Saturday 14 March 2009

As if by magic...

Yesterday I posted a poem...and somewhere in the comments I asked for tunes to make it a song. Regular visitor Dominic Rivron sent me a tune this morning (in da email) and lo and behold now you can hear it sung here. It's me singing (unaccompanied) and I make no claims to 'being a singer' so bear with my croaks now and then (and excuse any bangs, glitches and winds whistling in the background...it's windy here today and we just recorded it on Mark's clever phone). I can read music but only notes...not the clever bits like timing and stuff... so I kind of did it in my own time zone. But as Dominic says...it's folk music...so pretty much anything goes.

I tell you...this internet stuff – it's a lot of fun. And who says blogging isn't creative? We just made something, didn't we? (Thanks so much Dominic!)

!!!!STOP PRESS!!!!!
Dominic has just sent me his version here with him singing and playing guitar.

x

24 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

I love it! The poem is terrific and the music suits it to a tee. How cool!

Kat

Kat Mortensen said...

I really like Dominic's voice too. It has a nice raspy quality that suits your piece. You need to get him to put some more of your stuff to music - how about the Weekend Papers one? I think it would come off rather like a Lennon piece.

Kat

hope said...

How COOL is that?!

I gave you both a standing ovation. :)

Rachel Fox said...

Well we're both singing it here! I think it would sound really good sung by a group or a choir. I'm seeing the women's choir again tonight...I'll have to try and persuade them to give it a try!
x

Liz said...

Very cool, Rachel and Dominic,well done. Great piece, too...love what the music and voices have done to the words...it's very interesting seeing it all 'in the making'

deemikay said...

:)

Like I said - all song lyrics are poems. So lots of poems can be sung.

It's actually rather lovely...

Rachel Fox said...

Glad you're all liking it. I like Dominic's version more and more. It's particularly interesting to hear it sung by a man because what I wrote it about was pregnancy and feelings all to do with that. I wasn't pregnant when I wrote it but it was more about what I would feel like if I did get pregnant for a second time and have another child (and I never did so it is all theoretical really...you don't need to know how, why or anything of that nature!). When I wrote this I was doing a lot of thinking about what else I would manage to do in my life if I kept having children (I know some of you still manage to be writers with lots of kids but I really wasn't sure if it would work out like that for me..). I didn't write any of that as an introduction with the poem because, although it was obvious to me that that was what it was about, I realised when I read it to a friend that other people didn't necessarily get that from it at all. Some see it as a more general, women's life/working poem...and I suppose it is that too. My favourite word in it is 'labour' - I remember someone saying to me in the hospital when I was having Small Girl "it's called labour for a reason, you know". She took DAYS to come out!
x

The Weaver of Grass said...

I didn't raise him for him to sit about doing nothing you know Rachel - but seriously - he has music in his soul.

Roxana said...

it's so beautiful! thank you both for this fabulous piece of 'shared creativity'. Dominic is great, but I really loved your voice and version too, Rachel. it has such a quiet intimacy.

Rachel Fox said...

Ah Weaver...the motherly pride is there in your typing!

And Roxana...thanks so much. I've been singing Dominic's version today...it's harder to fit the words in but I like the rhythm of it and it's a lot cheerier! I might even dare sing it out somewhere soon...
x

Unknown said...

Deadly - another internet collaboration brought to you by the marvel of technology!

Word verification: eurica :)

Marion McCready said...

This is fantastic! I love hearing the contrast of both of you and Dominic's 'raspy' voice (as poetikat put it) which completely suits the folkiness of it. I love your singing of it, Rachel, it has that melancholy feel at the heart of many folk songs.

Rachel Fox said...

Thanks Barbara. You're always there with a kind word of some kind. Lucky little Barbaras at home!

And Sorlil...yes, I can do melancholy...
And of course it was partly your recent news that made me think of this piece of writing in the first place (that and all the Myerson motherhood business...and a few other things).
x

Anonymous said...

Gone are the days when collaboration meant the two of you sitting in a bedroom with a guitar and a Bic biro and your dad banging on the ceiling from below. What a combination! Dominic's voice puts me in mind of Jim Moray, whose 'Low Culture' is currently making something of a stir now that folk music is the new black.

So what's next, both?

Rachel Fox said...

Well I do still write songs with Verona in the sitting room here so it's not all online collaborations...but I think this one worked really well.

I've heard Jim Moray on the radio and really liked it. I liked what he had to say about music too. A bit like Michael Marra...who was brilliant at the concert last night...he's not a purist...likes to blend and play with genres and ideas. Lovely!
x

swiss said...

nicely played! both versions!

Rachel Fox said...

So do I dare sing it at the folk club tomorrow? Is it too new?
x

Marion McCready said...

Sing, sing away!

Rachel Fox said...

It was a big audience (for guests Heidi Talbot, John McCusker and Boo Hewerdine) so I just did poems...I didn't think my solo singing was ready for that kind of public arena just yet! Maybe I'll try it somewhere smaller first...
The guests were great of course - beautiful singing, superb fiddling, the loveliest guitar sounds....all in all a brilliant night of music. Look out for them performing near you folks!
x

Dominic Rivron said...

I wouldn't have fancied doing it so soon either, but let us know when you do do it!

Rachel Fox said...

No I realised that at that stage...reading the poem was quite sufficient! Sometimes I get a bit carried away with excitement...
x

Argent said...

Ooweee! I see I have my work cut out for me! That was a great poem/song - the rhythmic treatment really worked well. I enjoyed both versions. Maybe we can get a virual nad together LOL.

Rachel Fox said...

Virual nad? Virtual band?
x

Argent said...

Yes, band. Sorry, brain lagging behind fingers.