Music for Waiting by John Burroughs

October 23, 2009 //

First version of John Burroughs‘ famous poem
“Waiting”.  There are so many things I’ve tried doing with this song and I finally decided to leave it bare bones simple.

One guitar, three voices and some bass at the end.

My hope is that the music fits the poem and that I’ve done well enough for now with this first version. It’s been a long time coming!

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

Rumors from an Aeolian Harp (Thoreau)

September 15, 2009 // Comments Off

Rumours from an Aeolian Harp Thoreau

Here’s something I hope you’ll enjoy while I work on Waiting(Burroughs) and Song of Wandering Aengus(Yeats)

I especially like the harmonizing at the end!

Rumors form an Aeolian Harp
Henry David Thoreau

There is a vale which none hath seen,
Where foot of man has never been,
Such as here lives with toil and strife,
An anxious and a sinful life.

There every virtue has its birth,
Ere it descends upon the earth,
And thither every deed returns,
Which in the generous bosom burns.

There love is warm, and youth is young,
And poetry is yet unsung.
For Virtue still adventures there,
And freely breathes her native air.

And ever, if you hearken well,
You still may hear its vesper bell,
And tread of high-souled men go by,
Their thoughts conversing with the sky

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

“Waiting” by John Burroughs

August 23, 2009 // Comments Off

John Burroughs

I’m still working on the final version of John Burroughs poem “Waiting.” So far there is guitar and three voices  a la Crosby, Stills and Nash or so I’ve been told! Yet I thought that was a great compliment!

This poem interested me in that I feel Burroughs has connected with an eternal truth which is in essence:  what is mine shall come to me.  In it he seems to say accept who you are and from that acceptance your life will unfold as it should and all that is required will come in it’s perfect time.  He points toward the natural synchronicity of nature and life and the co-ordination of the inner and outer expressions of life.

Burroughs was a nature enthusiast and writer along the lines of Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman.

In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs’s special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of  “a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world.” (from Wikipedia)

It is a great honor and joy to conect with these great writers through music. I hope I serve the ideas they brought to light in a way that enhances and enlivens the written words.

Here’s the poem.  Waiting by John Burroughs

John Burroughs Association

Songs of mine that are related to these ideas:  From the Morning Sun CD: Morning Sun,  Love’s Song from the Forest, Love Only Comes. From the SINGular mOMent CD:  Butterfly

The lulu edition of MOrning Sun has an axtra bonus track:  “Rumors from an Aeolian Harp” by Henry David Thoreau. Check it out!

Posted in Music, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events

In the studio again

February 19, 2009 // Comments Off

Michael recording "Little Angels, Dust Your Wings".

Here I am in the studio recreating a   recording   session. Hey, it’s a bedroom studio without all the nice stuff that “real” recording studio has. I’m working on Little Angels Dust Your Wings.  It’s…tada….finished!

Earlier in the day I was looking for some CDs to record on and I found a long lost song called At the Door.  Also on the hard drive is the full version of La Belle Dame sans Merci poetry written by John Keats.

So it’s been a full day. I came home from work with 50 CD-Rs! Hooray!

SO aside from a few machine malfunctions (my DAT headphone jack is useless) and I broke a tape in it this evening.

While working on this post I’ve been listening to Parazona and onlinewithandrea on Blog Talk Radio. Tomorrow I’m Andrea’s guest.

Hooray!

All’s well that ends well.

embedded by Embedded Video

Posted in Music