I love to sing a song that might have been sung by a shepherd in a shade or a dairymaid in a cow byre or a traveler along a dirt road some hundreds of years ago. I like to sing these songs as I work – to sing as I sew, spin, walk, chop vegetables, or poke about in the garden. I think of singing as a necessary part of life, to be carried out whether or not there is anyone lingering about to listen.
I am a singer and a writer, but I do not write songs. What need have I to write new songs when the old ones are so winning? I know that even the oldest must have been new in some long-ago realm – but there is a kind of poesy clinging about these timeworn things that new songs are hard-put to achieve. For that, and for their rarity in this modern world, I am sure they deserve a little singing.
And so, since I am no songwriter myself, I present to you a handful of old songs in all their simple glory, with no adornment but that of the human voice.
My recording was made in the summer woods, with the birds and cicadas permitted to do as they willed in the background. Each song was captured just as it was sung, with no second tries (except, admittedly, in the one or two instances of ridiculous mistakes in the lyrics that muddled the story). I meant it to sound as though the listener had simply come upon the singer in a wild green wood, and remained to eavesdrop for a while.
If you are interested, you can find this recording at http://resolutelyoutmoded.etsy.com
An article about my music has been featured in the December 2007/January 2008 issue of Small Town Living magazine, an online publication. Visit http://www.stliving.net and click on the cover of the current issue to have a look.
