Song: THE DEATH DANCE - based on Goethe's TOTENTANZ

I wrote the music to this song because I liked Goethe's poem. Also, it being a ballad, I thought a musical version might be appropriate. This is homerecording stuff.

HERE ARE THE LYRICS - I sort of translated the text of the German ballad into English - plus some more info below.

Hark! It is midnight
The sexton looks down
From the church tower
At all those dark graves.
'Tis now the moon
Discovers herself
And the churchyard
It's almost as bright as by day.

Behold! Here's a grave
There's another, they stir
A woman, a man
They do slowly appear
They're followed by others
So quaint and so queer
They're clad in pale shrouds -
The sexton he peers.

The limbs start dancing
The bones they do rise
And peculiar gestures are made.
Past shame they shake
Their thin pallid thighs
And the shrouds
They are scattered away.

There's rattling and clacking
And clattering fun
Like gaunt wooden mallets
The skeletons run.
The sexton grins, thinking
"A shroud! I'll get one!"
He sneaks past the gravestones --
It's over and done.

(INTERLUDE: EERIE VOICE)

The dance, it is over
Again they lie down
Yet one is still tripping
And stumbling around
Up there on the tower
The shroud he has found
Down at the door, rattling
So hollow the sound.

The shroud he must have
And tarry he can't
Like a spider
He at once starts to climb
Crawls up a buttress
And clings to each stone
Will he get him?
'Tis only a question of time.

The sexton is shaking
Dismayed and appalled
He's muttering prayers
Just once and for all.
The bell strikes the hour
Resound do the walls
And down to destruction
The skeleton falls.
-------------------------
This song was recorded in another century on a somewhat old-fashioned homerecording machine...
.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS I PLAYED IN THE SONG:

- Roland JX 3P Synthesizer
- Drum Kit
- Ibanez 12 String Guitar
- Tambourin
.
WHAT DID GOETHE THINK OF THIS SONG?!
FOR PEOPLE WHO SPEAK GERMAN:
Hier der Link zum Interview der Zeitschrift GOETHE HEUTE (März 2007) mit Bernd Wahlbrinck zur Zusammenarbeit mit Johann Wolfgang von Goethe bei dem Song "The Death Dance":

http://www.wahlbrinck.de/studios/balladeer-interview.htm

Copyright for the music: 2008-2011 by Bernd Wahlbrinck
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• song
• death
• dance
• der
• totentanz
• ballad
• ballade
• goethe
• wahlbrinck
• johann
• wolfgang
• von
• bernie
• roland
• jx3p
• homerecording
• tr
• 707
• english
• version
• poem
• poet
• german

[TheVerinen2]

Did YOU made this song? o.O

If yes du bist fucking awesome.

[Berniewahlbrinck]

@TheVerinen2

Yessir, I did - thank you!

[TheVerinen2]

do you know bands that make songs in style like that? It's a little bit western :P

[Berniewahlbrinck]

@TheVerinen2

sorry, I don't - my style is unique ;-)

Bernie

[Krupcheck]

Ich bin gerührt. Das Lied existiert noch! Im Gegensatz zu meiner Kassette auf der es so lange verweilte. :-) Wie schön!

[Berniewahlbrinck]

Hi Vanessa!

Ich bin auch gerührt - vielen Dank!

[Trevoke]

Damnit! I hate my musical ear!

[Berniewahlbrinck]

It's in A MINOR!

[Trevoke]

"less upbeat" ... Well, it needs to be eerie upbeat. use a minor key.

[EmoIrish37]

Is this supposed to be a deragatory comment or a complement?