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Catalog: Song Information: Page 61 of 83Please keep this site alive by contributing song listings and other information to the catalog. See the bottom of every catalog page for how. "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"
This entry contributed by G&K around 10/26/98
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: (10:05) This piece is a challenge for both singer in pianist in that it encompasses several different moods and is very colorful. The singer must be very direct, but there are moments when the voice soars as well. Text Comments: The "Ballad" tells a story in a folk tale fashion. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1924 (I believe). The song is almost a mini-opera and has, in fact, been staged on at least one occasion. In the hands of an expressive singer, it is very moving. This entry contributed by Richard Pearson Thomas around 10/26/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "The Ballad Singer"
This entry contributed by Lori Laitman around 11/14/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: dotted half=84, "Spirited". Alternately rollicking and dreamy. Alternate passage brings low note up to Bb2. F4s are only touched upon. Text Comments: Sing, Ballad singer, raise a hearty tune; Make me forget there was ever a one I walked with in the meek light of the moon When the day's work was done. Rhyme, Ballad rhymer, start a country song; Make me forget that she whom I loved so well Loved Well She swore she would love me dearly, love me long. Then what I cannot tell! Sing, Ballad singer, from your litle book; Make me forget those heartbreaks, achings, fears, Make me forget her name, her sweet, sweet look, Make me forget her tears. This entry contributed by G&K around 11/14/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "The Bardo of The Experiencing of Reality"
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Duration 3:00 Austere, declamatory. This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "The Best Thing of All"Song not from a cycle or set
This entry contributed by G&K around 5/9/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: A roughshod song sung in the opera by the tough, not terribly sympathetically-drawn lead character. Marked Allegro con brio. Hangs mostly in middle voice (usually no higher than an E5) except for one G5 F5 passage and the final, climactic, held A5. Text Comments: You know, if you want--if you want--if you want something that's over the wall, Don't wait--and don't hope--And don't beg--and don't crawl--Oh no, you must take what you want. You must take it in your hand like a ball. To want and take is the best thing of all! [that's about 25% of the text, which develops this theme further by denigrating the weak ones who call and hunt but do not take, ending triumphantly with the merits of wanting "something with all of your heart, with no shame, With a true aim at the start, And if you are good, very good, When the moment's nearly upon you--Take that moment, and you've got the best thing--of all!] This entry contributed by G&K around 5/9/99. The contributor(s) heard the song. "The Bonnie Blue Flag"
This entry contributed by ECS Publishing around 12/28/98
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: "With dignity and sweep" quarter = 54. In the cd's liner notes Russell Platt notes that, despite the song's rousing text, Hagen's "setting gives it a hazy Ivesian distance, not only in the stacked fourths and fifths of the piano's harmony but in the way Hagen makes a collection of discrete compositional elements sing with a single voice. The vocal part is straightforward enough to almost be a popular song of the time--something true of most of the tunes in the cycle--but contradicts the stated seven-four time signature by being clearly heard in four-four. The song's second half has a softer, gentler tone, but still lets the singer 'rally' up to a high B flat, the vocal apogee of the cycle. The result is a song which lays the groundwork for the whole set by undercutting the optimism of the text and preparing us for a more realistic treatment of the war." OK, I won't quote quite so much for the other songs, but this one seemed rather pivotal. Text Comments: [this is an actual Confederate recruitment song text from the Civil War:] Come, brothers! rally for the right! The bravest if the brave Sends forth her ringing battle cry Beside the Atlantic wave! She leads the way in honor's path, Come brothers, near and far, Come rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag That bears a single star. See Songs by Daron Hagen (Recordings) This entry contributed by G&K around 12/28/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "The Boys"Song 3 (not extractable) from set Songs of Madness and Sorrow
This entry contributed by G&K around 2/21/99
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: A march. Full ensemble. End of song has octave or M7 leaps up to G5 on each boy's name. Text Comments: The Boys who went to Sparta yesterday to enlist with the volunteers there for the Cuban War sent back word that there's still room for 5 or 6 more men from here. In response to this information the following young men started for there at 8 o'clock last evening: John Smith; Ara Preston; Ned Olson; Orin Brist; George Franz. This entry contributed by G&K around 2/21/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "The Butterfly"
This entry contributed by Lori Laitman around 9/29/99
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments:
quarter = 66. From the composer's comments in the score: Text Comments: The last, the very last So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing against a white stone....Such, such a yellow Is carried 'way up high. It went away I'm sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye. For seven weeks I've lived in here, Penned up inside this getto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don't live here, in the ghetto. See I Never Saw Another Butterfly... (Poetry) This entry contributed by G&K around 9/29/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "The Coming of Good Luck"
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/21/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Duration 1vascript] Music Comments: Duration 1:00 Simple; moves from staccato music to warmer, sustained writing with a short piano coda. Text Comments: So good luck came, and on my roof did light Like noiseless snow, or as the dew of night: Not all at once, but gently, as the trees Are by the sunbeams tickled by degrees. This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/21/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. Please contribute to the catalog
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