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Lyr Req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps for Me?1
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Subject: Lyr Add: WILL THE ANGELS PLAY THEIR HARPS FOR ME? From: Steve Parkes Date: 06 May 99 - 04:44 AM Anyone have the words to this song? I know this much: I was passing by a churchyard in a city When I saw a beggar old and grey. With his hands outstretched he asked the folks for pity, And it made me sad to hear him say: [chorus] Oh I wonder, yes I wonder, Will the angels way up yonder, Will the angels play their harps for me? For my feet are growing weary, And my heart is growing dreary, Will the angels play their harps for me? Oh, a million miles I've travelled, and a million sights I've seen, And I'm ready for the glory soon to be. Oh I wonder, yes I wonder, Will the angels way up yonder, Will the angels play their harps for me? Will I ride up to the Pearly Gates in glory In a chariot of shining gold? Will I see the folks who went up there before me When I'm safely gathered in the fold? [chorus] There may not be any more (a blessing in disguise?!), but it's a nice tune, and worth spinning out. Ta, Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Steve Parkes Date: 10 May 99 - 06:24 AM Refresh - somebody must know the answer! |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 10 May 99 - 07:07 AM Steve, I've posted the question on the harp (e-)mailing list. If anyone knows it it will be one of the harp-er-ists there. I'll let you know if I hear anything. Where do you know the song from? Helen |
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Subject: The Angels Play Their Harps one mo' time! From: Steve Parkes Date: 10 May 99 - 12:09 PM Sit down, Helen; this may take a while! Many years ago when I was a little lad of around nine (1960-ish), I was given an old gramophone (or phonograph, if you prefer) motor and turntable by my grandfather. My other grandfather mended the spring and mounted the machine in a box, with a very rudimentary home-made sound-box and tone arm. And then he gave me his refcord collection - several dozen ancient 78 rpm discs. Most of them were jazz and swing band type records from the thirties and forties (along with quite a few Hawaiian bands too). One of the slightly more strange was "Angels"; on the other side, by a different artist, was "Eleven more months and ten more days": what a funny combination! Now I've got about four or five huindred 78s, but sadly "Angels" has gone to that Big Record Rack in the Sky. I sing the song now and again, and it seems a shame there isn't more of it - after all, it's almost all chorus, and hardly any verse. If you'd like it, I'll post the music. Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 11 May 99 - 01:40 AM Steve, Snap! When I was about the same age at roughly the same time my parents bought a "radiogram", radio and record player in one cabinet. They also bought about 50 or more 78's, jazz, swing, a couple of early rock'n'roll tunes by people like Buddy Holly. We used to listen to those records over & over again. The man next door, who played the violin in local musical productions came and asked us what radio station we were listening to because he had been trying to find it on his radio for about an hour before that. This is the main reason why I like all kinds of music. The records have mostly gone now. Unfortunately my Dad had a clean out without telling me, so apart from about 10 records I only have a very scratchy cassette from setting a cassette recorder up in front of the cloth covered speakers. Yes. I'd love to hear what the tune is like for Angels. Helen |
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Subject: Tune Add: WILL THE ANGELS PLAY THEIR HARPS FOR ME? From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 May 99 - 05:09 AM Well, here it is, Helen. You only need three chords: E, A and B7, although you can squeeze in the occasional E7 too. It's probably in the wrong key for you: I play it in G, but my guitar is tuned three semitones low to suit my voice better. The tune looks a bit bald as it's written - I've left out any decoration, so feel free to add your own. I usually put a bit of a swing into it. Enjoy! Steve P.S. I'll get back to you about the radiogram ... MIDI file: angels.mid Timebase: 192 Name: WILL THE ANGELS PLAY THEIR HARPS FOR ME? 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
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Subject: The continuing saga ... From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 May 99 - 10:23 AM Hello again, Helen. We didn't have a radiogram when I was a kid (but my "rich" uncle did). We had a good radio that would pick up any of the European stations. They had wonderful exotic names like Hilversum, Zeesen, Rejkjavik - I know where most of them are now, which spoils the magic a bit. I can't remember if there were any American stations on the dial; we could pick them up thugh, when the time and the weather were OK. And there was good old AFN of course - the American Forces Network for the US troops over here. (I've just realised that I'm assuming you are American: I think I'll carry on until I'm contradicted!) Mostly we listened to the BBC Light Programme or Home Service, and naughty commercial Radio Luxembourg after 7 p.m. That's how I came to have such wide-ranging musical tastes, too. A few months after Grandad got the old gramophone working, he found a proper table-top model, with the horn built in underneath. Haven't got it any more, but my wife bought me a 1940's portable job a couple of years ago. We've also got a Dansette, a 1960's electric job, although the 78 stylus really needs replacing. One of these days, I'm going to take a month of work and play everything! Who remembers Louis Katzmann and his Kittens, or Musical Dawson's Choir of Canaries, or Red Ingle and the Natural Seven? Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 11 May 99 - 09:12 PM Hi Steve, Nope. I'm an Aussie, not a Yank. I haven't heard of any of those bands you mentioned. We had records by Dutch College Swing Band, and Bob Crosby and the Bobcats, Gene Krupa, and Johhny Ray (Destiny), songs like Autumn Leaves, Charmaine, etc etc. I started buying a series of CD/magazines from the newsagents a couple of years ago because they were a good cheap way to check out some of the swing and jazz era artists, so now I have discovered Django Rheinhardt, and a few others I had heard of but never knew enough about. Life is way too short to listen to all the music in the world. Helen |
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Subject: Lyr Add: LES FEUILLES MORTS From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 May 99 - 07:52 AM Please accept this grovelling apology! I think it was the quotes around radiogram that fooled me: I should have known - the Yanks would have a funny name for it, wouldn't they? You must have heard of Spike Jones and his City Slickers? Well, Red Ingle did vocals on some of his records before going off on his own: Cigareets and whusky and wild, wild women and Tim-tay-shun (a spoof on Temptation) were two of his hits. My little brother the saxophone player says you need to hear Autumn leaves and the like in the original French Chanson style to appreciate them properly; it's easy for him, he speaks French! Compare the English version (not a translation) with the original:
LES FEUILLES MORTS
The falling leaves drift by the window
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 12 May 99 - 09:00 AM Hi again, or should I say, G'day, Mate? I probably put the quotes around the word radiogram because I did expect them to have a funny word for it and I didn't think they'd automatically know what I meant. (Sorry, guys). Double translations are usually required: from English to Yank-lish, but also from Oz-lish to Pom-lish to Yank-lish sometimes. A friend of mine who speaks French translated those Autumn Leaves lyrics for me not long ago - I can see most of the meaning with my limited knowledge of school French, and it isn't even the same song, really - not in terms of meaning. Unfortunately the harp-er-ists are not being forthcoming. I had to repeat the request and was told that a really good place to look it up might be Digital Traditions database. Bit amusing, considering that's where the request started from, i.e. the Mudcat site. It's usually the other way around - me telling them about the DT and Mudcat. Speaking of Cigareets & Whusky. We had the 78 of that. I have no idea of who the artist was, though. Unfortunately when I was a teenager we had a party and one of the guys thought he was being funny and frisbee-ed it across the room and broke it. I was really upset because I loved that song. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Roger the zimmer Date: 12 May 99 - 10:44 AM Can't help with your lyrics but sympathise with the 78s problem. Now I've got a "music centre" I can play cassettes, CDs and LPs ( and piano rolls on our player-piano) but no-one seems to make one with a 78 speed any more and I have inherited some more 78s I haven't been able to tape yet. Keep meaning to take them to my mother-in-law's next time we visit as she has a "radiogram" that takes 78s. However, my late father-in-law's copy of the Andrews sisters singing "Rum and Coca Cola" is probably too worn out to record as it was one of the few records they had on his destroyer on the Murmansk Convoys during the war (he was a medic and claimed he had nothing to do but play chess with the padre and listen to his jazz records) but his early Weavers ones might work. I can't bear to get rid of the ones I've taped either, I suppose we'll be unable to play LPs in a few years time! |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 May 99 - 10:46 AM If it's the one where the drunk keeps asking the band to sing Temptation, that's the one ... what time is it over there? It's quarter to four in the arvo (French, Strine - is there no end to this man's talents?*) here. Steve * |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 May 99 - 12:24 PM Whoops - lost my footnote! Can anyone guess what it should have said after the asterisk at the end of my last post? Roger, there are some machines available I understand. There's a shop in Hurst St Birmingham (England) that might still do them; not much use to you though! You could try these blue clicky thingies: Nauk's vintage records and Diamond cut productions and City of London gramophone and phonograph society: three bottomless pits down which you can pour endless amounts of money. Just kidding, guys! There is a wonderful machine that plays audio discs with a laser, so the playing surface never wears out, and gives a digital signal you can clean up with software. Don't ask me how you get one, or what it costs! One day I'm going to digitise all my 78s and record them on cd. But not htis week ... Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 13 May 99 - 03:51 AM Hi again, I've just come home from work half an hour ago, so it's 5.50pm, Thursday - but I don't know how long ago you were here. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 13 May 99 - 03:53 AM OK, Steve, according to MT (Mudcat time) you were here about 5.5 hours before me. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Steve Parkes Date: 14 May 99 - 07:54 AM Here's another blue clicky thingy: Roger Wilmut's REPRODUCTION OF 78rpm RECORDS. Might shed some light on 78s in general, although there are no Australian contacts. Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Helen Date: 16 May 99 - 07:09 AM Steve, I only had one reply from the harplist. It is someone speculating on the songs origins. I don't know if this is of any use. Helen
From: "Carol My friend suggested this: >The lyrics have all the earmarks of being 19th-maybe early 20th century >"old time gospel" music. (I used to sing a *lot* of this stuff when I was >a kid in assorted "foursquare gospel" type churches and at the Friday >night "youth service" at the 7th Day Adventist church I attended for a >couple of years, and in the odd Baptist service.) I would start by >checking out hymnals of this type (caveat: looking in used bookstores >might be a good idea--even Fundamentalists revise hymnals from time to >time, and "golden oldies" sometimes get tossed). >Failing that, it might not hurt to try Christian newsgroups of the >appropriate flavor. > >I may not appreciate the typical sentiments of this kind of stuff, but it >sure is fun to sing (under the right circumstances).--Philippa |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Jim Dixon Date: 04 Jul 02 - 10:45 PM According to AMG, "Will the Angels Play Their Harps for Me?" was recorded by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners sometime during the years 1954-1960, and it is available on Hylo Brown's "20 Gospel Favorites," Rural Rhythm CD #187, 1997. It is marked "traditional" on that recording. You can hear a sound sample at CDNOW. It was also recorded by Northern Irish tenor Josef Locke (1917-99), and it is available on his album "Hear My Song," ASV/Living Era CD #5359, 2000. There, it is credited to "Hirsch/Wilhite." You can also hear a sample of this recording at CDNOW. Sheet Music Warehouse has a copy, © 1928, marked "W&M: W Hirsch, M Wilhite" |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha Date: 05 Jul 02 - 03:40 AM I have a recording of " Angels way up yonder" and it is by the original artist Bud Billings. This was taken from a BBC Radio programme over twenty years ago. I heard this song lashed out by many an old timer in this part of Ireland . well over fifty years ago. Ard Mhacha. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: GUEST Date: 05 Jul 02 - 05:51 AM Frank Luther and Carson Robinson sang under the names of Bud and Joe Billings, they recorded under the Billings name between 1928-1930. I think the recording company was Cattle, one of the recordings was entitled The Singing pals from Kansas. Ard Mhacha. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Dave Bryant Date: 05 Jul 02 - 06:27 AM Steve, we also had a wind-up gramophone and a collection of 78mph records which included the "Angels"/"Eleven more months" one which you had. I wonder if anyone knows the rest of: In Eleven more months and ten more days, I'll be out of the Callaboose. In Eleven more months and ten more days, they're goin' to turn me loose. I can remember some of the joke lines such as when he's asked "What got you to prison ?", he says "A black maria and a great big irish cop". It would go down well with some folk club audiences. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: GUEST Date: 05 Jul 02 - 06:35 AM Will the Angels play their Harps for me and B Side Wanderers Warning, were recorded by Bud Billings Circa 1929. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Dave Bryant Date: 05 Jul 02 - 07:03 AM Searching for "Angels" I even found a reference on this english traditional music site. I have managed to find one verse of "Eleven more months" on the web - it was written by Arthur Fields & Fred Hall. I'm in the lock-up twenty days, Just twenty days ago. I met a judge, the kind old judges who was feeling fine and so, He gave me just a year in jail, A sociable sort of gink. All on account of a gallon of beer, That I thought I could drink. Chorus: In eleven months and ten more days, I'll be out of the calaboose. In eleven months and ten more days, They're going to turn me loose. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Dave Bryant Date: 05 Jul 02 - 07:16 AM Whoops, I should have checked the 'Cat first, Steve. I've just found your previous thread about "Eleven more Months" HERE. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: GUEST Date: 05 Jul 02 - 10:49 AM Dave, A new thread please. |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: Steve Parkes Date: 05 Jul 02 - 10:55 AM Or stick to the old one! |
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Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Will the Angels Play Their Harps From: GUEST Date: 05 Jul 02 - 04:45 PM Nice one Steve. |
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Subject: A happy bunny! From: Steve Parkes Date: 07 Jul 03 - 03:28 AM I was looking through some 78s on Saturday and I found it! I am deliriously happy right now, but not so delirous I couldn't record the disc & clean up the signal. Both sides were incredibly noisy, but have come up nice and clean with GoldWave. The other side has Eleven more months and ten more days. Steve |
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