The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31649 Message #3857659
Posted By: Joe Offer
29-May-17 - 03:49 AM
Thread Name: Info & Songs: Bob Zentz
Subject: ADD: Sweet Song from Yesterday (Bob Zentz)
I really like "Sweet Song of Yesterday" by Bob Zentz. It's on a new CD of a 1979 concert by Gordon Bok and Bob Zentz, titled Together Again for the First Time. I transcribed the song from this 1979 concert. The words have changed over the years. It's often sung "sweet song of yesterday."
SWEET SONG FROM YESTERDAY
(Bob Zentz)
CHORUS
Hold back the day in which I'm living
So far from home, so far from free
Hold back the way we've all been given
And let a sweet song from yesterday wash over me
If we should meet like ships a-passing
Some stormy night upon the blue
We may not speak, but for the asking,
I'd let a sweet song from yesterday wash over you
When it seems your dreams aren't worth the dreaming
And when you can't find your way through
And when your schemes ain't worth the scheming
Just let a sweet song from yesterday wash over you
Here's a recording of Bob Zentz and Gordon Bok singing the song on the Beaucatcher Farewell album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ9jNcszYNw
Here's a recording of Bob singing the song with Jeanne McDougall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9su1rzHuaE. This was from a 2010 concert at Mudcatter SINSULL's house. I got a call from Jeanne a couple weeks ago, asking for help on a song she found at Mudcat. She said that she and Bob got married early this year. Two darn nice people.
Cathy Barton & Dave Para (at 2:46): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcoi7CcfqM
Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics (typos in bold):
SWEET SONG FROM YESTERDAY
(Bob Zentz)
Hold back the days in which I'm living,
So far from home, so far from free;
Hold back the way we've all been given,
And let a sweet song from yesterday wash over me.
If we should meet like ships a-passin',
Some stormy night upon the blue,
We may not speak, but for the asking,
I'd let a sweet song from yesterday wash over you.
When it seems you dreams ain't worth the dreamin',
When you can't find you way through,
And when you schemes ain't worth the schemin',
Just let a sweet song from yesterday wash over you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Recorded by Bob Zentz on "Beaucatcher Farewell", FSI-67,
copyright 1978.
"The old songs (and the ones that seem as though they've always
been around) take care of us, and tend to cleanse us by washing
away the immediate grit and grime of everyday existence in a
'solution' of 'we've all been there before.' Those songs and
tunes tend to plug us into the mainstream of mankind, and let us
live and learn from the billions who have lived, lost, worked,
loved, and felt - and celebrated it in song.
Sometimes I realize that my songs tell who I am better than I do.
We are all anchored somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow -
and those sweet songs are a way of holding hands in the darkness
as we face the unknown. As time washes over us, we keep our
footing by being rooted in tradition as we face the future."
@music
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DC