Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST Date: 22 May 13 - 03:20 PM July Wakes was originally a poem written by R Pomfret. It's been said he was not pleased with the song. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 May 13 - 02:21 PM I compared these last two posts to the DT. The Three Fishers appears in the DT, but it displays very oddly because the Mudcat Midi note pushes it way over to the side of the page. For Lorraine Lorraine Lorèe there is a discussion, and Joe Offer started a Tune Req: Lorraine Loree thread. It may have a different title - there are forum results but no DT listing - I looked under "Lorraine Lorraine Lorèe," "Lorraine Lorèe," and "Lorraine." SRS |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST,Tony Date: 21 May 13 - 11:13 PM Lorraine Lorraine Lorèe written 1874 by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) Written while in Colorado, during a speaking tour of the U.S. He got sick during that tour and never recovered. This was his last poem. It was apparently very popular for a very long time. In the 1975 documentary film "Grey Gardens" Edith Bouvier Beale (1896–1977, Jacqueline Kennedy's aunt) recites it from memory. "Are you ready for your steeple-chase, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorèe? You're booked to ride your capping race today at Coulterlee. You're booked to ride Vindictive, for all the world to see, To keep him straight, and keep him first, and win the run for me." She clasped her new-born baby, poor Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorèe. "I cannot ride Vindictive, as any man might see, And I will not ride Vindictive, with this baby on my knee; He's killed a boy, he's killed a man, and why must he kill me?" "Unless you ride Vindictive, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorèe, Unless you ride Vindictive today at Coulterlee, And land him safe across the brook, and win the run for me, It's you may keep your baby, for you'll get no keep from me." "That husbands could be cruel," said Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorèe, "That husbands could be cruel, I have known for seasons three; But oh! to ride Vindictive while a baby cries for me, And be killed across a fence at last for all the world to see!" She mastered young Vindictive – Oh! the gallant lass was she, And kept him straight and won the race as near as near could be; But he killed her at the brook against a pollard willow tree; Oh! he killed her at the brook, the brute, for all the world to see; And no one but the baby cried for poor Lorraine, Lorèe. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST,Tony Date: 21 May 13 - 11:00 PM The Three Fishers poem (pub. 1851) by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875). Set to music by John Hullah (1812-84, a friend of Kingsley's). Recorded by Richard Dyer-Bennet, ca 1962, and by Joan Baez. Set to a different tune by Garnet Rogers, and sung by his brother Stan on "For the Family" album. Also set to music by S.D.S. 1856, Robert Goldbeck 1878, Charles Kunkel 1883, W. F. Sudds 1883. S.D.S. might be a pseudonym or collaborator of Hullah. The last lines of each stanza refer to the belief that it was a bad omen if the tide made a moaning sound as it receded over the sand bar that kept the harbor waters still. The line, "Men must work and women must weep," became a well-known catchphrase. Three fishers went sailing away to the West, away to the West as the sun went down. Each thought on the woman who loved him the best, and the children stood watching them out of the town. For men must work and women must weep, and there's little to earn, and many to keep, Though the harbour bar may be moaning. Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower, and they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down; They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower, and the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown. But men must work and women must weep, though storms be sudden, and waters deep, And the harbour bar be moaning. Three corpses lay on the shining sands in the morning gleam as the tide went down, And the women are weeping and wringing their hands for those who will never come home to the town. For men must work and women must weep, and the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep; And good-bye to the bar and its moaning. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 May 13 - 12:10 AM That Jim Croce performance is excellent. I haven't heard anything of his in a while, I'd forgotten what a great voice he had. SRS |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Nigel Parsons Date: 20 May 13 - 04:18 AM Link for above: Jim Croce 'Gunga Din' |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Jim Carroll Date: 20 May 13 - 03:36 AM One of the last songs we recorded from Walter Pardon was Thomas Hardy's 'The Trampwoman's Tragedy' - the only song he learned in later life. Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: eftifino Date: 20 May 13 - 02:01 AM This may have already been mentioned, but Jim Croce diid a great version of 'Gunga Din'. Here it is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Vxqydpmus |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 May 13 - 05:24 PM I've been sorting through books and tapes. I was reminded of this thread when I found some of my Dad's favorite song versions of Eugene Field poems. SRS |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Paul Davenport Date: 14 Feb 12 - 10:11 AM 'Interestingly, the theme of "Sands of Dee" i.e. drowning on treacherous tidal sands, is, of course, the same theme as "On Morecambe Bay" which has just been nominated in the BBC Folk Awards.' There are two version of 'The Sands of Dee' going the rounds currently. One is our version on 'Songbooks' (Hallamshire Traditions HATRCD03) and the other is by Roy Clinging. oth to completely different tunes. Other poems set to music worth mentioning are Barbara Berry's setting of 'I wandered by a Brook' recorded by Eva Cassidy (among others), 'The Dalesman's Litany', 'Flowers of Knaresborough Forest' and 'Jenny Storm', all by F.W.Moreman the Yorkshire Dialect poet. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Beer Date: 14 Feb 12 - 09:25 AM I don't know if memorizing poems still take place in school or not. I know for a fact that in Quebec English school system my son never had to nor has my grand son who is 13. When I was around 12/13 we had to memorize many poems and this one comes to mind that fit very well to "Road to the Isle". Robinson Crusoe's Story THE night was thick and hazy When the "Piccadilly Daisy" Carried down the crew and captain in the sea; And I think the water drowned 'em; For they never, never found 'em, 5 And I know they didn't come ashore with me. Oh! 'twas very sad and lonely When I found myself the only Population on this cultivated shore; But I've made a little tavern 10 In a rocky little cavern, And I sit and watch for people at the door. etc...... Adrien |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Jean(eanjay) Date: 14 Feb 12 - 06:59 AM November 1837 also known as "Spellbound" and "The Night is Darkening Round Me" is an Emily Brontë poem which was set to music with piano in the 1970s by Janet Jones. The link is to the song taken from a re-mastered CD which includes the cello. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Jon Corelis Date: 13 Feb 12 - 11:52 AM "Duh" for today: I wasn't logged in. Just posting a follow-up so this thread will appear when I search for my postings. Apologies for the extraneous redundancy. Jon Corelis |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST Date: 12 Feb 12 - 07:38 PM Since there is still some fairly recent interest in this thread, I'll mention that I have nearly twenty famous poems set to music (some with melodies of my own, some adaptations of traditional folk melodies) on my Kaleidoscope: Great Poems Set to Music page. Since I can't sing and don't yet have a singer to work with, the sound files use various instruments to simulate voice. But the text is there too, so with a little imagination, I hope you can get a feel for how a performance would sound. Jon Corelis |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: ollaimh Date: 18 Nov 11 - 09:39 PM i was playing daddy won't you take me back to muellenberg county, by john prine, and i realized it was in an anapestic tetramater meter. so as a joke i occasionally sing byron's poem, the assyrian, to the same tune. i am a w h auden afficianado so i often try settings for his poems. time will say nothing and in memory of w b yeats deserve great tunes--if i find one i'll let ya all know |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Acorn4 Date: 18 Nov 11 - 07:30 PM Good examples are "To Althea" - Richard Lovelace/Dave Swarbrick, and "Going and Staying" - Thomas Hardy/Brass Monkey - there is also a good setting of a John Masefield poem by John Connolly the name of which escapes me at the moment. |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Dave the Gnome Date: 18 Nov 11 - 06:56 PM Anything by Rudyard Kipling. Oh, hang on, has someone done that already? DtG |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: GUEST,John Bailey Date: 18 Nov 11 - 06:02 PM Phil Ochs also adapted Edgar Alan Poe's 'The Bells' which I used to sing in the 60s. By a strange coincidence I remembered this just last week and it reminded me of The Highwayman and that it was about time I learned it, as this Alfred Noyes poem has always been a favourite of my wife's since she first discovered it at the tender age of 13 and how uncomfortable it made her feel with its imagery - how times have changed - gone is the age of innocence. |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Elmore Date: 18 Nov 11 - 04:19 PM Words: Stopping by woods on a snowy evening. Music: Hernando's Hideaway. |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: BTNG Date: 18 Nov 11 - 03:42 PM Vikki Clayton's adaptation of John Clare's poem The Gardener's Bonny Daughter, performed by her and The Albion Band on the album The Guv'nor's Big Birthday Bash The Gardener's Bonny Daughter |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: katlaughing Date: 18 Nov 11 - 03:20 PM Do you want long ballad types, witty, full of humour...what kinds of subjects strike your fancy? There's a long, old one I've always loved. Never thought of it being put to music, but it could be interesting: Bingen on the Rhine.. |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Mysha Date: 18 Nov 11 - 02:52 PM But I'm far from fluent in speaking Thought. Mysha |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Mysha Date: 18 Nov 11 - 02:51 PM Reading minds is the easy part. Mysha |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Tunesmith Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:55 PM Mysha, it's funny that you should say that because that's exactly what I have been doing! |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Mysha Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:49 PM Hi Tunesmith, Do you think it's a matter of the kind of poems you picked? Or may it have been your skill wasn't as developed in the sixties as it is today? Maybe it would work if you would revisit the ones you looked at then, with the skill you have now. Bye, Mysha |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: Tunesmith Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:41 PM Interestingly, the theme of "Sands of Dee" i.e. drowning on treacherous tidal sands, is, of course, the same theme as "On Morecambe Bay" which has just been nominated in the BBC Folk Awards. |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: GUEST,Peter Laban Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:37 PM Look up Seán Tyrrell |
Subject: RE: Poems set to music From: johncharles Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:12 PM How about the Sands of Dee by Charles Kingsley sands of dee john |
Subject: Poems set to music From: Tunesmith Date: 18 Nov 11 - 01:05 PM I remember being enthralled with Phil Ochs' musical setting of the poem "The Highwayman", and at the time, mid-60s - I went looking for poems that I could set to music. I did find a couple poems but I wasn't happy at my attempts at adding a melody. Has anyone out there got any suggestions for poem(of a folky nature?) that would work as a song. |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BELLS (Phil Ochs/Edgar Allen Poe) From: Rog Peek Date: 04 Nov 09 - 03:33 AM THE BELLS (Phil Ochs/Edgar Allen Poe) Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells What a world of merriment Their melody foretells How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle In the icy air of night All the heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight Keeping time, time, time With a sort of Runic rhyme From the tintinnabulation That so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells Hear the mellow wedding bells Golden bells What a world of happiness Their harmony foretells Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight Through the dances and the yells And the rapture that impels How it swells How it dwells On the future How it tells From the swinging and the ringing of the molten golden bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Of the rhyming and the chiming of the bells Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells What a tale of terror now Their turbulency tells Much too horrified to speak Oh, they can only shriek For all the ears to know How the danger ebbs and flows Leaping higher, higher, higher With a desperate desire In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire With the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells With the clamor and the clanging of the bells Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells What a world of solemn thought their monody compels For all the sound that floats From the rust within our throats And the people sit and groan In their muffled monotone And the tolling, tolling, tolling Feels a glory in the rolling From the throbbing and the sobbing Of the melancholy bells Oh, the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Oh, the moaning and the groaning of the bells Notes: Lyrics cleverly adapted from Edgar Allen's poem of the same name. Track 7 on 'All The News That's Fit To Sing'. RP Nov09
-Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: BK Lick Date: 03 Nov 09 - 10:15 PM Ef You Don't Watch Out!: Anne Hills Sings the Poems of James Whitcomb Riley (clicky here) |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Suegorgeous Date: 03 Nov 09 - 07:06 PM Here in Bristol, the lovely Wraiths sing poetry they've put to music, mostly of Emily Dickinson, but other poets too. They're here The Wraiths |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City Date: 03 Nov 09 - 11:31 AM Phil Ochs also set another fine poem to music: "The Bells" of Edgar Allen Poe. The Fugs set many William Blake poems to music including "How Sweet I Roamed From Field to Field". Simon and Garfinkel set Edward Arlington Robinson's "Richard Cory" to music. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: clueless don Date: 03 Nov 09 - 08:34 AM Back on 10 Oct 06 - 03:01 PM GUEST,CA mentioned singing Emily Dickinson poems to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme. Another standard gag that I have frequently heard of is singing Emily Dickinson poems to "The Yellow Rose of Texas". And of course, there is also singing Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" to "Hernando's Hideaway". Don |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: maeve Date: 03 Nov 09 - 08:08 AM Hauro- The dog/cat/mouse poem oldhippy posted back on 23 Nov 06 - 11:35 AM is to be found here on Google Books The title is "How the Feud Started" and was found in "The Mirthful Lyre" by Arthur Guiterman. This an old thread, refreshed by a guest, but it makes for some good reading. With winter moving in here in Maine I'll be thinking of other poems that are ripe for songmaking. maeve |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: skipy Date: 31 Jan 07 - 05:01 AM No, not neatly, never neatly, it just brings you! Morning. Skipy |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Leadfingers Date: 31 Jan 07 - 04:53 AM Which brings us nicely to 100 posts |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Leadfingers Date: 31 Jan 07 - 04:52 AM Just had a scan through , and am surprised to NOT see any Tolkein in here ! Donald Swann set all of 'Tales of Tom Bombadil' and recorded them , with most of Tolkein's 'Elvish' poems -IN ELVISH on an old ARGO LP . |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: DriveForever Date: 31 Jan 07 - 12:45 AM One of my favorite's is Joni Mitchell's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" adaptation of W.B. Yeats poem. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Haruo Date: 30 Jan 07 - 01:38 AM Speaking of Tennyson's Crossing the Bar set by Parry, Parry's most famous such setting is doubtless Blake's "Jerusalem". Haruo |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST, still docked Date: 29 Jan 07 - 04:18 PM And I had thought "movers and shakers" to be a recent expression, Songster Bob. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST, still docked Date: 29 Jan 07 - 03:30 PM That's a splendid poem, Stewart. I wish my father were still alive so that I could read it to him. Thank you. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Songster Bob Date: 29 Jan 07 - 02:43 PM I seem to be one of four folkies and one classical composer who have set Arthur O'Shaunessy's "Ode" to a tune. Elgar did it in 1912, so he beats out Bob Zentz, Lorraine Lee Hammond, Jake Walton and me when it comes to being early in the game. But who wouldn't want to sing something that starts out, "We are the music-makers, We are dreamers of dreams"? I don't know of any recordings of Bob's, Lorraine's or my setting of it, but Jake Walton did record his. Elgar, who knows? It's a choral piece and there are probably any number of obscure recordings of same. Someone up-thread said that "Drink to Me Only" comes from Bing Crosby. That would surprise Geo. Washington and his contemporaries, who knew the song pretty well, I'm told. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Stewart Date: 29 Jan 07 - 02:01 PM Here's a poem by John E. M. Sumner as collected by Hugh Brown ("All I can recall is an older gentleman sent me a copy from the Liverpool area some time back when I was searching for "tree" info on my grandfather (also from that area). I would think Mr Sumner is probably from that area."). It's a lovely poem, which I have set to music here LIVERPOOL BAY – John E. M. Sumner The strong salt winds at Liverpool That sweep across the Bay Once brought the great proud ships of old With teak from Mandalay, With bars of gold from lands untold, With cloves from Zanzibar, With tea and jute from Chittagong And rubber from Para; Trim figurehead and snowy sail, Tall mast and taper'd spar, A rhythmic shanty from the waist, The smell of Stockholm tar. Whilst yet the fog bells clang and drone And eyes are tired and red With peering over weather cloths To see what looms ahead; Or Summer shakes her train of gold And dawn breaks slow, supreme, With funnels red and funnels white Reflected in the stream; The times have changed on Merseyside, The years have travell'd on, And ugly ducklings plough and sheer Where once there sailed a swan. Safe anchored in a landlocked bay, Washed by some river cool, They lie at rest in fairer ports Than even Liverpool; Forgotten, garland'd with mist and fog They drowse at anchor there, Whilst crews of bearded sailormen Patrol each deck and stare; Borne faintly on an eerie wind There goes a bosun's call, Scraping as dim yards come around, The clacking of a pall. Then idly, these tall ships will turn And hearken to the breeze That whispers in the ghostly shrouds Of days remote from these; Remembering weeks of driving sleet And high seas round the Horn, And little islands, silver rimmed, Where mollymawks are born; Recalling long, cool, fragrant nights Beneath a Southern moon; The Rio Grande or Shenandoah To a concertinas tune. Yet often, just before the dawn, They see in dreams afar The glimmer of the Crosby Light And rain across the Bar. Cheers, S. in Seattle |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST, still docked Date: 29 Jan 07 - 01:25 PM I've grown to like Charles Hubert Hastings Parry's musical setting of Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar," which I found at ingeb.org, although I haven't heard a performance or record of it. It may sound too Edwardian for some. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST,Mad musix Date: 28 Jan 07 - 04:34 PM On 2nd thoughts, looking back, perhaps they aren't "commom poems". So, sorry to barge in folks ... I'll do a new thread Byee Norm |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: GUEST,Mad Musix Date: 28 Jan 07 - 01:47 PM Hi people Anyone got the words to hand of 2 poems by Hugh Lupton ... Bleary Winter, and Mari Lwyd ... ATB Norm |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh Date: 24 Nov 06 - 07:43 AM Jill mentions "The Gartan Mother's Lullaby": I'd thought it the work of the same person who did "My Lagan Love", and I had the idea that this was "Seumas MacCathamoil" (?spelling), which would translate as "James" rather than "Joseph". Did he write under this name, or is that the name of the person who made the air? |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: oldhippie Date: 24 Nov 06 - 07:36 AM Haruo, no idea who the cat/dog/mouse poem is by, or its title - something my father used to read to us kids some 50 years ago.....perhaps someone here knows. |
Subject: RE: Common poems set to music From: Rowan Date: 24 Nov 06 - 01:56 AM Thanks Stewie! It's not often I'm right but I was wrong on this occasion. You've reminded me that there are several Australian poems that Skreitch used to recite that several other have set to music, thinking that because they were Australian poems they must have been by Lawson or Paterson when they were by other (now forgotten) bush poets. When I get my books out of storage I'll be able to refresh my memories of them. Cheers, Rowan |
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