Turn a poem into a folk song!

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Jack Lewin
Date: 31 Jul 04 - 07:17 AM

How about something new

The Rise of the Morning Sun
(kevin gilfoy)

The pipes have sounded, they've called us down
We will meet at the rise of the sun
I wonder if the stone that I place on this cairn
Will be here when the battle is done.

The lines have been drawn, the cheifs have spoken
The time for talking is done
Now is the time for the clans to step in
And make sure that the battle is won.

I heard the stories from years gone by
Of heroic deeds that were done
I wonder if someday they'll speak of me
As we wait for the rise of the sun.

To raise up my sword and strike a man down
Is something I've never done
But the choice is not mine as we enter the field
To the rise of the morning sun.

My sword is drawn, my sheild is ready
I shall do what must be done
But before we advance I will say a prayer
For myself, my wife and my son.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: GUEST,lanfranc
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 07:45 PM

The poems of the late Charles Causley have been set to music by a number of singers, including Paul McNeill, Mike Ball, Alex Atterson and myself.

There are a couple of examples on my CD "Last Year's Love", details of which may be found at my website here

Alan

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Owlkat
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 03:42 PM

One of my many careers is to recite Robert Service to tourists, excuse me, visitors. "The Spell of the Yukon" is one of his better poems, and I've done it in a easy shanty style swingalong 6/8 ballad .
It starts:...
I wanted the gold and I sought it
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave
Was it scurvy or famine I fought it
I hurled my youth into the grave
I wanted the gold and I got it
Came out with a fortune last fall
But somehow life's not what I thought it
And somehow the gold isn't all

I use this as a chorus...
There's a land where the mountains are nameless
Where the rivers all run god knows where
There are lives that are erring and aimless
And deaths that just hang by a hair
There are hardships that nobody reckons
And valleys unpeopled and still
There's a land, oh it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back, and I will.

It'a a beautiful piece of writing, and I recommend that you go online and find it at any of the many Robert Service websites and links, which is why I'm not going to type out the whole thing. I'm headed downtown for the gig in about a half hour anyway. Go nuts and make up your own tune. If you've ever heard a sentimental 6/8 English broadside ballad you're more than aptly qualified to meet the challenge.
Cheers,
;-)
Mart.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 11:31 AM

That "Heart of the Maritimes" is really pretty; Having toured up that way in times past, we know well that it certainly is a "Lovely land".

A few years ago I set Robert Lois Stevenson's poem "Requium" to music in memory of an old Friend (my Brother's Father in Law) who memorized many of his poems and those of Robert Service, among others, and could recite them verbatum while we were out in the woods hunting. It never ceased to amaze me how he could do that.

But "Requium" seemed to be his favorite, so I composed a 6/8 score for it and played/sang it at his Memorial Service. I also recorded it on my CD album "Home From the Hill" (Titled from a line of "Requium"), which you needn't look for in any Music Stores any time soon!

It uses a pretty straightforward 3-chord progression, and I fingerpick it.

I have an Mp3 file of it if anyone is interested - I don't know how to share an *.Mp3 here, though, if it can be done at all. I might be able to wank it into a MIDI, I suppose.

Another trick the Old-Timers used to use a lot was the "Metrical Index"; an alpha - numerical "code" was assigned to a set of lyrics and to popular tunes, according to the number of sylables in the verse, or the meter of the music.

This practice has been discussed in detail here on a number of occasions, and those threads could be searched out.

That way, they could look up any set of lyrics and just "plug it in" to a compatable tune. A lot of the old Hymns were set up that way, and it wasn't until the later 1800s that many of the lyrics and scores of popular Hymns that we know today became more or less permanantly associated with each other.

So if you don't want to compose an original score for a particular verse, you could do a "metrical matchup" to any number of scores. It might be easier with some of the "oldies" of the early 19th Century which already have Metrical notation. Some Hymnals still list the meter with the title; check it out. It will look like "CM" (Common Meter), "LM" (Long Meter) "6s & 8s", "Doubled" etc.. And a lot of people don't have a clue what that cryptical notation is all about.

There are some really nice tunes in the archives, many of which have been essentially lost in the dust of obscurity for over a Century and are long overdue for exhumation and ressurection.

Elvis made a big Re-Hit in the 1960s with "Aura Lee" of Civil War vintage; only he called it "Love Me Tender", and wrote his own lyrics for it. Same tune, essentially.

I've been know to "tweak" some of the old tunes a bit, and come up with some pretty interesting variations. The mausoleum of music past can be a great resource to someone looking to put a poem to music.

HTH - UJ in ME

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Joe_F
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 08:39 PM

Dick Greenhaus: Kipling was worked over to a fare-thee-well within his own lifetime. Some of his songs were music-hall standards. I once browsed in a Kipling Society publication from the 1920s that listed page after page of published tunes (sheet music), sometimes as many as a dozen for the same song. There must have been anthologies, but I have never mananged to find any.

Speaking of Kipling, I wonder if anyone has set "Wives of Brixham" to music. Kipling mentions & quotes it as a recitation in _Captains Courageous_. I suppose with some practice I might get thru it without crying.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 01:24 PM

Most of A.A. Milne's poetry is quite singable, once you pick a tune. So's a lot of Ogden Nash. And Robert Service. I Guess Kipling has been pretty well worked over by Bellamy.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From:
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 06:53 PM

Thanks for the suggestion, Snuffy. I just checked it out in the DT.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 06:39 PM

That goes well to The Vicar of Bray for me.

Subject: RE: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From:
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 06:37 PM

Found this poem of Lillian Crewe Walsh's:

The Heart Of The Maritimes
Lillian Crewe Walsh

When Cabot sailed from British shore,
Led by adventure's hand,
His crew became discouraged
Before they sighted land;
Although they found this lovely isle
And anchored for a time,
They never knew that it would be
The heart of the Maritimes.
 
Then came the hardy pioneers,
A bold, determined band,
And soon the sound of axe and saw
Re-echoed o'er the land.
By their brave endurance on this shore,
When fortune was unkind,
They helped to make our lovely isle
The heart of the Maritimes.
 
From the conquered Strait of Canso
To the shores of Pleasant Bay,
Across the isle, to Inverness,
Along the Cabot way,
On every wind-swept mountain top,
'Mid the spruces and the pines,
The maples wear their gayest gowns
In the heart of the Maritimes.
 
Oh, lovely land, oh, lovely land,
Washed by the tossing foam -
From distant lands our fathers came
To find in thee a home.
We sing the praise of this dear land,
This land of yours and mine;
The fairest spot 'neath heaven's dome -
It's the heart of the Maritimes.<

Subject: Turn a poem into a folk song!
From: Shula
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 01:45 AM

Dear Folks:

I hope this will occasion a little fun. Does anyone have a few verses s/he thinks would make a dandy song, if only someone else would come up with the melody? (I don't mean verses intended for songs already extant.) If some other folk will go first, I'll try to do my bit.

Blessings,

Shula