Eric Whitacres sleep Lyrics by Robert Frost

WOW! What a PRIVILEGE it is hear the original song of Sleep. Very awe admiring.

I think the Frost lyrics sound good, but Silvestri's are accidentally brilliant. Frost tells a definite story that just doesn't fit the haunting quality of the song. Silvestri's were written about watching his son fall asleep, and became a beautiful tribute to the end of a life, "as I surrender unto sleep."

can someone post the poem on here. the words.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I think it totally sucks that the whole copyright battle went down with this piece. It is an amazing arrangement and really does the poem justice. Why the Robert Frost estate would have denied this beautiful work the right to exist is beyond me.

I am a new college student who has played the band arrangement twice, and analyzed the poem in high school. I immediately saw the connection, and was disappointed by the new lyrics. This recording brings out the full musical meaning originally intended by Whitacre. When band members ask to hear the choral version, this is the video I give them. Thank you!

Stunning....truly one of a kind and an obvious gem, regardless if Frost or Silvestri wrote the lyrics. Both are masterpieces of a higher level than we normaly see. Congrats to Eric Whitacre for sheer brilliance.

How in the world did you get your hands on this?

Um...he'll be dead by the time the copyright expires in 2053 (70 years to the death of Robert Frost)