Air and Simple Gifts

I really enjoyed the John Williams arrangement  “Air and Simple Gifts.” played today at the inauguration by Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Itzhak Perlman (violin), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet).  The piece was largely based on a Shaker song written in 1848 called Simple Gifts which later inspried the hymn Lord of the Dance penned by Sydney Carter in 1963 which has been a lifelong favorite of mine.

Both Simple Gifts and Lord of the Dance are wonderful songs and very fitting for today.  If you have a minute take a look at the lyrics below while  listening to my favorite versions.  Aaron Coplands’ Appalachian Spring is also worth a listen.

Lord of the Dance performed by The Christmas Revels

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
They came to me and the dance went on.

I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
The holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
And they left me there on a cross to die.

I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.

Simple Gifts performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Allison Krauss:

Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

1 comment so far

  1. Joe Dirte on

    Dang Rob, thought you were a rocker through and through…where’s the AC/DC, Van Halen not Van Hagar, Skynyrd, Def Leppard???


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