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Great folk song lyrics
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Subject: Great folk song lyrics From: CET Date: 08 Apr 10 - 06:28 PM I was listening to The Field Behind the Plow, by Stan Rogers, this morning, which got me thinking to great lyrics I have heard in folk music - the kind that take your breath away, or that burrow their way so deeply into your mind that you can't get rid of them. I think this is really why I prefer folk music to pop or jazz. There are thousands of songs like that in folk music, not so many in other forms of popular music. Even great pop songwriters, like Lennon and Macartney, rarely rise above being clever. So here is my contribution to start off this thread, from Field Behind the Plow: Emmett Pierce, the other day, took a heart attack and died at forty-two You could see it coming on, 'cause he worked as hard as you. I'll add others if this thread goes anywhere. What lyrics really pack a punch for you? |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: JHW Date: 08 Apr 10 - 06:42 PM The terraced streets were my Grand Canyons The shipyard cranes were my redwood trees Those steel yard tips were my mountain ranges And the brickyard ponds were my Seven Seas My Eldorado - Graeme Miles |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: oldhippie Date: 08 Apr 10 - 07:12 PM "You came when you were needed I could not ask for more Than to turn and find you walking Through the kitchen door." The Trumpet Vine - Kate Wolf |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: deepdoc1 Date: 08 Apr 10 - 07:16 PM Holy crap! Where to start? That's like asking which breath I liked best out of a lifetime of breathing. Like you said, a main strength of this music is the story, or the glimpse into a soul (of course a good tune doesn't hurt). (I also like the Stan Rogers you gave.)Well, here's one or two: Gordon Bok, Old Fat Boat Well, mercy, mercy, I do declare, If half the fun of going is getting there, Mercy, Percy, you better start rowing, 'Cause the other half of getting there is going. Greg Brown, impossible to limit to just a few: Early: Oooo-ee, ain't the mornin' light pretty, When the dew is still heavy, so bright and early. My home on the range; it's a one-horse town, And it's alright with me. Guy Clark, (also impossible to narrow too much) Step Inside This House: Step inside this house girl I'll sing for you a song I'll tell you 'bout just where I've been It shouldn't take too long I'll show you all the things that I own My treasures you might say Couldn't be more than ten dollars worth They brighten up my day Annette Bjergfeldt, Boo Hewerdine, Footsteps Fall Sung by Maura O'Connell: And the loneliest sound of all Is the sound of love through a stranger's wall But when their laughter fades And there are no more words The silence breaks me most of all The list goes on. My clicker is tired now. JimB |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Stringsinger Date: 08 Apr 10 - 07:44 PM Stan Rogers was great! I like a song that boils it down like: "Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen to Calumet Michigan in the copper country....." or "In the shadow of the steeple, I saw my people......." "Do you see yon crow that flies so high? T'will surely turn to white, If I am false to the girl I love, bright morning turn to night......" "Tell you more lies than cross-ties on a railroad or stars in the skies...." "Longest train i ever did see was on the Georgia line. Engine come in at six o'clock and the caboose came in at nine." (Them trains are really long) "You're an eyeless, boneless chickenless egg and you'll have to stand by a bowl and beg.............." "Some'll rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen...." "It's cloudy in the West and it's lookin' like rain and my damned old slicker's in the wagon again....." The world of folk is full of profound stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Celtaddict Date: 08 Apr 10 - 08:01 PM The ways of man are passing strange: He buys his freedom and he counts his change, Then he lets the wind his days arrange And he calls the tide his master. Gordon Bok, The Ways of Man |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: deepdoc1 Date: 08 Apr 10 - 08:31 PM Eric Bogle, If Wishes Were Fishes And I wish I was young again my song still to be sung again The sweet tunes of my life have gone sour and off key Writin' my tired old rhymes tryin to turn back time If wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets in the sea ========================== Patty Griffin, Top od the World (Folk? Debatable, but memorable) There's a whole lot of singin's never gonna be heard Disppearing every day without so much as a word somehow I think I broke the wings off that little songbird She's never gonna fly to the top of the world now To the top of the world I wished I'd of known you Wished I had shown you All of the things I Was on the inside ========================== Tom Waits, San Diego Serenade, among others" Never saw the East coast until I moved to the West I never saw the moonlight until it shone off your breast And I never saw your heart till someone tried to steal it away Never saw your tears till they rolled down your face ========================== Iris Dement. No Time To Cry I've got no time to look back, I've got no time to see The pieces of my heart that have been ripped away from me ======== I'm done. There's just too many. Every one of these , and more every day, are at the top of my 'smack-in-the-head' category. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Midchuck Date: 08 Apr 10 - 09:48 PM The old ways had their hardships, and the winters were too lonely; But they knew where they belonged, in a world they could understand. 'Till the cities closed in on us, and our one choice grew too simple: You go broke from paying taxes, or get rich from selling land. Dick McCormack |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: mousethief Date: 08 Apr 10 - 11:15 PM Sunset is an angel weeping Holding out a bloody sword No matter how I squint I cannot Make out what it's pointing toward Sometimes you feel like you've lived too long Days drip slowly on the page You catch yourself -- pacing the cage --Bruce Cockburn |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: DonMeixner Date: 08 Apr 10 - 11:18 PM King Kitchie Kitchie kimme kimo D |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: DonMeixner Date: 08 Apr 10 - 11:20 PM King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Kimo or words to that effect, I don't speak Frentch as well as I'd like. D |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: meself Date: 08 Apr 10 - 11:23 PM He got his mean-streak from the gutter, He got his kindness from God. - "Blackpatch", Luara Nyro |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: GUEST,nine_ca Date: 08 Apr 10 - 11:44 PM The mate was a man I loved so much, you see for he save all his pretty words and poetry for me its "scrub the deck and paint the ship and don't you gimme any lip , this aint no bloody pleasure trip.... or And the hookers standing watchfully, waitin by thre door Stan G Triggs Ian Tyson |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Zhenya Date: 09 Apr 10 - 12:58 AM Where does an old time pilot go After he's stood his last watch? Does he fall by the ear of the man who steers Saying hold her on that notch There's a gentle sneeze in the river breeze Saying son I'm goin to bed. And they light their pipes and go off in the night Or was that fireflies instead? Second verse of Old Time River Man (John Hartford) |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Backwoodsman Date: 09 Apr 10 - 03:02 AM She wears Bougainvillea blossoms You pluck 'em from her hair and toss them in the tide Sweep her in your arms and carry her inside Her sighs catch on your shoulder Her moonlit eyes grow bold and wiser through her tears And I say "How could you bear to leave her for a year?" Thanks Stan. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 03:25 AM Without wanting to stir up YET AGAIN the oldoldoldold question: looking back thru this thread, I can't help thinking it would be nice to get some quotes from actual folk songs cited, as well as all these effusions of enthusiastic & well-meaning singer-songwriters more or less in the idiom [whatever that might subsume]. I'll kick off with that great floater, best poetic summation I know of an urgent journey made in extreme haste; the variations on getting to riverside, lying on belly and swimming, getting to other side, taking to heels and running... Any more like that? ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Terry McDonald Date: 09 Apr 10 - 03:52 AM Just what I was thinking. I'm always surprised by the North American view on what constitutes a 'folk song.' For what it's worth, I'll offer 'Strange news has come to town, Strange news is carried Strange news flies up and down That my love's married.' |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: CET Date: 09 Apr 10 - 05:51 AM I started off with Stan Rogers because Field Behind the Plow was what I had been listening to. That may have got people off on a singer-songwriter tangent. I'm a traditional music lover myself, and I find a lot of singer-songwriters to be pale imitations of the real thing - BUT there are some who have the gift, Stan Rogers being very notably one of them. He did have his off days, and some of what he wrote could be described as well meaning effusions, but with Field Behind the Plow he reached the summit. Ian Tyson is another great writer. His lines quoted above are just about perfect: "And the hookers standing watchfully, waitin by the door" - no attmpt to be "poetic", but with just a few words he puts you right there on the street. Ian Tyson had the same gift with that song that Kipling had in so many of his poems: "Oh the young recruits are shaking, and they'll want their beer today After hanging Danny Deever in the morning." Thank God for Peter Bellamy. Would we ever have realized what a great songwriter Kipling was without him? I know he was very far from being the first to set Kipling to music, but none of the earlier songs have the same impact as his do. Compare his version of the Road to Mandalay to the old favourite, for example. Here are some trad lyrics that do it for me, from Sam Hall. I've never heard anybody sing them except me: I have candles lily white, hanging high, hanging high I have candles lily white, hanging high I have candles lily white, and I stole them all by night They shall fill my room with light till I die, till I die They shall fill my room with light till I die. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: deepdoc1 Date: 09 Apr 10 - 06:23 AM Yes, I do apologize for wandering. A couple of glasses af wine and my enthusiasm started tugging at the leash. I shall slink off int' the underbrush and attempt to learn restraint. It probably won't work, but I'll try. ;) |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: banjoman Date: 09 Apr 10 - 06:27 AM How about Tom Paxtons song about 9/11 I'm haunted by the sound of Firemen running up the stairs while we were running down. This one came to mind as I was thinking about those two brave men who lost their lives in Southampton (UK) on Thuesday night. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Fred McCormick Date: 09 Apr 10 - 06:36 AM From Child 88. Young Johnstone. 'Now live, now live, my fair lady, O live but half an hour, There's neer a leech in fair Scotland But shall be at thy bower.' |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Dave the Gnome Date: 09 Apr 10 - 06:53 AM Spencer the Rover His children came around him with their prittle prattling stories With their prittle prattling stories to drive care away Anyone with kids will know why I love it:-) Cheers DeG |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Deckman Date: 09 Apr 10 - 09:37 AM GREAT THREAD ... I'll contribute after I wake some more ... Bob(deckman)Nelson |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Tug the Cox Date: 09 Apr 10 - 09:42 AM The whole of 'I sowed the seeds of love' takes some beating. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: mrmoe Date: 09 Apr 10 - 09:58 AM Carl Watanabe's "where the uplands roll" if you say my name where the uplands roll and the answer you get ain't very kind they'll be spoken by my hard friends of old and my hard friends of old, I don't mind I met a green eyed girl where the chaparral rolls and grows high up to meet the yellow pine her name and age best be unknown it's enough just to say she once was mine she was fair but her ways were much fairer yet and her laughter could dance against the wind her manner charmed everyone that she met 'til they held her as dear as next of kin each young man placed his wealth and his soul in her hand but none of them could be so proud for she did choose a stranger to the land and she came to me with her head bowed our wedding day would come when the spring flowers bloomed like two horses we danced into the sun the stallion pranced and the mare would follow before our wedding day a child would come soldiers kill and we honor them with fortune and fame but a baby who's harmed not one life but is early to come is bathed full in shame so must die unborn to a doctor's knife as the doctor took our unborn babe seeds of sorrow took root upon her mind in her body the poison from his unwashed blade left a wound who's cure we'd never find so if you say my name where the uplands roll and the answer you get ain't very kind they'll be spoken by my hard friends of old and my hard friends of old, I don't mind but if they say not a word about me at all but are reminded of a young girl once so fine then listen close to the words that they recall and they'll tell you of a girl who once was mine |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: CET Date: 09 Apr 10 - 12:54 PM I hope this won't turn into trad vs. non-trad thread. What I had in mind was a discussion of lyrics with power, so whether it's singer-songwriter or trad.that does it for you, have at it. That said, it would be interesting to hear from folks on my side of the Atlantic about traditional lyrics that take your breath away. There are plenty of fine songwriters that don't manage to achieve this: Lennon/Macartney to name two. I wouldn't include many Bob Dylan songs either. Much as I like his music, he never wrote anything (IMHO) that equalled the emotional impact of Stan Rogers or Ian Tyson at their best. Here's some more: La reine a fait faire un bouquet De belles fleurs de lise Et la senteur de ce bouquet A fait mourir Marquise (Le roi a fait battre tambour) Hard to get any simpler than that and it's all there in high definition - the bitter hatred of the queen for the Marquise, who is only the victim of the philandering king. You can practically put yourself in the room in the royal palace where the Marquise dies alone. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: PHJim Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:02 PM The silence of a falling star Lights up a purple sky And as I wonder where you are I'm so lonesome I could cry Hank Williams |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: PHJim Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:04 PM Wilder Than Her - Fred J. Eaglesmith Well I'm wilder than her, and what else can I say But I guess that's why she fell in love with me She's a house on fire, she's got all those charms I'm a house on fire, too, but I got four alarms And I'm wilder than her, and it drives her out of her mind I guess she thought that she was just one of a kind But she's a summer storm, and I'm a hurricane One just blows through town, one blows the town away And I'm wilder than her When we go drivin' in our cars, racing through the night She can drive as fast as me but she stops at all the lights She says it's 'cause I'm crazy and she's probably right But I think that the reason is that I'm twice as wild chorus But when she takes my hand and she looks me in the eye I see something that I've never seen in my life She takes the fire and turns it down low She takes the night and makes it not so cold She takes the distance and breaks it into miles She makes my life just a little less wild |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Tootler Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:30 PM There's not enough quotes from Traditional songs on this thread. They are the true folk songs.
Trad Northumbrian. I'm sure that any parent whose children are teenagers or older will recognise this scenario. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: DonMeixner Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:35 PM There are so many great songs and with true bits of poetic brilliance in them. The quote from Brave Wolfe is an excellent example. How does one find just a few to choose from. Ian and Sylvia's song The French Girl, I assume by Ian Tyson just captivates me again every time I hear it. The line from Along Side the Sante Fe Trail She had a smile like an acre of sunflowers brings to me a face I haven't seen in 40 years but I remember it still. And Henry Lawson's poem set to music Reedy River is just one rolling collection of pictures. I don't have a favorite but those I mentioned will do until I find one. Don |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Tootler Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:40 PM And surely, one of the most beautiful love songs ever written:
The simplicity of the language makes it more telling. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:54 PM "I hope this won't turn into trad vs. non-trad thread " ================================ No, indeed CET; this is one thread where contribs from both sides of that divide, right across the spectrum, should be welcome. I made that earlier observation because it seemed from the first few posts that traditional wasn't getting anything of a look-in at all. ================= "That said, it would be interesting to hear from folks on my side of the Atlantic about traditional lyrics that take your breath away," you go on. Can I suggest one such from over here: "Hug you & kiss you & tell you more lies Than the cross-ties on the railroad and the stars in the skies". That certainly a very beautiful one, & certainly from your side of the Atlantic, because over here, our railWAYS have SLEEPERS, not cross-ties. ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: GUEST,CS Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:00 PM The OP said: "I hope this won't turn into trad vs. non-trad thread. What I had in mind was a discussion of lyrics with power, so whether it's singer-songwriter or trad.that does it for you, have at it." Yes, I had similar thing resulting from another thread I initiated recently where I put "folk" but meant something quite broad. My summation would be that it would be helpful if people creating threads clearly deliniated their terms and wants in the OP. I used the term "folk" when I was meaning "traditional & singer/songwriter" others read "folk" to mean "traditional only", so I had to explain the broader terms of my OP. Having said that I don't know how many (if indeed any?) Americans recognise any distinction between traditional (very old) and contemporary (not so old) folk music. Honest here. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:06 PM Vaughan Williams once said that he thought 'Searching For Lambs' had the most beautiful tune he had ever heard. Some of its lyrics are quite lovely also: How hero-like the sun do shine How pleasant is the air I'd sooner rest on my true love's breast Than any other where... ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Richard Mellish Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:08 PM MtheGM lamented the absence of "quotes from actual folk songs". As one pedant to another, I would point out that there were a few of those (in the narrower sense of "folk songs") before his posting. However there has been a preponderance of recently-composed songs throughout this thread. Perhaps this reflects a general (though by no means universal) difference between the old songs, which tend to be largely matter-of-fact about the events recounted, and the new ones, which more often describe explicitly what the protagonists felt and thought. For words that "take your breath away" how about the description of the fate of the innocent Child Owlet? (The following is hastily pasted from the DigiTrad. Other versions are similar.) There wasnae grass nor heather knowe Nor broom nor bonnie whin But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood And pieces o' his skin There wasnae stane on Elkin Moor Nor yet a piece o' rush But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood And pieces o' his flesh Or the climax of the version of The Daemon Lover, where he grows taller than the ship's mast and dashes it to pieces? Richard |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:10 PM "Having said that I don't know how many (if indeed any?) Americans recognise any distinction between traditional (very old) and contemporary (not so old) folk music. Honest here." GUEST CS ===== One who most assuredly did, Sis, was the late great Sandy Paton; don't think I have ever met anyone much more conscious of the distinction. ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Mavis Enderby Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:14 PM Tootler, you beat me to it with Brigg fair! |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 02:17 PM "MtheGM lamented the absence of "quotes from actual folk songs". As one pedant to another, I would point out that there were a few of those (in the narrower sense of "folk songs") before his posting." === Indeed, Richard, your post, pedant-2-pedant, made me check back: & there was indeed one [count them 1] post from Stringsinger containing several lines among a selection which would indeed qualify. Pedantic apologies ··· ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Acorn4 Date: 09 Apr 10 - 04:06 PM "Money doesn't talk, it swears, propaganda all is phoney!" Bob Dylan |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Apr 10 - 10:39 PM Another traditional floater I would nominate is the "Sad is the fortunes of all womankind" opening stanza which is the topic of another ongoing thread at this moment. ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: mousethief Date: 09 Apr 10 - 10:52 PM The silence of a falling star Lights up a purple sky This is gorgeous. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 10 Apr 10 - 12:03 AM A woman is a branchy tree, A man a singing wind, wind; And from your branches carelessly He'll take what he can find, find, He'll take what he can find... Get home to your father's garden Where you may weep your fill And think on your own misfortunes Brought on by your wanton will The King looked o'er his left shoulder And a grim look looked he; "An 'twere not for my oath, Earl Marshall," he cried, "Hanged you should be!" And he took her by her lily-white hand And he led her away to the hall And he cut off her head from her neckbone And kicked it against the wall! The Brown Girl she was standing by With knives both keen and sharp Between the long ribs and the short She pierced fair Eleanor's heart "Oh never will I forget, forgive, As long as I have breath. I'll dance upon your green green grave Where you do lie beneath." And so on and so on and so on... Aaaahhh ~~ say what you will: they just don't write 'em like that any more... ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: beeliner Date: 10 Apr 10 - 12:57 AM Townes VanZandt: "Silver Ships of Andilar" Of those that sailed the silver ships From Andilar I am the last The deeds that rang our youthful dreams It seems shall go undone North for the shores of Valinor Our bows and crimson sails were made Our captains were strong, our lances long And our liege the holy king The hills did turn from green to blue And vanish as on the decks we watched But every thought in that noble company Was forward bound To the lifeless plains of Valinor Where reigns the dark and frozen one And with tongues afire and glorious eyes We pledged our mission be The clime from mild to bitter ran The wind from fair to fierce did blow Oath and prayer did turn to thoughts Of homes left far behind Longed every man for some glimpse of land And the host that did await us there But each new day brought only a sea And sky of ice and gray Thanks give no word can drag you through Those endless weeks our ships did roll Thanks give you cannot see those sails And faces bleach and draw Ice we drank and leather did chew For the oceans are unwholesome there The dead that slid into the seas Did freeze before our eyes Then a wind did fling the ships apart Each one to go her separate way The sky did howl, the hull did groan For how long I do not know And what men were left when the winds had ceased Grew dull and low of countenance For soldiers denied their battle plain On comrades soon must turn So one by one we died alone Some by hunger, some by steel Bodies froze where they did fall Their souls unsanctified Until only another and I were left Then just before his flame did fail We shone ourselves brothers-in-arms To serve the holy king Perhaps this shall reach Andilar Although I know not how it can For once again he's hurled his wind Upon the silver prow But if it should my words are these Arise young men fine ships to build And set them north for Valinor 'Neath standards proud as fire |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Bert Date: 10 Apr 10 - 03:30 AM When the wind whistles cold on the moor at the night All along down along out along lee Tom Pierce's gray mare doth appear ghastly white.... |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Tootler Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:22 AM Was there ever a greater cry of anguish than the last stanza of "The Well Below the Valley"
From a woman who had committed incest (most likely been forced to) with her uncle, brother and father and had killed or seen killed the babies resulting from these liaisons. I found an almost identical verse in an American version of the Cruel Mother when the ghosts of her murdered babies tell her
Puts an entirely different complexion on essentially the same verse yet equally powerful. Burton Coggles: sorry for pinching your suggestion or is it a case of "great minds" [grin]. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: CET Date: 10 Apr 10 - 06:24 AM Richard, you beat me to it with Child Owlett! It's one of my favourites - better described as stomach-churning rather than heart-rending, but doesn't it just put you in the moment? That's why traditional lyrics tend to work better for me than most singer-songwriter lyrics - they make you see something, rather than spending a lot of time telling you about it. |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Mr Fox Date: 10 Apr 10 - 07:11 PM If you had been a practical man, You would have been forewarned. You would have seen that it never could work, And I would have never been born. - Never any Good, Martin Simpson I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome, Swooping down from heaven to carry me home - '52 Vincent Black Lightning, Richard thompson Brown hair zig-zag around her face And a look of half-surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights There was animal in her eyes - Beeswing, Richard Thompson Then he became a burning bush With a flame that leapt so high And he sang the song the spider sings When she comes to court the fly - Jack Rowland, Trad/Martin Carthy Great silence hung from tree to sky The woods grew still, the sun on fire As through the wood the dove he came As through the wood he made his moan - Famous Flower of Serving Men, Trad/Martin Carthy As I walked out one fine spring day I saw twelve jolly dons decked out in the blue and the gold so gay And to a stake they tied a child new-born Then the bells were rung and the songs were sung and they sewed their corn - Scarecrow, Lal Waterson |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: GUEST,CS Date: 10 Apr 10 - 07:21 PM "That's why traditional lyrics tend to work better for me than most singer-songwriter lyrics - they make you see something, rather than spending a lot of time telling you about it." Well put CET, there is a sparse and direct commentary with most Trad. lyrics which assume the listeners complicity irrespective of how 'otherworldly' or unreal the circumstances depicted are. There is a magic in this as it triggers the listener into a childlike suspension of disbelief, or so I think... |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: Commander Crabbe Date: 10 Apr 10 - 07:29 PM ENGLAND 1914: Ralph McTell "But the gas-lamps stand like soldiers, Hiss warnings to the wind Their evening vespers prophecy of war." THE SETTING: Ralph McTell "Outside the trees they grew starlings like apples. Their bustle and chatter, not dampened by the rain." The Wild Geese/Norland Wind: Violet Jacob And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee A lang lang skein o' beating wings wi' their heids towards the sea and aye their cryin voices trailed behind them on the air Oh wind Hae mercy, haud yer wheesht, for I daurna listen mair. Deep Dark River: (Lloyd Roberts) And always I hear the stir of men slipping Down the Chaudiere, their thin blades dripping Catch the low wraith of a long bark canoe And the wilod sweet chansons of a phantom crew The Outside Track: Henry Lawson And one by one and two by two, they've sailed from the wharf since then. I've said goodbye to the last I knew, the last of the careless men And I can't but think that the times we had were the best times after all. As I turn aside, raise a lonely glass and drink to the bar room wall. Raglan Road: Patrick Kavanagh When the angel woos, the clay he'll lose, his wings at the dawn of day. CC |
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Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics From: MGM·Lion Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:39 PM I buyed me a little bull about four inches high And everybody feared him that ever heard him cry For when that he did bellow it was such melodious sound That all the walls of London came a-tumbling to the ground Sing tadladay |
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