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30 Nov 08 - 07:26 PM (#2504394) Subject: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk You might enjoy listening to this beautiful and mournful song about the Civil War and taking in the images... Cross the Green Mountain - video of the song Dylan's song was written for the Civil War movie "Gods and Generals". The song is a requiem for both sides in that war. Some of the verses clearly have to do with the death of Stonewall Jackson, shot accidentally by his own men during confused encounters on the first night of Chancellorsville, which was Lee and Jackson's greatest victory, but resulted in the death of Jackson, a death the South could ill afford. Here are the lyrics as best I make them out (I think some versions that are out on the net now are mistaken on a few specific words and phrases): I cross the Green Mountain I sit by the stream Heaven blazing in my head I dreamt a monstrous dream Something came up Out of the sea Swept through the land of The rich and the free I look into the eyes Of my merciful friend And then I ask myself Is this the end? Memories linger Sad yet sweet And I think of the souls in heaven who we'll meet (or "who will meet"?) Alters are burning The flames far and wide The foe has crossed over From the other side They tip their caps from the top of the hill You can feel them come All brave blood do spill (....or...."More brave blood to spill"?) Along the dim Atlantic line The ravaged land Lasts for miles behind The light's coming forward And the streets are broad All must yield To the avenging God The world is old The world is gray Lessons of life Can't be learned in a day I watch and I wait And I listen while I stand To the music that comes From a far better land Close the eyes of our Captain Peace may he know His long night is done The great leader is laid low He was ready to fall He was quick to defend Killed outright he was by his own men It's the last day's last hour Of the last happy year I feel that the unknown World is so near Pride will vanish And glory will rot But virtue lives And cannot be forgot The bells Of evening have rung There's blasphemy On every tongue Let them say that I walked In fair nature's light And that I was loyal To truth and to right Serve God and meet your foe Look upward beyond Beyond the darkness that masks The surprises of dawn In the deep green grasses And the blood stained woods They never dreamed of surrendering They fell where they stood Stars fell over Alabama And I saw each star You're walking in dreams Whoever you are Chilled are the skies Keen is the frost And the ground's froze hard And the morning is lost A letter to mother Came today Gunshot wound to the breast Is what it did say But he'll be better soon He's in a hospital bed But he'll never be better He's already dead I'm ten miles outside the city And I'm lifted away In an ancient light That is not of day They were calm they were blunt We knew 'em all too well We loved each other more than we ever dared to tell The recording is in the key of G# (or A flat if you prefer). Put a capo on the first fret and play it as if in G. The verses are mostly of this pattern of chords (Am)I cross the Green (Bm) Mountain (C)I sit by the (D) stream (Am)Heaven blazing (Bm)in my head (C)I dreamt a monstrous (D) dream (C)Something came (G) up (Am)Out of the (D)sea (Em)Swept through the (C) land of The (D) rich and the (Em) free (C) (G) (D) I think there's an alternate pattern in some of the verses, though and the melody line shifts in those too...I'm busy figuring it out right now. |
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30 Nov 08 - 07:57 PM (#2504417) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk Okay, there is an alternate chord pattern and melody on a few verses. It seems to go with these chords: Serve God and meet your foe C Bm Look upward beyond Am G Beyond the darkness that masks C Bm The surprises of dawn Am D In the deep green grasses C G And the blood stained woods Am G They never dreamed of surrendering Am Bm They fell where they stood C D |
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02 Dec 08 - 01:04 PM (#2506028) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Amos What a lovely thread, Little Hawk!! :D A |
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02 Dec 08 - 01:49 PM (#2506061) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: VirginiaTam Oh no! Amos... you ruined LH's achievement. What is to be done? This calls for a link back the related thread |
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02 Dec 08 - 02:24 PM (#2506091) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Amos Chinga made me do it. Blackmail. A |
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02 Dec 08 - 11:21 PM (#2506506) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: artbrooks Chinga su que? |
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03 Dec 08 - 12:50 AM (#2506522) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk Chinga is Amos's primate paramour. She runs a brothel in Milwaukee. It is a horribly sordid tale, one which I will resist posting anything further about here, because it's just too nasty. Awful, really. I hate to even think about it. ;-) ***** Now, I have a couple more small corrections to the lyrics. 1. "the ravaged land lies" for miles around, not "lasts" Along the dim Atlantic line The ravaged land Lies for miles behind The light's coming forward And the streets are broad All must yield To the avenging God 2. "Serve God and be cheerful" Serve God and be cheerful Look upward beyond Beyond the darkness that masks The surprises of dawn In the deep green grasses Of the blood stained woods They never dreamed of surrendering They fell where they stood There are only 3 verses with the alternate chord pattern, and they resolve to the 5th of the key at the end (a D chord). The other verses all resolve to an Em at the end of the lyric, followed by a C and then a G chord. |
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03 Dec 08 - 01:27 PM (#2506992) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: semi-submersible "Altars are burning" is more probable than "Alters." (The "e" spelling is only used in the verb. 'E'll be sacrificed on the altar, 'cos 'e altered the meaning.) |
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03 Dec 08 - 01:59 PM (#2507021) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk Yeah, that's right. I should have spelled it "altars". One more among many small corrections. ;-) There are a surprising number of errors in the various posted versions of the supposed lyrics on the Net, the most striking being the seemingly universal replacement of the word "foe" with "fool" in "the foe has crossed over to the other side"...and "ravaged land" with "rapper's land". I get the feeling that there are a lot of young people out there now who have never even heard the word "foe" in their lives. Dylan has written the song very much in the vernacular and mindset of the Civil War era itself...."foe" was a common word to use and there were no rappers back then, that's for danged sure! ;-) |
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03 Dec 08 - 05:38 PM (#2507176) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Bobert Sorry, LH, fir not noticing this thread... And sorry that everyone else didn't either 'cause now it has sent you into an early Christmas season depression... I generally don't get depressed until about the 12th or 13th but seein' as you have allready raised the flag then count me in... BTW, the song is purdy depressin', too... Man, I kniow I shouldn't have opened that other thread... Ruined my entire year... 'Er at least what is left of it... B~ |
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03 Dec 08 - 08:01 PM (#2507259) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: McGrath of Harlow ...there were no rappers back then, that's for danged sure! Oh yes there were. Here are some modern day carriers of the rapper tradition, in Yorkshire. ............................................ One extra correction - I'm pretty sure those first two lines should read I cross the Green Mountain I slept by the stream Heaven blazing in my head I dreamt a monstrous dream The other YouTube clip, the soundtrack version it appears. just has the first few verses. A more restrained version, and all the more powerful as a result, I felt. Thanks for pointing us to this, Little Hawk. |
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03 Dec 08 - 08:33 PM (#2507277) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk Yeah, I liked that version too, McGrath. You may indeed be right that it is "slept" by the stream. That makes better sense in the context of the whole verse. |
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03 Dec 08 - 09:35 PM (#2507306) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Beer Thanks for finding this L.H. Bob sure as hell can still write a great song. Beer (adrien) |
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03 Dec 08 - 11:36 PM (#2507363) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Arkie L.H., thanks for posting. Powerful words. Now to look forward to the recording and the film. |
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04 Dec 08 - 12:13 PM (#2507735) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Little Hawk The film's been out for years, Arkie. I think it came out back in 2002 or thereabouts. The song lyric is not listed on Dylan's website at all for some reason, but a recording of the song appears on the new Dylan double album collection: Tell Tale Signs It's the last track on the 2nd disc. |
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04 Dec 08 - 10:01 PM (#2508247) Subject: RE: 'Cross the Green Mountain' - Dylan From: Arkie Thanks L.H. I have add the CD and DVD to my Christmas list. The wait will not be as long as I thought. Obviously, I have not been keeping up with latest releases. |