Feb 2022 ballad traditional ballad
The FAWM challenge for a traditional (sort-of) ballad. This one has all the right elements. It's long and the melody is slow, so it becomes interminable. It's tragic and everything dies, love, wives, the world. It's full of sex. It uses archaic words and sentence construction. Particular lines are repeated throughout. And so on.
But unlike Tom Lehrer's wonderful dissection of the Irish folk song, this is not a parody, and I think it works. There is another, much shorter, in the works.
I've spent to long on this, ho hum.
Patches courtesy Garritan Personal Orchestra and Garritan Instant Orchestra.
I WOULD FAIN LIE WITH THEE
Words & Music Copyright © 2022 TJ Fatchen All Rights Reserved APRA-AMCOS
In the flowering Spring dawning
My true love came to me.
Her beauty unfolding
She whispered to me:
"Our time is now coming,
I would fain lie with thee
Our time is now coming,
I would fain lie with thee "
In the soft early Summer,
My true love came to me,
And we lay in delight
And she whispered to me:
"Our time is now blooming--
I would fain married be.
Our time is now blooming,
I would fain married be."
[br]
In the fullness of harvest
Our children came to be
And that travail and joy
My love embraced happily
"Our time is now fruitful--
I would fain lie with thee,
Our time is now fruitful--
I would fain lie with thee."
[br]
With Autumn storms looming,
My true love came to me.
She came of her own choosing,
And she whispered to me:
"Our time it is fading...
I would fain lie with thee
Our time it is fading...
I would fain lie with thee.
I would fain...lie with thee."
But sickness and age
Slowly took my love from me.
The dark Winter spreading,
With no Spring to be.
In vain now would I ask her:
" I would fain lie with thee"
In vain now would I ask her:
" I would fain lie with thee"
[br]
Last night as I lay dreaming
My true love came to me
Her beauty unfolding
As if Spring again would be.
And in my dream, I cried aloud
" I would fain lie with thee"
In my dream, I cried aloud
" I would fain lie with thee"
But the Winter stood between us,
Between my true love and me
In my dream I could not touch her
And she whispered to me:
"My time has long since gone,
I can no longer lie with thee.
My time has long since gone,
I can no longer lie with thee."
"I can no longer lie with thee,
I can no longer lie with thee."
@kendrakinsey Mar 2022
The seasons as periods of time are really effective.
@tageule Feb 2022
Achingly beautiful and beautifully aching. Great ballad.
@elainedimasi Feb 2022
The melancholy music lifting the youthful optimism at the opening, well it is ~held at bay,~ in terms of us being sure that tragedy is coming. But at the first bridge we are forced to see it. It is coming.
I love the way your song keeps us here facing it. We don't get to just up and leave at the first tell of the sadness. No, we're going to live it for some years, as Our Hero must do.
You have layered the synths/VIs with the piano in such as way that they seem part of one spacious instrument. The sound of the "voices" at the dream is killer, too.
@johnpeekstok Feb 2022
We used to joke that a HAPPY traditional is one where the dead true love comes back to visit in a dream, allowing the bereaved partner to see them once more, as opposed to just dying and never being seen again. Nice job. Love the melody.
@williamjames Feb 2022
The melody changes from hopeful ad happy into complete tragedy by the power of lyrics only. This is scathing as it goes the distance, A super powerful piece!
@scubed Feb 2022
Beautiful, heartbreaking - full of Life’s joy and pain. The musical setting is gorgeous. Wonderful response to the “traditional ballad” challenge!
@hummingbear Feb 2022
This is the full cycle, lovingly portrayed. Not all ballads go the full length of life, and this is all the more beautiful and meaningful for it.
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
At first this song felt like a love ballad out of Braveheart--it aches. Beautiful!
@srcoops Feb 2022
That is beautiful! I liked it a lot.
@readwrite Feb 2022
Oh, wow! That is really beautiful, the whole cycle of love. Well done.
@karlsburg25 Feb 2022
Well had to go straight to the trad ballad one. Maybe its post lockdown but i am all over emotional creations this year. And this has a modern updated feel to a scarborough fair type ballad. Really beautiful and i can picture a ye old english woodland scene with two lovers slowly coming together in the mist. Totally traditional. Big up your talent sir
@tseaver Feb 2022
Great write, and and excellent take on the ballad challenge. The seasons as a metaphor / frame and the repeated phrasings / forms bind the whole together beautifully. The orchestral interludes are lovely: my ear kept reaching for a harp.
@popmythology Feb 2022
"Full of sex"? Thou sayest the magic words! Lol, just kidding. This was lovely, Tim. The opening notes made me think of Braveheart. Loved what sounded, in parts, like choral chanting in the background. Lyrics are great, they have a truly traditional feel and, of course, the symbolism of the seasons is classic.
@ddd Feb 2022
Enjoyed this one. Poignant. Haunting.
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Absolutely gorgeous melody with a really 19th C. ballad feel to it.
Ditto for the words. This is a major bulls eye for this challenge.
Love the structure that ties the story into the seasons (of a life).
You obviously have listened to a lot of folk ballads.
@chipwithrow Feb 2022
I love the intertwining of vocal and piano melody. The story is timeless.
A lovely, understatedly powerful song. Not interminable at all - I was gently pulled along.
@engebretsen Feb 2022
I am impressed by you`re productivity. And all songs got a special mood. This one too. And so many different things and genres you handle. Looking forward to hear more from you.
@sheilerk Feb 2022
My first goosebumps this year. Twice in the first verse. Suffice it to say, that physical response is my highest compliment.
@crisp1 Feb 2022
Very beautiful, Tim. Holds a listener to the end with that story, which could be the story of so many lovers/spouses. Well done, sir!
@tiller2 Feb 2022
Beautiful and traditional folk as I know it. I love the story's arc like a flower. Not sure you need the last verse. But then again, this is the song form that keeps getting added to, by the next bard down the line.
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Definitely nailed the form. It's got that longing, the emotional pauses, the repeating phrases. Nice piano accompaniment to it also. Anytime you use the word "fein" it immediately sets you in a timeframe.
100% would recommend!
@ayehahmur Feb 2022
Blimey, Tim, that's an epic! You've absolutely nailed the form - the structure is perfect, the archaisms give it a sheen of verisimiltude and the melody and supporting chording on the piano are really lovely. Be well proud of this one.
@celineellis Feb 2022
I can hear this accompanying a wide shot in a movie watching the hero riding a horse over a lush landscape. possibly heading to the coast - i dont know why but i got images from Highlander in my head when i wrote that. really gorgeous take on the trad ballad challenge Tim - and a really lovely written song