Feb 2022 acapella ballad oraclechallenge traditional ghoststory
I decided to combine the #ballad and #oraclechallenge. I've done a lot of acapella ballad singing, and this just came to my mind and had to get it out. It is in a standard ballad format of having refrain lines repeat in each verse, and have the story, usually of a cautionary tale of someone else's misfortune, play out to its scary end.
Take heed, take head as you depart
Be wary as you pass the knoll
Stay safe and be pure of heart
The Witness sees into your soul
Many a traveler’s passed that way
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And many still rue the day
The Witness sees into your soul
It’s said beware what you desire
Be wary as you pass the knoll
As desire leads you to the mire
The Witness sees into your soul
You cannot hide your deepest thoughts
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And forces you to cast lots
The Witness sees into your soul
A young man haughty, full of pride
Be wary as you pass the knoll
Thought himself too good and often lied
The Witness sees into your soul
With schemes aplenty in his mind
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And plans of riches most inclined
The Witness sees into your soul
He didn’t heed his elder's word
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And all the warnings did he spur
The Witness sees into your soul
A shadowy figure did appear
Be wary as you pass the knoll
At the crossroad, filling him with fear
The Witness sees into your soul
His feet were stuck into the ground
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And from his throat came not a sound
The Witness sees into your soul
He could not hide his devilish ways
Be wary as you pass the knoll
His mind at once felt ablaze
The Witness sees into your soul
To the heavens now was shown
Be wary as you pass the knoll
His evil countenance made known
The Witness sees into your soul
Across the land the scream was heard
Be wary as you pass the knoll
The lad exposed in thought and word
The Witness sees into your soul
From then onward, he could not speak
Be wary as you pass the knoll
And left his body pale and weak
The Witness sees into your soul
Take heed, take head as you depart
Be wary as you pass the knoll
Stay safe and be pure of heart
The Witness sees into your soul
(C) 2022 BeaconBeats Music
@kadmad202 Mar 2022
Beautiful, Ken! You’ve gotten lots of wonderful comments on this one, and there’s not really much I can add, except to agree with every single one of them. Very nice to meet you last night. I love finding new folks to put on my watchlist!
@nancycunning Mar 2022
Wow, what a strong acapella voice you have. It's fun to hear your gentle control. The lyrics are great, and that melody phrase still feels surprising and interesting even after it repeats and repeats.
@majormajormajormajor Mar 2022
What a gorgeous, haunting lyric! I can hear this sung by a barbershop group with a kind of AAB format to the melody.
It takes its time and is measured in how the story progresses, echoing an inevitable capture, like that movie It Follows, where the monster is slow but never stops stalking you and will take you by surprise eventually. Creepy :)
@deadhead Mar 2022
These lyrics are really inspiring as I've been trying to write more lyrics using similar formats recently. I particularly like the build up to the story in this. The four verses before the story begins keep building up the direness of the warning give a nice tension. And the story after doesn't disappoint either. I always like the old ballads that tell of that scary end!
Your vocals are also very nice. You barely strayed from the original pitch through 14 verses of acapella song. That's really difficult to do!
#listeningskirmish
@driftwood1 Mar 2022
Nice classic style ballad here. I like the structure of lines 2 and 4 repeating and the story unfolding between/around them. Real strong imagery and nice vocal. #listeningskirmish
@audrey Mar 2022
Beautiful melody and your singing is fabulous. Great storytelling. I especially like the second line of this melody.
@darcistrutt Feb 2022
The repeating final line ties the lyric together tightly. Lovely vocal. The angry "Across the land the scream was heard" stood out in the storytelling. I like this.
@dzdandcunfsd Feb 2022
Just caught this on the fawmtalk show! Really excellent and spooky piece!
@vegansongs Feb 2022
Ken , this is fantastic. The story , your delivery. A timeless classic!
@elainedimasi Feb 2022
Such a neat decision, to use the 2nd line of the stanzas for the restatement line! I love the images that come to mind as I consider this ghostly pass.
Terrific vocal delivery. Just saying it again how fun it is to hear you lean into that hook line. I'm impressed at the dynamic that is so much and so restrained at the same time, on the "across the land" section.
This is a great track :-)
@hbusse Feb 2022
Feels like it’s been around a long time! A classic-feeling, haunting ballad. Lovely voice too, and I like the dynamic difference in how you deliver some of the verses - particularly “Across the land the scream was heard.”
@mckillop Feb 2022
Ken - beautiful voice! Supple, nice timbre, sonorous.
The standard ballad format, as you explain above, really builds the tension in the story and pulls you through the song.
Feels sort of like a medieval Steven King story !
Really enjoyed it!
@keithcuts Feb 2022
Oh this pro grade stuff !!
Voice is buttery
The lyrics are introspective and descriptive.
“The witness sees into your soul”
Fiyaa
Slam dunked that challenge for sure
@gflatminor Feb 2022
Very nice! Great voice, great creepy old timey ballad!
@guatecoop Feb 2022
Good lord, what a story and composition…..and that isn’t even mentioning your singing! I am really struck with how much thought and effort you put in, with beautiful results! Wow, Ken….great work
@danwentworth Feb 2022
I love this. I think you nailed the performance, right down to the rhythm set up with your pauses for breath, and the timing of your annunciation. The reverb is rich, and appropriate. I think I would jump on a track like this and start making versions. This would be version 1, leave it alone and keep it. Version 2 would feature you again, gradually adding little harmonies that build to a peak of complexity, but fall back down to the simple original on the last line.
Your singing is excellent. Well done.
@dukemeyer Feb 2022
Awesome - even the way you combine these two challenges ... to a wonderful song. When was it written - 19th century? ;-) Great work!
@tcelliott Feb 2022
Oh, what a great take on the traditional ballad challenge. Seriously good. You hit the main bits of traditional balladry and relayed a warning of great importance, too. I'm very impressed.
@liz561 Feb 2022
Fantastic! I really enjoyed the music and the story, and the singing was dynamite. The repeated lines are great because this would be a kind of call and response where one person advances the story and the listeners chime in.
@tageule Feb 2022
This made me shiver. Amazing storytelling. And I love the unusual melody - singing that acapella is really impressive.
@serene123 Feb 2022
Listened once then twice.. incredible. It's so hard to pull off a capella and that's exactly what you've done. The way you build tension.. you actually made it scary! Such a great song
@sheilerk Feb 2022
You build the tension with expert care, and your repeated lines grow anticipation as the story is revealed. Your use of the ballad format is spot on! You had me from hello!
@pianoonthepatio Feb 2022
Surreal storytelling got me hooked from the beginning. Your voice is so clear. It's also giving me a mythical/fantastical setting like in The Witcher!
@andrea Feb 2022
What a fantastic tale. I could listen to more verses all day. Your voice is so good, and your delivery give the lyrics a kind of dark foreboding mood.
@theicylakes Feb 2022
Brilliant!
@czep Feb 2022
This is haunting!
@ofishell Feb 2022
I really, really like the standard ballad format of repeating lines...I didn't know that was a thing, but have been doing a scaled back version of it in my own songwriting for years...I find it helps focus songwriting to be able to repeat a line several times in a song. I also tip my hat to your acapella skills, something that I find extremely difficult to manage. Specifically, the note you hit on "knoll" - I would never find my way consistently to that note and then back to the correct following note. Excellently written and sung!
@elesimo Feb 2022
I don't know if you've ever seen The Witcher on Netflix, but this song would totally be the perfect opening for an episode.
@ericlord Feb 2022
What the what?! That is so cool haha refreshing
I will NOT be passing the knoll.
@kendrakinsey Feb 2022
I feel like it really gets scarier as you go! The warning becomes more and more threatening until the last verse where it repeats the first lines but feels different after the journey you take us on.
@freddie13 Feb 2022
Very haunting sound...Lord of the rings feel.
You have a beautiful voice. Love the lyrics.
Great job.
@cleanshoes Feb 2022
Oh, my. This is beautiful, and as haunting and traditional as they come. The repeated lines and threat of the spectre in this cautionary tale are excellent. Your rich voice is perfect for this style!
@kahlo2013 Feb 2022
I really love listening to this - such beauty in the poetic in the lyrics and your vocals are superb. I love the ghost story telling and the wonderful traditional ballad feel. Your use of language is perfect and the song draws me right in!
@jorh Feb 2022
Your vocal is haunting and full of clarity - It carried this piece with no need for any other instrumentation. This piece was made for the theatre. Fantastic story telling too - repurposing the same lines to take on different meaning was a great idea.
@robynmackenzie Feb 2022
You have a fantastic voice. I love ghost stories, and this is a good one. I like the form of each stanza, it really gives it that folky feel. Well done!
@kristi Feb 2022
Great storytelling that is immersing and imaginative. I was drawn in and kind of wary listening...lol...wondering what's going to happen. I like the structure & how it slowly unfolds. It's very effective. Your vocal delivers the story effortlessly.
@bethdesombre Feb 2022
This is so compelling! I love the repeating lines (and how they take on different meanings as the song goes on), and especially what happens melodically on "the knoll." This sounds traditional, which is my highest praise!
@nancyrost Feb 2022
This reminds me of the Joan Baez records of my mom's I would listen to as a kid. I really like these kinds of ballads, and you nail that traditional style in the lyrics, melody and vocal style. The idea of a Witness who sees into my soul is rather frightening to me, yet I'm totally drawn in!
@dragondreams Feb 2022
It's dark. I live alone. And I have my back to an open staircase. Maybe the right atmosphere for listening to a ghost story. Or maybe not. ;-)
Whichever it was, I really enjoyed this one. I'm always in awe of folk who can carry off an a capella song.
This is terrific!
@tukayandryan Feb 2022
Totally agree about the haunting nature of this. A great cautionary tale!
@scubed Feb 2022
Hauntingly beautiful and an excellent response to the “traditional balled” challenge!
@bradbrubaker Feb 2022
Such a haunting delivery. And I love a good ghost story.
@andygetch Feb 2022
Interesting structure to need to have a couplet story progression. Well sung with a lyric that is troubadour-worthy!
@leslie333 Feb 2022
Yay, I can finally hear it! Spooky and mesmerizing. Very evocative use of the oracle challenge.
@nadine Feb 2022
Man you could sing in a Gregorian choir. Your voice fills the halls. You just nailed the challenge. And these lyrics are masterful.
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Love the structure. That is so "Trad".
Great story. Very atmospheric, not a line that is surplus.
I was in the then village, now town, of Dunglow, County Donegal back in the 1970s and the locals warned us not to venture to a particular crossroads after dark, because "The divil often appears there!" - If I'd known the story of Robert Johnson back then, I'd have hung around to ask him a favour.
It's funny how the power of those people's beliefs totally challenged my sceptical materialist nature. I did feel a spooky sensation passing by there, even by day.
@estebanlartigue Feb 2022
Ken i really like how u go out of the box!!! It made me remember thos troubadours from the movies
@gregwere Feb 2022
Reminds me of something Gregorian very haunting and lovely with excellent vocal delivery
@aeye Feb 2022
Very cool tale. I like how it's monk yet minstrel like at the same time. like I imagine this happening in a town square.
@ayehahmur Feb 2022
What an epic, cautionary tale! It does everything a good ballad should, and your fireside listeners would be sure to go away with something to think about. Love the melody too, and your performance is faultless.
@elesimo Feb 2022
Oh, wow! I recently learned the word "knoll" from wordle! The repetition is super interesting, I didn't know it was a classic ballad pattern but it makes sense.
This song feels ancient and ageless. Like you're singing something that already existed, as if you channeled long lost wisdom in the form of music. I was whistling it for a while after listening to it!
@allaboutgeorge Feb 2022
A ballad almost Ballardian!
@wobbiewobbit Feb 2022
your voice is beautiful and that is such a haunting refrain, and i love the modal sounding melody. very haunting and traditional sounding. nice work
@jeff9 Feb 2022
Very seductive. And courageous to tackle a cappella, which was executed marvelously.
@eas3637 Feb 2022
Love this traditional tune, Ken - the repeating refrain anchors the rest of the lyrics and you tell such a good story!
@timfatchen Feb 2022
The innkeeper would definitely be bringing you a complimentary pint of cider after this tale and performance.
And...I'm too old to any longer be consumed with rage'n'envy at possession of such a voice. Let's just say, FAWM notwithstanding, it is a pleasure to hear a good voice singing.
@writeandwrong Feb 2022
Wow, this is hauntingly bueatifully done! Your vocals shine through this...definitely trained... so well done. Wonderful work on combining both challenges. Thank you for participating. A+++!
@natalie Feb 2022
I... LOVE... this! Your voice is so pure, and your melody is every bit as perfect as it is haunting. I am transported!
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
i feel like i am back in church. You carry this off so well! nowhere to hide in this!
@izaakalexander Feb 2022
Yes, the form, while repetitive, is very traditional and lends the song a timelessness. The a cappella setting is perfect. Your melody is tightly constructed--- I especially like the harmonic minor leading tone on 'knoll' and the way the third line rises into that beautiful higher range. Great singing!
@chipwithrow Feb 2022
Your voice sounds great - rich and melodic, and a compelling storytelling voice.
I like how the story plays out - a cautionary tale, but with plenty left to the imagination.
@tippyteapot Feb 2022
Lovely! I am taking a different route, so I don't have to pass that knoll. Thanks for the heads up!