The yellow princess - Cover John Fahey

[DrBirendraJha]

Wonderful performance!

Great job!

[bpvdd]

@DrBirendraJha

Thanks a lot for your comment.

Bernard

[SylvainBrunerie]

I think there is something wrong with the rhythm in the intro. Great sound and beautiful playing, though.

[bpvdd]

@SylvainBrunerie

Merci pour le commentaire, tu aurai pu me parler en francais.

Bernard.

[SylvainBrunerie]

@bpvdd Ah oui, je ne savais pas. ^^

[jkbosh]

f*ckin love this song!

[MrBlueEyes123]

Great performance

[bpvdd]

@MrBlueEyes123

Thanks a lot.

Bernard

[ansgarness]

great atmosphere and tone. very good work! you have to deeply feel fahey's music to be able to play it correctly and you absolutely do it.

[AnkeZohm]

absolutely wonderful - this touched my heart.

[bpvdd]

@AnkeZohm

Thanks a lot for your comment.

Bernard.

[fenderboy88]

The intro of this kind of reminds me Cavatina[theme from the deer hunter].

Beautiful,keep up the good work.

[bpvdd]

Thanks a lot for your beautiful comment.

Bernard.

[wendellpeek]

Well, I'm a Fahey fan from way back, but I don't own any of his fingerpicks. A friend of mine DID almost steal Kottke's slide for me one time, but chickened out. I am advocate of "making your own interpretation." One's own personality should shine through a tune, otherwise, you're just a clone.

Great job on this old chestnut...nice guitar, too...

[bpvdd]

Thanks a lot for your great comment.

Bernard.

[JDBoelter]

That was a great discussion below, but I think it misses the point. You should take these tunes and make them your own, and that means variations and improvisations, and interpretations...if only because if you can't improvise and interpret a song, you don't really understand it. (That's not to say you can't enjoy it and have fun playing it). I think it was a very nice job,"authentic" or not.

[bpvdd]

I' m tottaly agree with you,

thanks for your comment.

Bernard.

[jimmies31]

Yes, if I didn't know that this was supposed to be something called "The Yellow Princess", I'd just assume it was some fantastically moody guitar playing. If this sounded just like a John Fahey performance, why would I want to listen to it when I can go find the real thing?

Good job, bvpp, on the interpretive cover. Maybe you should change it a bit more and just call it an original ;)

[Lostmychops]

Interesting arrangement, but it's a shame you don't play the 'main' melodic passage (the one Fahey lifted from saint saens) in its entirety. Also, the tone's a bit soft and 'airy' for my liking- to get the Fahey tone, you should anchor your pinky and/or ring fingers, wear picks, and proceed beat the crap out of your guitar (In other words, play like you're trying to break the strings.). This is constructive criticism, I hope- I actually think your rendition is very nice, just not that authentic.

[roundtrouser]

An authentic cover of John Fahey is not a very John Fahey thing to do.

[Lostmychops]

On the contrary- that's exactly what Fahey would do! Ok, i'm being pedantic, but I don't want to give the wrong impression here... I'm all for originality, but Fahey considered himself, first and foremost, a COMPOSER of great guitar music. He didn't improvise on his own compositions, and as this purports to be a rendition of one such composition, I think it dissappoints in this regard. Like I said before, I like this rendition, but I would be inclined to call it 'variations on a theme by Fahey'.

[roundtrouser]

In late life the fingerpicks Fahey liked to use ceased to be manufactured and he went back to fingertips, when asked about it he said he'd only used picks for volume and that he actually preferred the tone he got from his fingers. Should you worry about that if you're playing Fahey? Fahey reworked material all the time, his own and others. The man who slowly takes apart California Dreamin over seal barks doesn't seem too concerned about stylistic authenticity.

[Lostmychops]

I own his fingerpicks- they are a product of the post war japanese plastic industry, and I think fahey bought them in bulk. He kept them in a box which he gave to his luthier for fear of losing them, and after his death the luthier sold them to me. Fahey's decision to abandon the fingerpicks coincided with a stylistic shift and heralded an era where he basically dismissed a lot of his earlier work as crap. (continued below...)

[Lostmychops]

This rendition has more in common with that later material, but it is telling that Fahey never performed this piece in his later life, because it jarred with his musical philosphy at the time. The point i'm trying to make here, roundtrouser, is that Fahey played particular pieces the way he did for a reason. Playing a Fahey composition and missing half the notes is like an orchestra 'half-playing' Beethoven, as far as i'm concerned...

[roundtrouser]

Being authentic is a totally neutral move, there are plenty of very faithful versions of Fahey tunes that aren't very good. If your piece sucks, it does so irrespective of its relationship to what John Fahey did forty years previous. Fahey named songs after music he hadn't even heard; worry about it if you like, but don't do so out of a desire to stay faithful to his approach.

[Lostmychops]

Who's worried? Each to their own, I say. I'm predominantly a folk musician, so I rejoice in the idiosyncrasies that result from the aural tradition. Fahey was inspired by American folk music in much the same way that Copland was, and incorporated the melodies into a rigid structure. Fahey's technique and philosophy on guitar playing (both subject to change at various points in his career) are integral to his body of work, which is why I think authenticity and 'staying faithful' are important.

[MegMerrilies]

Great. I'll have to look up Fahey!

[bpvdd]

Thanks a lot Meg.

Bernard.

[ashburnhouse]

You are amazing.

[bpvdd]

Thanks a lot.

[bpvdd]

Thanks you very much.

[JivinforFun]

Great feel for the music... thanks for posting!

[bpvdd]

Merci beaucoup.

[KiffBell]

Beautiful playing and tone. I had the album in 1969 or around then. Keep on playing and best of luck!

[bpvdd]

Thanks a lot for this great commentary.

[youseiss]

great!

[bpvdd]

Thanks.

[jxw137]

i used to play like this a bit.... and i'd completely forgotten. this is something to aspire to. its hard to cut thru everything and just make you Listen, no lights or flashes...its cause you know they guy playing is listening... really pretty and absorbing. thanks.

[bpvdd]

Thanks for this.

[castlewigg]

Really beautifull bpvdd, have you a rendition of Beverley aka Indian pacific railroad blues?

[bpvdd]

Thanks so much for your compliments,

for "Beverley aka Indian pacific railroad blues"  i have not yet done .

[AnhedonicTheFirst]

Beatiful song, beautiful guitar, beautiful rendition.

[bpvdd]

Thanks for these great compliments.

[AnhedonicTheFirst]

Yeah, thanx to you I'm now a John Fahey fan. Never even heard of him b4 I heard you playing. So thanx

[castlewigg]

what a voyage of discovery awaits for you in the huge volume of work of the late great John Fahey..........

[greglyma]

Nice try

[bpvdd]

Thanks for the compliment.

[charsalutube]

beautiful

Charsal

[bpvdd]

Thanks.

[davidbrucemusicvideo]

oh my gosh! this is beautiful! the sound. the reverb. the meter. the chords.

please tell me if you're using a PC or a mac. what kind of mic and where is it placed?

[bpvdd]

Thanks for this great compliments Dave.

I use a PC .

I have no mic on my guitar. It's just my camera and i add some delay .

[photek1944]

this is great stuff, i wish there was a john fahey version of this on youtube aswell

[bpvdd]

Merci beaucoup pour ce compliment élogieux.

[CroatAndNettles]

Wow! Many thanks. You more than did justice to one of Fahey's best.

[bpvdd]

Thanks.

[glaoud]

Belle piéce d'un autre grand John ,que je connais peu,mais dont j'aime l'esprit de ses compositions.*****

[bpvdd]

Merci , c'est un des guitaristes que je préfere,

c'est une vrai légende.

[LiteGauge]

Thanks - a really great rendition!

[bpvdd]

Merci à toi John.

[RONJAN2]

thanks - best fahey ever

[bpvdd]

Thanks. Fahey is the best.

[gailkingmb]

the john fahey song i cannot find, is 'the singing bridge' from the album titled 'yellow princess' (containing the above song of the same name)could someone posted 'the singing bridge' please? - it is a haunting song which john recorded under an old metal bridge; he is playing his chords & in the recording you can hear the rumpa rumpa of wheels as cars cross the bridge, a guy whistling a tune walks by, the tune echoes & fades into the distance...it's an amazing bit of music

[rickguitar50]

you nailed that one!

[bpvdd]

Thanks Rick.

[polymerchm]

Your leaving no Fahey song unplayed!!! All are great!

[bpvdd]

Thanks : Fahey is the best.