1.3.10 - First rant of the year

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I love the song Shenandoah. I downloaded Connie Dover's version from iTunes. It's really beautiful and I'd recommend it for your listening pleasure. I looked up a number of different lyrics and Connie's have a certain twist.

The song is achingly beautiful. The melody lilts and I'm always transported to a tranquil river bank. My heart goes out to the singer who won't see his beautiful river again.

Enter Connie's interpretation of the lyrics:

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you
Way hey, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, I'm bound away across the wide Missouri.

For seven years I courted Nancy
No other girl would suit my fancy

She would not have me for her lover
But I never courted any other

One day she went to Kansas City
And there she had a little baby

She must have had another lover
It must have been that cavalry soldier

Oh Shenandoah, I loved your daughter
Though she'll never cross your shining water

So here's this heartrending melody and the lyrics are basically about a guy who courts a woman unsuccessfully for seven years. Not only is he not successful but she gets knocked up by some other guy. YUCK!

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On to my next example: Long Black Veil.
What a melody. But let's review those pesky lyrics.

Ten years ago on a cold dark night,
someone was killed 'neath the town hall lights.
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed,
that the slayer who ran looked a lot like me.

Chorus ~ She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
She visits my grave, when the night winds wail.
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows, but me

The Judge said son, what is your alibi,
if you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die.
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life,
for i'd been in the arms of my best friends wife.

Chorus*

Now the scaffold is high, and eternity's near.
She stood in the crowd, and shed not a tear.
But some times at night, when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil, she cries over my bones

Chorus ~ She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
When the cold winds blow, and the night winds wail.
No body knows, no body sees.
No body knows, but me.

So...the guy's great. He won't betray his love. And is willing to go to the grave rather than have her exposed as an adulterer. BUT...what about her? She cries over his bones now that he's in the grave. Oh, poor woman. She has to cry over as his grave.

Why didn't she step up and alibi the guy? She just stood there while he got sentenced to death and hung. HELLO!!! Great melody. Great song. But what a bitch!

As for Johnny-no wonder he has such a downcast countenance- I'd be embarrassed too.