Lyr Req: Retirement (poem recited by Jean Redpath)

Subject: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 07:59 PM

I am sorry. I know I started a thread about this in the past two or three months, but for the life of me, I cannot get it to come up in the search thingy.

Anyway, the last time, I emailed her official info address off the 'Net and never received a reply, so Mudcatters PULEEEEZZZE HELP ME!

Hear it on NPR, that dj can't remember it either. It was a yr or two ago. About an old couple, he's on a sofa by the fire where he can see out the window (I think). She's up & about When she goes out he reminds her to take care of the beasties. The heartwrencher at the end is her revealing she doesn't have the heart to tell him the beasties have been gone for years. It's a real love story and I'd like to post it to the songs that moved me thread, BUT I never heard the name, which makes it hard to see if any of her cd's song titles rings a bell (my belfry has NO bell!).

Anyway, thanks a bunch.

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 12:43 AM

Catspaw, Big Mick, Rick F, Pete M. Anybody? My thread is working its way to the bottom of the pile and I've not had any bites; maybe I need fishing lessons?

So, here I am blatantly posting to it, so it goes to the top, again. I really want to hear this song, again!

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: Wolfgang
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 08:52 AM

kat,

I'm sure that I'm not the only one to think about this, but we may just not know the response. So this is just an eloborate non-response to keep the thread up and to give you search hints which are most probably not helpful:
There are at least two Redpath pages with songtitles on the web (e.g.: http://www.jeanredpath.com/Pages/individ.html). You can scan the lists of titles and shrug your shoulders. It could be "The auld man's mare's dead" from your description but it could as well be one of many other titles. The DT produces 72 titles if you enter Redpath. But you must have thought of all this before.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 09:35 AM

Bitte, Wolfgang, I had tried that before. I also went to the Redpath sites on the internet, but a scan of titles really told me nothing. I will check out the one you mentioned though. Thanks for posting so it stays "alive".

kat

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 12:37 PM

First off: Sorry, Wolfgang, my high school German failed me! I meant to say, "Danke"!

Second: Art & Catspaw: read it and weep, I've a personal message, from Jean, herself, which I now share with all who mocked me!

Dear Kathleen I am fascinated that you remember it as a song - a great compliment for someone who has done relatively little with the spoken voice ( that doesn't include motor-mouthing on stage, you understand?). It was actually a poem read with piano under. It comes from a collection called A LITTLE PIECE OF EARTH by the late Jean Mackie, o.o.p. and unobtainable. I recorded it on A WOMAN OF HER TIME JR # 108, details on the website and from Sendings. I have to choose my times to use it because it goes straight for my tearducts, too. Thanks for taking the time to write! Yours Jean Redpath

Proud to say, "My serach is over!"

kat***grinning from ear to ear***

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 12:53 PM

Very neat Kat!!! Just wonderful. Shows what fine folk are in folk...as if we already didn't know!!! I still contend that asking for a sad song by Jean Redpath doesn't exactly narrow down the options!!! But I do love her response and also in taking a bit of time to do it. I bow to your forthright approach and as I said elsewhere..."Stones."

Can you give a hand then over on the "AMEN" Thread? We could use your talents.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 01:05 PM

Catspaw,

I did what I could....amen!

kat

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: Banjer
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 01:27 PM

It is very heartning to see how some folks that we idolize and look up prove themselves to be just like us, loving the music and all that goes with it. Some time ago I sent an e-mail to Greenhays, the Ritchie family's business place and was VERY surprised to receive a reply the following day from none other than Jean Ritchie herself! It was a great boost to know that someone of her standing in the music community would take time to respond to me. I can imagine what Katlaughing must have thought to hear from Jean Redpath....

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 02:15 PM

THRILLED doesn't begin to describe it, as well as humble!

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 06:41 PM

Katlaughing,

Did she send you the words? She notes the poem is o.o.p., which I take to mean out of print. If she sent them, can you share them?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 99 - 06:46 PM

Hi Roger in B:

No, she didn't send them; I suppose because I'd said I wanted to buy the cd. I did email her back about that, as today, when I went looking for her website or that of "Sendings", I couldn't come up with either. I cleaned up recently and deleted a bunch of my history files for the Internet, so can't even look them up that way.

Hopefully, I will hear back from her soon, else I'll try to find the cd elsewhere. As soon as I get the words, I will post them here. Thanks for asking,

Katlaughing

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Mar 99 - 05:28 PM

Hi, should have the cd in a few days. Found her website, finally, and ordered. Don't know why Yahoo et al didn't find it the first time. I had to link up through a Scottish site. She's at www.jeanredpath.com.

katlaughing

Subject: Lyr Add: RETIREMENT (Jean Mackie)
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 02:53 PM

Hey, all, I finally got the CD from Jean. Just to prove I hadn't lost my marbles here are the words to what I'd heard on NPR. It isn't a song, per se, Jean speaks it over softly phrased piano.

"Retirement"
by Jean Mackie from "A Little Piece of Earth"
copyright 1983
printed by Rainbow Enterprises

I sit in long contentment in his house
Wrapped in fire heat and sun heat
The trees break the sun into long lines
Which cross the floor
To meet the steady warmth of the coals
I lie on the old sofa
A rug tucked around me by his gentle hands
Was never lover's bed so surely warm
I see him pass the window --bowed, slow, sure
Carrying plants, seeds, weeds
All these he can still attend
But when he comes into the kitchen
He puts his hand on my head and says
"The beasts are looking fine"
"Tomorrow" I say "Tomorrow I'll come look"
Though I know he sold them all
A dozen years ago

Subject: LYR ADD: Retirement recited by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 03:04 PM

Sorry, missed a couple of breaks and typos. Here 'tis:

"Retirement" by Jean Mackie from "A Little Piece of Earth" copyright 1983 printed by Rainbow Enterprises

I sit in long contentment in his house
Wrapped in fire heat and sun heat
The trees break the sun into long lines
Which cross the floor
To meet the steady warmth of the coals
I lie on the old sofa
A rug tucked around me by his gentle hands
Was never lover's bed so surely warm
I see him pass the window --bowed, slow, sure
Carrying plants, seeds, weeds
All these he can still attend
But when he comes into the kitchen
He puts his hand on my head and says
"The beasts are looking fine"
"Tomorrow" I say "Tomorrow I'll come look"
Though I know he sold them all
A dozen years ago

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 03:25 PM

Beautiful, Kat- and worth the wait! Thanks for sharing! Allison

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 03:47 PM

Ah Jesus kat...........Here in S.E. Ohio a warm sun and a pale blue sky accentuate the barren trees, some with first buds only discernable from a foot away. It's the first really springlike day and although Karen is still down with the flu, it's a day that offers hope. Instead of being out with the kids I thought I'll go to the 'Cat and visit while I listen to them play at better games than I could ever invent. Michael(6) just left after telling me he'd take care of Tristan (7--functionally 3-4)if they could go behind the barn garage and play some kind of ball game he'd invented. I said yes and I know he will. He has taken on the job of big brother with great aplomb. Ever see "Dominic and Eugene?" My best hope is that Michael will be that good as the younger, but "older" brother to Tris...and I know he will.

So instead of feeling the lightness of spring and the hope of tomorrow, I'm sitting here sobbing and biting my lip. But, ya'know, that's OK. What a beautiful set of words, most poignant.......I understand why you were searching for them. It was great for you to talk with Jean and I hope you enjoy the rest of the CD. Geez, I GOTTA' get back NOW to being catspaw or the days gonna' be a wash!!!

Okay.

Damn katlaughing, I think I need to read those words again, but first let me put on John Prine doing "Hello In There" while I grab a gun. What a combo, those 2 songs together...this is great, just let me take the safety off and..............

catspaw, taking refuge in sarcasm...but I love that song now that you've posted it. My turn to order a CD.

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: Banjer
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 04:20 PM

Catspaw, I know of several folks with kids like your Tristan. They present a challenge, to be sure, but it seems that surmounting the special challenges makes them and those around them much stronger folks than I can proffess to be. There is always hope in tommorow, no matter what the burdens of today, your Micheal at the tender age of 6 seems already to be paving the way to that tommorow for himself and his brother. Rejoice in that! Take refuge in whatever media heelps, but don't ever quit being you!

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 04:33 PM

Gawd/Gawddes Luv 'Ya, Catspaw! You are such a doll! Know you understand why, when me "mawn" and I were driving home across the prairie, just having gone past Independence Rock where the rocks seem to resound witht the desperattion and hope of those seeking better lives in the West, listening to a lot of other Scottish/Irish/English music on NPR, having a quiet moment of unspoken, yet air-tingling love pass between us, gathered in by our shared love of the music, I sobbed my eyes out when I first heard those words, spoken in Jean's soft burr.

I KNOW you are NOT a violent man! So...put that damn gun away, tend to yer woman, and know your sons are wonderful because they have such a thoughtful, loving and caring dad and mom!

Thanks Animaterra - did you see your thread I revived on women coping?

Banjer...beautiful message.

katlaughing...what joy there is in sharing!

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 05:58 PM

PLEASE BEAR IN MIND, I DO A BETTER JOB, USUALLY, OF EDITING THAN I DID MY TYPOS! Jeez, just read this over and they were BAD, today!

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: Banjer
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 07:23 PM

Kat, I tend towards a typo or two myself now and again. I don't get upset over them anymore, because I have come to realize that the message those words carry still mean the same, and if you are among folks that care about what you think then rest assured they overlook the typo. If they start harping on how this and that is misspelled then they are missing the whole dern point, ain't they?? They're what my Dad used to call NIT PICKIN'. Don't know what key a nit sounds best in cause I never really learned to pick one!!! (Never had to tune one, either!)

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Mar 99 - 07:25 PM

Kat and Banj,

Thanks for your thoughts and remember I live by Lord Byron's line..."If I laugh at any mortal thing,'tis that I may not weep." When I read Jean's wonderful song my first inclination was for a couple of sarcastic remarks like I made in the last paragraph. But knowing what the song meant to kat, I had to tell the truth first. What would you have thought if I'd made a few smart-ass comments and signed off? I've said before that I'm rarely offemded at anything except the way we treat each other and I would never harm another's soul knowingly.

Banj I thank you for your very kind words about Tristan and Michael. We were the most fortunate of adoptive parents to be able to bring Tris home from the hospital. Tris could be 10 times worse and we were expecting that. Damn fool doctor would NOT release him until we were able to assure her that we knew all about Tristan's probabilities...Well actually I ended up threatening her, but...He is indeed a special child and a special gift to Karen and I. Michael on the other hand...came to us as a foster placement when he was 9 months old. We worked hard to reunite him with his birthmother, but when that became apparent that she couldn't do it, we fought hard to keep him. We finalized his adoption in record time. Mike is the child my Mom promised me I'd have...You know, every Mother's curse: "I hope you have one that acts just like you!." She'd been 25 years gone and he is adopted, but the damn thing works ... STILL!!!!! Aw, but he is truly the light of his Daddy's life!!! I guess some things are meant to happen. Like this might be significant or maybe just coincidence,BUT...We finalized Tristan's adoption on November 25, 1992; we walked into the courtroom at 2:00, our scheduled time, and finished at about 2:30. Ten blocks down the street, Michael was born at 2:15. Hmmm...go figure.

The teenagers are bugging me to take them skating and I'm late, so gotta' go! But thanks again.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Mar 99 - 01:36 AM

The kids had a fine time...all decided they were "too old" for the roller rink. GREAT!!!!! Now if they'd just get too big for the mall, the arcade, etc.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 28 Mar 99 - 09:56 AM

Oh, Cat, thank goodness for you! I could tell that beneath that bluster there beats a heart of gold! Michael and Tristan are lucky guys. You may know from other threads that I too have a very special son- mine has an autism related condition. It was a big surprise to us- that you went into the situation with eyes wide open and by choice just says so much about you and your guidwyfe! Go on and bluster away- it wouldn't be the 'Cat without you- but I'll be glad knowing more about you now!
Allison

Subject: RE: Sad song sung by Jean Redpath
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Mar 04 - 04:46 PM

refresh for a couple of interested members

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Retirement (poem recited by Jean Redpath)
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Sep 09 - 09:51 PM

Just 'cause

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Retirement (poem recited by Jean Redpath)
From: maeve
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 12:25 PM

Thanks. I hadn't encountered this before, Kat. I see why you loved it.

I first learned about my friend Dave Goulder through a conversation with Jean Redpath. I'll always be grateful to her for that.

maeve