Songs about lighthouses

Subject: Lyr Add: IDA LEWIS (Barry Finn)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 09:59 PM

Hey Sinsull, thanks for being so generous with your kind words. I still don't know how to do the blue clicky thing & I can't do tunes either but if you do end up wanting the tune I've been known to sing cross country into a telephone's message machine. My e-mail is on this site. Good Luck, Barry

Subject: Lyr Add: IDA LEWIS (Barry Finn)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 23-Feb-02 - 04:08 PM

Another of the famed women lighthouse keepers (America's most famous) was Ida Lewis. She kept the Lime Rock Light after her father took (4 months after arriving at age 15) to a wheelchair. No American lighthouse has ever had its name changed by the Lighthouse Service (part of the Coast Guard), except for the Lime Rock Light. It was renamed the Ida Lewis Light. After the Light was retired it was bought by the Newport Yacht Club, who remend the club the Ida Lewis Yacht Club & has been maintained by them ever since. Her first rescue, at age 16, was 4 young men. Her last was a close friend when at age 63. Here's part of her story in song:

IDA LEWIS
As recorded by Finn & Haddie on "Fathom This" (2008)

Ida Lewis left Newport at the age of 15,
Moved onto Lime Light Rock in the 1850s
Her father was a captain, now keeper of the light
Soon the duties fell on Ida to keep the lamps burning bright.

Her sisters & brother she'd row to school every day
In a small open lifeboat across the rough bay
From his wheelchair, her father would watch through the storms
In horror as Ida would row the children back home.

Renowned for her skills no matter the weather
At swimming or rowing, no man was her better
At the age of 16 she had saved 4 men's lives
By the time she retired, she had saved 25

There are saints on the water & demons in the sea
One & all they praise Ida for her great bravery
On the very night this woman died, who had lived on the shoals
Every bell on every boat in Newport did toll

Now they've renamed that rock the Ida Lewis Rock Light
And in her honor today the lights are still burning bright
But sometimes at night when it's rough & it's cold
Some claim to see Ida pulling boys from the foam.

copyright 1998 Barry Finn

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Nancy King
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 09:22 PM

And don't forget "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," a fine old hymn which uses the lighthouse both as a metaphor for God's love and as a literal reference; it was written by P. P. Bliss in response to a shipping disaster on Lake Erie, caused by the failure of the lighthouse keeper to do his job properly. It's in the DT.

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 08:58 PM

Contact Barry Finn who has written a wonderful song about a lighthouse and its keeper - a woman who saved many lives under the worst of conditions. Best of all, it is a true story. If you can get a recodring of Barry singing it - all the better.

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 08:56 PM

Just casting another vote for McCutcheon's song...

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 06:35 PM

Hey, you guys are amazing.

Drummergirl: Where can we get the words/music to "The Lighthouse"?

Masato: Where did you find "When the Bell in the Lighthouse Rings Ding Dong"?

Anyone: Where can we find the music to "Grace Darling"?

More?

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 06:00 PM

The title song of the McCalmans' album 'Keepers' (1999) is about lighthouse keepers and their demise. 'The Lifeboat Mona' by Peggy Seeger is about trying to save the crew of the Tay lightship in a storm. Does this count?

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 02:32 PM

There is a wonderful new song, written by Chris Manners and recorded by him on his recently released CD called ' Will the last man leaving turn out the light' about the situation in English lighthouses , where there are no manned lighthouses any more. You can contact him through Pete Coe or Ryburn 3 step ( he is a resident at that club ). Both have web sites.

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: late 'n short 2
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 01:43 PM

Try John McCutcheon's The Old Brown's Head Light from his album "Live at Wolf Trap"

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: beadie
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 12:33 PM

In far northern Wisconsin, on the shores of the greatest of the Great Lakes (Superior), there is a tent show extravaganza that runs from May til September every year called the Lake Superior Bigtop Chautauqua. Empressario Warren Nelson and his band of entertainers book major (and minor) name acts as well as provide locally produced offerings throughout the season.

One of Nelson's projects (repeated several times each summer) is a multi-mdeia and live performance show called "The Keeper of the Light" , a production about the history of the shipping trade on the lakes dating from the earliest European occupation of the region.

The title song (Keeper of the Light) is a masterpiece chronicle of the lighthouse service.

The CD (and many others from the group) is availabel on their website at Bigtop.org .

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From:
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 10:56 AM

Check Out Dan McKinnon. He's got a great modern song about the Canadian Government selling off lighthouses. (BTW, they are selling off or have sold off a number of them)

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dan.mckinnon/

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 10:49 AM

I believe that Rick Spencer of Mystic also has a sone about a lighthouse keeper's daughter.

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 10:33 AM

The Watersons' Grace Darling [lyrics].

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: Les from Hull
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 10:21 AM

'Grace Darling' - which starts off, 'Twas on the Longstone Lighthouse there dwelt an English maid..."

'My Father Was a Lighthouse Keeper' was an Incredible String Band number - they also did 'At the Lighthouse Dance'.

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 09:00 AM

Some "lighthouse keeper" songs:

I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper [lyrics] by Ericka Eigen (from the film Clockwise Orange) [updated link]

My Father was a Lighthouse Keeper [lyrics] by Malcolm Le Maistre [updated link]

So Said the Lighthouse Keeper [lyrics] (John Woloschuk)

The Lighthouse Keeper by Billy Bennett [this seems to be a poem] [updated link]

Lighthouse Keeper by Mark J. Bradlyn, [title only]

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 08:24 AM

Two German songs:

Wir saßen am Fischerhause (We sat at the fisherman's house)
Text by Heinrich Heine

Im Sturme (In a storm)
Text by Karl Siebel

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 08:14 AM

Sorry, I didn't notice all the songs above are already on your list. I've found another one, but the title only:

"When the Bell in the Lighthouse Rings (Ding Dong)"
1905; Words by Arthur J. Lamb; Music by Alfred Solman

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 04:18 AM

There're three songs in the Levy Collection.

(1) Title: English Favorites. Fog Bell.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by Hubert de Burgh.
Composed by Henry Pontet.
Henry Pontet Publication: New York: T.B. Harms & Co., 819 Broadway, n.d..
Form of Composition: sectional
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Around the lighthouse saps the tide
Plate Number: 493-8
Subject: Ships
Subject: Absences
Subject: Homecomings
Subject: Storms
Subject: Lighthouses
Subject: Sailors
Call No.: Box: 174 Item: 105

(2) Title: Professional Copy. The Angel of Sunset Rock. Song and Chorus.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words and Music by Chas. Graham.
Publication: n.p., 1897.: , .
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: The lighthouse keeper on Sunset Rock, had trimmed his lamp for the night
First Line of Chorus: On the wildest night, her light shone bright
Subject: Occupations
Subject: Fathers & children
Subject: Shipwrecks
Subject: Death
Call No.: Box: 140 Item: 018

(3) Title: Bell of Boston Bay, or, The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Poem by Dexter Smith. Music by E.N. Catlin.
E. N. Catlin Publication: Boston: White, Smith & Perry, 298 & 300 Washington Street, 1869.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice (solo and satb chorus)
First Line: When the world is fast asleep, and the stars shine o'er the deep
First Line of Chorus: Raven hair and eyes of jet, sparkling orbs they haunt me
Dedicatee: Respectfully Dedicated to Miss Ida Lewis
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: Music Typography by J. Frank Giles, 89 Washington Street, Boston
Subject: Sailors
Subject: Courtship
Subject: Love
Subject: Marriage proposals
Subject: Absences
Call No.: Box: 181 Item: 030

~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: Lighthouse Songs
From: drummergirl
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 02:21 AM

I have heard a song called "The Lighthouse's Tale" by a young bluegrass band called "Nickel Creek". It is a story of a lighthouse keeper from the view of the lighthouse with lines like (if my memory serves me correctly) "I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves . . ." IMHO, it has a pretty catchy tune, although it has a sad ending because the lighthouse keeper and his wife die. It still is a nice song though. Have you heard of this song, is it what you are looking for?

Subject: Lighthouse Songs
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 01:34 AM

We are looking for songs about lighthouses. Not just songs that mention lighthouses or religious songs that use the lighthouse as a metaphor, but songs that are actually about lighthouses.

We checked some sheet music sites and did a DT and forum search. There are a lot of references in the forum search but most of them were not actually to lighthouse songs.

So far, we have come up with these:

Bell of Boston Bay
Eddystone Light (not really about the lighthouse)
Flannan Isle
Brasswork (a poem looking for a tune)
The Angel of Sunset Rock
The Fog Bell
The Lighthouse
The Man at the Nore
The Three Fishers

Any more?

Bev and Jerry

p.s. Joe Offer: This one got your attention, didn't it?

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]