Wow, this takes me back. I used to play for a bunch of neo-Pagan/Celtic/Wiccan folks (I never knew what to call them, but they were so sweet and nice). I had a good friend who was in the scene (I was always an "observer" and left it at that), and he'd take me to their festivals and whatnot, and I'd play this sort of stuff. Various takes on songs like "The Rover," and a couple of lovely "originals" along that theme, one I wrote about the circle of nature and life and twilight (twilight a common mystical theme) called "The Alogy," and one from this beautiful version of "The Washerwoman" he wrote as poetry and I converted to lyric and music. Those were fun days! Nice folks.
I still remember the lyrics I wrote for "The Alogy," very short and sweet...
"Over the trees, day is bright Down below, evening light, All the day into the night
In the night, dancing lights, Will 'o wisp, fire sprite,
In the darkness, in the light, In all things were are alive"
Played on the dulcimer with a clever rolling legato that created an eerie natural reverb, and sung right at the border of falsetto and natural modal (3-times or just emphasis on the 3rd beat, and in-betweens being important themes in the style), everyone used to love that song. I think I still have an old recording of it somewhere, but tapes don't last forever. Before I die, I really should rerecord it (I still have that Dulcimer - hand-made in West Virginia, a gift from that friend many years ago). Once my medical stuff is out of the way, I plan on devoting some serious time recording all my stuff from over the years. Some of it, I think you'd really enjoy (some of it, I think you'd rather hear toddlers banging on pots and pans! LOL!).
Thank you! And coming from you! You have very refined, eclectic taste.
It was sorta like when Led Zeppelin played around with that sort of stuff in the early days.
I was never particularly verbose, though I had my share of long lyrics. I love succinctness, but detest simplicity. The "Less Said" rule, but say a lot.
I have this one song, originally "composed" in the mid-eighties, that I brought back to life in the mid-90's as a punk/hippy/retro rock fusion monstrosity, but always really loved. It's just fun and stupid. Just shouting at women on hard drugs. The lyrics are... well... the less said! ;) https://youtu.be/T6FWRHWu_ho?list=PLFEDE0409472FFF4D
Yeah, I was shooting for a 70's sound. The original was hard punk. Most my recordings were pretty solid hard rock, with a lot of tongue-in-cheek, with songs like "You're Gonna Die (Right Now)," "What Do You Love," sung from the perspective of a mocking pimp, "I Can't Whistle," which was just hilarious, my own version of a "Fuck You" song, a song called "Happy Guy" sung from the perspective of a go-nowhere libertarian with low-brow hopes and dreams and attitude, and just funny stuff like that. I hated taking rock too seriously. With other stuff, ballads, period-stuff, heavy subject material, studio stuff for other bands, I took a radically more serious approach. But I always personally leaned toward the fun for my own tastes, with that sense of frenetic lunacy looming along always. When I get better, I'm going to try to put out sets of various genres rather than mix it all up like I used to.
6 comments:
Wow, this takes me back. I used to play for a bunch of neo-Pagan/Celtic/Wiccan folks (I never knew what to call them, but they were so sweet and nice). I had a good friend who was in the scene (I was always an "observer" and left it at that), and he'd take me to their festivals and whatnot, and I'd play this sort of stuff. Various takes on songs like "The Rover," and a couple of lovely "originals" along that theme, one I wrote about the circle of nature and life and twilight (twilight a common mystical theme) called "The Alogy," and one from this beautiful version of "The Washerwoman" he wrote as poetry and I converted to lyric and music. Those were fun days! Nice folks.
I still remember the lyrics I wrote for "The Alogy," very short and sweet...
"Over the trees, day is bright
Down below, evening light,
All the day into the night
In the night, dancing lights,
Will 'o wisp, fire sprite,
In the darkness, in the light,
In all things were are alive"
Played on the dulcimer with a clever rolling legato that created an eerie natural reverb, and sung right at the border of falsetto and natural modal (3-times or just emphasis on the 3rd beat, and in-betweens being important themes in the style), everyone used to love that song. I think I still have an old recording of it somewhere, but tapes don't last forever. Before I die, I really should rerecord it (I still have that Dulcimer - hand-made in West Virginia, a gift from that friend many years ago). Once my medical stuff is out of the way, I plan on devoting some serious time recording all my stuff from over the years. Some of it, I think you'd really enjoy (some of it, I think you'd rather hear toddlers banging on pots and pans! LOL!).
JMJ
Sounds like a plan...and I'd love to hear it! This has a kind of Ren-fest/ steampunk vibe...
ps -- Your lyrics are really good. You've got a talent!
Thank you! And coming from you! You have very refined, eclectic taste.
It was sorta like when Led Zeppelin played around with that sort of stuff in the early days.
I was never particularly verbose, though I had my share of long lyrics. I love succinctness, but detest simplicity. The "Less Said" rule, but say a lot.
I have this one song, originally "composed" in the mid-eighties, that I brought back to life in the mid-90's as a punk/hippy/retro rock fusion monstrosity, but always really loved. It's just fun and stupid. Just shouting at women on hard drugs. The lyrics are... well... the less said! ;) https://youtu.be/T6FWRHWu_ho?list=PLFEDE0409472FFF4D
JMJ
Not the deepest lyrics... but it went well with the more "explicit" written subtext. ;)
Nothing wrong with having some fun! Your recordings would definitely be worth hanging onto. Reminds me of the late seventies (my youthful adulthood)!
Yeah, I was shooting for a 70's sound. The original was hard punk. Most my recordings were pretty solid hard rock, with a lot of tongue-in-cheek, with songs like "You're Gonna Die (Right Now)," "What Do You Love," sung from the perspective of a mocking pimp, "I Can't Whistle," which was just hilarious, my own version of a "Fuck You" song, a song called "Happy Guy" sung from the perspective of a go-nowhere libertarian with low-brow hopes and dreams and attitude, and just funny stuff like that. I hated taking rock too seriously. With other stuff, ballads, period-stuff, heavy subject material, studio stuff for other bands, I took a radically more serious approach. But I always personally leaned toward the fun for my own tastes, with that sense of frenetic lunacy looming along always. When I get better, I'm going to try to put out sets of various genres rather than mix it all up like I used to.
JMJ
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