To Sleep (original tune)

Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

special thanks to Paul Bradford, who set me on the track to realize what a Major-7 chord is! the accompaniment consists of maj7-chords. thanks Paul! ;)
dedicated to M. (^_^)

LYRICS:
I would like to sing someone to sleep,
have someone to sit by and be with.
I would like to cradle you and softly sing,
be your companion while you sleep or wake.
I would like to be the only person
in the house who knew: the night outside was cold.
And would like to listen to you
and outside to the world and to the woods.

The clocks are striking, calling to eachother,
and one can see right to the edge of time.
Outside the house a strange man is afoot
and a strange dog barks, wakened from his sleep.

Beyond that there is silence.
My eyes rest upon your face wide-open;
and they hold you gently, letting you go
when something in the dark begins to move.

- - -

Music: Andreas Weydenberg 2011
(guitar: Simon&Patrick Woodland)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• To
• Sleep
• original
• tune
• rilke
• zum
• einschlafen
• zu
• sagen
• lullaby
• melodized
• poem
• acoustic
• guitar
• simon
• patrick
• woodland
• lied
• vertonung
• english
• englisch
• song
• setting
• composition
• maj7

[cbrb40]

That was beautiful the sweet melody very mellow & pretty chords you're using. I love those Major 7's lol.That's cool that our buddy Paul showed you that. He's one of the best here & I dig his batcave the most. ;) Andreas you work magic when you sing these pretty melodies of yours.Love the fingerpicking. I was in a dreamlike state listening. :))That's a really great poem,wonderful! love how you make music to these beautiful words. My bro you give us the joy of music always! Spaceman Rick loves it

[frozenwhitebear]

hey dear Rick, thanks so much for that nice and kind comment!!! yeah Paul made a remark on another piece about "nice maj7 mood" and I just had to study that chord, lol! (I don't know much about the names, haha).so I picked all together for this song to make a throughout maj7-song lol! it has such a special twilight feel, hasn't it? I'm glad to carry some of our European poems into the other language area, as I am thrilled to learn about poets like Yeats,Emily D., Mary Oliver etc..so interesting!

[dickidoo123]

I love this arrangement. You seem to come across a lot of really nice poetry to set to music. I have to start reading more.

[frozenwhitebear]

thanks a lot James, glad you liked it! well, never mind, I collected poems over years (mostly in original language) and now - with the "new" internet possibilities it's by far easier to find translations and I really enjoy that and it's fascinating & challenging trying to make settings for them... this one rhymes strictly in German but I thought the translation was not bad either and kept a good handling of the sounds (which is not often the case).... ;)

[reliablebow]

I used to think that minor chords were my favorite...maybe they were earlier in life...but now...major 7's are. I call them "longing chords". They always bring me out of myself and into other worlds....so glad I've found Yours Bear...beautifully arranged, played and sung...and Rilke.....yes

bow

[frozenwhitebear]

thanks heaps Bow, glad you coming by! :) indeed they seems to reside in a sort of twilight zone, guess some latin style patterns keep them a lot, Bossa Nova etc...

[frozenwhitebear]

thanks so much tobee, that's very sweet of you to say! ;)) reminds me I still wanted to do a song for you (belated present...)

[tobestill]

Beautiful arrangement of a beautiful poem! I would have easily been the one you would have sung to sleep had I been older and/or single ;)

[frozenwhitebear]

thanks soo much for your very sweet comment Mary!! I could not read just once! ;) I'm grateful to the unknown who translated this poem, couldn't find out... these maj7 build a fascinating world... still can't get my Woody tuned perfectly, if it keeps one scale it wobbles in the next one... :o/

[frozenwhitebear]

thankyou very much John, I appreciate it!! now Paul (psychospeakempire) set me a bit on the track to explore these, and I was surprised what to find!! ;))