Thursday - 'The Queen and the Soldier' by Liz Frencham and Martin Pearson
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore"
The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
Only first I am asking you why"
Down the long narrow hall he was led
Into her rooms with her tapestries red
And she never once took the crown from her head
She asked him there to sit down
He said "I see you know, you are so very young
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won
And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun
And now will you tell me why?"
The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye
She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try"
But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry
But she closed herself up like a fan
And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread
It cuts me inside, and often I've bled"
And he placed his hand down on top of her head
And he bowed her down to the ground
"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel
As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed
But I won't march again on your battlefield"
And he took her to the window to see
And the sun, it was gold, thought the sky it was grey
And she wanted more than she ever could say
But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away
And would not look at his face again
And he said, "I want to live as an honest man
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman who I don't understand
Your Highness, your ways are very strange"
But the crown it had fallen, and she thought she would break
And she stood there, ashamed of the the way her heart ached
She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
She would only be a moment inside
Out in the distance her order was heard
And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word
And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on.
This song makes me want to cry, it's so beautiful. These two amazing musicians have spectacularly beautiful voices in their own rights, and combined, it makes for an emotional chord-striking song. The bass is awesome too :)
It was originally written and performed by Suzanne Vega, but Liz and Martin recorded it on Liz's new album of duets, 'You & Me Vol. 1'.
check out her website at www.lizfrencham.com she is my idol.
Friday - 'Le Tic-Tac du Moulin Et Les Malins Plaisirs' by the amazing Genticorum
(I can't figure out how to put the different characters in, so I apologise that the french accents and other cool grammatical things will not be appearing here tonight. Plus the layout of this song is pretty funky, there's a lot of call-and-response and repeating, so I'm just going to write it as it appears in the booklet)
C'etait un jour de fete, comme si c'etait demain
J'ai rencontre ma mie, qui dormait dans un coin
N'approchez pas, fillettes, du tic-tac du moulin
J'ai rencontre ma mie, qui dormait dans un coin
J'lui ai dit : chere mignonne, tu me r'connais-tu bien
Ah oui, mon beau galant, nous etions au moulin
Je mangeais d'la sucisse, un p'tit verre a la main
Nous avions arrose a grands renforts de vin
Le tonneau, la barrique, nous ne les craignions point
On en fut bien malade quand arriva matin
A fallu aler qu'ri, aller qu'ri le medecin
L'bonhomme dans sa visite, m'a interdit le vin
Mais d'aller voir les filles, il me l'interdit point
D'aller te voir, mignonne, bien calee dans le grain
As it says in the CD booklet,
"In this particular song, a young man finds himself feeling ill after a night with a few bottles of wine and his favourite companion. The doctor tells him to give up drinking for his health, but thankfully he isn't so strict when it comes to women. The song is followed by a tune in 3/4 to accompany the dance of your choice, with or without undergarments."
Unfortunately I missed out on Genticorum's show at the Harp in Tempe on Friday night as I was watching Cloudstreet in Hornsby, but I listen to this song on repeat through much of Friday, so in a way it kind of made up for it (not really, but I keep telling myself that so I don't get too depressed). My friends all laughed at me when I told them I was in love with an overweight, French-Canadian fiddle player, but it's true.... their music is fantastic (my school friends are notorious non-fans of folk music, but I'm working on their conversions all the time). Haha I'm pretty proud of myself coz I've learnt some of the lyrics.
Genticorum are a band from Montreal, who play traditional Quebecoise music.
you can listen to a snippet at www.genticorum.com/mp3/le_tic-tac_du_moulin.mp3
check them out at www.genticorum.com
do it... *shakes fist menacingly*
Saturday - John Thompson's 'Ave'
And we sang "Ave Maria"
And they told us what the words were
A homage to a lady, the purest of them all
The mother of the Christ-child
A woman of great beauty
The one who bore the son who was the saviour of us all
And we sang "Ave Maria"
And the taught us what the words were
The men in robes who loved no woman
But gave their lives to God
They taught us with their firm words
They taught us with their firm hands
And we wondered on the love of Mary, mother of the child
And we sang "Ave Maria"
We grew to know what all the words were
The words of love and cruelty
Of discipline and stone
They taught us all the things we mustn't do
And all the things we mustn't dream of
But I saw the love they spoke of
Shining through their lies
And we sang "Ave Maria"
But we forgot what all the words were
The message of a mother
Who'd touched the hand of God
The story of her sacrifice
To give her life up for another
And the son she bore so painfully
Who gave his life for love
And we sang "Ave Maria"
And we sang,
"Ave Maria, gratia plena
Dominus tectum, Ave Maria.
Benedictatu, benedictatu
In mulieribus
Et benedictus, fructis ventris tui, Jesu.
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis
Sanct Maria, ora, ora pro nobis."
John wrote this song about the time he spent as a choir boy at a cathedral in Brisbane. He sung it at a request from me on Friday night.... I thought I had died and gone to heaven. His voice is indescribably beautiful, words do not do it justice. You can check it out yourself at www.neverthetwain.com/sounds/Live%20at%20the%20Pod/Ave.mp3
and Cloudstreet's website is www.cloudstreet.org - John and Nicole sing some great harmonies
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