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Strange Conversation

by Kris Delmhorst

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1.
GALUPPI BALDASSARE Lyrics adapted from Robert Browning, "A Toccata of Galuppi's" Oh Galuppi Baldassare, though I never knew your name, it’s thanks to Mr. Browning you are with us just the same. Thanks to Mr. Browning, blowing on the flame… Well here you come with your old music, and here’s all the good it brings- you say they lived like this in Venice when the merchants were the kings, and though I never left old Boston, still you showed me everything Did the young folks take their pleasure? Was the ocean warm in May? Did the parties start at midnight, did they roll until midday? And did the ladies bloom like bellflowers, every time you’d start to play? Well I bet that they all loved you, I bet they stood around and cheered, saying “that’s what I call music, good for joy and good for tears, now let’s stop all this talking, and let it fill our ears.” And the minor third so bitter, the six chord like a sigh, suspension, solution, asking must we die, must we die must we die? And the seventh says well fellas, life might not last, but we can try… So were you happy? I was happy. You still happy? Yes, and you? Then more kisses! Why’d we stop them, when a million seemed so few? There’s something in that music, lord it must be answered to. Then they left you for their fortune, in due time one by one. Some had lives that came to nothing, some did things they’d better not have done, and then death stepped up and took em where they’ll never see the sun… Oh but you you ghostly cricket, singing where the house has burned, ‘dust and ashes, dead and done with, Venice spent what Venice earned,’ but what’s left behind I wonder, when the kissing has adjourned? ‘Dust and ashes,’ so you tell me, and I cannot say you’re wrong, still those dear dead dancing ladies with their hair so soft and long stir a little in their slumber, every time we play your song. ‘Cause the minor third’s still bitter, the six chord makes us sigh, suspension, solution, asking must we die, must we also die? And the seventh still says well, life might not last, but we can try…
2.
WE’LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING Lyrics: Lord George Gordon Byron So we’ll go no more a-roving So late into the night Though the heart be still as loving And the moon be still as bright For the sword outwears its sheath And the soul wears out the breast And the heart must pause to breathe And love itself have rest Though the night was made for loving And the day returns too soon, Yet we’ll go no more a-roving By the light of the moon.
3.
LIGHT OF THE LIGHT Lyrics adapted from Walt Whitman, “A Passage to India” We can wait no longer, we can wait no more After the darkness, Unspeakable high processions Sun and moon and countless teeming stars We came down from the garden Wandering with our questions, Where this life? O why this restless soul? Who will soothe the fevered children, Who will heal these separations, Maybe even now it’s coming We can wait no longer, we can wait no more Let’s go together I with you and you with me We’ll climb the mountains, walk the trackless plains Carry me through forever Lift me up and wash me clean and Let me melt into that endless flame Light of the light, light of the light, light of the light O my soul. Steer us to uncharted waters, hoist the anchor, shake out every sail. My brave soul. If they’re all the seas of heaven Why should we not go where all maps fail? We’ve been waiting in this harbor We were built for deeper waters Farther farther farther farther now Light of the light, light of the light, light of the light We can wait no longer, we can wait no more
4.
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY Lyrics adapted from: James Weldon Johnson, “Sence You Went Away” Seems like to me the stars don’t shine so bright, Seems like to me the sun has lost its light, Seems like to me there’s nothing going right, Since you went away. Seems like to me the sky ain’t half so blue, Seems like to me that everything wants you, Seems like to me I don’t know what to do, Since you went away. And everything is wrong, The day is twice as long, And the bird’s forgot his song, Seems like to me I just can’t help but sigh, Seems like to me my throat keeps getting dry, Seems like to me a tear stays in my eye, Since you went away.
5.
STRANGE CONVERSATION Lyrics inspired by Hermann Broch, “The Death of Virgil” I heard they had a strange conversation the night Virgil died He held his frail head up and said I think I wish I’d never tried To dive down through the darkness, to climb up through the blue Because beauty without cruelty is ever so much worse than untrue Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn And even the divine inspiration of Orpheus’ song It ends with the singing, the spell can only last as long Then men fall back to blindness, the streams refind their beds The wild beasts rise back up and spill the blood of innocents Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn And our arms branched out like rivers, Our body filled the world, The moon hung in our hair, And the starry night unfurled… Now are all the waves set to foaming on Ilium’s strand And all my life’s labor feels like just a feather in my hand So no more I’ll be your keeper, or sing these songs for you Take all these useless verses and please take this useless body too Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn
6.
THE DROP & THE DREAM Lyrics inspired by Hermann Broch, “The Death of Virgil” In twilight and blindness All our work is done We fumble and flail, we try and we fail, We only are what we almost become It’s both our curse and our grace, here in this place To reach for heights that we’ll never climb And the distance between the drop and the dream Is our one little piece of the divine It’s a weak little flame, it’s all we got to our name So why be ashamed to let it burn
7.
INVISIBLE CHOIR Lyrics adapted from: George Eliot, “The Choir Invisible” Oh may I join that invisible choir I want to join that invisible choir Made of those sweet immortal voices That lift our hearts up higher I want to live after I die I want to live after I die I want to make a bit of beauty And leave a little light behind Or be the balm to someone’s sadness, the song for someone’s gladness, A cup of strength to someone in their fight Or maybe sweeten an existence, inspire a persistence, Or breathe the breath that makes the spark of love burn bright Oh may I reach the heaven most high I want to reach that heaven most high And be a little star a shining In someone’s darkest night
8.
PRETTY HOW TOWN Lyrics adapted by permission from: e.e. cummings, “anyone lived in a pretty how town” anyone lived in a pretty how town with up so floating many bells down summer fall winter spring he sang his didn’t he danced his did women and men (both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same sun moon stars rain children guessed (but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew) winter spring summer fall that noone loved him more by all when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and still by stir anyone’s any was all to her one day anyone died I guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april with up so many floating bells down women and men (both dong and ding) summer fall winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain
9.
Tavern 03:42
TAVERN Lyrics adapted from Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Tavern" I’ll keep a little tavern Below the high hill’s crest Where all the grey-eyed people Can set them down and rest There will be plates a-plenty And mugs to melt the chill Of all the grey-eyed people Who happen up the hill There sound will sleep the traveler And dream his journey’s end But I will rise at midnight The fading fire to tend Oh I know it’s a curious fancy But all the good I’ve known Was taught to me by two grey eyes A long time ago
10.
Water Water 02:40
WATER WATER Lyrics adapted from Robert Herrick, “Scare-Fire” Water water I desire Here’s a house made of flesh on fire Open the fountains and the springs And come you all with your bucketings Water water bring it round Throw your bucket on the ground Air is hotter, flames are higher It’s a full-blown scare-fire What you cannot quench, you must burn down, Lose one house to save the town It’s better still that one should fall Than by its burning risk them all Water water Water water bring me more Douse the rafters and the floor Throw your bucket, take your turn Or just stand back and let the damn thing burn Water water Water water I desire Look out baby I’m a scare fire scare fire
11.
Sea Fever 03:43
Sea Fever (Lyrics: "Sea-Fever," John Masefield) I must go down to the sea again the lonely sea and the sky and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by a star to steer her by. and the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and all the white sails shaking and a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking grey dawn breaking. I must go down, I must go down, for the call of the running tide, it’s a wild call and a clear call and it can’t be denied and all I ask is a windy day with all the white clouds flying and the flung spray and blowing foam and the sea gulls crying all of the sea gulls crying. I must go down, I must go down, to the vagrant gypsy life, to the gulls’ way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife and all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover and a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick is over when the long trick is over.
12.
EVERYTHING IS MUSIC Lyrics adapted from Rumi, “Where Everything Is Music,” as translated by Coleman Barks We’ve come to the place where everything is music Everything is music, let it play. Why do you stay in jail when the door is wide open? Let the beauty that you love be what you do. Stop talking now, open up the window The one right there in the middle of your heart Give us your hands, sit down in this circle You know you got no need to keep yourself apart Today you wake up sad and empty, don’t go back to sleep. There’s a million ways to kneel and kiss the ground. Don’t worry now, about saving all these songs, There’s so many more just waiting to be found. And if all these instruments should disappear We would still hear something coming up from way down in the ground Because we’ve come to the place where everything is music Everything is music, let it play.

about

Kris Delmhorst’s fourth studio release, Strange Conversation (Signature Sounds, June 2006), is a vital and celebratory meditation on art and its ability to speak across time and distance. After several albums of genre-bending original work, Delmhorst found inspiration in the work of various well-known poets. Some of the poems are set verbatim to music, some dismantled and reassembled in significantly new renditions, others merely used as the jumping-off point for Delmhorst’s own literate lyrical take. The fact that the album feels modern, cohesive, and joyful is testament both to the inherent timelessness of the poems and to the skillful adaptations that bring them to life as songs – not to mention Delmhorst’s wine-deep, honey-bright voice, which can deliver even a centuries-old phrase directly to the doorstep of the listener’s soul.

credits

released June 27, 2006

KD - vocals, acoustic guitar, cello, fiddle, piano
Lorne Entress - drums, percussion, vocals
Paul Kochanski - upright bass, vocals
Kevin Barry - acoustic, electric, and lap steel guitars, dobro, piano, vocals
Dave Harris - trombone, tuba
Mark Chenevery - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Mike Peipman - trumpet
Tom West - organ
Chris Rival - organ

Recorded and mixed by Chris Rival at Middleville Studio, North Reading, MA
Mastered by Dave McNair, NYC
Design by Brian Turner, Cricket Press, Lexington, KY

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Kris Delmhorst Massachusetts

“Long Day in the Milky Way” is a shimmering compendium of sometimes murmuring, sometimes urgent pop and Americana sounds" Boston Globe

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