Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'

Subject: ADDPOP: Wild World (Cat Stevens)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jan 17 - 03:17 PM

Oh, darn. My memory played tricks on me. I thought it was the couplet at the end of "Wild World," by Cat Stevens:

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild wood,
and I'll always remember you like a child would.

Or at least that's how the lyrics go when I sing the song in my head.
But my memory was wrong. The lyrics are:

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world,
and I'll always remember you like a child, girl.

But hey, it's a good excuse to post a good song:


WILD WORLD
(Cat Stevens)

Now that I've lost everything to you,
You say you want to start something new,
And it's breaking my heart you're leaving.
Baby, I'm grieving.

But if you wanna leave, take good care.
Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear,
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.
It's hard to get by just upon a smile.
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.
I'll always remember you like a child, girl.

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do,
And it's breaking my heart in two,
'Cause I never want to see you sad, girl.
Don't be a bad girl.
But if you want to leave, take good care,
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware,
Beware.

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.
It's hard to get by just upon a smile.
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world,
And I'll always remember you like a child, girl.

Baby, I love you, but if you wanna leave, take good care.
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware,
Beware.

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.
It's hard to get by just upon a smile.
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world,
And I'll always remember you like a child, girl.


And here's a Website with some insights into the meaning of the song: http://www.literaryramblings.com/the-deconstruction-of-popular-music-wild-world-by-cat-stevens

Subject: RE: Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'
From: MW (music)
Date: 26 Jan 17 - 02:44 PM

Hi all

Re: DUPLICATED THREAD! So could MudCat Café members in future post onto this LATER thread (http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161397)

Oops! I inadvertently posted the same message twice! ,-)

I posted the initial thread forgetting - as I hadn't posted anything on the MudCat Café for several years! ,-) - that I had not yet signed in & that the thread would thus be by an anonymous "Guest". This thread is on another URL at: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161396

So I then logged in to the MudCat Café, & reposted the thread. This second thread is here at: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161397.

But unfortunately both threads are now 'live', as it were:
several helpful people have posted on BOTH threads! i.e. both the initial "Guest" thread by me, as well as on this "MW (music)" thread.

This might well be confusing to MudCat members, so I have asked the admin. people at the MudCat Café to amalgamate these 2 threads:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161396
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161397
onto this later thread (thread no. 161397) that I posted under my user ID "MW (music)".

While I am waiting this noble deed by the MudCat team ,-)
it would be great if MudCat Café members could in future all post onto this LATER thread
here at URL: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161397.

This should save on confusion for other posters! :-)

Much thanks all!

Threads combined and duplicate messages deleted. -Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'
From: MW (music)
Date: 26 Jan 17 - 01:14 PM

Thanks keberoxu & leeneia. Great help!

But sadly I am still no further forward! As the poem by Lydia Huntley Sigourney is not the correct words, & 'The Church In The Wildwood' is the wrong melody (& its words aren't a correct match).

Although I can now see where Tom Paxton got his inspiration for 'Forest Lawn'! I must admit when I heard the T.P. song that it sounded - from the way it was put together incl. when it changed pace part-way through - that it might well be a pastiche. So I was delighted to be told of the song 'The Church In The Wildwood'! So, thanks leeneia.

Any further thoughts by anyone?

Maybe I remember it from my childhood, & that it therefore IS the Tom Paxton song BUT! cleaned up - i.e. made less negative & more upbeat, to suit children. Perhaps, perhaps . . . ?!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Melody to 'wild wood' 'as a child would'
From: Newport Boy
Date: 25 Jan 17 - 01:18 PM

Probably not what you're looking for - Spike Woods' Place in the Wildwood. It's about 20 up from the bottom of the list at
his reverbnation page. I haven't heard it anywhere else, so it's probably one of his own, maybe prompted by Church in the Wildwood.

Phil

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Melody to 'wild wood' 'as a child would'
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Jan 17 - 12:26 PM

and here's a link to a YouTube video with singers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6vlgHg4Ps

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Melody to 'wild wood' 'as a child would'
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Jan 17 - 12:22 PM

The tune stuck in your head is probably this:

http://www.music-folk-play-hymns.com/support-files/church-in-the-wildwood.pdf

A fragment of this sentimental song was inserted into the satirical song 'Forest Lawn.'

Subject: RE: Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 07:12 PM

Hello, MW

I think you are looking for "The Church in the Wildwood." The rhyme with wildwood and childhood is in the chorus. There are many versions on the internet, and since it was written in 1865, variations in the arrangement and title have developed.

Here's a sample:

http://www.music-folk-play-hymns.com/support-files/church-in-the-wildwood.pdf

Subject: RE: Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 06:28 PM

I guess this has got nothing to do with

"Sweetly wild, sweetly wild,
The scenes that charmed me when a child."

That's a poem by Lydia Huntley Sigourney, published in the 1800's (she was a Connecticut native). That poem got around, it was in lots of anthologies. Maybe it was set to music but I can't locate a setting.

Subject: Tune Req: lyr 'wild wood [...] as a child would'
From: MW (music)
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 12:03 PM

Hi

Have got a tune stuck in my head!! All I can remember is a few words of the melody:

"wild wood" [...] "as a child would"

So am looking for any info on the song or the lyrics. So that I can look into it further (sheet music etc.).

The melody I am thinking of sounded in my head to be a simple-format song of the 1960s/1970s, possibly of the folk genre.

I have done a bit of Googling. I found a 1993 song by Paul Weller (of The Jam) - 'Wild Wood' - but that ISN'T the song! The song I am thinking of is far less textured than the Paul Weller song. Plus it is the wrong melody.

Then I found a song sung by John Denver - 'Forest Lawn' - that I thought was it, as it was the right age & genre as it is indeed a '70s song as it was produced in 1970!

However, having found vids of the Denver song at YouTube, it turned out NOT to be the tune I am looking for! :-(
It is far too witty (interestingly I didn't know John Denver ever performed/wrote any witty songs!) & faster than I remember. Plus SEEMS to be the wrong melody! (BTW, 'Forest Lawn' was written - words & music - not by John Denver, but by Tom Paxton.)

I even found a carol written by John Rutter. Not that one either!

So am still no further forward!

One idea I have had is: I am wondering if anyone knows if there was ANOTHER version or rendition of the Tom Paxton creation, that would match what I am remembering i.e. a performance of a slower-paced 'Forest Lawn' that also has a less humorous purpose.

Any ideas?

by
MW (music)