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15 Oct 19 - 06:40 PM (#4013872) Subject: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu As it happens, this song lyric, with a link to a MIDI file (haven't tried playing it back), is already in Mudcat's DigiTrad: The Youth of the Heart What is missing is the identification of those who wrote and composed the song. Sydney Carter wrote the lyrics for a revue (the Globe Revue), and the lyrics were set to music by Donald Swann, he of Flanders and Swann / At the Drop of a Hat. Since I can't enter that information into the Digital Tradition file, the least I can do is begin a Mudcat thread which sets the record straight. |
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15 Oct 19 - 07:12 PM (#4013876) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: Joe Offer The story of Sydney Carter's association with Donald Swann is detailed in Carter's obituary in The Guardian: The entire obituary is fascinating, but here's an excerpt:
After the war, folk music, both sacred and secular, took Sydney over. Much influenced by what he had heard in Greece, he studied its many forms; then, in 1952, he started writing lyrics for Swann, who needed revue material. "I found out that I could do that," Sydney said, "and get paid for it." He launched what proved to be a long collaboration by providing lyrics for Swann's composition The Youth Of The Heart, which featured in the Globe Revue in London's West End. In the mid-1950s, he was the lyricist on Swann's children's musical, Lucy And The Hunter. I was a BBC producer when, in 1960, Sydney wrote his most controversial song, Friday Morning. I believe it was also one of the most profound. In it, the robber, crucified with Jesus, cries out: It was on a Friday morning that they took me from my cell And I saw they had a carpenter to crucify as well. You can blame it on to Pilate, you can blame it on the Jews, You can blame it on the Devil, it's God I accuse. It's God they ought to crucify, instead of you and me, I said to the carpenter a-hanging on the tree. Classic theology says that it was God, but Sydney lets the irony stand. In this, as in the following stanzas, he piles on the guilt, piles it on to God. It leads to the deepest of all questions: is God in Auschwitz or the Twin Towers, the killer or the victim? If there is a God? I had to fight the BBC management to get that song on the air. A brave, liberal head of religious broadcasting was my ally. Today, the fear of a backlash would be far greater. In 1962, Carter teamed up with Sheila Hancock for the album Putting Out The Dustbin, one track of which, Last Cigarette, on failing to give up smoking, became a minor hit. The songs on the LP were closer to cabaret than to folk, but the pacifist, political singer was there even then. In 1964, the Donald Swann EP, Songs Of Faith And Doubt, comprised six songs by Carter. In the 1960s too, he worked as a critic for Gramophone magazine. |
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16 Oct 19 - 05:02 PM (#4014050) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu And what is more ... though the tune and the music by Donald Swann vary little from version to version (numerous recorded performances exist), guess what? The words have changed. Mudcat's DigiTrad (links preceding) version is NOT the version which is sung in the recorded performances. I wonder what the source is for the DigiTrad words? I suspect that the DigiTrad version might very well be what Sydney Carter actually wrote, it's only my hunch though. Does there exist a recording of Sydney Carter himself singing this song? I have not located such -- nor evidence thereof, and I have searched. Does there exist sheet music for "Youth of the Heart"? I have looked for this as well, and for some reason my searches have met with failure. That leaves me with two alternatives: the performance recordings that I have spoken of; and webpages online with the lyrics displayed. Do any readers know of a recording, or a printed edition, of "Youth of the Heart" which matches the DigiTrad text word for word? And can you tell the rest of us where to find it? Many thanks in advance. |
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16 Oct 19 - 05:13 PM (#4014052) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu It's easy to tell the two -- similar -- lyrics apart from looking at the chorus. Mudcat's DigiTrad version has this chorus: For the youth of the heart Is as the dew of the morning You'll wake and it's left you Without any warning. All the recorded performances I have heard, feature this chorus instead: O! the youth of the heart And the dew in the morning You wake, and they've left you Without any warning. Then there is the final stanza/verse of the lyric, which changes entirely. Mudcat/DigiTrad: O! those sweet silver dollars, I've counted them plenty But it's many times over I've mourned my sad fate If you would know kisses of dew and of morning Don't wait until noon, or you'll find it's too late Beginning with Donald Swann, the composer of the music, all those who record "The Youth of the Heart" sing this final verse instead: So all you young lovers, all ready to marry, Remember my story, and mind what I say. For I was a wise man, and now I am sorry: The wisdom of winter is madness in May! |
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17 Oct 19 - 01:26 PM (#4014166) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu This link goes to a performance (YouTube 'video') from Save the Land!, a 1972 album by the Clancy brothers. I can't tell which of the brothers sings this solo. "The Youth of the Heart" And in listening, you may confirm that the text version is the version sung by Donald Swann, which is different than the lyric in Mudcat's DigiTrad. |
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17 Oct 19 - 04:58 PM (#4014205) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu There is a rare copy of sheet music of this song for sale -- I'm going to purchase it, and report back to this thread, which variation of the lyric is printed in the sheet music score. |
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19 Oct 19 - 05:17 PM (#4014457) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,keberoxu And this is a live recorded performance by the composer, Donald Swann. |
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21 Oct 19 - 03:36 PM (#4014752) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,keberoxu Right, the sheet music I bought has been delivered, someone took really good care of it for a long time because the copyright date goes back to 1951! Chappell, of course, which is the publisher for At the Drop of a Hat. My suspicions are borne out by the sheet music: the lyric in the score is the same that Donald Swann and others have recorded, which is to say, a slightly different lyric than Mudcat's DigiTrad song file. Perhaps a future post to this thread ought to spell out, exactly, the copyrighted Chappell lyric from the score, in order to demonstrate how the two song lyrics are similar as well as how they differ. |
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23 Oct 19 - 05:04 PM (#4015088) Subject: ADD:Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu THE YOUTH OF THE HEART Words by Sydney Carter Music by Donald Swann When I was a young man, I hadn't a penny. "When shall we marry?" My Molly would say. But I was a wise man, And said to my darling: "Love that is true love will not fade away." CHORUS I went to America looking for money. I worked all the day, and I slept all alone. The sweet silver dollars I saved for my darling, To clothe her in satin and make her my own. CHORUS I came back to Ireland, my pockets a-jingle. The wedding bells rang as I came down the street. "Oh, where is the colleen I've come back to marry?" I asked the first neighbour I happened to meet. CHORUS "Your love has grown weary of keeping her kisses, And learning a song that will never be sung. This morning your Molly has married another: A penniless man with a heart that is young!" CHORUS So all you young lovers all ready to marry, Remember my story, and mind what I say. For I was a wise man, and now I am sorry: The wisdom of winter is madness in May! CHORUS Oh the youth of the heart And the dew in the morning! You wake, and they've left you Without any warning. Copyright 1951 by Chappell & Co., London |
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27 Nov 19 - 09:03 PM (#4021472) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,keberoxu I still would dearly like to know if anybody recognizes the Mudcat DigiTrad version of these lyrics (link in opening post), and better still, knows of a source for them, now that I have documented the lyric sung by Donald Swann. |
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28 Nov 19 - 07:39 PM (#4021564) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu refresh |
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02 Jul 20 - 02:57 AM (#4062424) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,SRL To the person who purchased the Youth of the Heart sheet music, where did you find it? I would be very interested in obtaining a copy, either from your source or even a digital copy from yourself. |
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02 Jul 20 - 10:46 AM (#4062469) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,keberoxu Hello SRL, by chance I found it at Amazon dot co dot UK! I can guess it rarely appears there either. And I would be happy to not merely share but to GIVE you the sheet music actually; my purchase has served its purpose, now that this Mudcat thread documents the variations between the words as preserved at Digital Traditions and the words sung by Donald Swann et alia. So I am quite ready to let go of my copy and let someone else have it. Now, if you had a Mudcat membership, then you and I could exchange private messages or 'PM' each other about where I could send the music. |
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02 Aug 22 - 04:32 PM (#4149073) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST Thanks to the people who attributed this song to the people who actually wrote it! It was very well known in the 1950s; it's actually mentioned in a Margery Allingham mystery novel, can't remember which one. |
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27 Jan 24 - 01:54 AM (#4196220) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST,Paul Ingraham to GUEST 02 Aug 22: That mention is in Allingham's The Beckoning Lady, near the very end. The book is available online at Google Books. Here's the passage. "As Mr Campion came up he was just in time to see him put out a foot absently to trip up an August who was flitting past, but his voice was sad to the point of unsteadiness. 'The youth of the heart and the dew in the morning, You wake and they've left you without any warning.' He quoted the lyric softly. 'Oh Minnie, how tragic. How awful, Minnie'. |
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29 Jan 24 - 07:24 AM (#4196322) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: The Doctor This is available on the black box collection 'Hat Trick', possibly not on Amazon but at least one copy on ebay, and well worth having. It was part of the original 'At the drop pf a hat' but didn't make it on to the LP. It was subsequently released on an EP to try to satisfy public demand for more. |
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05 Feb 24 - 01:34 AM (#4196685) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: GUEST Liam Clancy sang the lead… Lou Killen on Concertina.. great album..”Save the Land” 1972 |
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19 Jun 24 - 06:52 PM (#4204157) Subject: RE: Youth of the Heart: Sydney Carter/Donald Swann From: keberoxu Well, it's been a Mudcat adventure: thanks to PMs, the person who wanted the sheet music contacted me and provided me with an address so I could send them the music. So, this year finally, I located my copy (had misplaced it) and shipped it off to that address -- clear to Tanzania it was. It went by Global Priority Mail. And wouldn't you know, the darned thing came back this week. I guess it was undeliverable or something. |