Lyr ADD: Key of R (Elizabeth W. Anthony)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:52 PM

Joe, bless him,..*grin*...has 'folk-processed' the tune I got a lot! Dick Hamlet supposedly got it from the source....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:49 PM

*grin*...had to look all over the hard drive...I have it in RealAudio or MP3...2.9 megs or 2.5 megs..(I sang it in a hurry and one key too ^high, but it will give you an idea of how it can go...)

now...how to convey it, since it is twice the size my little website allows me?...can you get BIG emails?...or would Pene Azul post it on Mudcat temporarily?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Micca
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:41 PM

Bill, Joe Offer sung this at "Sharps FC" here in london UK tonight!!! I dont think they had heard it before!! they were impressed

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:33 PM

Any luck, Bill?

The link to Joe's tune doesn't work either.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:25 PM

funny you should ask...I got my cataract operation out of the way and I was just setting things up last night. I got a new recording system and can convert to any format now..now I need to tune the poor old autoharp (it's been months) and give it all a whirl....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:07 PM

Any luck, Bill?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Feb 02 - 12:02 AM

ok...I made the Windows sound recorder work today...pretty simple, actually...so tomorrow I will attempt to produce a representation of how I do "The Key of R"...with Autoharp!(yes, a suspended ^9th chord IS a bit strange on a 21 bar autoharp...but that's the point...)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Jan 02 - 11:03 PM

Paxton's Marvelous Toy is the other tune that it reminds me of.

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 09:42 AM

Liland...that there's a perfect example of the folk process! We'll never know if I got it right from Dick H., whether Joe got it right from ME, or whether one of us changed it accidently...and until we hear from the author, we are not even sure how it was originally...I hear it in my head as 'amber', as the humor seems to lie in the 'key' part, and the descriptions are sung as if they are totally serious.....but when you look what is done to Scots dialect, it is a minor issue...*grin*

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 03:26 AM

Well, not to hurt anybody's feelings, my source for the "azure" reading was Joe Offer's website, so I'm not sure how much credit or blame can attach to Bill D. And I do actually think it's good in context. If I ever sing it in public, I'll sing it "azure"... ;-)

The tunes remind me more than anything, at first hear, of Tom Lehrer's "Rickety Tickety Tin" (sp?)... "...she did every one of them in."

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 01:05 PM

Thanks a lot, Bill

Looking forward to it, audio is about 1000% better than midi...

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 01:01 PM

Paul...yeah...I'm over my cold, and I guess it's time for me to see just how simple it is to mave a .wav file..(and maybe to turn it into an MP3)...I'll poke into the innards of this machine and see if I can re-create MY version...(I assume you have messed with the midi?..It is 'close', but voice is better.)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 11:59 AM

BillD

Is there any chance of you posting an mp3 / wav / real audio / whatever of this, somewhere?

I'd really love to hear it

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Micca
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 11:53 AM

Bill, it was, the name Corrine rings a bell, and it was on stage in the "volunteer" evening concert on the stage and they did the "flat, diminshed" part beautifully, it was a "change of underwear" moment,If I had had any..

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: MMario
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 09:27 AM

I heard it at least three times during the weekend - and I wasn't there all day saturday - so it may have been done more often.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 08:23 AM

Micca...I believe the people who originally brought it to me, Dick Hamlet and Corrine McWilliams, did it ...I was not at that workshop..(he plays banjo)...I don't think I did it at all, but I have done it several times late at night, so perhaps I forgot...*shrug*..(maybe you heard it twice...*grin*)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 05:07 AM

Bill, did you do this at the Getaway?(and if not you, who did, I remember a lady was involved in the performance, and an autoharp) someone certainly did as I remember stuffing my sleeve in my mouth not to laugh too loud and interrupt the singing....

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 07:37 PM

.....same to you, buddy! *grin*

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Roger in Baltimore
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 06:21 PM

Just a ditto of Joe for Jon. Yes, this song not only can be sung acappella, it does very well without accompaniment. Don't be put off by Bill D.'s description of how to present it. He's mighty particular about performance, so his suggestions are great, but find your own way. And remember: no one, I repeat, no one, can out Bill Day, a Bill Day performance.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 12:06 PM

I can see the headlines..............

DAY JOINS THE IMMORTALS

Then someone will notice it was a late night typo and after reading your other posts, relegate you back to the masses...............

DAY SIMPLY AN IDIOT

But it will be good for awhile though and you'll have your moment (however fleeting) of fame.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 12:00 PM

...but, on the other hand, I will be immortalized as a source!! Me and Almeda Riddle...wow!

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 11:09 AM

Well Bill...........Hmmmmm............I'd say we have a case of the "Folk Process" at work here for whatever reason. It seems that some and perhaps others who have learned it from them are now singing "azure" instead! Considering the humorous nature of the song, it could well work as Liland sees it. Given the right circumstance, I can see a time 20 years down the road when the word is debated.......much like they are here now..........and fortunately we have this thread to set the record straight. Sadly, azure will show up two other places and there will be a debate over authenticity and..................LMAO!!!! I love it!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 10:40 AM

ummmm...it just hit me...did I post azure waves? *sigh*...since I got it orally, and my post is from memory, I can't imagine that the author would have written 'azure'....It certainly ought to be amber, as the only blue grain I know of is in exotic corn and surrealist paintings.

Ok, everyone...quick..alter your memories to reflect this revelation.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:36 AM

Thanks for the link. I concur in its prescriptions.

"America the Beautiful" is one of the songs frequently mentioned as a better choice by those who opine that our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", is too bellicose. OTOH some feel it is, while less bellicose, too theistic for our modern secular state with its constitutional disestablishment of religion. Like other patriotic songs (though not as much as "God Bless America") it has been overused since September 11th last, I think.

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:23 AM

OK, thanks Liland.

Not being American, I'm not very familiar with 'America the Beautiful' and hence missed the allusion.

Cheers.

Paul

btw, I love a punctuation pedant. You might like this site (if you've not seen it already).

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:04 AM

No, Paul, it's "azure waves of grain", the allusion being to Katherine Lee Bates's amber waves of grain (in America the Beautiful). However, "It's" should be "Its".

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,PaulM
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:48 AM

Could I just check whether the lyrics posted are correct?

The line:
It's purple mountains, azure waves of grain and fields of corn.

doesn't make any sense to me. Should it be:
It's purple mountains, azure waves and fields of grain and corn?

Paul

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:17 AM

Hi, Liland - I have the MIDI and Noteworthy files of the original tune posted on my Website, along with a recording of me singing it with my own (inaccurate) recollection of the tune.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:40 AM

Refresh : So what's the status of getting a tune file out? MIDI or otherwise?

Liland

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 04:45 PM

Yes, I see from recent threads that Jon, from Vancouver is now cookiefied and amoung us...welcome!

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 07:15 PM

Bill is *croak* trying to just speak an entire sentence without coughing...you would NOT like what 9 days of chest cold does to my singing!....but as soon as I can. (hey, maybe that promised CD from Tom Rawson will come out and give is ALL some definative version!)

As to acappela, it's as Joe says....it just has a different effect if you fake those chords, DO the chords, or refer to the chords

(Ummmm...'the' Jon Bartlett who sang at the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap about 1977?...from whom I stole "The Hippies and the Beatnicks-O" ...and who sang ALL of 'Thaïs' with Jon Eberhart?)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 04:28 PM

Yeah, Tiger - the MIDI and Noteworthy tunes on my site ARE the tunes Bill uses. The recording is my own tune, which I worked up before I got the tune from Ferrara.
If we nag him enough, maybe Bill will make his own recording.
Note that the songwriter was Libby Anthony. Bill D is just the most infamous singer of this song.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Tiger
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 07:39 AM

With apologies in advance to the other 'cats, I'd really like to get BILL's tune. Are any of the above like his, or are they just made up?

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:58 AM

If you sing it in the cappella, Jon, they'd probably kick you out. Maybe not. We used to sing Engelbert Humperdinck songs in the vestibule of the cappella, and they left us alone. In fact, they stayed far away from us....

I sing it without accompaniment, and it works fine.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 10:42 PM

Can this song be sung a capella? (asks this a capella singer)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:55 PM

ahhh...Ferrara said we had sent that tune!...but I couldn't find the original anywhere....thanks, Joe...(you did change some details of the tune, but it still retains the basic 'flavor')

(bear in mind, folks, that neat as this song is, you 'can' overdo it real easily...it is great to spring on a group for the first time (especially if there are insrtumentalists there who can DO those chords), but then the novelty diminishes a bit. (I do it on at with the Autoharp...which multiplies the comedic effect)

(I did download RealProducer...once I dug and struggled thru Real's strong-arm inducements to *BUY_BUY_BUY* the $199 PRO version...they don't want to allow you to get the free version until you have EXPLAINED to them why you are being so cheap and silly)...now, I shall try to USE it.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 03:49 PM

Well, I think I got the jump on BillD. Click here for a page with my recording of the song, which I'm told bears no resemblance to the original tune. There's also a MIDI and Noteworthy file from Ferrara, a far more trustworthy source than I.
Ferrara's rendition of the tune has been harvested for the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Tiger
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 07:50 AM

I'd love to get that tune - how about it, guys?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 10:39 AM

Ok, I'm gonna try RealProducer....it seems like I need to get off my butt and learn to do it, for various projects...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 02:58 AM

Tom Rawson...Dick and Corinne...WW&S...I'm getting homesick! I know I heard somebody sing this song sometime, but I don't remember who it was or when. (There, aren't you all glad I shared that?) Actually, it was probably Flip Breskin, which makes sense since it was born in Bellingham.

Aloha,
Mark, rambling again...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Mudlark
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 02:45 AM

GREAT song...thanks for posting...

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 06 Jan 02 - 01:37 AM

I would suggest an RA file, which would be much smaller, and sound about as good. Of course, you'd have to download Real Producer, but then you would have it to use for other things as well.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jan 02 - 09:42 PM

hmmmmm...maybe I need to figger out how to make a .wav file of me singing it and post it on my little site, since it keeps getting attention (I 'think' all I have to do is use the Windows recorder and a mic)....let me think (am suffering thru 5th day of bad chest cold right now)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Hilary
Date: 05 Jan 02 - 01:26 PM

Wow, just found this song, did anyone know a tune to fit the words ??? Good song.

H

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 04:14 PM

well, we don't seem to have a midi or Noteworthy file....Maybe I could just sing it onto a tape......

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 04:01 PM

sure is....but in my head!..and I don't know how easy it is to transcribe (I have simply never done note writing from my head)....I'll sing it to you..grin*..(It goes 'sort of' like The Bastard King of England, if you know that...but different)

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From:
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 01:40 PM

It reads wonderfully. IS there a tune available?

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 03 Feb 01 - 08:48 PM

So, I had the right group, but the wrong woman.(Joe and I discussed this before, but I forgot to post the correction to the thread) All three of the women in that group wrote wonderful songs. I'll write Tom back and tell him about this thread and discussion, and ask if we can check with Libby to get permission to have the song here.

Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Barbara
Date: 03 Feb 01 - 08:40 PM

Hi gang, I just heard from Tom Rawson, and this is what he says:

"Libby Anthony wrote the Key of R. Yes, she was in Women, Women and Song. It will be on my next album which will be happening soon. I'll let you know."

So, now we know.
Blessings,
Barbara, who wishes she could get her WW&S tapes back, or buy new ones.

Subject: RE: Key of R - Bill D???
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 11:10 PM

Joe..I think if you REALLY mean it, it WONT work..*grin*