The Voice of the Wind (Adapted from a poem by Margaret Corrigan)

My great-grandmother, Margaret Corrigan, wrote a lot of poems during her lifetime.
I was looking through them a couple of weeks ago and came across this one titled: The Voice of the Wind. It was one of her earlier poems, written in December of 1882.
She would have been around 20 when she wrote it.
I thought it would interesting to adapt it to a song, so I had to rework the words a little, but made every effort to keep it very close to her original poem.
I hope I did it justice, and I hope she would be pleased hearing her words put to music some 129 years later.

Song Lyrics:

WHEN THE WEARY SOUND OF THE WINTER WIND
COMES SADLY WHISTLING AND WAILING LOW
LIKE A SONG UPON A TROUBLED MIND
BRINGING GHOSTS FROM LONG AGO

LIKE SOME LONG LOST FRIEND WHOSE VOICE WE KNOW
IN THE WIND WE HEAR IT'S TONE
OLD FACES COME WITH THAT WHISPER LOW
LIKE DEAD LEAVES OVER A DARK ROAD BLOWN

BLOWN BY THAT NIGHT WIND FROM A FAR
THAT SAD OLD WIND WITH ITS LONELY SIGH
UP FROM THE VALLEY WHERE THE ECHOES ARE
SWEEPS THE COLD TOMBS, THEN FAINTLY DIES

SWEEPS THE TOMBS OF THOUGHTS LONG DEAD
AWAKENS THEM TO LIFE AGAIN
FROM THE SHADOWS OF YEARS LONG FLED
UP THEY RISE INTO THE WIND

FROM THE GRAVES WHERE LOVE AND HOPE
ARE BURIED SIDE BY SIDE
THE LOST DREAMS AND FORGOTTEN WORDS
COME WHISPERING THROUGH THAT WIND OUTSIDE

AND BACKWARD OVER THE DARKENING YEARS
WITH FLEET FOOT FANCY FAR WE GLIDE
WE LIVE NO MORE WHERE SILENT TEARS
BY TIME'S SOFT HAND, ALONE ARE DRIED

SWEEP ON COLD WIND, SWEEP ON AND BE
A MESSAGE TO US ALL
THAT HEAR THE SOLEMN HARMONY
THAT STEALS THROUGH EVERY RISE AND FALL

A MESSAGE FROM A DISTANT LAND, WITH
A PLAINTIVE CALL, AS WE WITH LINGERING FOOTSTEPS STAND
WHERE THE DYING ECHOES FALL
LIKE DEAD LEAVES FROM THE WITHERED TREES
THE SIGHING NIGHTWIND BRINGS THEM NEAR
WE WOULD NOT PART SUCH HOURS AS THESE
THE VANISHED PAST, THEY BRING SO NEAR.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• poem
• Margaret
• Corrigan
• johnfern99

[Zsolto66]

I came back to see this video again and now I am listening with my big-big headphones on and a question emerged, John. How do you achieve the stereo soundscape with the guitar? Do you double/feed the guitar track to the left and right channel with a slight offset? It sounds so nice... And I want to ditch my entire equipment :D

Zs

[Johnfern99]

@Zsolto66 Thanks again and glad you enjoy this song. I recorded the guitar and vocal on the first two tracks of my portable recorder, and then recorded the harmony and guitar on two more tracks. So, there are four tracks with the vocal and guitar, and then I added the harmonica on a fifth track. I have another one that my great-grandmother wrote as a poem back in 1882 that I hope to have up real soon. Hope you have a great night!

[Johnfern99]

@Zsolto66 Thanks again and glad you enjoy this song. I recorded the guitar and vocal on the first two tracks of my portable recorder, and then recorded the harmony and guitar on two more tracks. So, there are four tracks with the vocal and guitar, and then I added the harmonica on a fifth track. I have another one that my great-grandmother wrote as a poem back in 1882 that I hope to have up real soon. Hope you have a great night!

[Johnfern99]

@Zsolto66 Thanks again and glad you enjoy this song. I recorded the guitar and vocal on the first two tracks of my portable recorder, and then recorded the harmony and guitar on two more tracks. So, there are four tracks with the vocal and guitar, and then I added the harmonica on a fifth track. I have another one that my great-grandmother wrote as a poem back in 1882 that I hope to have up real soon. Hope you have a great night!

[Zsolto66]

@Johnfern99 Thank you, John. This means your timing is amazing, really. I am so grateful for your explanation. I plan to buy a digital recorder and experiment with these things myself.

Zs

[Johnfern99]

@Zsolto66 On this one, I sang and played guitar for the melody line, and then sang and played guitar again for the harmony. I selected track one and two, the first time and then track 3 and 4 for the harmony. Sometimes, I'll record the guitar first though and add vocal later. I'll try and make it look like I'm playing the guitar if I do a video, but I'm not really hitting the strings.

[Zsolto66]

@Johnfern99 Thanks John. Does this mean you played the guitar twice or did you use the same track for the harmony?

[Johnfern99]

@Zsolto66 Thanks again and glad you enjoy this song. I recorded the guitar and vocal on the first two tracks of my portable recorder, and then recorded the harmony and guitar on two more tracks. So, there are four tracks with the vocal and guitar, and then I added the harmonica on a fifth track. I have another one that my great-grandmother wrote as a poem back in 1882 that I hope to have up real soon. Hope you have a great night!

[Johnfern99]

@rhopen Thanks very much, Ron. Appreciate that and hope you have a great 2012 also. Always enjoy your music and videos and look forward to many more.

[rhopen]

This is really great John, enjoyed it a lot. Have a great 2012. -Ron