Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)

Subject: Behold That Star
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:03 PM

BEHOLD THAT STAR
Thomas W. Talley

Behold that star!
Behold that star up yonder!
Behold that star!
It is the star of Bethlehem.

There was no room found in the inn,
This is the star of Bethlehem.
For Him who was born free from sin,
This is the star of Bethlehem.

2) Behold that star!
Behold that star up yonder!
Behold that star!
It is the star of Bethlehem.

The wise men came on from the East,
This is the star of Bethlehem.
To worship Him, the Prince of Peace,
This is the star of Bethlehem.

3) Behold that star!
Behold that star up yonder!
Behold that star!
It is the star of Bethlehem.

A song broke forth upon the night,
This is the star of Bethlehem.
From angel hosts all robed in white,
This is the star of Bethlehem.

@spiritual

source: http://www.8notes.com/school/scores.asp?extra_id=2&pageA=1
and : Pete Seeger: Traditional Christmas Carols

MS and MT

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:05 PM

Pete Seeger notes that "Behold That Star" was "composed by a black musician [not named] in Tennessee about 1930." [no credits, no copyright]. However, in Thomas W. Talley's book,

Talley, Thomas W. Negro Folk Rhymes. A New expanded edition, with Music. Edited...by Charles K. Wolfe. Music transcriptions by Bill Ferreira. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1991. Rev. ed. of Negro folk rhymes, wise and otherwise, published 1922 by the Macmillan Company. Contains music (ISBN 0-87049-673-5)

Charles Wolfe's new introduction gives some info on it. Talley wrote the song; the "black musician in Tennessee" in Pete Seeger's notes was Talley.

Thomas W[ashington] Talley (born 1870, Shelbyville, Tennessee; died 1952) was a black chemistry professor at Fisk University, and a singer. "Historian W.E.B. Dubois would compare Thomas Talley to singers like Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, and Roland Hayes and lament that in an earlier generation 'greta voices such as those belonging to Sissy Dorsey, Alice Mayton and Tom Talley went unnoticed in the world at large'" (Wolfe, p. xi).

The following are quotes mentioning "Behold That Star" from the introduction:

"Florence Hudson Botsford invited Talley to contribute a song to her collection, Folk Songs of Many Peoples, and he sent her an original composition called 'Behold That Star'." (pp. xviii-xix)

"During the [second world] war, Talley did classified work for the War Department; he returned to Nashville during this time and began working on a book-length manuscript entitled "A Concept of the Magnetic Atom." During his latter years, he seemed to view this as his life's work and he produced several drafts of it. It had little to do with folklore. He continued to compose music and completed a mass which was never published. His song "Behold That Star" entered the Christmas music repertoire and was widely reprinted in anthologies. In the early 1970s, the piece was performed on a national broadcast by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, with Leontyne Price singing. By this time the song had become so pervasive that Talley's name had been detatched from it, and Bernstein announced that he regretted that he did not know who had composed the song." (pp. xx-xxi).

****************************************************************

The above information was gathered by Masato Sakurai. This song has been going on in my head ever since I saw it on one of Masato's links here. I've sent a midi to Joe. -- Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: MMario
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:13 PM

mary? can I have a coy of the midi too? Please?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:16 PM

Well, MMario, do you want the single line melody one that I'm sending to Joe or my super-duper full midi with pizazz or the one on the site linked to above?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:18 PM

single line would be fine. I can't get to the site above because of the @#$% content filter...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Dec 01 - 08:29 PM

Found a site with sound. www.christmas.com/pe/734.
The Lomaxes also fail, too often, to credit sources in their books.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 02:44 AM

No mention of the authorship of "Behold The Star" [with the definite article instead of the demonstrative] in African American Heritage Hymnal (GIA, 2001), where it is simply a "Negro spiritual."

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Behold That Star
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 03:32 AM

There're several recordings. We can hear some of them HERE (CDNOW),쳌@including Marian Anderson and Pete Seeger.

~Masato

Subject: Behold That Star chords
From: GUEST,4ADiva
Date: 19 Oct 13 - 08:40 PM

Hi folks

Can anyone give me the chords for Pete Seeger's version of Behold That Star?

I think it's only two chords and I'm an idiot not to be able to figure it out, but I'm a complete beginner on the uke and I want to try this.

I have a high voice (soprano)if that's any help.

Thank you!

Lyrics (already posted elsewhere but repeated here for ease) are:

Chorus:

Behold that star! Behold that star up yonder!

Behold that star! It is the star of Bethlehem, it is the star of Bethlehem.


There was no room in the inn   It is the star of Bethlehem

For Him Who was born free from sin   It is the star of Bethlehem.


The wise men came from the east It is the star of Bethlehem
To worship Him the Prince of Peace It is the star of Bethlehem.

A song broke forth upon the night It is the star of Bethlehem
From angel hosts all robed in white It is the star of Bethlehem.

"Glory to God, world without end," It is the star of Bethlehem
"And peace on earth, goodwill toward men," It is the star of Bethlehem.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Oct 13 - 09:55 PM

The sheet music can be seen online in this book:

Christmas and New Year Songs compiled by Florence H. Botsford (New York: The Womans Press, 1922), page 19.

Someone more musically literate than I should be able to figure out some chords from the printed tune.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Oct 13 - 10:45 PM

Thanks Jim. You are incredible.

4ADiva: I could give it a try, but let me ask some questions first.

1. It moves stepwise a lot. Are you planning to sing it slowly, so that it's worth it to change chords for one sixteenth note? (That's what the bass line does.)

2. Do you want to replicate the bluesy sound of the seventh chords and the whatever-it-is with the B flat in it? That might involve some advanced guitar playing.

3. If I can't do it till later tomorrow, will you come back and get my results?

Let me know.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: 4ADiva
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 11:55 AM

Hi folks

I can access the image (cover) of the songbook Jim mentions, but there doesn't seem to be any way to view an interior page online. ???

Answers to Leeneia:
1. I will not be singing it slowly. The version I know is kind of a perky Bluegrassy thing with a medium tempo. Pete Seeger.

2. NO, please no B flat thingies. I'm just a beginner on the uke1! The seventh chords might be okay.

3. I will wait until the seas run dry and the mountains tumble down...

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 03:29 PM

Sheet music at http://www.operationlettertosanta.com/Music/Behold_that_star.htm

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 03:36 PM

A sound sample of Seeger doing it indicates there are 4 chords at play.

D, D6, G and A

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 04:28 PM

Pete Seeger- an mp3 download available from Amazon. The sheet music may be in one of his song books. Perhaps the only way to get his peculiar style.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 06:55 PM

I've made a MIDI from the 1922 version that Jim provided. Had a busy day, will post chords tomorrow.

Don't give up, 4ADiva!

---

Click to play (joeweb)

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 07:37 PM

Midi and full lyrics at http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com

Also biography and photo of Talley

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 11:24 PM

I've sent a MIDI of all four parts to Joe for posting here. The reason for that is so that people who don't know the song can hear what it's like. It also makes sure we are all talking about the same melody. (I did that before I saw Q's link. Thanks, Q.)

It's a fine song. Thanks for bringing it up. Here are the chords. There are lot of them, but they seem to be needed. For one thing, they are there in the parts. I've marked some that you might not really need with a *.   Good luck with your ukelele!

D Be-hold that
AD star!
G Behold that
Em star
G up
D yon
Em -der.
D Be-hold that
AD star!
D It is the
G star of
D* Beth
A-le
D-hem. There was no
A room
G found
D in the inn. This is the
G star of
D* Beth-
A le-
D hem. for Him who
A was
G born
D free from sin. This is the
G star of
D* Beth-
A le-
D hem.
D Be-hold that
AD star!
G Behold that
Em star
G up
D yon
Em -der.
D Be-hold that
AD star!
D It is the
G star of
D* Beth
A-le
D-hem.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Nov 13 - 12:34 AM

Leeneia's MIDI posted.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: 4ADiva
Date: 20 Nov 13 - 07:02 PM

Awesome! Thanks so much.

Gotta run off and grab my uke now....

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Nov 13 - 08:55 PM

Thanks, Joe. If anybody wants to hear how the song sounds, the link is up 5 threads from here.

I just learned on another thread that I've been spelling it wrong. It's ukulele, not ukelele.

Subject: RE: Chords Req: Behold That Star (Thomas W. Talley)
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Nov 13 - 08:59 PM

http://folio.furman.edu/projects/anthems/pdf/Behold_That_Star.pdf