key of A. The chord pattern is simple enough that you could easily transpose it into whatever key works best with your voice.

These would be the chords in the key of A, to play along with the mid file:

A                      D
One thing certain we all know

A                      D E
All things will come to pa-ss

A                              D
So when the darkness blinds the light

A                  E A
We know it will not la-st


A                                 D
For the good old days are still to come

A                            D E
Though the hard times are not o-ver

A                           D
For we must wear that thorny crown

A                   E   A
To walk the fields of clo-ver


The chord changes on "pass", "last", "over" and "clover" reflect that all four of those words are broken into two notes. I'm sorry I am such a cro-magnon man on musical notation, but we all have our limitations. If I can find my tape of me doing the song, I'll send off a copy to you..

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 08:10 AM

Yesterday, my wife and I visited with three people. It was a day of good cheer, humor, thankfulness, gratitude, even tears of joy. When we drove home, our spirits were so uplifted that we couldn't stop expressing our own thanksgiving, just to see such hope and enthusiasm in others.

After my quartet sang at a hospital for Martin Luther King's birthday, we went first to visit Rebecca. Rebecca lives alone, is in her 90's and has arthritis is so bad that she can barely walk across the room. She lives on the second floor and can no longer walk up and down the stairs. The only time she gets out now is to go to the doctor or the hospital. She has a chair with a power seat that lifts her up because it is almost impossible for her to get up out of a chair on her own. When we pushed the buzzer, her grandson came downstairs to unlock the door for us. He was there visiting her after having spent the morning visiting his father and his mother, who are both in hospitals, 50 miles away from each other. He had stopped in to see if there was anything he could pick up for his Grandma. When Rebecca saw us, she was so excited! We live 40 miles away from her, so we only get to visit her every couple of weeks. She was really bubbling over, and couldn't stop praising the Lord because her arthritis has quieted down for a day or two and she was so thankful to have a day without extreme pain. We asked her how her son Alonzo was doing... her Grandson's Father. She said that he was doing allright. He is in the local hospital, because he has "Sugar" (diabetes) and his ankle is infected. For the last five years, he's been fighting the infection, and every time they go in, they end up having to amputate a toe. He lives downstairs from his Mother, and she counts on him to help her. All she knew was that they were fighting the latest infection in his foot with antibiotics, and that they were going to have to do more cutting on his foot. We told her that we were going to go visit him after we left her, and we did.

When we walked up to his hospital room, a curtain was drawn around Alonzo's bed, and a nurse was tending him. We stood outside for a few minutes while she was caring for him, and we felt good. Alonzo was in high spirits, kidding around with the nurse, laughing often.
It made us feel good, that he was so full of energy, life and laughter. When the nurse finally pulled the curtains back and said we could come in, there was Alonzo lying on the bed with his legs exposed. His left leg had a big bandage around it, just above where his foot used to be. They amputated his foot, above the ankle the day before. He was in a lot of pain, and had a painkiller hooked up intervenously so that when the pain flared up, he could press a button and inject more pain killer into his body, and he had an oxygen tank hooked up to his nose with tubes. It was a shock to us to walk in to see him that way, because when the screen was drawn in front of him, he sounded like he was fine. And truth is, he WAS fine. He was hopeful that they'd gotten all the infection out, and looking forward to being fitted with a prosthetic foot in a few weeks. His only real concern was how he was going to tell his Mother, Rebecca. Other than that, he was in high spirits.

After we left the hospital, we went to visit our friend Joe's sister Anna, who had her gallbladder removed last week. When Anna opened the door, she clasped her hands together and started crying, she was so joyful to see us. She still has quite a bit of pain from the operation, and has to walk slowly. Sitting down and getting up is very painful for her, but she is so excited that they are removing the stitches in a couple of days. Her only concern is how Joe is taking all of this. She kept telling me how much Joe thinks of me, and asked me to promise that I would always be his brother. She is very concerned about who will watch out for Joe after she is gone. Joe and his wife lost their daughter seven or eight years ago, and he never quite got over that, and then he's had his own serious health problems in the last year. I assured her that as long as I was alive, I would watch over Joe because he is my brother. All the time, Anna would come over and hug my wife and me, calling us her brother and sister, tears streaming down her face. She told us not to be concerned, because they were tears of joy.

We visited three people, all of whom are in pain, can only walk with trouble, can't go outside without someone taking them and have very questionable futures. And yet, they were probably the three most thankful people we met that day. What do they all have in common? Humility. I read a great definition of humility recently. "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."

Amen.

Jerry

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: sian, west wales
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 04:55 PM

Bro. Jerry, you are a Balm in Gilead, man!

Yep - last year coulda been better. But it's a new year now, I have a new job, and I just won £52 on the Lottery.

Roll on, 2004!

sian

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 05:39 PM

Humility AND Gratitude.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 05:54 PM

I had a great year last year. Matter of fact, I've had decades of great years.

I do count my blessings.

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Tinker
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 10:10 PM

"Humility is a rare virtue and an unfashionable one and one which is often hard to discern. Only rarely does one meeet somebody in whom it positively shines, in whom one apprehends with amazement the absence of the anxious avarious tentacles of the self... The humble man, because he sees himself as nothing, can see other things as they are.... The humble man perceives the distance between suffering and death. And although he is not by definition the good man perhaps he is the kind of man who is most likely of all to become good."
                                 Iris Murdoch

Jerry, to spend a day with three good people, clearly a very good thing indeed.

Tinker

(Whose years have been very good.)

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: khandu
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 10:26 PM

The road is rocky & full of obstacles, yet the road continues on...& I have loved every step of the way

Last year was a hard year for me, as has been most of the years I have seen.
But I have been victorious, only because I didn't know how to quit.

All in all, Life is worth any trouble it meets.

ken

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 10:59 PM

Thanks for the quote, Tinker. Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite writers...

Jerry

This year's GOT to be better, Khandu!

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 23 Jan 04 - 04:01 AM

Great song, Jerry, thanks.
When I get back from AK, I'd like to learn it, so I'll contact you about sticking the tune on a cassette.
My best wishes to all the catters who are having hard times and a sincere wishe for better times around the corner.

Seamus

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Jan 04 - 05:41 AM

Seamus, thanks for the good wishes.
Fields of Clover is now in Mudcat Midis - and it's a beauty!

Allison

Subject: RE: A Hard Year
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Jan 04 - 11:00 AM

Thanks, Seamus... I'll either tape it or see if I can record it on my CD recorder. You'd do a fine job on the song as the melody feels very "Irish" to this Midwestern Dane.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fields of Clover
From: GUEST,Paul
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:28 AM

I was expecting a pile of legal stuff. I have lost so many people I loved and a dear friend, so many miles away, is due to check out. I hate this pain of loss. I hate loosing so many people who have such contributions to make, people who no longer have the good old times to come but glory. Thanks for your words they are a real help to me.

P