Cremation of Sam McGee/Star of the County Down

[gonzo914]

We all know that just about any Emily Dickenson poem can be sung to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas," but did you know that Robert Service's "Cremation of Sam McGee" can be sung to the tune of "Star of the County Down."

Try it with some representative verses --

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
When I cremated Sam McGee.
. . . .
Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.
. . . .
Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.
. . . .
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.
It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm—
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”

Granted, this is nowhere near as interesting as Hilary's campaign finances or Shrub flim-flamming the American public about Iraq or even as interesting as a dead bird, but it is has kept me amused all day.

[jim stone]

My wife asks me why I wake in the night screaming...
I just mutter: 'The board....Oh god, the horror!'

[Lambchop]

Why, thank you for sharing that!

[emmline]

While it may fit from the standpoint of meter, that tune is completely unsuited to the creepy, but ultimately bizarrely rewarding "Cremation."
(I spent my early childhood trying to escape my grandfather's attempts to read me that poem--I know it well.)
I'll try to think of another tune.

[Darwin]

While it may fit from the standpoint of meter, that tune is completely unsuited to the creepy, but ultimately bizarrely rewarding "Cremation."
(I spent my early childhood trying to escape my grandfather's attempts to read me that poem--I know it well.)
I'll try to think of another tune.

Try "Ragland Road".

[gonzo914]

While it may fit from the standpoint of meter, that tune is completely unsuited to the creepy, but ultimately bizarrely rewarding "Cremation."

Of course, it is. That's what makes it fun. Try singing it out loud in 4/4 A mixolydian. It has a certain modal charm. Sing the sizzle part with real feeling; it's the most beautiful part of the whole piece.

I'll try to think of another tune.

You can try, but you're running the risk of taking this way too seriously.

Try "Ragland Road""

I did. It was nowhere near as much fun. Raglan Road is in a major key -- too upbeat.

Those who are having trouble getting into it might warm up with a couple of stanzas of Emily D/Yellow Rose.

This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,—
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.

Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!

[carrie]

The divine Ms. D also works well with O Susanna (except for the chorus).

Carol

[emmline]

I'll try to think of another tune.

You can try, but you're running the risk of taking this way too seriously.

A risk I'd avoid at all costs! Thanks for the heads up!

[gonzo914]

. . . Try singing it out loud in 4/4 A mixolydian. . . .

Ooops, my mistake. I miscounted the whistle holes, and I'm not doing it in A, I'm doing it in some flavor of B. Some modal flavor of B, so let's run through the modal chart . . . Ionian, Dorian, Cambrian, Silurian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Devonian . . . That's it -- B Aeolian.

My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

[jim stone]

I've set the Iliad to music, to the tune of This Land is Your Land.
I'm afraid it gets a little tedious around the middle.

'So Achilles chased Hector
Round and round the walls of Troy,
But Pallas Athena
Didn't like Hector....'

[Walden]

I've set the Iliad to music, to the tune of This Land is Your Land.

Itself being set to the tune of When the World's on Fire.

[brewerpaul]

While it may fit from the standpoint of meter, that tune is completely unsuited to the creepy, but ultimately bizarrely rewarding "Cremation."
(.

Not bad at all if you sing it slowly.

[carrie]

I've set the Iliad to music, to the tune of This Land is Your Land.
I'm afraid it gets a little tedious around the middle.

'So Achilles chased Hector
Round and round the walls of Troy,
But Pallas Athena
Didn't like Hector....'

No doubt you also then know the version of Spenser's The Faerie Queene set to "She's Coming 'Round the Mountain," repeating the last line, of course. Few settings do as well to capture the agrarian essense of the Spenserian stanza, with the lines representing ploughed furrows. Ah, brings back the days when I used to sing it to my kids. They especially liked Book VI (Canto 10). How we'd giggle!

Carol

[emmline]

While it may fit from the standpoint of meter, that tune is completely unsuited to the creepy, but ultimately bizarrely rewarding "Cremation."

Not bad at all if you sing it slowly.

You know, I think you're right. The tune has to be slow...rather ballad-like, and a wee mournful.

[jim stone]

I've set the Iliad to music, to the tune of This Land is Your Land.
I'm afraid it gets a little tedious around the middle.

'So Achilles chased Hector
Round and round the walls of Troy,
But Pallas Athena
Didn't like Hector....'

No doubt you also then know the version of Spenser's The Faerie Queene set to "She's Coming 'Round the Mountain," repeating the last line, of course. Few settings do as well to capture the agrarian essense of the Spenserian stanza, with the lines representing ploughed furrows. Ah, brings back the days when I used to sing it to my kids. They especially liked Book VI (Canto 10). How we'd giggle!

Carol

The horror.

I knew a fellow who could do the
Canterbury Tales, in middle english,
as rap music.