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14 Mar 01 - 08:02 PM (#417784) Subject: Updating a classic! From: Suffet Greetings: Please indulge me. I wrote these words four years ago, but it wasn't until the day before yesterday that I performed them in public. It is with considerable trepidation that I humbly append my lyrics to such a musical masterpiece. I pray only that they prove worthy. --- Steve -------------------- New final verse to "Me and Bobby McGee" Original song by Kris Kristofferson. New words by Stephen L.Suffet © 1997, 2001. Well, thirty years have come and gone since I let her slip away, Searching for that home I hoped she'd find, But just the other day, I'se down in West L.A. When I thought I saw my Bobby from behind. So I took my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana, And blew it like I did so long ago, And when that stranger turned around, I knew right there and then, I see my Bobby everywhere I go... [Reprise Kris's final chorus] Oh, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, Nothing is all she left for me, Feeling good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues, Feeling good was good enough for me, Good enough for me and Bobby McGee! |
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14 Mar 01 - 08:19 PM (#417799) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Joe Offer Very nice, Steve. Good for at least a chuckle and a half. I liked your song in the current Sing Out!, too. Care to post it, or has it already been posted? -Joe Offer- |
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14 Mar 01 - 08:40 PM (#417814) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Suffet "Wasn't That a Time?" Original song by Walter Lowenfels and Lee Hays © 1950 New verses by Stephen L. Suffet © 2000, 2001 Use them ad lib with the old verses. Note the gender neutral refrain, lines 1, 2, and 4 of which are taken from the original version. The slave fought back... with spade and hoe, And sometimes with bare hands, Swift feet ran down... the darkened road, To escape... from slavery's land. Wasn't that a time... A time to try... The human soul? Wasn't that a terrible time? Brave people walked... the picket lines, And faced the bosses' rage, They held aloft... their picket signs, To demand... a living wage. Wasn't that a time, etc. The bombs fell down... on Vietnam, They brought a napalm rain. Young men refused... to go to war, And they saved... the faith again. Wasn't that a time, etc. The racists come... in camouflage, To tear our nation down. But we shall stand... hand in hand, Upon our faith... and hold our ground. Isn't this a time... A time to try... The human soul? Isn't this a terrible time? Isn't this a time... A time to free... The human soul? Isn't this a wonderful time? |
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14 Mar 01 - 09:59 PM (#417849) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Amos Wow! That was one of my first jug band songs. Haven't thought about it in years!!! Thanks! A |
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15 Mar 01 - 01:10 AM (#417955) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Lonesome EJ I like the verse a lot, Steve. |
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15 Mar 01 - 02:12 AM (#417975) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Rick Fielding Good work Steve. a worthy update. lee hays would be proud. Rick |
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15 Mar 01 - 06:35 AM (#418035) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Suffet I do a lot of updating, amending, and appending. In fact a critic once said that "it's usually impossible to tell where the original song left off and Steve's began." I take that as a compliment. After all, isn't that what we like to call the folk process? Here's one more example. --- Steve ------------------------- "Roll On Columbia" Original song by Woody Guthrie © 1941 (with music adapted from "Irene Good Night" by Leadbelly) New final verse by Stephen L. Suffet © 1996, 2001 Well, the years have rolled by since Woody wrote this song, You might take it right, and you might take it wrong, But the Columbia River keeps rolling along, It's roll on, Columbia, roll on! |
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02 Jul 08 - 02:27 PM (#2379338) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! Me & Bobby McGee From: Genie Suffet, I like your additional verse to Me And Bobby McGee, but I must take issue with your using Janis Joplin's lyric modification of the chorus and calling it Kristofferson's "original. Kris's original chorus is: Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose, Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free. Feelin good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues ... Personally, I think Kris's original lyric is cleverer and more memorable. Janis's version is the best known, but I'd never try to 'do' Janis, so I sing the song more the way Kris does, and I use his original lyrics. Nothing wrong with doing Janis's version, but I hope her own lyric revision doesn't come to be thought of as the original lyrics to the song. |
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02 Jul 08 - 03:10 PM (#2379384) Subject: Updating a classic- Wasn't That A Time? From: Genie I'll submit this as an additional verse to Wasn't That A Time -- subject to revision by me and/or anyone else who wants to subject it to the folk process. (I'm not 100% satisfied with it so far, but I think the concept and historical reference are important.) Twin towers fell, and in their wake The world seemed to unite. Now "terror's" used to forge more chains, To rob us of our rights. (Then follow with the "Isn't This A Time ... " last verse. |
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02 Jul 08 - 03:21 PM (#2379389) Subject: Updating a classic! - This Is My Country From: Genie I sing "This Is My Country" for July 4th programs (especially singalongs), but I wasn't satisfied with the two original verses, so I wrote a third. THIS IS MY COUNTRY lyrics: Don Raye* / music: Al Jacobs ©1940 This Is My Country, land of my birth. This Is My Country, greatest on earth. I pledge thee my allegiance, America the bold, For This Is My Country to have and to hold. This Is My Country, land of my choice. This Is My Country - hear my strong voice. I pledge thee my allegiance, America the FAIR,* For This Is My Country to have and to SHARE. This Is My Country from sea to sea, Land of great promise for you and me. I pray for thy enduring justice and peace, For This Is My Country, where all can be free.* *the bolded words in the second verse are substitutions made by Genie (Jeanene Pratt) and the 3rd verse is by Genie also |
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02 Jul 08 - 03:31 PM (#2379396) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Charley Noble And just another verse to Guthrie's "Which Side Are You On?": We've fought in many a battle, We're not done fighting yet; As long as injustice rules this land We never will forget! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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02 Jul 08 - 10:07 PM (#2379670) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Suffet Charley, Good verse, but it was Florence Reece who wrote Which Side Are You On?, not Woody Guthrie. --- Steve |
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03 Jul 08 - 04:58 PM (#2380424) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Charley Noble Steve- I knew that! ;~( Where'd I put my brain? Charley Noble |
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04 Jul 08 - 04:31 PM (#2381212) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Bonzo3legs But why this gender neutral nonsence? We are masculine, feminine and those who can't make up their minds. |
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04 Jul 08 - 11:09 PM (#2381386) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Suffet Genie, I agree with you regarding Me and Bobby McGee. I just listened to Kristofferson and to Joplin, andI like his version better for all the reasons you state and then some. Thanks. --- Steve |
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05 Jul 08 - 04:27 AM (#2381476) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Genie Bonzo, what "gender neutral nonsense" are you talking about???? |
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05 Jul 08 - 04:34 AM (#2381477) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Genie Oh, I think you're referring to "Wasn't That A Time," right? Well, in the case of that particular song, the term "man" is SUPPOSED to be "gender neutral." It's referring to humankind, not to male humans. As such -- and since there's no rhyme scheme to be messed up by changing the word "man" -- I do think the song would be equally powerful, or more so, if a word like "all" were substituted for the word "man" or a term like "the human soul" were used in place of "the souls of men." But, as was said in a related thread, the phrase "try the soul of man" is a historic phrase, from Thomas Paine. For that reason, I'm inclined not to change that portion of the lyric. |
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05 Jul 08 - 11:28 AM (#2381688) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Suffet Greetings again: Here's another example of my messing with the classics. New last verse to... THE FAUCETS ARE DRIPPING IN OLD NEW YORK CITY Original words and music by Malvina Reynolds © Schroeder Music Additional words by Stephen L. Suffet © 2003 This song was first written about nineteen sixty, But things have since gotten much worse in this city, It's not just the story of the poor and their pain, But of the middle class now sinking down that same drain. There is an unreleased demo of MacDougal Street Rent Party performing The Faucets Are Dripping with Anne Price singing that last verse. --- Steve |
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06 Jul 08 - 10:25 AM (#2382316) Subject: RE: Updating a classic! From: Charley Noble Steve- Well done! I'll add it to my collection. Charley Noble |