The snow-capped mountains, ice-capped seas,
The rivers, forests, bees;
Fjords and deserts, tropics and poles,
The herds and flocks and shoals;
Hear greed-is-God merchants of death
At limits of all breath,
Trump, “Follow Me Me to the end of the world!
Come down into The Flood.”
("State of the Ark" © Gareth Calway 2024)
The first tune we sing to is a medieval church scale melody in the Phrygian mode composed by Thomas Tallis, originally as a setting for Psalm 2, arr Peacock's Tale.
Lead vocal, Echo Strum Acoustic guitar - Maz
Lead vocal, voice, Alien Waves Bass, Drums, Harmonium, Recorder, field recordings - Gaz.
The second part with the voice over is a Greensleeves rhythm section of acoustic guitar, drums, recorders, harmonium and bass
The voice over is extracts from the writings of Meher Baba, a spiritual Master of of Persian ancestry born in Poona, India, a discourse he called "The New Humanity."
We feel both parts of this track - the fear and foreboding for the planet and our species of "State of The Ark" and the sublime optimism of the Meher Baba discourse. As he puts it "Great forces of destruction ARE afoot and SEEM to be dominate at the moment." (our emphasis).
The image is Hokusai's "In the Well of the Great Wave of Kanagawa" which seems to illustrate both the impending doom and the ultimate faith in humanity to overcome it.
A bard on the wire, a voice in the wilderness, a home page for exiles trying to get home. Everybody is an exile. Maybe artists just realise it. "Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried, in my way, to be free."
Pages
- The Meanings of Christmas (EDP feature)
- Doin' Different
- Blog
- Perspectives on Literary and Linguistic Theory Part 2 Linguistic Theory
- Boudicca Britain's Dreaming
- Perspectives in Literary and Linguistic Theory Part 1. Critical Theory.
- Poem of the Month 2016-2020
- Tom and Harry
- Margery Kempe
- Doin’ different. (my 8th poetry collection) Poppyland Press 2015
- Exile in his Own Country (my 7th poetry collection) Bluechrome, 2006
- The Merchant of Bristol (my 4th poetry collection)...
- Britain's Dreaming (my 3rd poetry collection) - Fr...
- Boudicca
- Poem of the Month 2007-2015
- A Job To Remember
- The Merchant of Lynn's Tale
- A Robin Hood Lesson
February 14, 2025
February 11, 2025
New Lang Syne
This is the same live soundtrack filmed in
• Auld Lang Syne Live at Burns Night 20... only with all the other instruments (harmonium, snare, bass drum, hi hat) I couldn't throw in the mix at the time as I had my hands and feet full.
Surely the most popular parting song sung in the world with words written by Scotland's national (and international) poet Robert Burns, his canon bestriding both the 18C Enlightenment and Romanticism. It seems "Auld Lang Syne" (literally 'old long ago') replaced 'A Parting Glass' as Scotland's favourite end of evening farewell and that one takes some beating. We always sing it with the Ecclefechan Tarts Orchestra and Choir at the winding down midnight close of our annual Burns Night banquet of haggis, poetry and song by which time I am revealing far more inner thigh than is strictly necessary and one of us seems to think it's already the end of the year!
Auld Lang Syne
Words by Robert Burns
[Verse 1]
G D
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Em C
And never brought to mind?
G D
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Em C G
And auld lang syne!
[Chorus]
G D
For auld lang syne, my dear,
G C
For auld lang syne.
G D
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
[Verse 2]
G D
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
Em C
And surely I’ll buy mine!
G D
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
Em C G
for auld lang syne.
[Chorus]
G D
For auld lang syne, my dear,
G C
For auld lang syne.
G D
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
[Verse 3]
G D
We two have run about the slopes,
Em C
And picked the daisies fine;
G D
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
Em C G
Since auld lang syne.
[Chorus]
G D
For auld lang syne, my dear,
G C
For auld lang syne.
G D
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
[Verse 4]
G D
We two have paddled in the stream,
Em C
From morning sun till dine;
G D
But seas between us broad have roared
Em C G
Since auld lang syne.
[Chorus]
G D
For auld lang syne, my dear,
G C
For auld lang syne.
G D
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
[Verse 5]
G D
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
Em C
And give me a hand o’ thine!
G D
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
[Chorus]
G D
For auld lang syne, my dear,
G C
For auld lang syne.
G D
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
Em C G
For auld lang syne.
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February 10, 2025
Come All Ye (A Folk Song)
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February 06, 2025
PREMIERE The Full Rabbie (International Burns Nacht 2025) with the Ecclefechan T...
PREMIERES 7.30 PM TONIGHT. The Full Rabbie (International Burns Nacht 2025) with the Ecclefechan Tarts Orchestra and Choir. ..Burns Night January 25 January 2025. A celebration ( in Norfolk by four Sassenachs and two Germans) of the universal genius and geniality, in poetry and music, of Scotland's national poet Robbie Burns. Featuring a feats of friendship and a banquet of traditional Scots fare, Selkirk Grace, The Address to the Haggis, The To the Immortal Memory of Rabbie Burns Lecture, the after dinner prayer, My Love is Like a Red Red Rose, To The De'il, Elegy of the Year .. (updated to 2025) and other poems, Auld Lang Syne and other songs in the spirit of the great Radical Republican European Enlightenment Scots Thinker and Romantic. Lang may yer lum reek.
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