resonant | Music post: harmony (Reply)

There are a bunch of songs on the .zip, but when I started uploading them separately, I ran out of time after just this handful, because yousendit is being dog-slow this morning. So you can download separately the following:

June Tabor and Maddy Prior, The Barring of the Door, from Silly Sisters: No More to the Dance. Trad folk.

The wind blew cold from east to north. it blew in through the floor-o. Quoth our good man to our good wife: Get up and bar the door-o.

Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, Suil A Gra, from The Colour of Amber. Trad folk.

I'll go up on yonder's hill, and there I'll sit and cry my fill. Every tear would turn a mill. I don't have a translation handy for the refrain, but it's one of those laments of a girl watching her lover go off to war; it means something like: Walk, walk, walk, walk away, my love; only death can end my sorrow.

When I was looking up the lyrics of this one, I discovered that many performers believed the refrain was just nonsense syllables, like 'with me rue dom dye, hap-a-riddle-dye.'

Revels, The Merry Horn, from Wild Mountain Thyme. Trad folk.

The fox runs before us. He seems for to fly, and he pants to the chorus of the hunt in full cry.

Simon and Garfunkel with James Taylor, Wonderful World. Folky '70s pop version of the Sam Cooke song. Every verse harmonized differently.

Don't know much about history, don't know much biology, etc.

Laura Hackenhull & Pete Morton, Sweet Loving Friendship, from The Transports (Silver Anniversary). Sounds like trad folk; was actually written for a "ballad opera."

All hope in prison, it soon will smother, if none will with you your sorrow share.

Chanticleer, Como Pod' A Groriosa from Sound in Spirit. Renaissance classical.

This is long, but if it's the kind of thing you like, it's amazing. Harmony different every verse. It's the story of a miracle where a beggar girl's leg was healed by the Virgin Mary. I only have lyrics to the chorus. (I don't remember the language; it's neither Spanish nor Italian.)

Como pod' a Groriosa
os mortos fazer viver,
ben outrossi pod' os nembros
dos contreytos correger.

(Just as the Glorious One can cause the dead to live, so can She straighten the limbs of cripples.)

If you download the .zip file (56.1 mb) you get all of those plus these:

Simon and Garfunkel, "Baby Driver," from Bridge over Troubled Water. High-energy '70s pop.

My daddy was a prominent frogman. My mama's in the Naval Reserve.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, "Helplessly Hoping," from So Far. Mellow '70s pop.

Helplessly hoping, her harlequin hovers nearby, awaiting a word.

Alison Kraus and Gillian Welch, "I'll Fly Away," from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Country gospel.

When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away. Like a bird from the prison bars has flown, I'll fly away.

Patty Loveless, "Rise Up, Lazarus," from Greatest hits. Country gospel.

Rise up, Lazarus, rise up from the dust. If in Jesus you believe, you shall be released.

Frank and Nancy Sinatra, "Something Stupid," from an unknown album. Standards.

The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red and, oh, the night's so blue.

Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, "Sorry the Day I Was Married," from Summer Solstice. Trad folk. I've always thought it was ironic that this song was such a great duet.

Think, pretty maids, ere you marry. Stand fast by your sweet liberty, and as long as you can you must tarry and not be lamenting like me.

Grateful Dead, "Uncle John's Band," from Workingman's Dead. '70s mellow rock. If you try to sing the high harmony, you'll quickly learn that every verse is a little different.

Goddamn, will I be glad! Have you seen the light? Their walls are built of cannonballs. Their motto is, 'Don't Tread On Me.'