Tune Req: Flowers of Bermuda (Stan Rogers)

Subject: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: GUEST,Shenandoahtraders
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 08:26 AM

I heard Stan Rogers 'Flowers of Bermuda' again the other day, after several years, and was struck by the tune. I suppose it might be an old hymn tune, or a regional folk melody, or perhaps he composed it. Does anyone know the origins of the music for 'Flowers of Bermuda' on the 'Between the Breaks' album? Thanks -- Bill

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: breezy
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 08:51 AM

SEE THE OTHER THREAD
/

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Carol
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 08:51 AM

Have you got the 'sleeve notes' - it tells you how and why he wrote it but nothing about the tune. PM me if you want the details that I have please.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 10:32 AM

Having read the music in his book, it reads as though he was having trouble breathing: It was the captain [pause] of the Nightingale [pause] 21 days from Clyde in Coal [pause]etc

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 10:45 AM

Breezy - Why Shout ?? And WHAT other thread - Nothing shows in Search for Flowers of Bermuda in the Forum

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 01:35 PM

Lyrics at GEST:
Gest Songs

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 03:53 PM

'Flowers of Bermuda' is to be found at the BMI site for copyrighted, original music. It says that the songwriter/composer was Stan Rogers and the number for the piece is BMI Work #426484.

That ought to clinch it that Stan Rogers composed it. The site also mentions that Rogers is affiliated with SOCAN, which I suppose is a Canadian organization.

I believe Rogers is deceased.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 04:47 PM

SOCAN is Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada.
"SOCAN is the Canadian copyright collective that administers the performing rights of more than 90,000 composer, author and music publisher members by licensing the use of their music in Canada. We collect license fees on their behalf and distribute royalties to them."
Canadians also copyright, or SOCAN copyrights for them, in the US and internationally.

Stan Rogers died, at the young age of 33, in a fire on board an Air Canada flight on the ground in Cincinnati International Airport.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: GUEST,Pete Sumner
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 10:22 PM

I know Stan composed it....I was with him the day he saw the artifacts from the shipwrecks around Bermuda. We were spending the day together in the company of my buddy Andy Banbury, giving Stan the 'grand tour' of Bermuda...well as much as we had time for...
Quite a few hours were spent at the Bermuda Maritime Museum out there at Dockyard.
Back then in 1979, it was in the early stages of development, much of the labour and effort being done by folks in their spare time...
Stan performed that weekend at the Bermuda Folk Club, solo, and it was an amazing night indeed...
I have a few pictures from that day at Dockyard, including a profile of Stan smelling some of Bermuda's flowers...I had no clue a song was hatching in that magnificent mind of his.

I still miss him and his music.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 10:35 PM

Pete, Did Stan have a respiratory problem or was that deliberate phrasing? When I heard his presentation of the song, he sounded as though he was having problems breathing.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 03:00 AM

Pete, somewhere (probably in my loft) I have a tape of that solo concert at the Bermuda Folk Club, which came to me via a friend of a friend of Garnet. Pretty poor quality, certainly not good enough for any kind of release, but still a nice 'private' record of a great occasion. The highlight for me is where Stan 'deals with' a heckler -"That's enough fella, put a sock in it!" (or words to that effect, as far as I can remember).

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: vectis
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 06:06 PM

There is another song with the same title but very different words by Ken Stevens about the sinking of the Marquese. Is that the one you want. It has a lot of
Let her go down
in it.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: GUEST,Meadowmuskrat
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 02:36 PM

E Barnacle- I heard a tape of an interview of Stan in which he said words to the effect that this was his most difficult song to sing and it took him a long time to get it to where he was satisfied with the performance. This was from a Radio tribute put together by Ron Olesko of station WFDU. He is a regular contributor to the forum and could probably elaborate on the story.

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: GUEST,Pete Sumner
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 11:49 PM

In answer to EBarnacle....Stan didn't seem to have any breathing issues...I think the song is very 'wordy' and is a tough one to sing...

To Backwoodsman....The recording I have is maybe a first generation from the original reel to reel made by another old buddy called Howard Evans...now living back in Carnoustie in Scotland.
The wonderful heckler put down I remember from the recording is when Stan said "Hesh yer clabberjaw"...or something similar....

It was a wonderful night that ran on to around 11.30p....45 minutes or more past our usual close....
Stan's enjoyment was there for all to behold....flying solo....and singing anything he wanted in any order...no real set list...the crowd just eat it all up...

Stan came back to Bermuda the next year with Garnet and David Alan Edie (I think that was his bass man on that trip)...I also have a tape of that someplace.

I left Bermuda with my family in March 1983 and returned home to Cleethorpes in England....got a great letter from Stan in the April asking me to help with a UK tour (I still have that letter)...he played Bermuda again in the May and a month later he was gone.

I hope that helps put some of this stuff into context....we're going back a ways here so I hope my memory is accurate....

Subject: RE: Tune for 'Flowers of Bermuda'
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 03:37 AM

Thanks for that Pete, interesting anecdotes. And yes, "Hesh yer clabberjaw" definitely sounds Stan-like. I need to get up in the loft and find the tape.

All the best,
John