From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #117 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Tuesday, April 3 2001 Volume 03 : Number 117 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Calling the....SNOW? (DADGAD 101) ["Timothy Bruce" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 10:18:51 -0500 From: "Timothy Bruce" Subject: [RS] Calling the....SNOW? (DADGAD 101) My head has been absolutely swimming lately with the music of some of my favorite singer songwriters. Dave and Tracy two weeks ago.....Karen Savoca/Pete Heitzman Thursday, and Lucyka on Saturday. So the noise in my head was getting a little bit too loud. A little bit of coffee at a birthday party Sunday afternoon and that spelled I-N-S-O-M-N-I-A. Insomnia is very rare for me. But I got up and it was a beautiful clear evening with a waxing moon that'll be full this Friday. I found a page I'd printed out by following a link from this list last week and, for the first time, I tried playing "Calling the Moon". Now, "Calling the Moon" is in DADGAD which has its own unusual fingerings for the chords. Of course, you never see these songs transcribed on the usual pages for that very reason: Saying 'G' 'D' 'A', etc. is a far cry from actually playing them if you've never learned the DADGAD fingerings and I had never seen any of them written down before. It was great to see on this sheet how to play the DADGAD chords for the first time (...and I would like tips on where I can find any more helpful DADGAD stuff on the web for free...) I made it through "Calling the Moon". It sounded great. I went back to bed and all of the Karen, Lucy, Dave & Tracy noise settled down and allowed DADGAD dreams to ensue. I woke up feeling refreshed and walked to my window only to find an April snowstorm in progress with 1-2" already on the ground!!! I'm now seriously wondering if I was playing "Calling the Moon" correctly, after all. Could an incorrect transcription of the song affect the spell this drastically? Please advise. ETimothy in South Minneapolis ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 10:22:49 -0500 From: "Clary, John (CLRY)" Subject: RE: [RS] Calling the....SNOW? (DADGAD 101) >> ...I'm now seriously wondering if I was playing "Calling the Moon" correctly, after all. Could an incorrect transcription of the song affect the spell this drastically? Please advise. << Ah, another victim, eh, Ron? Don't worry Timothy, it gets better. Ron and Ed both have great resources for playing DADGAD songs, that is if you like this guy named Richard. The easiest way to find them is to go to Richard's web site, stuff to read, tunings, or just click here: http://www.richardshindell.com/tunings.html Perhaps this is where you got your start? Ron has recommended a few books and video tapes on DADGAD, but so far I've managed to get pretty danged good just from his and Ed's pages. Enjoy your new affliction. And while you're messing with the weather, send some over to Gene (the song that is). - -- john andrew clary home mailto:john.cleirigh@juno.com work mailto:clry@chevron.com "the music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. there's also a negative side." ~ hunter s. thompson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 22:47:10 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] SOTW: The Courier OK, it's time for another Song of the Week, and Norman kindly suggested this one, which makes me Mr. Happy Guy since it's my favorite Richard song. I often think of this as Richard's signature song, since he's kinda sorta a courier himself -- an invisible yet faithful bringer of stories. This song works for me in so many ways -- musically, I love the way it builds in intensity. Poetically, "I am the string pulled by the sure hand, animating what was still" may be one of Richard's most brilliant and visually compelling lines. From a guitar-player's perspective (and John Clary will bear me out on this), its a hoot to play, particularly in DADGAD. And even just from the standpoint of it being a great story, well, it's tough to top this one in my book. Here's what Richard himself has had to say about the song, from an interview with Arthur Wood . . . ____________________ "The Courier" came about when I picked up a book of Wilfred Owen's poems. I was reading some of his poems from the trenches in World War I, and also, I'd seen and read about the Battle of Gallipoli. Sending all these guys over the top, and I just wanted to write a song about the guy who would deliver the message. The position that person was in, of having to take orders and not giving the order. But having to deliver it. It's absolutely necessary for the efficient running of an army. Somebody has to transmit the orders. You've got to have somebody to make them, somebody to carry them out, and somebody to deliver them. I wanted to just talk about this guy -- I couldn't really write a song about the guys actually going over the top of the trench and getting mown down. That's already been done and -- I couldn't rewrite "The Green Fields of France," for example. Eric Bogle wrote that song. Unbelievable song. I don't feel I have the power to deal with people getting mown down by machine guns. Instead, I wanted focus on the story behind the story. Call attention to the difficult place that person is in, without trying to be judgmental about it. I could have turned the song into some kind of politically correct thing, where the guy refuses to deliver the order and is court martialed and shot. That would be a perfectly good story. Perhaps I should do that, because that's a noble thing to do in some circumstances. In this case, it seemed too easy for me, and that it was more interesting to have him not disobey - to have him deliver the order. That's actually how things usually work. Not very inspirational. I know the song is not very inspirational, but a song where he refuses would be inspirational. Sort of like Arthur McBride and the sergeant, that Paul Brady sings about. And Dick Gaughan, too. There's a perfectly good example about a bunch of guys getting recruited and then telling the guy to take a walk. That's fine, but I don't know, it just seemed to me like I wanted to write a song about the way things usually happen. Which is, following the orders. I had to figure out a way to end the damned song, and so he takes all their letters home. His job is to deliver those. It's a small consolation. ____________________ THE COURIER I am a courier Crawling in the dirt Toward the front line As the crow flies A note stashed in my shirt From the Prince of Wales Far above the field With his marshalls And their chain-mail Their banners taut and high I did not ask him what the note said He did not offer to explain It's not my job to ask the questions I'm just the courier I'm just the courier A flare-shot leaves a scar Burning in the dark On my forearms Through the barbed-wire Another fifty yards Crouching in the trench Clutching bayonettes A hundred men all Knee-to-chest A hundred marionettes I am the string pulled by the sure hand Animating what was still I am invisible and faithful I am a courier Just a courier The Captain breaks the seal And quickly reads the note On your feet boys Make your peace boys Pass those letters down To this courier Guardian of the word Hand him all you've seen Hand him all you've heard Hand him all your pearls Now l'll go back to where I came from I will deliver each by hand I take this as a point of honor To be a courier To be a courier To be a courier ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 21:08:50 -0400 From: "margaret clark & steve trozinski" Subject: [RS] Introduction Well, after lurking on this list for a few months, it's about time I surfaced and said thank you to everyone. My wife, Margaret, and I discovered Richard after moving back to NJ from St. Louis, land of the Blues and not much else musically. We've found this list a great way to catch up on lost time. Thanks especially to Ron G, whom we met at the Dave & Tracy concert at Outpost last Friday. We asked so many questions that afterward we joked that he probably felt like one of Spock's victims after the Vulcan Mind Probe was applied. But he's probably used to that. We're looking forward to a road trip to Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem on May 2 - -- anyone been there before? Steve T ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 02:16:16 -0400 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: Re: [RS] SOTW: The Courier Funny you should mention that line--it's easily my favorite line in any of Richard's songs. One day, I was just sitting and listening to m'stereo, and boom! the line just hit me. Not only is it beautiful, "brilliant and visually compelling," but the literal meaning of these words matches what Richard is trying to say so perfectly that no other line makes me so certain of his incredible talent as a writer. As the string that is pulled by the sure hand, he assumes a passive role, being acted upon. In animating what was still, he has a modified active role, bringing movement and vitality to that thing at the other end of the string. What image could be more perfect for the courier in the song, who understands so well both the crucial, active, nature of his role, and the cog-in-the-system passive nature of said role? The courier is both totally passive and totally active--not one or the other, not a little of both, but completely passive and completely active. The poetry of this line just blows me away every time I think about it. I can only imagine what made Richard think to write this. I would give my right arm to write like that (yeah, I know, I might actually need the darn thing when it came time to, you know, _write_). I would give up my first born to write lines like that one. There's even something about the way Richard pronounces "still" that is oddly violent. It's a quick, invasive, stab. The "still" in this line is my favorite moment of the whole version that appears on Sparrow's Point. I just love this line!!! Perfect, perfect, perfect. I wonder what it felt like for him to come up with that line. I know I would walk around beaming for weeks. :-) Peace, Love, and Mischief, Vanessa Rongrittz@aol.com wrote: > Poetically, "I am the string pulled by the sure hand, animating > what was still" may be one of Richard's most brilliant and visually > compelling lines. - -- "The point is not the good or bad stuff people are saying about you. You don't drive yourself on praise, and you are not slowed down by other people's criticism. The point is the artistic expression and whether you will give yourself over to it. That's the point." --Russell Crowe ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #117 ***********************************