Lyr Req: Stone Face (Bill Staines)

Subject: New Hampshire
From: Susan
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 12:19 PM

I am looking for the lyrics to a song about the Old Man of the Mountain, possibly by Bill Staines. I would also be interested in any upbeat songs about the state for possible mention in a magazine.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 01:46 PM

Gee, I looked up New Hampshire in the database, and all I found were two songs about murder. Maybe Barry and Allison will give us something cheerier.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From:
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 01:56 PM

Lessee, upbeat songs about NH. Well, there's that awful whiney "Ohhhhh, NH, NH's the place I want to beeeeeee" song by the Shaw Brothers. It makes dogs howl, puts cows off their feed, and causes permanent psychic damage to the spirit of man. To heck with heavy Death Metal, that song ought to be investigated and the results turned over to the Dept of Defense. A fellow who had done time in the state penetentiary had a minor hit with "Live Free Or Die" (I learned it while I was visiting that self-same Big Brick Hotel). It's a funny song about our curmudgeonly license plate motto, which at the time was stamped by prison inmates. Bill Morrisey has written a slew of songs set in NH but very few mention the state by name; "Small Town On The River" is a wonderful bittersweet tune about Newmarket, and "Night Shift" is about working in one of the shoe shops that used to dot the state like small pox scars. Slade Cleaves first album had at least one song about 2 brothers growing up in NH, but it certainly didn't qualify as "upbeat".

In retrospect Bill Staines might be your best bet, he genuinely likes the place.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Sourdough
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:03 PM

There is a New Hampshire State song. We had to sing it in assemblies many years ago at the Mt. Pleasant School. I can't remember the words but it has a chorus with something like:

Oh, New Hampshire, Oh, New Hampshire
Oh, New Hampshire grand and great.
We will sing of old New Hampshire,
Of the dear old Granite State.

The melody is bright, the tempo is upbeat but the lyrics do have that treacly ambience of a school Alma Mater song.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:14 PM

Found these on Yahoo: NH state song w/midi or: http://50states.com/songs/newhamp.htm>NH
and,

Poems, Songs, & Ballads of NH or,

http://50states.com/songs/newhamp.htm>NH

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:21 PM

A search at the one site above, strictly for songs, brought up this NH songs

Looks like there may be some possibilities. That's http://www.seacoastnh.com/cgi-local/AT-seacoaallcontentsearch.cgi

Good luck!

Did I beat Joe to the mark?Yippee**BG** Such a challenge!!

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:24 PM

I swear I pasted it direct from their site! Well, anyway, if you go to the Poems, Songs, and Ballads site & do a search for "songs", the following is what will show up:

100% Alemaker Frank Jones Brewery Song, (1880) (summary)
98% Seacoast NH Theme Sites and Time Capsules (summary)
96% Seacoast NH - History Homepage (summary)
96% Alemaker Frank Jones Brewery Song, (1880) (summary)
94% As I Please - Celia Thaxter's Birthplace (summary)
94% What's New at SeacoastNH.com (summary)
94% Seacoast NH History - Prehistoric - Poem (summary)
94% Seacoast NH - Theme Sites - Women in Seacoast History (summary)
94% Seacoast NH - Theme Sites - Women in Seacoast History (summary)
94% SeacoastNH.com Search Page (summary)
94% Franklin Pierce and Daniel Webster Theme Site (summary)
94% SeacoastNH.com Search Page (summary)
94% Seacoast NH - Theme Sites - Women in Seacoast History (summary)
94% Poems, Ballads and Songs of the New Hampshire Seacoast

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 11-Oct-02.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Sourdough
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:25 PM

Eleven minutes after I posted the reference to the State Song, there was the location - with a a MIDI file.

I have been away from NH for many years and when I went back to the site you recommended and played the MIDI file, I was really quite moved. (I was surprised!)

Sourdough

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Mark Clark
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 02:25 PM

Susan,

I know of a beautiful song about New Hampshire. It was written by Richard Hood in 1973 and recorded by The Greater Chicago Bluegrass Band in 1974. The song is called "New Hampshire, For Mose," the dedication being in honor of Rosemarie (Mose) Foy, his wife at the time.

My daughter tells me she has seen the long out of print album in the used racks of Chicago merchants. I'll work on geting the words and melody set up for you so you can see if you like it. The song is in waltz time and highly lauds the beauty of the state. I think Richard is still active in bluegrass music circles and I'm sure he would appreciate the mention.

- Mark

Subject: Lyr Add: STONE FACE (Bill Staines)
From: Night Owl
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 10:53 PM

"Stone Face"... words and music by Bill Staines:

Old Man of the winter,
Old Man of the autumn gold
Old Man of the birthing spring
and steamy summer skies
Old Man of the mountain
Old Man of the people
You silently watch as quiet
Ages pass you by

Beneath your weathered brow
rise up the ancient hills
The maple and hemlock hills
The hills of birch and pine
Where tumbling waters fall
And comical loons they call
While diving and gliding over
lakes that silver shine

Chorus

Old Man of the Mountain
I know you but from afar
But it's you and the northern star
That guide me when I roam
And always from place to place
I know that with a subtle grace
Behind that old stoney face
You smile upon my home

Beneath your staring eyes
The town, the sleepy town
Goes wakening off to work
In smoky morning haze
The women, the children there
The lovers who walk in pairs
The baker, the village square,
all fall beneath your gaze

Chorus


I think you may also be able to find these lyrics on Bill Staines website at http://www.acousticmusic.com/staines/index.htm (hope that's right...haven't studied blue clickys yet...sorry)

-Repairs made by Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Susan A-R
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 11:24 PM

Then there are the Men of Dartmouth with the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains. I believe that they still sing that one at graduation, although a lot of the Dartmoouth grads are not men, and the lyric about granite for brains is pretty um interesting.

Susan from that other state.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Night Owl
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 11:28 PM

Whoops...need to relearn the break thing as well...does it go before or after the line. (I did both...mia culpa)

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 16 Jul 99 - 10:00 AM

Wow! I'm gone for a few days and look what happens! You-all dissin' my home???? Well, if you're talking about the guvvuh-munt you can dis all you like, but there's gold in the granite, in the land, and in (most of)the people here.
As an elementary music teacher who must enhance the 4th grade "State of NH" curriculum, I'd love some more singable songs about the ol' Granite State. The Bill Staines song has definite possibilities (thanks, Night Owl!), and there's a great old Temperance hymn about the Old Granite State, but the official state song and the Shaw bros. song mentioned above leave me cold.
Guess it's time to write one!
By the way, Susan, what magazine is it?
Allison-from-NH-and-proud-of-it-in-spite-of-everything!

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Susan
Date: 16 Jul 99 - 01:17 PM

We're talking New Hampshire Magazine formerly New Hampshire Editions as seen at your local dentist office. No longer a magazine for its advertisers, we are putting in more interesting articles and local color. Indeed if anyone does write a song we could promote it along with appropriate photography. We have a department-- NH glorious to mix words of any sort about the state with art.

Thanks Night Owl for the lyrics, we are using that with permission from Bill Staines, this month. ( The words were not on his site, and no realplayer file on that song from his latest album.)

Thanks Rick for the laughs, I'll check out the Bill Morrisey songs even though I can't bear his false baritone voice.

Thanks everyone for the links, I did a little karaoke in the office with the state song midi file.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Night Owl
Date: 17 Jul 99 - 12:25 AM

Susan...I'm ecstatic to hear you're using Bill Staine's song in the magazine. It's a beautiful tune and lyrics I think...but then, I feel that way about most of his stuff. I hope you have a chance some time to hear him sing it in concert!!

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 12:50 AM

My Old New Hampshire Home, Sterling/Von Tilzer, 1898, sheet music at Duke.

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu:80/dynaweb/sheetmusic/1890-1899/@Generic__BookTextView/10234;nh=1?DwebQuery=b0653#X

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: GUEST,jeff warner
Date: 03 Nov 01 - 07:56 AM

Thank you Dale for the tip as to the whereabouts of My Old New Hampshire Home. Strangely, I'm on my way to Duke U next week.

Appreciate your help. It will be a good adition to my growing NH song list.

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Nov 01 - 08:02 AM

So, Jeff, where can I get that Brownie McGee or McIntyre (or whatever it is)song- you know, the sappy one with "where the lonely seagull flies"- my boss wants it and rumor has it he's retiring this year, so I could do it once and hopefully never again! Do you have that in your NH collection?

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Hollowfox
Date: 03 Nov 01 - 10:40 AM

Darn right it's a lonely seagull, with that bitty little less-than-twenty-mile coastline! ('Course, seagulls have now emegrated to the Midwest, so that might be why it's lonely as well.) *g*

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Nov 01 - 11:40 AM

The next line has something about "brings a teardrop to my eye..." I understand it's a pretty dreary song, so it brings a teardrop to my eye to think of singing it- but it's for a good boss, and I said I'd look for it...

Subject: RE: New Hampshire
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Nov 01 - 11:46 AM

For cross-referencing purposes, the thread where Jeff originally asked the question is Lyr Req: Harry Von Tilzer's 'My Old NH Home'.

I typed the lyrics out there, from the Duke U link given by Dale.