Lyr Add: Rise Again (Leon Dubinsky)

Subject: Lyr Add: RISE AGAIN (Leon Dubinsky)
From:
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 01:26 PM

When I came back to Nova Scotia, it was the spring of 1985. Little did I know that I would hear a song and a voice which would change and inspire my life. The Cape Breton revue, "The Rise and Follies of 1985" had an ensemble cast full of songs and skits. However, the final song was what made the most impact on me. The singer was a young lady from the western side of Cape Breton, short in stature, but with a voice as big as the outdoors, Raylene Rankin. She and her brothers and sisters later formed the band, The Rankin Family. They went for 10 years and garnered international acclaim. However, what re-started my appreciation of Cape Breton Traditional music, both song and fiddle and step-dance, is this song....

Rise Again
Leon Dubinsky - Englishtown, CB
Written originally for The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton 1985 - Sung originally by Raylene Rankin
© Shagrock Music SOCAN
 

When the waves roll on over the waters And the ocean cries We look to our sons and daughters To explain our lives As if a child could tell us why   That as sure as the sunrise As sure as the sea As sure as the wind in the trees We rise again in the faces of our children We rise again in the voices of our song We rise again in the waves out on the ocean And then we rise again   When the light goes dark with the forces of creation Across a stormy sky We look to reincarnation To explain our lives As if a child could tell us why   That as sure as the sunrise As sure as the sea As sure as the wind in the trees We rise again in the faces of our children We rise again in the voices of our song We rise again in the waves out on the ocean And then we rise again

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 02:05 PM

Thanks, George. I was listening to this just yesterday.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 11:23 AM

i would like to obtain a recording of this song actually sung by the author leon dubinsky
do you know where i could get one?
Thanks
Dan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 11:33 AM

did Mr. Dubinsky ever perform this song?
if so, where can I get a copy of it?
my father would like this dong played at his funeral
please leave a message on here as to where I would be able to go and purchase this wonderful song or where I would be able to download it
Thank you very much!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: meself
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 12:11 PM

Great song - but I've always found the line about reincarnation a bit jarring: I mean, how many of us "look to reincarnation/To explain our lives"? I find it particularly odd in a song that was originally presented in, if not written for, a sort of celebration of a community - Cape Breton - in which belief in reincarnation is surely not the norm, to put it mildly. And whenever I hear the song, it always seems to be in some sort of an at-least-implied celebration of Cape Breton.

But I'm the kind of guy to be bugged by that sort of thing. YMMV.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 12:30 PM

Dubinsky wrote this for the Rise And Follies Revue. I don't know of any recordings by himself but Raylene Rankin does it here:

Rise Again

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 12:43 PM

meself, "reincarnation" is idiomatic, not literal in the song, rising from adversity and defeat, not death.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: meself
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 01:14 PM

Hmmm, okay - so that leaves me a bit confused by the "As if ... " lines - because if "reincarnation" and similarly "our sons and daughters" DO explain our lives (in the sense that "rising from adversity and defeat", and what we see "in the faces of our children", seem to give our lives meaning, purpose, and hope), then, figuratively, a child CAN tell us why - no "As if" about it ....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 01:38 PM

Well I can't read Dubinsky's mind but the song was written at a time of great adversity in Cape Breton. The steel making and coal mining industries were being phased out and the hope of adult generations was badly bruised. I suspect that hope for a better life for future generations was all that was left.
Sadly much of that future generation now lives and prospers in Fort McMoney, Alberta.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again - Leon Dubinsky
From: meself
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 04:12 PM

I understand that aspect of the song's appeal; I'm just trying to make sense of the actual lyrics. I was just hoping they might be understandable without having to read the writer's mind ....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again (Leon Dubinsky)
From: GUEST,NancyP14
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 11:34 PM

I was bothered by the "reincarnation" part too. It bothers me every time I listen to the song. Other than that, I really like it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rise Again (Leon Dubinsky)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 09:00 AM

There's a nice rendition by Australian singer Kate Delaney on her 2007 CD, A Moment In Time.