Songs about music?

Subject: Songs about music?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 06:32 AM

There's some interesting compositions for which theme focus on the structure of songs, and especially of tunes.

Some which spring to mind are:

The First Line of the Blues
[from Richard Stilgoe's 'Starlight Express']

Way over yonder in a minor key [Woody Guthrie/ Billy Bragg]

Halleluiah [Leonard Cohen]

Particularly in the first verse:

Now I've heard there was a secret chord.
That David played, and it pleased the Lord.
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth.
The minor fall, the major lift.
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

More?

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 07:51 AM

More about the song format:
"Must be a song with a chorus" - as sung by McCalmans and Sangsters.
"Gotta sing in an American accent" - Nick Keir (of McCalmans
"They don't write them like that any more"as sung by Arthur Johnstone............"once we found the key, oh what harmony....."

And Eric Bogle's: "Do you Sing any Dylan?"

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: folkypaul
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 09:15 AM

"They don't write them like that anymore" as written by Pete Betts.

PaulO

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Bupkes
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 09:33 AM

Shelly Posen's "Fa-Sol-La" about shape note singing.
There also a recent thread here called "Advantages of
shape notes?" with a good discussion.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: oldhippie
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 12:47 PM

Sweet Song of Yesterday - Bob Zentz

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 04:36 PM

.........hmmm, just realised, 'Doe a deer'!!

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 07:50 PM

Handful of Songs

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 08:38 PM

The Song of Saint Anne's Reel is the first that came to MY mind

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 08:56 PM

What was that country song that Johnny Cash and June Carter did...

"Daddy sang bass
Mama sang tenor..."

B~

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Jun 10 - 09:04 PM

FolkyPaul, thanks for supplying the author/composer of "They don't write them like that any more". The full lyrics are in the DT Mirror with notes by Suzanne (SKW) which credit the author and Arthur Johnstone's recording.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mousethief
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 12:25 AM

It's not the whole song but there's a secular Christmas number that includes the line, "And this song of mine, in three-quarter time..." That's all I remember. I guess that line stood out!

Not about the structure but about the length: in the song "The Entertainer" by Billy Joel he discusses the "shortened" version of his "Piano Man" thus:

You may have heard my record;
it's been on the radio.
It took me years to write it,
they were the best years of my life.
It's a beautiful song
but it ran too long.
If you're gonna have a hit
you've got to make it fit.
So they cut it down to three-oh-five.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,iancarterb
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 02:27 AM

I have heard sung here in the US Northwest a splendid chord song called, I think, The key of R Flat. It purports to be a key only known to the singer, and it uses all the chords in the harmony book very cleverly- R Flay Major, R Flat Minor, RbDim7, etc, using them as they are called out in the lyric. Someone must be able to cite the writer and perhaps a performance.
Carter B

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Marje
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 03:35 AM

There's Ron Kavana's song "Midnight on the Water" which is done as a set with the Texas waltz of that name. The words allude to various dance tune titles.

Marje

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mg
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 03:55 AM

There was music in my mother's house

When I mowed Pat Murphy's meadow

Kerry Dancers



Nelly Bly

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 04:30 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFAxlvdWMFI

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Jim McLean
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 04:40 AM

"My love is like a melody that's sweetly played in tune": Robert Burns, My Love is like a Red, Red Rose. Note "played in tune"!

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 12:02 PM

MUSIC SHALL LIVE
All things shall perish
From under the sky
Music alone shall live
Music alone shall live
Music alone shall live
Never to die

Sing when you're sorrowful
Sing when you're gay
Sing with the rising sun
Sing when the day is done
Singing is happiness
Sing everyone

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mousethief
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 01:03 PM

That sounds like a wonky translation from the Tschermann

Himmel und Erde mussen vergeh'n
Aber die Musici
Aber die Musici
Aber die Musici
Bleiben besteh'n

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Roberto
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 01:48 PM

King Orfeo
John Stickle, on Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland, Storytelling Ballads, as included in Francis James Child's English & Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume 1, The Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder 11661-1775-2, 2000; ballad recorded 1952

Will you come in into our ha'
Scowan Earle Gray
Ye will come in into your ha'
Ffar yetta kangrer Norla

And we'll come in into your ha'
Scowan Earle Gray
And we'll come in among ye a'
Ffar yetta kangrer Norla

First he played the notes of noy
Scowan Earle Gray
And then you played the notes of joy
Ffar yetta kangrer Norla

And then you played the good old gabber reel
Scowan Earle Gray
What might ha' made a sick hairt heal
Ffar yetta kangrer Norla

***

The Maid On The Shore
John Lyons, on Irish Voices, The best of traditional singing, Topic TSCD702

There was a fair maiden who lived all alone
She lived all alone in the shore-O
And no-one could she find that would calm her sweet mind
But to wander alone on the shore, shore, shore
To wander alone on the shore-O

Now there was a brave captain who sailed a fine ship
And the weather being steady and fair-O
I shall die I shall die - this brave captain did cry
If I can't have this maid on the shore, shore, shore
If I can't have this maid on the shore-O

After many persuasions they brought her on board
And the captain set down a chair-O
He invited her down to his cabin below
Farewell sorrow, farewell now dull care-O
Farewell sorrow farewell now dull care-O

I'll sing you a song - this fair maiden did cry
And the captain was weeping for joy-O
She sang it so sweetly, so soft, so completely
She sang captain and sailors to sleep-O
She sang captain and sailors to sleep-O

Well, she robbed him of jewels and she robbed him of wealth
She robbed him of fine costly fare-O
And the captain's broadsword she used as an oar
And she rowed herself back to the shore, shore, shore
She rowed herself back to the shore-O

Now the men they were mad, yet the men they were sad
They were deeply sunk down in despair-O
To see her go away with her booty (sic) so gay
With her rings and her things and her fine fare-O
Her rings and her things and her fare-O   
         
Oh do not be sad or sunk down in despair
You should have known me before-O
I sang you to sleep and I robbed you of wealth
And again I'm a maid on the shore, shore, shore
Again I'm a maid on the shore-O

***

Some versions of the Twa Sisters, such as this:

The Bows of London
Martin Carthy, on Child:Carthy, The Carthy Chronicles (4 CD, Free Reed Revival Masters FRQCD-60), FRCD 64; The Bows of London, recorded 1991

There were two little sisters awalking alone
Hey the gay and the grinding
Two little sisters awalking alone
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And the eldest pushed her sister in
Hey the gay and the grinding
Pushed her sister into the stream
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Oh she pushed her in, she watched her drown
Hey the gay and the grinding
Watched her body floating down
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Oh she floated up, she floated down
Hey the gay and the grinding
Floats till she come to the miller's dam
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And out and come the miller's son
Hey the gay and the grinding
Father dear here swims a swan
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Oh they laid her out on the bank to die
Hey the gay and the grinding
Fool with a fiddle come ariding by
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And he took some strands of her long yellow hair
Hey the gay and the grinding
Took some strands of her long yellow hair
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And he made fiddle strings from this yellow hair
Hey the gay and the grinding
Made fiddle strings from this yellow hair
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And he made fiddle pegs from her long fingerbone
Hey the gay and the grinding
Made fiddle pegs from her long fingerbone
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And he made a fiddle out of her breastbone
Hey the gay and the grinding
Sound would pierce a heart of stone
By the bonny bonny bows of London

But the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was – Oh, the Bows of London
The only tune the fiddle would play
Was the bonny bonny bows of London

So the fool's gone away to the king's high hall
Hey the gay and the grinding
There was music dancing and all
By the bonny bonny bows of London

And he laid this fiddle all down on a stone
Hey the gay and the grinding
It played so loud it played all alone
By the bonny bonny bows of London

It sang yonder sits my father the king
Hey the gay and the grinding
Yonder sits my father the king
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Yonder sits my mother the queen
Hey the gay and the grinding
How she'll weep at my burying
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Yonder she sits my sister Anne
Hey the gay and the grinding
She who drownded me in the stream
By the bonny bonny bows of London

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 06:53 PM

Anther song that lists other tunes (as in Marje's post) is The Galway Shawl.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 07:21 PM

"We Hate The Kids":

Every generation gets fooled again
And every generation is to blame
And its no good saying its not in your name
'cause it is in your name
And this generation is the same
And this generation is to blame
And I'm sorry that I can't join in any more
But I've been let down : too many times before
Oh yeah we mean it
We hate the kids
So dance dance dance to the radio tonight

I wanted to believe in rock'n'roll stars
I wanted to believe in contemporary art
I wanted to aspire to a higher path
But there's no higher path
It was ever thus, and it was ever you
And it's ever us because we'll do it too
And we're sorry to the all the disinherited meek, and
We're sorry for this con-trick that we play on the people
Oh yeah we mean it
We hate the kids
So dance dance dance to the radio tonight

And nobody ever comes alive
And the journalists clamour round glamour like flies
And boys who should know better grin and get high
With fat men who once met the MC5
And no one discusses what they don't understand
And no one does anything to harm the brand
And this gift is an illusion, this isn't hard
Absolutely anyone can play the fucking guitar
Oh yeah we mean it
We hate the kids
Useless children genuflecting
To the idols who exploit them
Open mouthed and arsed expecting
Some god to anoint them
Dance Dance Dance to this radio tonight

And there's always a monk to get set on fire
And there's always a crackhead charismatic liar
And there's always a depth to which you can aspire
And there's always a teenager due to expire
Pop had a beginning, it grew and was tended
Now it is rotten. Let it be ended.
Let every hopeless case that every drummer befriended,
Every seven-inch that every student intended
Every groupie and ligger and identity seeker
Every druggy and drinker and every loudspeaker
Be done with, be piled up, tossed, set alight
No more music, thank you, goodnight

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: IvanB
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 08:08 PM

"Just a Few Simple Words" by Grit Laskin

Just a few simple words,
Joined to a simple melody;
But we yearn for it with such force,
It truly does astonish me,
Truly does astonish me.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mousethief
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 08:25 PM

Tom Lehrer, in the last stanza of The Irish Ballad

My tragic tale, I won't prolong,
Rickety-tickety-tin,
My tragic tale I won't prolong,
And if you do not enjoy the song,
You've yourselves to blame if it's too long,
You should never have let me begin, begin,
You should never have let me begin.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: quokka
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 10:56 PM

Three of my favourites...

Bob Dylan - Lay Down Your Weary Tune
Dan Fogelberg - Leader of the Band
Todd Snyder - Talking Seattle Grunge City Blues

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 11:34 PM

Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon,
All I want is loving you and music, music, music.......

Teresa Brewer, if my memory serves me correctly.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mg
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 12:18 AM

Just a song at twilight
Piper of Dundee

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Bert
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 02:48 AM

Here's one of mine...

Sing me that song


D    E7       A
Sing me that song
    D               A
the one you used to sing
       D                E7    A
long ago when you still loved me
                      E7
and wore our wedding ring
   A             E7   A
Oh sing, sing me that song


    D                E7
Come sit down here beside me
       A             E7 A
let me hold your hand in mine
    D                   A
pretend that you still love me
                  E7
and just one more time
A             E7 A
sing, sing me that song


       D                A
It was springtime in the mountains
    E7       A    E7   A
when you first sang that song
    D                   A
you said that you would love me true
   D             E7
if I would sing along
      D               A
for a moment we were happy
    E7               A
then everything went wrong
       E7             A
now you never sing that song.


Sing me that song
the one you used to sing
long ago when you still loved me
and wore our wedding ring
Oh sing, sing me that song

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 11:32 AM

Ring, ring de banjo,
I lub dat dear old song... (as originally 'spelled')

The Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda'
The Old Songs (Margaret MacArthur sang that one a lot)
Roseville Fair
Just Before the Battle, Mother (the last verse mentions 'Battle Cry of Freedom' -- a plug, because the same guy wrote both songs!)
Say, Old Man, Can You Play the Fiddle?
And probably (certainly) lots more that don't come to mind just now.

But my favorite of this kind of song is "Odd-Fellows' Hall" with the chorus of:

Waltzes, polkas, lancers, gallops, glides,
Porland fancies, quadrilles, reels and slides;
Hidos, Didos, oh we danced them all...
I'll never forget the night that we met
Down at Odd-Fellows' Hall.

Admittedly, those are dance styles, not song titles or references to songs, but, well, you don't dance to the spoken word, do you?

Bob

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 11:43 AM

I just remembered another -- one I discovered a short while ago, and sing a lot these days. I don't know if it's in the DT or not, but if not, I'll put it in.

Uncle Joe's 'Hail Columbia'

Written in 1865 by Henry Clay Work ('Kingdom Coming' and 'Grandfather's Clock' author, not to mention 'Ring the Bell, Watchman,' which became 'Strike the Bell, Second Mate' when it ran away to sea, and 'The Ship That Never Returned' which -- rewritten -- almost got George O'Brien elected in Boston)

Now I'll check the DT -- be right back!

Yep, it's there, though I quibble with the sixth line as it appears:

I think "Lay de burden down"
was originally "Lay de burden by"
As that preserves the rhyme. I have seen it that way on the web.

Bob

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: banjocircus
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 02:00 PM

Johnny Cash's "A Fast Song" from The Personal Files disc 1.


something like (not sure of all the words):

Well the only thing that'll move me now is a fast song
........(?)
And I don't want to hear no crying all gone wrong song
Kick it off and let's all pick a fast song

Now don't go bringing singing strumming me no slow tune
Stay away from all that moon and spoon June croon tune
Throw one that's flying and I"ll hang on
I'll come in on my part on a fast song

Well it don't have to have a banjo or mandolin
But let it in, if wants in
Keep the rosin handy and the horsehair tough and tight
Kick it off and I"m liable to pick all night

Now don't go bringing singing strumming me no slow tune
Stay away from all that moon and spoon June croon tune
Throw one that's flying and I"ll hang on
I'll come in on my part on a fast song

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: frogprince
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 02:39 PM

How about THIS ONE?

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 02:54 PM

I Write The Songs   Barry Manilow

And yes I know, I know, for mentioning Barry Manilow on Mudcat, I shall now be:
suspended from Mucat for a week, made to wear a hairshirt, eat cold lumpy oatmeal for three meals a day and worst of all...
have to listen to Barry Manilow

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 06:36 PM

Here's a few, maybe lesser-known but great...

'Distant Melody' from the musical 'Peter Pan' - just lovely. A favorite of mine.

'Can't Help Singing' from the Deanna Durbin movie of the same name.

'Sing As You Work' - a real fun toe-tapping number from the movie 'Romance On the Range.'

'Who's Gonna Help Me Sing?' - a spiritual-style piece from the movie 'Heart of the Golden West.'

'Swing Me An Old-Fashioned Song' - fun number from the Shirley Temple film 'Little Miss Broadway.' Several quotes from traditional songs in this one.

In musicals, 'The Sound of Music' and 'Do-Re-Mi' are always the top...then there's Irving Berlin's 'Let Me Sing And I'm Happy,' and also 'Swing' and 'The Wrong Note Rag' from the musical 'Wonderful Town.'

I know I'll think of more later...I like this subject!

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: JennieG
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 09:09 PM

"How Can I Keep From Singing" is a favourite of mine.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 10:04 PM

One of my favorites is the Generic Up-tempo Folk Song
sung by the Limeliters.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 23 Jun 10 - 01:56 AM

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 23 Jun 10 - 01:59 AM

Response to Lefthanded guitar" No, I don't think we should suspend you from mudcat for mentioning Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs". If Manilow had written the song, maybe so---but, ironically, it was NOT written by him--it was written by Bruce Johnstone (who does a beautiful job of it in his solo album from the mid 70's).

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 23 Jun 10 - 02:39 PM

Thanks Larry- news to me that it wasn't a Manilow original , and I'm glad I can take off the hair shirt now- it's 90 degrees out today.

How Can I Keep From Singing is one of my faves too- just lovely!

btw Has anyone mentioned the Sounds of Music yet?? I 'm not a Manilow fan, but somehow that entire SOM soundtrack is still dear to my sentimental lil heart.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,A Visitor
Date: 25 Jun 10 - 10:01 AM

Okay, here we go...

There's Music In the Air
Love's Old Sweet Song
Love Is a Song
With a Song In My Heart
I Hear A Symphony
I Hear Music
It's A Grand Night for Singing
Seventy-Six Trombones
Toora-Loora-Looral
McNamara's Band
The Music Of the Night
This Is A Happy Little Ditty
Unexpected Song
The Birth of the Blues
Fascintating Rythm
The Melody Within
Strange Music
Sing, Sing, Sing

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: mousethief
Date: 26 Jun 10 - 02:04 AM

There's a song from the swing era, a vocal number, containing words similar to "the music goes down and around and around and it comes out here." Anybody know which one that is?

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 26 Jun 10 - 07:46 PM

"Remember When the Music Came From Wooden Boxes" by Harry Chapin
"The Song Song" by Chris Rohman

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 08:23 AM

OK - a little off topic, but too good to lose....

Actually an old Bex ad - said to take the Bex 'then lie back and hear the music only you can hear'...


:-)

I KNOW what was SUPPOSED to be in Bex.... :-0

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 01:12 PM

I've posted this song on here before, it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful love songs, especially for those who write music, and why...and a woman's response to a man!!!


Send Me a Song

GfS

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Crowhugger
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 01:35 PM

So many that come to mind are already named. One I enjoy performing which I don't see mentioned yet is Country Music by Marie-Lynn Hammond. Though probably my all-time favourite is Birth of the Blues, listed above by "A Visitor.

Also Rosalie Sorrels' Song for My Birthday.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: Bert
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 01:48 PM

Sing it Pretty Sue - Johnny Cash
The guy who found the Lost Chord - Jimmy Durante
Macpherson's Lament

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: PHJim
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 05:07 PM

John Hartford's MY RAG from the Morning Bugle album:

"Well first it's C and then it's F then G then back to C.
F a little more then down to G ..."

"...then you make a little run back up to C..."

"Then the bridge goes to A minor then you throw in an E7.
Do it once again just one more time.
Then you go to C and then you take it down to G
But you have to take into consideration
That the capo's on the second fret..."

He doesn't do it in C, but I don't have a guitar handy and it's something like that.

Subject: RE: Songs about music?
From: GUEST,Patsy Warren
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 09:00 AM

Love is like a Violin, Ken Dodd

Sing, Sing a Song, The Carpenters

Don't play that song for me, Aretha Franklin

Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon all I want is loving you and music, music, music, Tresesa Brewer I think

Donkey Serenade, Jack Jones's father