BEER - solo guitar version

This original song “BEER” - originally a four-part shape-note folk hymn composed for the Western Harmony, set to the poem "The Little Vagabond" from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience - is here sung for the series of tubes in a solo guitar version.



Please “like” our new band The Manna Tease on facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Manna-Tease/175912775782478
We’ll be doing a version of BEER sooner or later.

Here’s the lyrics & the guitar chords I used today:

BEER
(Lyrics by William Blake)

gmin

C gmin Bb F gmin
Dear Mother, dear Mother, the Church is cold,
C Eb cmin7 F
But the Ale-house is healthy & pleasant & warm:
C gmin Bb F gmin
Besides I can tell where I am use'd well,
C Eb cmin7 F gmin
Such usage in heaven will never do well.

But if at the Church they would give us some Ale.
And a pleasant fire, our souls to regale:
We'd sing and we'd pray all the live-long day:
Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.

And God like a father rejoicing to see.
His children as pleasant and happy as he:
Would have no more quarrel with devil or barrel
But kiss him & give him both drink and apparel.

JAMES - Christmas Shape-Note Carol

One of my favorite homemade Western Harmony tunes, JAMES, inspired by the Infancy Gospel of James.

(This demo mp3 can be downloaded free here. Originally posted here with lyrics.)

RUTH on Scribd

Now I'm going to put a bunch of my shape-note folk hymns up on Scribd, too. I don't know if that website is all they say it's going to be for self-publishing, but it's easy enough to put stuff on it. All of these pieces are in the public domain. I've put many of these folk hymns up on this website, so I'll experiment with different ways of presenting them on the itwaslost scribd page & may be elsewhere. You can toggle to full screen with that button in the upper-right-hand corner, (&, in firefox at least, F11 makes the browser window full-screen.)
RUTH - Shape-Note Anthem from the Western Harmony
(I'm not completely happy with how that "CutePDF" writer makes the score look.) RUTH is a four-part American folk anthem with text from the Book of Ruth. The original post with other copies of the score & further explanation was HERE. The demonstration recording (featuring my sexy four-part solo quartet) right here:

RUTH - Shape-Note Anthem & Demo Recording

One of my favorite shape-note pieces I wrote last year for the Western Harmony, an anthem to text from the Book of Ruth.

I had been procrastinating posting this anthem because I wanted to make a real good demonstration recording for it. I think my waiting has been in vain, but at least now you can get a rough idea how it might sound. (For some reason, using this one recording software with my digital mic, it has all these clicks.) And I promise you this piece can be a lot more intense & beautiful with a proper performance, but here's the demo:

That mp3 is HERE if you would like to download it. Here is the text as I used it, the King James version of the Bible, Ruth 1:10-12, 16-17. If you're unfamiliar with this short lovely book of the Old Testament, it's a tale of the women in a widowed family bonding & traveling.

Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

And Naomi said, Turn [around], my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband.

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Where thou diest, will I die.

After I wrote this, I was learned that another West Coast shape-note composer, Shelley Phillips, had used the text from Ruth in a different tune, a major-key fuging tune. That would make my Ruth technically Ruth (Second). There's a pdf file of her piece here.

It's now on Scribd too:
RUTH - Shape-Note Anthem from the Western Harmony

LEAVE THE GROUND again

I was really dissatisfied with the way my tasteless electric guitar version of my four-part shaped-noted folk hymn LEAVE THE GROUND sounded, so I remastered it & I think it sounds a lot cleaner. I'm still no good at this kind of thing, especially adding loud distorted instruments into the mix, but we're learning. So, if you listened to it at first, listen to it again:

The original post, with a shape note score, the lyrics, & an explanation & apology, is HERE.

LEAVE THE GROUND - Tasteless Electric Guitar Version

One of my favorite shaped-note folk hymns for the Western Harmony, I wrote last year, is a dark slow goodbye song called "LEAVE THE GROUND." (The illuminations on that shape-note score are by Pele.) We sang it at the new music sing this January, & I also have a pretty version I sing on the guitar. I got out my amp to help a friend test her new slide guitar, & later on my Les Paul, I realized that if you play the open harmonies of "Leave the Ground" with a distortion pedal, they turn into power chords. So, this is probably the most tasteless things I've done to one of my more beautiful pieces, here is the electric guitar version of LEAVE THE GROUND:


UPDATE: The original sounded like suck, so I remastered it. Listen to it again, it's marginally better & cleaner!

These recordings are only demos, I apologize for my inability to produce decently (or, shred, for that matter.) Download that mp3 here. I promise to record a proper pretty version some day. The lyrics:

LEAVE THE GROUND

Leaving here, like departing our lives,
And home to our wives,
Could angels sing in heaven,
Can I finally sleep all night?
Could angels sing in heaven,
We'll be alright.

Hugging our friends, we love you so much,
Embrace like death's touch,
The last dance is the slowest,
Will the weakest win the fight?
The last dance is the slowest,
We'll be alright.

Now we must all shake hands & go home,
It's over & done.
Cherubic cars are waiting,
We must drive till morning light,
Cherubic cars are waiting,
We'll be alright.

BEER - Shaped-Noted Score & Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

While Jesus is harrowing hell, I thought today might be an appropriate time to make a short demo recording of my shape-note tune "BEER". Thursday was International Transubstantiation Day (also known as Holy Thursday), where around the world, millions who consider themselves devoted Christians are drinking grape juice instead of mimosas. Download this demo mp3 here.


Happy Easter & Passover, & this song is set to a poem from William Blake's Song of Innocence & of Experience:

Dear Mother, dear Mother, the Church is cold,
But the Ale-house is healthy & pleasant & warm:
Besides I can tell where I am use'd well,
Such usage in heaven will never do well.

But if at the Church they would give us some Ale.
And a pleasant fire, our souls to regale:
We'd sing and we'd pray all the live-long day:
Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.

And God like a father rejoicing to see.
His children as pleasant and happy as he:
Would have no more quarrel with devil or barrel
But kiss him & give him both drink and apparel.

Remember, earlier I posted a solo version of this song, more free & lonesome if that's the way you like your beer.

TURMERIC - Shape-Noted Score & Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

I wrote this short tune yesterday, after reading about Erasmus Darwin & his sexy plant poetry. (More about that later I hope.) The famous stanza about Curcuma (Turmeric, Flax), which includes in the footnote some foreshadowings of his son Charles Darwin's theories. (The page in The Botanic Garden in Google Books is here. That version of the book has prints by William Blake, including the one to the right.) The idea is that the four "eunuch" male organs on Curcuma ("four beardless youths") are similar to human male nipples, i.e. unintelligent design. However, I was struck by how, taken out of context, the stanza is quite mystical; not simply a woman being wooed by her beloved amongst other chaste loves, but ambiguous in the way that much medieval & Islamic love poetry can be read on many levels. Which is why I left the song so short, as an ambiguous fragment. Also, turmeric is delicious. My demo recording is not the prettiest this song can be sung, but will do as a demonstration. Download this mp3 here.

Woo'd with long care, Curcuma, cold and shy
Meets her fond husband with averted eye:
Four beardless youths the obdurate beauty move
With soft attentions of Platonic love.

WALNUT - Shape-Note Score with Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

The text for this shape-note tune WALNUT is from William Billings' Lamentation Over Boston. Billings was the first American composer to publish American music in America, & hung out with the likes of Paul Revere & the Adamses. His Lamentation echoes Psalm 137 (By the waters of Babylon...) but about the Revolutionary War, & it ends with this lovely bit about dissonance & consonance. Around this time, Billings also published a dissonant composition called "Jargon", in rebellion from his critics who claimed his American harmonies were breaking the rules. "Walnut" doesn't break too many rules, not that there are any left to break, but it does have a couple of nice Billings-esque parallel motion moments. Here's a demo mp3 of the harmonies, which you could download here.


The text as I use it: (& I apologize, the second word should be "horrid" in the score & recording, & will be fixed next time around.)

Let horrid Jargon split the Air and rive my nerves asunder.
Let hateful discord greet my ear as terrible as Thunder.

If I forget thee, yea, if I do not remember thee,
Then let my numbers cease to flow, Then be my Muse unkind,
Then let my Tongue forget to move and ever be confin'd.

Let harmony be banish'd hence and Consonance depart;
Let dissonance erect her throne and reign within my Heart.

If I forget thee, yea, if I do not remember thee,
Then let my numbers cease to flow, Then be my Muse unkind,
Then let my Tongue forget to move and ever be confin'd.

(The full poem is here.)

METATRON'S CUBE - Shape-Note Score & Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

Here is a new folk hymn with shaped-notes, written this winter for the Western Harmony. A tune about Enoch, it draws on several sources - first, Genesis Chapter 4, which describes how Enoch "walked with God"; second, the Metatron's Cube (Enoch became Metatron, the highest angel, in Jewish mythology), which is a "flower of life" in sacred geometry; in the Sacred Harp, the quote above the song "EXIT" is from Job, "He comes forth like a flower & is cut down", which I use & also echo the first few notes of the fuging section in Exit; & lastly the "round & round" bit in the circular fuging section is also a nod to the circles in Metatron's Cube. Download this demo mp3 here, there's a pdf of the score here.
Here's the lyrics:

METATRON'S CUBE

Mahalaleel lives eight hundred & ninety five winters,
He comes like a flower & is cut down.
Methuselah for one thousand years, dies among sinners,
Arise my soul & leave the ground.

Oh, but Enoch, old & holy Enoch,
Walks with God, & he is not,
For God takes him, takes him round & round.

Up on a little hill, Calvary, three trees bear blossoms,
He comes like a flower & is cut down.
And am I born to die, or can I fly from my tomb?
Arise my soul & leave the ground.

Oh, my Jesus, young & blessed Jesus,
Son of Man, & is cut down,
For God takes him, takes him round & round.

RICHARDSON - Shaped-Note Score & Demo Solo-Quartet mp3 Recording

RICHARDSON is a four-parted shaped-noted arrangement of Richard Fariña's song "Children of Darkness" (1966). Since it is an arrangement of a copyrighted song, I tentatively add it to the "additional songs" addendum to the Western Harmony. As for the demo recording, I remind you that I'm making these just to demonstrate the harmonies, & for the joy of it, I warn you they are sloppy, this one has its own unique intonational moments, & in general not for the auricularly sensitive. Download this demo mp3 here. And this version of the lyrics is alterned only minutely to fit the stricter rhythms - (like in the great Joan Baez / Peter Schickele version, I drop the lame fourth verse.)

Oh, now is the time for your loving, dear,
And time for your company.
Now, the light of reason fails
And fires burn on the sea.
Now in this age of confusion
I have need for your company.

For I am a wild & a lonely child,
And son of an angry man.
Now the high wars raging,
I will offer you my hand.
We are the children of darkness
And the prey of a proud, proud land.

It's once I was free to go roaming in
The wind of a springtime mind.
Once the clouds I sail'd upon
Were sweet as lilac wine.
Why are the breezes of summer, dear,
Enlaced with a grim design?

DOLORES - Shape-Note Score & Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

This is a song I found from my research into Christian Rock. I'd like to exert a greater effort searching thru that mysterious genre (and all Modern Christian music in general, from the bland devotional to the underground rap) looking for the rare gems. Thank you Mrs Whiting Smith for tipping me off to some of the stuff she listened to in her born-again youth. Michael W Smith is a real find, the sexy 1980s Christian Pop. I arranged this song last year, into a four-part shape-note folk hymn, & spent quite awhile tinkering with the harmonies & rhythms. Some of the words have been changed, & many of the harmonies. The attempt was to find the traditional American roots in the flashy 80s pop song. I'm not sure I succeeded, but the result is at least interesting. These demo recordings, I remind you, are simply to preview the harmonies, I apologize for their amaturity. (Download that mp3 here. If you'd like a pdf of the score, it's page 8 in this pdf.) The handsome bearded man pictured is John Babson Lane Soule, the man who actually originally supposedly said "Go West, young man."

OEDIPA - Shape-Note Score

On February 5th, I put up a demo recording of my four-part shape-note tune OEDIPA. But like a fool! I had lost the scanned copy of the score. Well, I just rescanned it & here it is. The lyrics are in the original post here. Click on either of these two players for a rough idea of what it might sound like.

BEER - solo wiggly voice version

There is a four-part shape-note version of this song, written for the Western Harmony, but this afternoon I opened the windows & sang a lonesome solo version using my wiggly voice.

The text is William Blake's poem "The Little Vagabond" from Songs of Innocence & of Experience (1794).

Download this mp3 here. I'll post the four-part shape-note score with a different recording some day.

Dear Mother, dear Mother, the Church is cold,
But the Ale-house is healthy & pleasant & warm:
Besides I can tell where I am use'd well,
Such usage in heaven will never do well.

But if at the Church they would give us some Ale.
And a pleasant fire, our souls to regale:
We'd sing and we'd pray all the live-long day:
Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.

And God like a father rejoicing to see.
His children as pleasant and happy as he:
Would have no more quarrel with devil or barrel
But kiss him & give him both drink and apparel.

OEDIPA - Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

Here's a four-part shape-note new tune for the Western Harmony, loosely based on No. 449 in the Sacred Harp (which according to the fasola.org statistics, is one of the most infrequently led songs, probably due to a vaguely fascist resonance. I've attempted to correct that.) These recordings are just meant as demos to test the harmonies & play with my new microphone. Download this mp3 here - I'm sorry, I thought I had scanned this score, but I promise I will soon & get it up as soon as possible.

I've murdered my fatherland, wed my motherland,
Now I must build a bigger mansion.
We'll get twenty maids & we'll sweep up this sand,
This paradise needs an expansion.
Let's get twenty maids, wouldn't it be grand
To clean up this beautiful land.

I can't hear the song of the hallelujah band,
Angels muffled by din's eruption.
My eyes are blurry, I'm too weak to stand,
I am the chaos & corruption.
My eyes a blur, but wouldn't it be grand
To clean up this beautiful land.

So beat up your sword, put your plowshare in your hand,
Nations shall not learn war anymore,
Our land is rotten & forgotten, and,
My Lord has asked me to sweep the floor.
Learn war no more, and wouldn't it be grand,
To clean up this beautiful land.

REDWOOD - Shaped-Note Score & demo solo-quartet recording

A song, a short tune in 2/4 time, set to the final stanza of Walt Whitman's Song of the Redwood, originally published in the February 1974 Harper's Monthly. A shape-note song in four parts, for the Western Harmony, altho this one, in form & harmonies, is less traditional. Walt Whitman had one of America's greatest beards.

Fresh come, to a New World indeed, yet long prepared,
I see the Genius of the modern, child of the real and ideal,
Clearing the ground for broad Humanity, the true America, heir of the past so grand,
To build a grander future.
-Walt Whitman, Song of the Redwood, 1874

MULTNOMAH - Illuminated Shape-Note Score & mp3 of a read-thru

I wrote this song after I had been singing in Multnomah County, Oregon. & many Portland Singers came down to San Carlos, California, for the All-California Sacred Harp Convention Convention. & afterwards to a new music reading at Mark Miller's house in Berkeley, which was the first time this song has been read thru. Only the first & last verses are in this mp3 of the reading. The first, third, & fifth verses are from Isaac Watts. The illumination on the score is by Pele. Download a pdf of the score here.

MULTNOMAH

Fools never raise their thoughts so high
Like brutes they live, like brutes they die
Like grass they flourish till thy breath
Blasts them in everlasting, lasting death.

And congressmen who feign their faiths
Elected, spread the empty grace,
Like eggplants, poison till their fried,
They are forgotten past the last divide.

But I shall share a glorious part
When grace hath well refined my heart
And fresh supplies of joy are shed
Like holy oil, to cheer, to cheer my head.

All twelve dimensions will collapse!
Perceptions read omniscient maps,
My savior on Columbian soil
Will swap our peasant rags for garments royal.

Then I shall see & hear & know.
All I desired & wished below
And ev'ry pow'r find sweet employ
In that eternal world of, world of joy.

DIFFERENT SHEPHERDS scores

Different Shepherds: On Christmas day I wrote four settings for the Nahum Tate text "While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night", & posted three demonstrative recordings in the following few days. I just scanned the scores of those & one more, here they are. Both printable pdfs & image files. & the three recordings of In Your Area, Fernside, & June Star are in that podcast player below.

From Western Harmony

PDFs are here, here, & here.

Different Shepherds - IN YOUR AREA

British Poet Laureate Nahum Tate's famous text "While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night" has been set to music many many times. I wrote four short ones on Christmas evening (after a half dozen glasses of chardonnay at my brother-in-law's family's house), &, after this, I'll try & record the last one before the twelve days of Christmas are over. (The first & third are here & here.) I call it "Different Shepherds", probably as part of the additional songs addendum to Western Harmony. I was formerly a little skeptical of composers attempting to write shape-note carols in odd meters, but I was inspired by the lovely free-feeling five of Neely Bruce's "Walkley" from the Northern Harmony; so "In Your Area" ambiguously switches between 3+2 & 2+3.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

All glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease!

Different Shepherds - FERNSIDE

The third setting of the text "While shepherds watched their flocks by night", from my quartet of Christmas carols "Different Shepherds". All four are short three-part shape-noted tunes for the "additional songs" appendices to the Western Harmony. "Fernside" is in the Lydian Mode (major with a raised fourth, which makes it sort of the major equivalent of the dorian which Sacred Harp singers often naturally sing in, sharping on the "fa".) For your convenience, this song is less than thirty seconds long.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

All glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease!