Sedayne: Child Ballad #79 - The Wife of Usher's Well

Out of the howling hinterlands of November, somewhere between Hallowe'en and Old Hollantide Eve and Martinmass, comes this rendering of Child Ballad #79, The Wife of Usher's Well, here sung to a melody of his own devising by an unwell Sedayne (ante-folk singer, musical improviser & storyteller) here spluttering Penguin Flu whilst scraping very unwisely on his new fiddle, circa 1920, which gave him both the tune and the will to proceed into the blustery dark at some point around noon on Tuesday 3rd November 2009 in an effort to get his shit together for a gig on the 5th in which this will feature, come hell or highwater.

Sedayne says: "Proceeding with caution on the new fiddle simply because I don't want it to get in the way of the Kemence, but this way I be more direct about my inspirations - chiefly Snock (Michael Hurley), Jim Eldon and Richard Coff (Third Ear Band) - to whom I must honour with every note I scrape. Did you know you can sing Usher's Well to the tune of Hog of the Forsaken? This isn't that exactly, but it isn't far off I suppose. I don't write these tunes so much as channel them - they come from the instruments - and this is the first ballad tune the new fiddle has given me, so that's cause for rejoicing no matter sick I feel right now. At this time of year the veil is thin and the winds are cold, each song becomes a seance and you sing it at your peril. Coughs and wheezes are spirit voices, involuntary primal spasms hacking into the shamanic dark as the viral trance buries ever deeper into the animal brain - this animal in particular. Sorry it goes a bit awry at the end - I am, alas, only human, at least I think I might have been in a past life."

For more on Sedayne:

http://www.myspace.com/sedayne

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Child
• Ballad
• 79
• Wife
• of
• Ushers
• Usher's
• Well
• Fiddle
• Old
• Hollantide
• Martinmass

[aviandy]

As always, a pleasure to see and hear

[zaaaaazzzzz]

25*s - 5 for the info, 5 for the vid, 5 for the music, 5 for those primal spasms and 5 in anticipation of a startling performance at the gig!!