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Catalog: Song Information: Page 73 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 Walking Father"Song 1 (extractable) from set Muldoon Songs
This entry contributed by G&K around 2/15/99
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Big, exuberant, quarter = 156. Largely block chords, quite tonal, very little dissonance. High G5 occurs three times, once as ppp. Vocal part doesn't hang too high but high E5 repeated several times. Text Comments: My father and I are catching spricklies out of the Oona river. They have us feeling righteous, The way we have thrown them back. Our benevolence is astounding. When my father stood out in the shallows It occurred to me The spricklies might have been piranhas, The river a red carpet rolling out from where he had just stood, Or I wonder now if he is dead or sleeping. For if he is dead I would have his grave Secret and safe; I would turn the river out of its course, Lay him in it's bed, bring it round again. No one would question That he had treasures or his being a king, Telling now of the real fish farther down. This entry contributed by G&K around 2/15/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "The West River at Ch'u-chou"
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Duration 2:00 Serene, 12/8, voice sings dotted quarter-notes over gentle eighth-note figures. This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "Then"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: Allegro moderato. Musical theatre. In the show the song was to be sung by a prostitute who is waiting for her date, a rabbinical student. Touching, longing. Text Comments: Then mountains will tumble; big stars will go crazy and fall in the sea, they promised me. Then is when it all happens, with gorgeous explosions to play around me. They promised me. I'm sitting here waiting for any explosion, and I don't care when. I'll bet they're wrong. It's not meant for me. How long, how old must I get to be, till for me it's then? See Marc Blitzstein: Songs (Sharp, Holvik, Blier) (Recordings) This entry contributed by G&K around 5/9/99. The contributor(s) heard the song. "Theoretikos"Song not from a cycle or set
This entry contributed by G&K around 4/6/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Lento; marked lento e oscuro at start. Dissonance around non- and quasi-tonal use of triads contributes to dark quality that is very appropriate to text. Text Comments: This mighty empire hath but feet of clay: Of all its ancient chivalry and might Our little island is forsaken quite: Some enemy hath stolen its crown of bay, And from its hills that voice hath passed away Which spake of Freedom: O come out of it, Come out of it, my Soul, thou art not fit For this vile traffichouse, where day by day Wisdom and reverence are sold at mart, and the rude people rage with ignorant cries Against an heritage of centuries. It mars my calm: wherefore in dreams of Art And loftiest culture I would stand apart, Neither for God, nor for his enemies. This entry contributed by G&K around 4/6/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "There Is Dust Alive"Song 5 (not extractable) from set The Long Shadow of Lincoln
This entry contributed by G&K around 9/7/98
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Technically very hard for all involved (instruments are violin, cello, piano). Song ends on long, held E4: forte decrescendo to mezzopiano crescendo to fortissimo. 1:30. Quarter note = 156. Text Comments: Full text: "There is dust alive with dreams of The Republic, with dreams of the Family of Man flung wide on a shrinking globe with old timetables, old maps, old guideposts torn into shreds, shot into tatters, burnt in a firewind, lost in the shambles, faded in rubble and ashes. There is dust alive. Out of a granite tomb, Out of a bronze sarcophagus, Loose from the stone and copper Steps a whitesmoke ghost Lifting an authoritative hand In the name of dreams worth dying for, In the name of men whose dust breathes of those dreams so worth dying for, what they did being past words, beyond all smooth and easy telling." See songs 1 and 7 for other full texts. Recordings: none--see comments in song 1. This entry contributed by G&K around 9/7/98. The contributor(s) rehearsed the song. "There Is No"
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Duration 1:30 Continuous, rolling setting - a catalog of textures and artifacts creating a strange sense of emptiness. Text Comments: There is no silk nor worm to spin it. There is no hallway no dark no rain no grape or rose or hill. There is no otter nor ocean nor sand. There is no onion nor tongue There is no stocking no wagon or horse or ploughman. There is no book no noise in the stairwell no neighbour hanging wash. There is no dream no biscuit nor spring nor winter air. There is no candle nor door closing nor music. There is no swan or sparrow. There is no broom or dust. There is no moon no pocket nor fence nor window. There is no fog no mountain grove nor fire nor still lake. There is no boat nor oar nor cat nor cargo nor men in caps waiting. This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "There's a certain slant of light"Song 5 (extractable) from set At Last, To Be Identified!
This entry contributed by G&K around 10/26/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: (2:19) Virtually unaccompanied except some distant rumbles in the bass, quasi-atonal, stark, wintry, simple plaintive piano postlude Text Comments: Full text: "There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes Heavenly Hurt it gives us We can find no scar, But internal difference, where the Meanings are None may teach it Any 'Tis the Seal Despair An imperial Affliction Sent us of the Air when it comes, the Landscape listens Shadows hold their breath When it goes, 'tis like the Distance On the look of Death" Recordings: Jennifer Casey Cabot has recorded the entire cycle for demo purposes. This entry contributed by Richard Pearson Thomas around 10/26/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "They Might Not Need Me"Song 2 (extractable) from set Days and Nights
This entry contributed by Lori Laitman around 10/17/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: quarter=180 with lots of flair. Catchy jazzy rhythms in bass move to the right hand briefly for a dolce, legato section ("A smile as small as mine...") but then return to the left hand for more energetic fun as the song nears its end. Charming, syncopated. barely contained energy. Text Comments: They might not need me but they might--I'll let my head be just in sight. A smile as small as mine might be precisely their necessity. They might not need me but they might--I'll let my head be just in sight. This entry contributed by G&K around 10/17/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. Please contribute to the catalog
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