LYR ADD: Herbert Hoover's Love Song

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Herbert Hoover's Love Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 03:23 AM

And the pent-up fires of longing loosed their prison's weak control,
And in wild, hot words came rushing from my burning soul.
Wild hot words that spoke of passion, hitherto but half expressed,
And I clasped you close, my sweetheart, kissed you, strained you to my breast.

Gee, this isn't the kind of stuff you'd expect from the guy who promised a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. I think Hoover really loved this woman - I certainly wouldn't dream that Clinton had any love for Monica. Bravo, Herbert!
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Herbert Hoover's Love Song
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 11:07 PM

Well done Bob! May I suggest that the song could also be attributed to the current President if the word 'music' in the very last line of the song was changed to 'muscle'.

Regards John

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: HERBERT HOOVER'S LOVE SONG (H Hoover
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 06:55 PM

G'day All,

Back in my LYR REQ: Gold Miners' Songs (American) thread, I suggested responding, in thanks, with a song from the Australian gold fields ... by Herbert Hoover! This is it.

HERBERT HOOVER'S LOVE SONG

Do you ever dream, my sweetheart, of a twilight long ago,
Of a park in old Kalgoorlie, where the bougainvilleas grow,
Where the moonbeams on the pathways trace a shimmering brocade,
And the overhanging peppers form a lovers promenade?

Where in soft cascades of cadence from a garden close at hand,
Came the murmurous, mellow music of a sweet, orchestral band.
Years have flown since then, my sweetheart, fleet as orchard blooms in May,
But the hour that fills my dreaming, was it only yesterday?

Stood we two a space in silence, while the summer sun slipped down,
And the grey dove dusk, with drooping pinions, wrapt the mining town,
Then you raised your tender glances darkly, dreamily to mine,
And my pulses clashed like symbols in a rhapsody divine.

And the pent-up fires of longing loosed their prison s weak control,
And in wild, hot words came rushing from my burning soul.
Wild hot words that spoke of passion, hitherto but half expressed,
And I clasped you close, my sweetheart, kissed you, strained you to my breast.

While the starlight-spangled heavens rolled around us where we stood,
And a tide of bliss kept surging through the current of our blood.
And I spent my soul in kisses, crushed upon your scarlet mouth,
Oh! My red-lipped, sunbrowned sweetheart, dark-eyed daughter of the south.

It was well that fate should part us, it was well my path should lead,
Back to slopes of high endeavour, aye, and was it well, indeed.
You have wed some southern squatter, learned long since his every whim,
Soothed his sorrows, borne his troubles, sung your sweetest songs for him.

I have fought my fight and triumphed, on the map I've writ my name,
But I prize one hour of loving, more than fifty years of fame.
It was but a summer madness that possessed us, men will hold,
And the yellow moon bewitched me with its wizardry of gold.

Let them say it, dear, but oft-times in the dusk I close my eyes
And in dreams drift back to where the stars rain splendour from the skies,
To a park in far Kalgoorlie, where the golden wattles grow,
Where you kissed me in the twilight of a summer long ago.

And I clasp you close, my sweetheart, while each throbbing pulse is thrilled,
By a low and mournful music that shall never more be stilled.

This song comes from 'Great Australian Folk Songs, John Lahey, Hill of Content Publishing Co, Melbourne, 1965. The author says of this song: "These remarkable verses are attributed to the late Herbert Hoover, President of the United States between 1929 and 1932. Hoover first came to the West Australian goldfields as a 23-year-old mining engineer, 1n 1897, and he lived in Australia off and on for the next ten years.

The goldfields historian, the late Arthur Reid, who knew Hoover, preserved the verses in his book 'Those Were the Days'. He said Hoover wrote them to a Kalgoorlie barmaid, years after he returned to the United States. Several West Australians sing different tunes, but their words are substantially the same. The tune here is my own adaptation.

MIDI file: h-hoover.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 3/4 24 8
Tempo: 128 (468750 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0240 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0384 0 64 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0576 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064 0624 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 72 080 0384 0 72 064 0096 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0576 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0384 0 64 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 64 080 0576 0 64 064 0624 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0384 0 64 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0576 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064 0624 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 72 080 0384 0 72 064 0096 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0576 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0384 0 64 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0384 0 65 064 0096 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 60 080 0912 0 60 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:3/4
Q:1/4=128
K:C
C4D2|E4G2|F4D2|E2G4|-G4GG|A4A2|F4A2|G6|-G4AB|
c4c2|F4A2|A2G4|-G4DE|E4G2|F4F2|E6|-E4DE|E4G2|
F4D2|E2G4|-G4GG|A4A2|F4A2|G6|-G4AB|c4c2|F4A2|
A2G4|-G4DE|E4G2|F4D2|C6|-C3/2||

Enjoy,

Bob Bolton