Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)

Subject: Lyr Req: The Vampire, Keith Marsden
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 04 Sep 10 - 05:57 AM

Can anyone supply me with the words of "The Vampire" by Keith Marsden please?
The song is featured on Cockersdale's "Prospect Providence" and on "Picking Sooty Blackberries"
I would also be interested in anyone's views as to the thinking behind the words. It is a beautiful song, and does not seem to follow the normal meaning of the word "Vampire" perhaps it is referring to a less than "nice" young lady!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire Keith Marsden
From: raymond greenoaken
Date: 04 Sep 10 - 07:30 AM

I've a feeling it might be Keith's setting of the Kipling poem of that name...

"a rag and a bone and a hank of hair..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire Keith Marsden
From: Reinhard
Date: 04 Sep 10 - 08:39 AM

Yup, the song is credited on Prospect Providence as Rudyard Kipling / Keith Marsden.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire Keith Marsden
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 04 Sep 10 - 08:42 AM

Will be PM'ing you Dennis.
No need to trouble further...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE VAMPIRE (Rudyard Kipling)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 03:48 PM

From Barrack Room Ballads and Other Poems by Rudyard Kipling (New York: T. Y. Crowell & Company, 1899), page 242:


THE VAMPIRE
THE VERSES: AS SUGGESTED BY THE PAINTING BY PHILIP BURNE-JONES.

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand.

A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I!)
Honor and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know she never knew why)
And did not understand.

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside—
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died—
(Even as you and I!)

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand.
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing at last she could never know why)
And never could understand.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 05:59 PM

The painting by Philip Burne-Jones. (Can't find a real color image.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 07:40 PM

Thanks all, for the excellent information.
There are some areas where Keith's work varies from the original, but certainly I have the gist of it, the differences I can amend.
Dennis

Subject: ADD: The Vampire (Kipling/Keith Marsden)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Aug 21 - 03:10 PM

Is there a recording of this available online? David Kidman did a great job of this song in the Singaround today.
The song is featured on Cockersdale's "Prospect Providence" and on "Picking Sooty Blackberries." There is a Cockersdale Channel on YouTube. It has these albums: Doin' the Manch, Wide Open Skies, & ...Ben Around for Years, which are the same 3 albums I have in my collection - but alas, no Vampires.

-Joe-

---

Here are the Marsden lyrics from the Picking Sooty Blackberries Songbook. They're almost the same as the Kipling text Jim Dixon posted above. I'll mark the different wording in BOLD.

THE VAMPIRE
(Rudyard Kipling, as interpreted by Keith Marsden)

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
We called her the woman who did not care,
But the fool he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the sweat of the brow and hand
They belong to the woman who never knew why,
and never would understand.

A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
But it wasn't the least what the lady meant,
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the sweat of the brow and hand
They belong to the woman who never knew why,
and never would understand.

So the fool was stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I!)
Which he might have seen when she cast him aside—
But it isn't on record that the lady tried
So some of him lived but the most of him died—
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the sweat of the brow and hand
They belong to the woman who never knew why,
and never would understand.

*Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost,
And the excellent things we planned.
They belong to a woman who never knew why,
And never would understand.

*To the tune of the chorus.


I'll transcribe a MIDI on request. -Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 09 Aug 21 - 08:16 PM

I keep referring queries of anything by Keith to Graham Pirt's website.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: DaveRo
Date: 10 Aug 21 - 03:43 AM

The wherabouts of the picture The Vampire by Philip Burne Jones is unknown.

Kipling's poem also inspired a 1913 silent film "The Vampire which is generally considered the first recognized film depicting the vamp character, also known as femme fatale" according to wikipedia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 10 Aug 21 - 06:05 AM

Chris Manners song The Vampire came to Whitby you might find jolly (but I got his CD 'Glad of what I got' for Thirteenth Night, a sort of lover's ghost story).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Vampire (Keith Marsden)
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 10 Aug 21 - 08:09 AM

OOps, some thread creep there, JHW!