I decided to post another Trish Murphy song today. This is “St. Christopher” from her Captured CD. I often wear a St. Christopher medal and the song made me think of how we rashly cast off our amulets of protection, love, and safety. I plan on turning the song into a short story.  If you’d like to know more about Trish Murphy, her busy schedule, and her music, be sure to visit her site here:

“St. Christopher” by Trish Murphy

V. 1 Put it down on paper,
Images and vapor
It all comes so clearly to me now.
A Certified disaster
The fool she is my master
But no priest can save me anyhow

CHORUS:

Indian summer,
There won’t be another,
You will always be
Beautiful to me

I took out the dagger
Ripped off the wrapper,
Then I gave my heart and soul away
I threw out St. Christopher
I don’t know why I did that for
Now I’m searching for you every day.

V. 2 Watch the moon fade
But still I see your face
And anyway your ghost is at my door
Just like my memory
My word’s short on delivery
So I stumble to the liquor store

CHORUS:

V. 3 I’m going under
Looking for your number
Even though I know that you don’t care
And I paid the pay phone bandit
And I took the call and slammed it
Because now the number’s old and you’re not there

CHORUS:

To help me with my storytelling at festivals and school programs, I recently purchased a CD entitled, When I was Young: Children’s Songs from Ireland. This CD has 28 songs and was a good choice, delightfully entertaining and I know it will be a big help with my music. The performers featured on the CD are Len Graham, Garry O Brian, and Padraigin Ni Uallachain. Here are the lyrics to the “Fox and the Hare” which I transcribed from the CD jacket. I LOVE it when a CD comes with the lyrics. The artists and producers who do this know that having the lyrics helps motivate many of us to buy the CD.

“The Fox and the Hare”

As I came trotting over the hill
I spied a fox and he be sleeping
A cute little fox and he hiding in the furze
And the top of his two ears a peeping.

REFRAIN:
The fox and the hare and the badger and the bear
And the birds in the greenwood trees
All the pretty little rabbits
All engaging in their habits
And they’re all having fun but me.

Good morrow fox, good morrow Sir,
Pray what is that you’re eating
A fine fat goose I stole from you
And will you come and taste it.

Oh no indeed bold fox I said
How dare you boldly taunt me
I vow and I swear that you’ll dearly pay
For the fine fat goose you’re eating.

Bad cess to you bold bad fox
That stole my geese and ate them
My great big drake my fine fat hen
And the nicest little ducks in Erin.

You can find a more adult version of the song as sang by Jimmy Crowley here: http://www.mysongbook.de/msb/songs/f/foxandth.html

About this time last year, I heard and met a wonderfully talented and beautiful Austin musician and songwriter, Trish Murphy. I still listen to the three CD’s I purchased then, and I have incorporated a couple of her songs into my own Americana show. Here are the words from her song, St. Francis Rose, a song recorded on her CD, Captured. You can find Trish’s site here:

St. Francis Rose by Trish Murphy

They say St. Francis planted a Rose
She lived in Potter County
Where the wild mesquite grows
An audacious flower, filling up the room
You could not stand downwind from her perfume

She met him in a hardware store in Porter
She let him take her hand and take her home
And he clipped her thorns with a pair of kitchen scissors
And claimed her velvet skin all for his own

CHORUS:
And they say St. Francis planted a rose
So tender and sweet no thorns would it grow
And thornless are the roses that grow upon her grave
Roses are slow to fade

So years went by, but she never lost her beauty.
And though tears she cried he scorned her for her pain
But all the Pekoe tea in Carolina
Could not buy her precious thorns again
So she took her life and pressed herself for him.

CHORUS:

Daisy Chains herself around your heartstrings
Lily of the Valley hangs her head
And Morning Glory fades away
But that’s another story
Roses look good even when they’re dead.
Roses look good even when they’re dead

CHORUS:

I am a passionate student of history generally and especially all things Celtic. I was greatly and pleasantly surprised to come across a copy of Ulster-Scots on the Coast of Maine by John T. Mann. The book contains unique photographs, and has maps as well as a fascinating narrative. Another of the forgotten stories of history that I’m fond of promoting.

The books back cover says that John T. Mann is a professional land surveyor. He set out to write a report on the background and location of the Means Massacre. This is an unbelievable (but true) story of “interconnected families, forced by religious, political and economic circumstances to abandon not just one, but two homelands . . . The introduction of Ulster Scots immigrants to the Kennebec Settlement intentionally put them at the center of conflict for the domination of North America. These famnilyes were forced to confront both the French and Indian alliance and then the British Empire . . . .”

If you have interest in American History, especially concerning the involvement of the Scottish and Scots-Irish, you need to obtain this book. It can be purchased from the St. Andrews Society of Maine. Their website is here:  The pdf order form for the book is here.

I intend to use this information in my early American Literature college class. Mann and the St. Andrews Society in Maine has done Scottish people everywhere a great favor by producing such a fine little book.  As it is entitled, Vol. I, I am eagerly waiting for the sequel.

Kevin Griffin, a songwriter, musician, and force behind the band Better than Ezra (known to Monroe residents) caught my attention recently with a song, “Hey, Love.” You can hear the song on Griffin’s Facebook Fan page. There’s a great Wikipedia article on Griffin as well. After a search on the Web, I found several of his songs (with lyrics) posted, but I did not find, “Hey, Love,” so I decided to transcribe and post the lyrics of this great song. As is common with transcriptions, it’s likely I missed a line or two [especially the ones I put in brackets] due to recording or personal hearing issue hiccups. Send me any corrections and I’ll change the post quickly.

Hey, Love by Kevin Griffin

I haven’t felt you, for a while
II haven’t had much opportunity to smile
I see you in the eyes of couples passing by
A so missed kiss of innocence
Too long I’ve been denied

Hey Love, where you going?
Hey Love, How you been?
I wish you’d stay a little longer
But that’s okay, I understand
Maybe another day.
Hey, Love, Old Friend,
There you go again.

I found a photo and you were there
Captured in our faces just before you disappeared
Was nice to know you
If only for a while
You come and go
With a sweet hello
And a bittersweet goodbye

Hey Love, where you going?
Hey Love, How you been?
I wish you’d stay a little longer
But that’s okay, I understand
Maybe another day.
Hey, Love, Old Friend,
There you go again.

And before the new beginning
It’s just another’s end
Tell me love why I should begin, again,

Can you come back, love?

The moon is alluded to, used as a symbol, and reverenced in mythology, literature, and music. One usage is that of the Blue Moon. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, a Blue moon happens “whenever two full Moons appeared in a single month (which happens on average every 2 1/2 to 3 years), the second has been christened a “Blue Moon.” In our lexicon, we describe an unusual event as happening “Once in a Blue Moon.”  This site has a blue moon calculator if you’d like to know when the next one is. If you’re interested in the folklore associated with the Blue Moon, go to this site.

Once again, my Americana cable station caused me to latch onto a new song. This is by Nanci Griffith, and the beautiful song is entitled, “Once in a Very Blue Moon.” I’ve posted it with the lyrics and chords. You can purchase it on iTunes (and I just heard that iTunes is lowering prices on many songs!). Nanci Griffith’s Web page is here:

Once in a Very Blue Moon written by Patrick Alger & Gene Levine

D            A        G
I found your letter in my mailbox today
D            A        G    A
You were just checkin’ if I was okay
D        A
And if I still miss you
G
Well you know what they say
G        A     D(walk to Bm)
Just once in a very blue moon
G        A            D
Just once in a very blue moon
G        A    Gbm        Bm
Just once in a very blue moon
G            A        D
And I feel one comin’ on soon

No need to tell me you’d like to be friends
And help me get back on my feet again n
And do I still miss you?
Well it’s just now and then

Just once in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin’ on soon

G            Gbm    Bm
There’s a blue moon shinin’
G            A
When I’m reminded
G                A

Of all we’ve been through
G        A    Gbm        Bm
Such a blue moon shinin’
E                        A
Does it ever shine down on you?

Oh, ’cause you act like
It never even hurt you at all
And I’m the only one
Gettin’ up from a fall
Tell me you dont feel it
Oh can’t you recall

Just once in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin’ on soon

Just once in a very blue moon.

Recently, I’ve been meeting Scots who aren’t from the Highland Clans, but rather from the “districts” of Scotland. Some of them have referred to themselves as Border Scots. That made me think of this song performed by Ed Miller that is part of my Scots-Irish show. I’ll have a special interview and article about the District Scots in the near future

ROLLING HILLS OF THE BORDER performed by Ed Miller
(Matt McGinn)

Chorus:
When I die, bury me low
Where I can here the bonny Tweed flow
A sweeter place I never will know
Than the rolling hills of the Borders

I traveled far and wandered wide
I’ve seen the Hudson and the Clyde
I wandered by Loch Lomond side
But I dearly love the Borders

Chorus:

Oft do I remember the day
When wi’ my love I strolled by the Tay
But all its beauty fades away
Among the hills of the Borders

Chorus:
There’s a certain peace of mind
Bonny lassies there you will find
Men so strong and men so kind
Among the hills of the Borders

Chorus:
When I die, bury me low
Where I can here the bonny Tweed flow
A sweeter place I never will know
Than the rolling hills of the Borders
The rolling hills of the Borders

BOOK/PROGRAM NEWS:

Last night, I was able to personally meet Jill Conner Brown at her book signing here in Monroe at the Books-A-Million. What a wonderful, warm lady! I also met her husband, Kyle. I hope to be a part of their St. Patrick Parade in Jackson this year. The rest of this week is filled with meetings and class preparation for the colleges I work with. Preparing a college class (land based or online) is tedious and very time consuming.

My schedule (so far) for January:

Thursday, Jan. 15 A program at Brock, Texas ISD

Sat. Jan. 17, Speaking and performing at the Lee-Jackson Banquet in Abbeville, LA for the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Sat. Jan. 24: Performing at the Burns Supper for the Celtic Society of Northeast Louisiana.

With this post, I’m returning to the topic of the noted songwriter, Kieran Kane, with a song entitled “Rosie’s Gone,” about a woman “emotionally and psychologically devastated by the loss of a loved one” in Vietnam.  You can read a fine article about Kane’s album, The Blue Chair here.  I recently purchased it and have enjoyed the music greatly. For years, I’ve taught “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner in freshman composition. Somehow the song “Rosie’s Gone” made me think of that story and the circumstances of life that alienate us or drive us inward and away from others.  I transcribed the lyrics from the CD.

ROSIE’S GONE by Kieran Kane

Rosie lives inside a house
Whose paint is cracked and dry
The fence outside is falling down
The grass is three feet high.

Children in the neighborhood
Knock on her door and run
Then want to see who answers it
But no one ever comes.

Rosie’s gone
Where nothing can reach her
Rose’s gone
Away in her mind
To a sweet yesterday when love was alive
So long, Rosie’s gone.

Dust has gathered everywhere
The shades are pulled down
Everything is still arranged
As if he were around.

A letter from the president
Still lays there on the floor
Praising a young man’s courage
In a southeast Asian war

Rosie’s gone
Where noting can reach her
Rosie’s gone
Away in her mind
To a sweet yesterday when love was a live
So long, Rosie’s gone.

I decided to make one more post based on Condrescu’s book, New Orleans, Mon Amour. For this post, I want to simply list some quotations and “did you know” phrases that caught my attention. Codrescu does have a way with words. I didn’t know:

1. That New Orleans had two German langauge daily newspapers in the mid-1800’s.

2. About the book, The Mysteries of New Orleans by Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein. Quite a colorful book and character. Codescu calls the author a “skinny eccentric who frequented seedy bars in the French Quarter” (3).

3. About the Nag Hammadi, Gnostic gospels. There is a whole story line he develops from a phrase from them, “Our sister Sophia, she who is a whore.”

4. About several festivals there. I did know about the Faulkner Festival, but not

5. Codrescu gives details I didn’t know about Molly’s and Jim Monaghan, all kinds of foods/recipes I’ve never tried, (like dishwater fish. It’s for real. Google it)  I learned of the turtle soup at Commanders that is over 100 years old, i.e., the turtle soup pot  has never gone out since it was opened in 1888. About writers I was unfamiliar with, whom I must look up soon.

6. About Katrina. He says the residents of New Orleans wondered “at the huge gaps between the reports of the media and the stories of our friends still on the ground.”

7. Though I had read Confederacy of Dunces in 1993, I did not know that “John Kennedy Toole . . . committed suicide here when no big eastern publisher would touch his novel. The small press of the state university finally did the book, and posthumously Toole was award the Pulitzer Prize” (48).

8. About Barkus, the dog parade

Codrescus says that New Orleans still has enough material to give “future readers a slimpse of what is was to be alive, a poet, in New Orleans at the end of the twentieth century and the very beginning of the twenty-first” (6). Other phrases:

“the rapture of legend and rumor” (15) Calls for dead people and that there is “a telephonic voodoo cult in the city” (17).

“New Orleans is a pirate city, in both legend and fact” (19)

*There are so many other good quotations, but perhaps these are sufficient food for thought.

This week, I viewed a movie, Catch and Release and in the background of one of the scenes heard a song. I hastily scratched down some of the lyrics, googled them, found the song, and purchased it from iTunes. It is “What If You” by Josh Radin. His music is acoustic guitar, the lyrics touching, and his talent obvious. (He is also an artist and actor). You’ve likely heard his music on the sitcom, Scrubs. There are tons of sites and Youtube links devoted to him, but his official site is here if you’d like to know more about this songwriter.

Joshua Radin – What If You

What if you
Could wish me away
What if you
Spoke those words today

I wonder if you’d miss me
When I’m gone
It’s come to this, release me
I’ll leave before the dawn

But for tonight
I’ll stay here with you
Yes, for tonight
I’ll lay here with you

But when the sun
Hits your eyes
Through your window
There’ll be nothing you can do

What if you
Could hear this song
What if I
Felt like I belong

I might not be leaving
Oh so soon
Began the night believing
I loved you in the moonlight

So, for tonight
I’ll stay here with you
Yes, for tonight
I’ll lay here with you

But when the sun
Hits your eyes
Through your window
There’ll be nothing you can do

I could’ve treated you better
Better than this
Well, I’m gone, this song’s your letter
Can’t stay in one place

So, for tonight
I’ll stay here with you
Yes, for tonight
I’ll lay here with you

But when the sun
Hits your eyes
Through your window
There’ll be nothing you can do