Eli Jenkins Prayer (& songs from under milk wood)

Subject: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: GUEST,Straford
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 03:53 PM

Does anyone have the words for Eli Jenkins Prayer from Under Milkwood?
Thanks,
Straford

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Also see: Chimbley Sweep

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 04:19 PM

Every morning when I wake,
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please to keep Thy lovely eye
On all poor creatures born to die. And every evening at sun-down
I ask a blessing on the town,
For whether we last the night or no
I'm sure is always touch-and-go. We are not wholly bad or good
Who live our lives under Milk Wood,
And Thou, I know, wilt be the first
To see our best side, not our worst. O let us see another day!
Bless us this night, I pray,
And to the sun we all will bow
And say, goodbye - bye just for now!

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Gareth
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 04:37 PM

Try also the good Reverands moirning poem-

Taken from the J M Dent Edition 1954

Scaned using Textbridge.

Converted to HTML using Hotmetal

SECOND VOICE
The Reverend Eli Jenkins, in Bethesda House, gropes out of bed into his preacher's black, combs back his bard's white hair, forgets to wash, pads barefoot downstairs, opens the front door, stands in the doorway and, looking out at the day and up at the eternal hill, and hearing the sea break and the gab of birds, remembers his own verses and tells them softly to empty Coronation Street that is rising and raising its blinds.

REV. ELI JENKINS

Dear Gwalia! I know there are
Towns lovelier than ours,
And fairer hills and loftier far,
And groves more full of flowers,

And boskier woods more blithe with spring
And bright with birds' adorning,
And sweeter bards than I to sing
Their praise this beauteous morning.

By Cader Idris, tempest-torn,
Or Moel yr Wyddfa's glory,
Carnedd Llewelyn beauty born,
Plinlimmon old in story,

By mountains where King Arthur dreams,
By Penmaenmawr defiant,
Llaregyb Hill a molehill seems,
A pygmy to a giant.

By Sawdde, Senny, Dovey, Dee,
Edw, Eden, Aled, all,
Taff and Towy broad and free,
Llyfhant with its waterfall,

Claerwen, Cleddau, Dulais, Daw,
Ely, Gwili, Ogwr, Nedd,
Small is our River Dewi, Lord,
A baby on a rushy bed.

By Carreg Cennen, King of time,
Our Heron Head is only
A bit of stone with seaweed spread
Where gulls come to be lonely.

A tiny dingle is Milk Wood
By Golden Grove 'neath Grongar,
But let me choose and oh! I should
Love all my life and longer

To stroll among our trees and stray
In Goosegog Lane, on Donkey Down,
And hear the Dewi sing all day,
And never, never leave the town.

SECOND VOICE
The Reverend Jenkins closes the front door. His morning service is over.

See also this link here

Gareth

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 06:36 PM

Dylan Thomas, peace be upon thee.

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 11:30 AM

Cor Mebion Treorci (Treorchy Male Voice) do a cracking arrangment of this

Just FYI

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 11:46 AM

It was set in penillion style by the harp-player Osian Ellis back in the 1960s; I should imagine they used his melody?

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 09:39 AM

They sing it in a sort of mock ecclesiatical plainsong

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: sian, west wales
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 04:36 AM

The tune used is Troyte's Chant - available in most protestant hymn books, I would think.

sian

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 04:14 PM

Troyte's Chant/Eli Jenkins Prayer MP3 by Siân James (Harpist) is at this site.

As 'Siân,West Wales' says, the tune is 'Troyte's Chant' and available in hymn books:
Hymns Ancient and Modern: Hymn 27 (second tune)
Hymns Ancient & Modern - Revised: Hymn 357 (second tune)

Nigel

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: mack/misophist
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 04:37 PM

My taste runs more toward the 'Morning Chorale of Johnathan Jeremiah Peachums'.

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 12:55 AM

The morning prayer of the Reverend Jenkins is one of the more poignant elements of that wonderful play. I haven't heard it or read it for years. I think I will search out the recording I had and listen to it again.

CB

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 05:13 AM

Polly Garter's song "Tom, Dick and Harry were three fine men" would be very suitable for singing in folk clubs.

Subject: Lyr Add: FERN HILL (Dylan Thomas)
From: Pied Piper
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 10:53 AM

Fern Hill

by Dylan Thomas


Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
    Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
    Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
    Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
    And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
    And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
    Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
    The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
    On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
    I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house-high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
    Follow him out of grace,

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
    Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

All the best PP

Subject: RE: Eli jenkins Prayer (under milkwood
From: sian, west wales
Date: 22 May 03 - 05:17 AM

Just thought that Dylan Thomas fans might note that Brown's Hotel, Laugharne, is for sale.

Anyone looking for a business opportunity and lots of cash to burn?

sian

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From:
Date: 07 Oct 03 - 06:56 PM

Thanks for the words of Dylan Thomas` "Every morning" I knew the tune but hadn`t sung it for years and kept getting the order wrong.Someone has asked me to sing it at a funeral on Thursday-thought I`d better get the correct order.Thanks once again.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 05:44 AM

As you may know, Swansea (Dylan Thomas' home town) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his death.
The Swansea Maritime festival including a presentation of excerpts from "Under Milk Wood" by The Swansea Youth Theatre.
Baggyrinkle (Swansea Shantymen) sang "The Rev. Eli Jenkin's Prayer" in that presentation and they have decided to keep it in their repertoire.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: KateG
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 10:36 AM

Thanks for posting "Fern Hill." It was my father's favorite poem, and he would have celebrated his 77th birthday next week. It's been a decade since he passed, I think I'll make a Steak and Kidney pie ("Kate and Sydney" as we called it) in his memory this weekend. By a small coincidence, when he was recovering from brain surgery in the 1950's his nurse was Dylan Thomas' sister.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 06:25 AM

I mentioned Polly Garter's Song earlier. She's the town's "purveyor of horizontal refreshment", but always comes over as one of the nicest characters. Here are the lyrics.

I loved a man whose name was Tom
He was strong as a bear and two yards long
I loved a man whose name was Dick
He was big as a barrel and three feet thick
I loved a man whose name was Harry
Six feet tall and sweet as a cherry
But the one I loved best awake or asleep
Was little Willy Wee and he's six feet deep.

O Tom, Dick and Harry were three fine men
And I'll never have such loving again
But little Willy Wee who took me on his knee
Little Willy Wee was the man for me.

Now men from every parish round
Run after me and roll me on the ground
But whenever I love another man back
Johnnie from the hill or sailing jack
I always think as they do what they please
Of Tom Dick and Harry who were tall as trees
And most I think when I'm By their side
Of little Willy Wee who up and died.

O Tom, Dick and Harry were three fine men
And I'll never have such loving again
But little Willy Wee who took me on his knee
Little Willy Wee was the man for me.

Now when farmer's boys on the first fair day
Come down from the hills to drink and be gay.
Before the sun sinks I'll lie there in their arms
For they're good bad boys from the lonely farms
But I always think as we tumble into bed
Of little Willy Wee who is dead, dead, dead.

O Tom, Dick and Harry were three fine men
And I'll never have such loving again
But little Willy Wee who took me on his knee
Little Willy Wee was the man for me.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Nov 03 - 05:45 AM

Dylan Thomas died 50 years ago today (9 Nov 1953) in New York. The BBC are broadcasting a season of TV and radio programmes on his life and work.

The new production of Under Milk Wood will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next Saturday (Nov 15) from 2.30 to 4pm GMT. Details of their whole Dylan Thomas season are available on the BBC Wales pages.

WassaiL!V

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: Amos
Date: 09 Nov 03 - 09:47 AM

Dear God, was this not a poet?!! What words, what words.

I love everything about him, the golden beautiful sot.

A

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: GUEST,riscagirl
Date: 23 Mar 08 - 03:28 PM

Can I also add that Risca male Choir do a stonking version too. My mother has gone off tonight with the intention of playing this on the organ as they give out Communion in her chapel. As someone said before it's in many Church Hymnals. She has hers in the Baptist Church Hymnal - not the new version however - this one is a fair few years old.
RG

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: GUEST,huw
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 04:48 AM

Dylan And Caitlin

Oh Caitlin my love
Oh Caitlin my dear
When first I saw you
Knew you'd always be near
You were wild you were free
You could dance like the sea
Though the bar room was crowded
You sat next to me.
I remember your hair
The colour of gold
Eyes full of mischief
Daring and bold
Cait Macnamara
I straight away fell
Into your arms
And under your spell.

chorus
Let's wander the green hill
Then back home again
Go down to the tideline
And walk in the rain
I'll write in the boathouse
You'll dance by the sea
Apart we're in shackles
Can we ever be free?

Oh Dylan my love
Oh Dylan my dear
Your words are like honey
So sweet to my ears
With the voice of an angel
The thirst of a king
You are blessed with the words
That can make my heart sing
Take me back to the summer
Take me down to the shore
Take me to Laugharne
I can't take anymoe
The boy from Cwmdonkin
And his Galway sweetheart
Can't live together
And can't stay apart.

Oh Dylan my darling
Oh Caitlin be mine
Two star crossed lovers
Together entwined
The wizard with words
And a queen of the may
The boy from Cwmdonkin
The girl from the bay
Come back to our bed
There's a chill in the air
Two bodies need warming
Two souls need repair
The tide it is turning
Down on the sea
Dylan and Caitlin
Forever be free.

words and music
Huw Pudner and Chris Hastings

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: GUEST,Maurice
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 12:30 PM

There is a video on youtube of a choir singing this prayer, sorry I don't have the reference but a search for Dylan Thomas Eli Jenkins should find it.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (under milkwood)
From: Dame Pattie Smith EPNS
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 06:51 PM

It's a beautiful song. Splottie and I sing it, also I sing it with Cantorion Creigiau, a local mixed choir.

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (& songs from under milk wood)
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 27 Oct 14 - 07:51 PM

The great poet would have been 100 yesterday. It was with pride I read eli's prayer out at a folknsession. I wish I could have done justice singing it but I am happy to defer to those Welsh male voice choirs who can do it justice

mp

Subject: RE: Eli Jenkins Prayer (& songs from under milk wood)
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 28 Oct 14 - 05:30 AM

Polly Garter's song, "Tom Dick and Harry". I presume that Thomas wrote the words, but does anybody know where the tune comes from?