The Hollow Men

by T.S. Eliot (with music from the soundtrack of "Amen." composed by Armand Amar)

So, I was cleaning up my digital music library and making sure all the music I had on my laptop was also on my iPod when I came across this. I had made a mix of a reading of the poem "The Hollow Men" and music from the soundtrack of "Amen." a while ago but somehow it slipped through the cracks and it remained forgotten for a few months in the depths of my mac's memory. Oh by the way, I'm not sure but I think T.S. Eliot is the one reading the poem, if not then it's Robert Speaight.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

sung by Martin Carthy (second youtube vid = The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem)

This song has been stuck in my head since last week, I keep randomly humming it without realizing I'm doing so. I blame St. Patrick's day, it makes me do all sorts of silly things like dancing around the house, wearing my hair down, using my pseudo-irish accent, and eating loads of Irish butter. I'm probably only 1/128 Irish but I can't help my love for all things Irish ^_^

And now about the song, this melancholy ballad (written by Robert Dwyer Joyce) is about a young rebel who is about to give up his relationship with the girl he loves and become part of the 1798 rebellion (aka the United Irishmen Rebellion), an uprising that against British rule which would last several months.

Now that I think about it a little more I guess there's also the bit of rebellious blood (and revolutionary thinking ^_~) in me inherited from my great-grandparents that makes me sympathetic to the Irish rebels (however, I am NOT a fan of the IRA, the Real IRA, or any other affiliated parties).

UPDATE 3/28/11: Here is the version performed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

lyrics:

I sat within a valley green

I sat me with my true love

My sad heart strove to choose between

The old love and the new love

The old for her, the new that made

Me think on Ireland dearly

While soft the wind blew down the glade

And shook the golden barley

Twas hard the woeful words to frame

To break the ties that bound us

But harder still to bear the shame

Of foreign chains around us

And so I said, "The mountain glen

I'll seek at morning early

And join the bold United Men

While soft winds shake the barley"

While sad I kissed away her tears

My fond arms 'round her flinging

The foeman's shot burst on our ears

From out the wildwood ringing

A bullet pierced my true love's side

In life's young spring so early

And on my breast in blood she died

While soft winds shook the barley

I bore her to some mountain stream

And many's the summer blossom

I placed with branches soft and green

About her gore-stained bosom

I wept and kissed her clay-cold corpse

Then rushed o'er vale and valley

My vengeance on the foe to wreak

While soft winds shook the barley

But blood for blood without remorse

I've taken at Oulart Hollow

And laid my true love's clay-cold corpse

Where I full soon may follow

As 'round her grave I wander drear

Noon, night and morning early

With breaking heart when e'er I hear

The wind that shakes the barley

Fisherman's Blues

by The Waterboys

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Waterboys live:

-=My St. Patrick's Day Feast=-

Miracle Drug

by A.C. Newman

Last week my sister asked me for some music, anything that I had that isn't widely popular (basically 2/3 of my iTunes library haha) and this is one of the songs I sent her. I still don't know why she needed the music so urgently but I do know that this became her "obsession of the week". What can I say, my musical tastes are just that contagious ;-)... if that statement were actually true I'd be ridiculously popular and maybe even rich... but I'm not... so.... ^_^

Prairie Love Song

music produced and arranged by Matthias Gohl

"The West" is one of a handful of documentaries that I vividly remember watching as a child and some of the music managed to stay in the crevices of my mind for several years (especially the main title which I will definitely be posting here soon). I was overjoyed when I found eMusic had the entire soundtrack. I present to you one of my favorites:

A tiny clip from the doc:

O Field, My Field / Polyushko Polye

performed by the Red Army Choir

In Russian mode... again... haha ^_^

I blame my Regional World Geography class. Last night we covered Russia and it finally hit me how MASSIVE Russia is, I mean I've always known it was big but I don't think I ever really absorbed Russia's size or how far north it is in relation to the continental U.S. until yesterday's class. Another thing I learned last night: Russia currently has one of the most rapidly decreasing populations in the world -_-* Isn't learning fun? Hopefully this knowledge will come to my aid while I'm on Jeopardy in the very distant future ^_~

Map of the World

by Sunny Day Sets Fire

I randomly started singing this song when I woke up yesterday morning and hummed it all through my refreshingly cool shower and later in the day I started humming it again while I totally bombed almost an entire geography category on Jeopardy. Time to pull out some maps ^_^

P.S. I was born in one of the places seen in the video, take a wild guess where ;-)

Totentanz

composed by Liszt

I'm a big fan of Liszt's compositions and until recently I hadn't heard this piece in it's entirety. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do! ^_^

Come Come Ye Saints

performed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, lyrics by William Clayton (1814-1879)

I am currently in Provo, Utah, where temperature highs have been in the low 30s (fahrenheit) and lows are in the single digits. There is snow and ice EVERYWHERE. While I accompanied my sister to her classes at BYU and we trekked uphill a fairly short distance to one of the buildings on campus I complained about Jack Frost nipping at my entire face and the cold tickling my mitten covered fingertips but after a tiny bit of complaining my sister and I couldn't help thinking about the Mormon pioneers who traveled in all sorts of adverse conditions and persevered. The LDS Hymn "Come, Come, Ye Saints" is one of my favorites and one that I sang often in the past since my former stake president (the equivalent of a bishop who oversees a diocese in other Christian religions) is a descendent of the lyricist of this hymn . This hymn is also one of the few things I can play on the harmonica ^_^

Here are the lyrics of the hymn:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell-
All is well! all is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward,
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take;
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! all is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell--
All is well! all is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! all is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
O how we'll make this chorus swell--
All is well! all is well!