Lyrics

This is just a fun blog to share some of my favorite Christmastime songs with you and to get you thinking about lyrics and how they can bring meaning to music.  Song lyrics are like poems, and songs are a marriage of words and music, two of my most favorite things. 

The lyrics of Christmas and holiday songs are special.  From the spiritual to the fun loving, all of them evoke certain images and feelings in anyone.  Even those who aren’t religious/spiritual, enjoy these songs because they resonate with joy, fun, love and hope. 

I have a lot of favorite Christmas carols and songs.  Some are favorites because of childhood memories.  Others are favorites for personal or spiritual reasons. 

A Christmas Carol favorite is Away in a Manger.  As a small child I loved that there was a lullaby for Jesus.  I remember singing it to my dolls at Christmas when I got ready for bed.

My parents had a number of albums of Christmas from different countries.  From the Christmas in England album I learned that there was another melody for Away in a Manger. This alternate melody has become my favorite.  The lyric remains the same.

Away in a manger no crib for a bed

The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.

The stars in the sky looked down where he lay

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes.

I love thee Lord Jesus look down from the sky

And stay by my cradle ‘til morning is nigh.

Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care

And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.

What tremendous memories a song and its lyric can retrieve from hidden secrets that lie deep within each of us.  I find myself singing this song when I feel stressed or out of touch with my spiritual self.  There is a calm that comes from placing yourself  as a child at the feet of ones God.

My favorite Christmas fun song is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  This is the first holiday special I remember watching on television when I was little back in the 60’s. 

Nowadays, I love to sing this song with my daughter.  We’ve been signing it since she was tiny.  We always start by singing out the names of the reindeer, that’s her favorite part.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen

Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.

But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

Had a very shiny nose

And if you ever saw it

You would even say it glowed.

All of the other reindeer

Used to laugh and call him names

They never let poor Rudolph

Join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve

Santa came to say,

“Rudolph with your nose so bright

Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Then how the reindeer loved him

As they shouted out with glee,

“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

You’ll go down in history.”

Who doesn’t enjoy this simple story?  It’s one of many songs that were turned into television specials for children.  Some others include Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  These started out as fun children’s songs for the holiday and became endearing, long lasting holiday television shows.  If not for the gifted lyricists, these songs would never have been made into shows. 

Do you have a favorite holiday song, poem or story?  Do you return to that favorite every year to bring the memories, feelings and images back as part of your celebration?

Feel free to share with me in the comments.  I’d love to hear about your favorites.  Happy holidays!  Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah!  Happy Kwanzaa!  And a pleasant greeting to all who celebrate in any way at this time of year!

Culture in Poetry

Being partly Irish, I am drawn to the overall culture and all things Irish.  I love music so I listen to Irish tunes quite often.  I have an extensive collection of Irish poetry and stories and love to let my eye wander over pictures of the Irish landscape.  Oh, I neglected to mention my love of Irish food!

I’ve been reading some of the Irish poets lately, W.B. Yeats, Thomas Moore, Patrick Kavanaugh and Oscar Wilde to name a few.  In my poetic contemplation over these beautiful works I began to notice a great sense of the Irish culture itself within them.  Each piece gave me a different sense of who the Irish are, what is important to them and how they live, think and believe. 

Some themes I’ve culled from the works I’ve read are the importance of family and relationships, love of the land, the importance of history to everyday life, strength of spiritual belief and a great love of life and living.  The Irish are a very proud and expressive people.  They carry their hearts on their sleeves and live every moment as if it’s their last.  Humor sustains them through thick and thin and their ability to survive is second to none.  All of these qualities of the Irish come through when reading their poetry.  I consider them to be some of the strongest poets our world has produced. 

If you’ve ever wondered why the Irish are so much in love with their homeland, then you’ve never been there or lost yourself in pictures of the beautiful, magical landscapes and architecture of this incredible island. 

In his poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree, W.B. Yeats expresses his desire to return to the peace and beauty of his home from the wild and raucous streets of London. 

 

“And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.”

Poet Patrick Kavanaugh expresses the deep love of a man for his mother in his poem In Memory of My Mother. I love his optimism for seeing her once again when he, himself, passes into heaven and his wonderful memories of her very essence. 

“And I think of you walking along a headland
Of green oats in June,
So full of repose, so rich with life –
And I see us meeting at the end of a town.

On a fair day by accident, after
The bargains are all made and we can walk
Together through the shops and stalls and markets
Free in the oriental streets of thought.”

While these are only a couple of examples of great Irish poetry, you can find many sources for them in your local bookstore or on various websites like the following:

www.irishcultureandcustoms.com

www.poetryfoundation.org

www.poetrysoup.com

Find some beautiful images of Ireland here:

Christian McLeod Photography: www.cmcleod.com

Inishowen Photography – www.inishowenphotography.com

Images of Mayo Landscape Photography of County Mayo, Ireland by Eamonn McCarthy– mayo.photium.com

Irish Dew Landscape Photography – www.irishdew.com

Try an Irish dish from:

www.donalskehan.com

www.yourirish.com

Perhaps you have a favorite culture or are from a particular culture that also has beautiful poets.  Do some reading and see if you also find that the culture of the poets home is carried into the work of the poet.

Been Writing Again

Amid my job searching and grant writing internship work I have had a few moments of inspiration creatively. Here are a few poems I came up with since the first of the year.  Also, I submitted more poems to Poetry Quarterly in hopes of being published again.

Clay

By Kimberly L McClune

January 3, 2013

When I am wet, my heart is open

Pliable and easy,

Smooth and bendable.

Mold me with Your spirit

Shape me into Your will

Make me in Your image.

I am Yours

I exist for You

I was created by You.

But when I am dry, I am hard

Coldness seeps in

My heart is closed.

I resist You

Push You away, 

Turn my back on You.

I let fear overwhelm me.

My spirit shudders, fades,

I cower inside, afraid.

My soul is dry, hard clay

Stiff and unyielding

Crumbling,

Chipping,

Cracking.

Rain on me!

Make me supple again

Soft and flexible

Bend and shape me

Make me useful,

A jar to hold Your spirit. 

This piece was written in a moment of spiritual searching.  As you can see, I was asking God to make me His own and help me to not rely on my own powers and understanding, but His.  I found great peace in creating this.

Melody and Lyric

By Kimberly L. McClune

April 5, 2013

Wordless

Lilting tones

Spilling over eardrums,

Slipping into the soul,

Married with sweet harmonies

Create moods in notes

And rhythms.

Stealing upwards

Toward the sky

Happy sounds lift spirits,

To soar with angels,

Carried on melodic themes

And intonations.

Words

Letter formed

Gripping the heart

Touching the soul.

Carefully chosen rhymes

Stories of love

And heartbreak,

Reaching inside

Pulling at thoughts

Tugging at memories.

Told to open hearts,

Tales of sorrow

And joy.

This piece was written specifically for my former Music Professor at Lycoming College who is retiring this year after teacher there for 37 years.  He was very special and I wanted to create something to share with him on his retirement.  This was sent in a package along with some photos and the next poem to be placed in a memory book for him and his family.

On a Song

By Kimberly L. McClune

October 4, 2010

Taking flight,

Soaring in your heart over memories,

Hopes and dreams.

Reaching into yourself,

One moment flowing into another.

Time, captured by a tune,

Lost inside the melody

Held by the words,

Glint of a dream

Shadow of a tear.

While I recently sent this and the previous poem to my college for the memory book, I had written it a few years ago to recount my feelings and thoughts after listening to a particular;y touching song.  Music is an important part of my life, so is writing.  When the two are put together into a song, it is especially moving for me in most cases.  Both of these previous poems have been submitted to Poetry Quarterly as well.

I have written some other pieces since the first of the year, but I don't want to cram too much into this post.  Would that I could spend more time on poetry and stories.  I have several stories and many poems started and in various stages of completion.  Oh that the things that call me away from writing would do themselves so that I could just write and write and write.  Alas, this is but a dream.

I hope that you enjoy these pieces and will watch for another post soon with a few more recent works.