01 Jul 14 - 08:01 PM (#3638195) Subject: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,cujimmy Anyone got a link to the lyrics or even better a youtube link to John Wilson singing a song about Unicorns, such a lovely song. |
01 Jul 14 - 08:15 PM (#3638197) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: Susan of DT There are several songs about unicorns in the Digital Tradition. Here are some: (Green Alligators) Unicorns dreamed there were Unicorns Last Unicorn Seeing/Believing Unicorn |
01 Jul 14 - 09:24 PM (#3638205) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,# I betcha Roy Harris will know the song title. |
01 Jul 14 - 11:27 PM (#3638222) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: Phil Cooper Are you referring to the Bill Caddick song? |
02 Jul 14 - 07:29 AM (#3638283) Subject: ADD: Unicorns Song (Bill Caddick) From: JHW Yes it comes from Bill Caddick. I heard him sing it at the Bacca Pipes FC a year or two ago. The original text is I guess as noted above (here) where the title is given as 'I Dreamed There Were Unicorns' but I've always known it as plain 'Unicorns'. I learned it subconsciously from Viv Bjerregaard having heard her sing it many times. Some words may have changed in her singing and again as I sang it from what I remembered. That's the way songs go. I sing 'I dreamed I saw a unicorn' an individual. It is a magical song I'm very fond of but am afraid I haven't recorded. The change from Am up to A (as I do it) for the chorus is shivery. I can only record analogue but maybe I could youtube it when I meet up with friends with the right gear. I have tapestry of a unicorn from Loches, France on my bedside table. UNICORNS SONG (Bill Caddick) We were travelling North to sing and play And be with friends we'd never met Been working hard and couldn't sleep The sky was grey and threatened wet I dreamed I saw a Unicorn, dreamed I saw him wild and white His restles beauty filled the world Like the star that lights the winter's night He danced and pranced around Soft as a rainbow round a star His eyes were soft and sad And cried So I wept for the wild and dirty world To which such beauty now was lost Cursed the hungry hand of man That robbed the future at such cost My head was bowed, my eyes were closed But in my ears the voices rang These few words ran deep inside To my very soul it cried We never went away You always knew that we were near, Remember where to look for us, You know we were always here So I raised my eyes to sek them out But the world was empty all around Rain cme tumbling from the clouds To was all dreams into the ground But when they asked me Why I wept Like one who for a dead love mourns The only answer I could give I dreamed that there were Unicorns We never went away You always knew that we were near, Remember where to look for us, You know we were always here |
03 Jul 14 - 02:25 AM (#3638521) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,Cujimmy yes thats the one JHW thankyou |
03 Jul 14 - 03:51 AM (#3638547) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: Howard Jones I believe the second line is "For friends that we had never met" (as given in the lyric database). The song was written by Bill about a dream he had while travelling to a gig, and I think the original words give a slightly clearer sense of that, and also convey very concisely the nature of the folk scene and the intimate relationship between performer and audience |
03 Jul 14 - 07:06 AM (#3638609) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: JHW Thanks for the Bill dream story. In a way I'm sorry as I thought it was sheer invention. Rather than existing friends that we had never met physically (song well before social media) I'd always taken this as heading to meet up with completely unknown folks who would become freinds. Reading words as a poem gives time to consider and interpret the finer detail. When sung the audience has to take the overall song on board as fast as it is sung so I'm always careful with phrasing and timing and I do alter songs to try and help assimilation though that can only go as far as I understand the song myself. I haven't consciously altered this one but I'll have another look at the original. |
03 Jul 14 - 08:12 AM (#3638627) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,# http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2818 It is also in the DT. |
03 Jul 14 - 08:49 AM (#3638641) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: Howard Jones JHW, I understand Bill's original line in exactly the same way - they were on their way to play to an audience of people they had never met but whom they already thought of as friends. To me that sums up very neatly and concisely the special intimacy of folk clubs. Singers alter songs, both consciously and unconsciously. It's important to make a song personal to you. Some changes don't really matter and may even help if it makes it easier for you to deliver the song. However when the writer has come up with a carefully worded and apposite phrase (as I think this one is) I think a change should be avoided if possible, and only be made after very careful consideration. |
03 Jul 14 - 07:19 PM (#3638811) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,wassail I passed this thread onto Bill last night, and he thought he'd replied with the lyrics. He seems to be having problems posting though. I'll let him know.... |
11 Aug 14 - 06:28 AM (#3650034) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: JHW John Wilson singing Unicorns |
25 Aug 14 - 06:32 AM (#3653794) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: JHW Refreshed for the benefit of Guest cujimmy if he's still around |
25 Aug 14 - 07:30 AM (#3653810) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,Guest Betsy June Tabor (recording ?). sings an absolutely wonderful version of this beautiful song. |
25 Aug 14 - 07:12 PM (#3654039) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unicorns song From: GUEST,cujimmy Yes Im still here John (just back from Whitby), thanks for the lyrics and other information about the song, best regards - cuj |