The Spinning Wheel

(My Mum used to sing this to me and it's been going around in my head for two days. Maybe placing it on here will exorcise it.)


Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o'er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting.
Merrily cheerily noiselessly whirring
Spins the wheel, rings the wheel while the foot's stirring
Sprightly and lightly and merrily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.

Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping
'Tis the ivy dear mother against the glass flapping
Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing
'Tis the sound mother dear of the autumn winds dying.

What's the noise I hear at the window I wonder?
'Tis the little birds chirping, the holly-bush under
What makes you shoving and moving your stool on
And singing all wrong the old song of the "Coolin"?

There's a form at the casement, the form of her true love
And he whispers with face bent, I'm waiting for you love
Get up from the stool, through the lattice step lightly
And we'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly.

The maid shakes her head, on her lips lays her fingers
Steps up from the stool, longs to go and yet lingers
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother
Puts her foot on the stool spins the wheel with the other

Lazily, easily, now swings the wheel round
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel's sound
Noiseless and light to the lattice above her
The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover.

Slower... and slower... and slower the wheel swings
Lower... and lower... and lower the reel rings
Ere the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving.

Hey Penny ... When I saw the title of your song I thought it would be this Blood, Sweat and Tears classic, and now I have this song playing in my head !

Spinning Wheel

What goes up must come down
spinning wheel got to go round
Talking about your troubles it's a crying sin
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel spin

You got no money, and you, you got no home
Spinning wheel, spinning all alone
Talking about your troubles and you, you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn

Did you find a directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colours that are real

Someone is waiting just for you
spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Catch a painted pony
On the spinning wheel ride

Someone is waiting just for you
spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel fly

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Well blow me down!! I actually know that one, giselle.

I can't quite imagine my Mum singing that to me though!

Well, the Blood, Sweat & Tears song reminds me of an Alan Parsons Project song.

What Goes Up

What goes up, must come down
What must rise, must fall
And what goes on in your life
Is writing on the wall
If all things must fall
Why build a miracle at all
If all things must pass
Even a miracle won't last
What goes up, must come down
What must stand alone?
And what goes on, in your mind
Is turning into stone
If all things must fall
Why build a miracle at all
If all things must pass
Even a pyramid won't last

How can you be so sure?
How do you know what the earth will endure?
How can you be so sure?
That the wonders you've made in you life
Will be seen
By the millions who'll follow to visit the site
Of your dream?

What goes up, must come down
What goes round, must come round
What's been lost, must be found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4u30NCZyI

Penelope wrote:Well blow me down!! I actually know that one, giselle.

I can't quite imagine my Mum singing that to me though!

Yah, BST got a lot of air time back then so quite familiar song to many I think, but I agree, unlikely song for mother to sing to child.

Geo, you've reminded me of one of my favourite 70's groups, and this is one of their best songs, IMO, and it has the redeeming quality of literary roots ...

The Raven

The clock struck midnight
And through my sleeping
I heard a tapping at my door
I looked but nothing lay in the darkness
And so I turned inside once more
To my amazement
There stood a raven
Whose shadow hung above my door
Then through the silence
It spoke that one word
That I shall hear forever more
Nevermore
Thus quoth the raven, nevermore
And still the raven remains in my room
No matter how much I implore
No words can soothe him
No prayer remove him
And I must hear for evermore
Quoth the raven, nevermore
Thus quoth the raven
Nevermore

Alan Parsons Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAE1XTvKLXA

Now you've both got me wondering how much we are influenced (throughout our lives) by the words of songs heard when we are at our most impressionable. At various stages in our lives I suspect.

I mean, school hymns sung each morning in echoing halls are bound to affect our future philosophy I suppose, even when like me, we take a distinct dislike to certain ones. I really loved others.

Couldn't bear 'To be a pilgrim' and even more I hated 'Fight the Good Fight'. I always thought that if you imagine life to be a fight rather than a 'jolly' then life would be a fight for you. It wasn't just that these both had rather dreary tunes, because my favourite hymn had the most dreary tune of all:-



O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

I still love this hymn as it is so deeply spiritual. I think I find it consoling rather than uplifting. But it was a large part of my formative years being sung in school and in church, so the philosophy of it is bound to permeate my thinking I suppose. Still, it's not a catchy tune!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, here is a little Noel Coward gem - which has gone with me everywhere and always. For 'Germans' I insert 'Muslims' or 'Tories' or whomever happens to be aggravating me at the time, my philosphy in this case being, better to treat ones enemies with contempt rather than with bitterness and hatred.

Don't let's be beastly to the Germans,
Now our victory is ultimately won.
Let us treat them very kindly,
As we would a valued friend.
We might them out some bishops,
As a form of lease and lend.

Let's be sweet to them
And day by day repeat to them
That sterilization simply isn't done.
Let's sweetly sympathize again,
And help the scum to rise again,
But don't let's be beastly to the Hun.

We must be kind
And with an open mind,
We must endeavour to find a way
To let the Germans know
That now the war is over,
They are not the ones who have to pay.

We must be sweet
And tactful and discreet,
And now they've suffered defeat,
We mustn't let
Them feel upset,
Or ever get the feeling
That we're cross with them or hate them.
Our future policy must be to reinstate them.

Don't let's be beastuly to the Germans,
For they're civilized,
When all is said and done.
Though they gave us science, culture, art, and music, to excess,
They also gave us two world wars and Dr. Rudolph Hess.

Let's be meek to them
And turn the other cheek to them,
And try to arouse their latent sense of fun.
Let's give them full air parity,
And treat the rats with charity,
But don't let's be beastly to the Hun!

Don't let's be beastly to the Germans.
You can't deprive a gangster of his gun!
Though they've been a little naughty
To the Czechs and Poles and Dutch,
I can't believe those countries
Really minded very much.

Let's be free with them
And share the BBC with them.
We mustn't prevent them basking in the sun!
Let's soften their defeat again,
And build their bloody fleet again,
But don't let's be beastly to the Hun!


Is it just me, or is everyone so influenced by songs of innocence and childhood?

I love that 'Raven' song, giselle. Hadn't heard it before.

The Raven was on Alan Parsons Project's very first album, music based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. It started out as a project, but I guess did well enough that Alan Parsons and co. went on to do more albums. The Pyramid album was their third.

Speaking of childhood songs, I've always loved Emerson Lake and Palmer's song "Jerusalem" that itself is based on a poem by Blake. I think this is a hymn familiar to most Brits. Maybe Penny can verify this? Isn't this a hymn learned by schoolchildren?

The ELP song is simply breathtaking, but I also realize that a lot of people don't like ELP.

And did those feet in ancient time by William Blake

And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land

And the song by ELP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bzRI0BUv0

Dust in the Wind - Kansas

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old songI
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

(Aa aa aa)
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh, ho, ho

Now don't hang on
Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)

Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
(In the wind)

Love those two Kansas albums: Leftoverture and Point of Know Return.

Finally something we can agree on