piano - all too soon

"All Too Soon"
Text by / Arranged by
Stephen Hatfield
Commissioned by the Pictou District Honour Choir, Nova Scotia, for "Juvenata!" - a Celebration of Youth and Song, May 2003.

This is another accomp I like to play. It starts off a capella, and then the piano comes in. After that suspension at "the end", the choir comes back a capella to end the song.

Here are the lyrics for the parts I'm playing...

Grampa was in the war, and when he came back to Nova Scotia,
He had a bride in tow, who had no English but Yes and No Sir.
What made her leave her home, to be with someone she hardly knew?
How she must have hated to feel alone.
She must have cried when the day was through.

This was a part of earth where you could hold onto one another.
This was a line of work a-where the whole town was like your brother.

Now it's getting hard to stay.
The children move to a bigger city,
And there is really nothing you can say,
But what a shame
And what a pity.

Haven't got a notion,
How to stop the motion,
Rolling to the ocean,
That's the magic potion.

Haven't got a notion,
How to stop the motion,
Rolling to the ocean,
Such commotion when they say

The world is getting smaller ev'ry day (Oh every day)
But to make it pay,
Well, ev'ry body has to move away (so fa-ar away)

Haven't got a notion,
How to stop the motion,
Rolling to the ocean,
That's the magic potion.

Haven't got a notion,
How to stop the motion,
Rolling to the ocean,
Such commotion when you know

How much a Maritimer hates to go.
We know what we owe.
We love the land that watched our parents grow.
When life could travel slow
(and hard, but deep and proud)

Was the li-fe we were once allowed
Never to be bowed

...

Gramp was in the war, and when he came back to Nova Scotia,
He had a bride in tow who had no English but Yes and No Sir.

[simultaneously]

(Don't cast me off discourteously,
For I have lov-ed you so long...)

(What made her leave her home to be with someone she hardly knew?
How she must have hated to be alone,
She must have cried when the day was through...)

...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• all too soon
• Nova
• Scotia
• choir
• accomp
• piano
• Stephen
• Hatfield
• Maritimer

[fatherdebby]

Wow! you Rock. This is my favorite hatfield peice and i love it as a piano peice. It sounds even more sea shantey when played on piano, also l love the sound of your piano. What brand is it. It also looks older. Personally i like the older pianos because the sound isn't so bright.

[kittifiedpianist]

@fatherdebby Thank you for your comment! I'm very glad you enjoyed listening!

To answer your question: This is a Nordheimer, over 100 years old now. My family got it for very cheap before I was born. Unfortunately, we were not very well off, so it has never been tuned in my lifetime.

[stefauntie]

...dealing with the ocean when you're Nova Scotian turns into a kind of family devotion.. best line :) My kids are in the choir (and were in the festival) this piece was commissioned for. The first performance was pretty awesome :) Well done

[ducklover88]

THIS HELPED ME SING FOR CHOIR!

[TheRedHeadedRants]

You're amazing!!

Did this song in choir not too long ago,.

[ShrutiBoxx]

This is the best piano cover I've seen of this song :)

[CrispNightmareCrew]

Nice but work on hand posture... I know it sound silly, but once you've masted your muscles, you can truly play.

[lithuania14]

you are amazing!!!

[PokemontrainerNelly]

Beautiful

[imaginado]

Nice job! =)

[RhymesWithBauren]

Really incredible. This is a beautiful song.