This is a favourite song from the past. This version is performed by John Renbourn live on the Pentangle album 'Sweet Child' (1968) - which was relatively easy to find on YouTube.
The version I know best is from a John Renbourn solo album from the early 1970s. It is a poem about the mysteries of life not least those posed by the opposite sex as seen by a mystical English poet John Donne (1572-1631).
Donne wrote secular and love poems, although he was a Roman Catholic then illegal in England until under enormous pressure he was more or less ordered by King James I of England to become an Anglican priest which he duly did, eventually becoming the Dean of St Paul's cathedral, London in 1621.
Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, with whom he had twelve children http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne
'Song' or 'Go Catch a Falling Star'
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet;
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write this letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
John Donne
****************
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| John Renbourn |
This is one of the many songs that means a lot to me and I have had in my music collection for somewhere around 40 years now. I think John Renbourn captures a world of magic and mystery like very few other artists do and there is no better example of this than in his interpretation of John Donne's lovely poem, as it is performed here.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing this timeless poetry, AA. It was enjoyable. This one song reminded me of the "Dark Lady" sonnets of Shakespeare. Certainly Donne was no stranger to both romance, suffering and tragedy. I knew little about Donne's early life, but he certainly had a lot of rough weather to get through!
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me how well-travelled and adventurous the celebrated Elizabethans/Jacobeans often were. One thinks of those interested in metaphysical matters as being cloistered somehow. But this was just one aspect of a man who truly lived IN the world and also showed great courage.
By coincidence I just finished reading a pair of novels about an earlier era---the reign of Henry the 8th, chiefly focused on his Master Secretary, Thomas Cromwell, great-great grand nephew of the more famous Oliver. (The books are by Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel.)
Through not a poet, Tom Cromwell also jumped a queue or two in the great Pecking Orders of the day: he fought as a soldier for France and later spent many years in Italy, in the greta banking houses of Florence and such , preparing himself for diplomatic work when he returned to England. Donne and Cromwell would have hit it off well I think--sitting in a tavern talking about the school of hard knocks and navigating their way through the corridors of multiple languages, customs and the whims of their "betters". Thanks for sharing another great song/sonnet in your series, AA.
Yes Doug you have to love John Donne, well if you are prepared to forgive him for his ironic quip about the fidelity of women in this poem... which personally I admit I am.
DeleteIt may be fortutious that John Donne was born too late to carouse around the ale houses of London with Thomas Cromwell.
Of course,John rather cleverly managed to retain his head for the entire span of his natural life.... unfortunately, as you know Doug... poor Thomas didn't do quite so well on that front.
I'm glad you liked the song.
It is true that people in history travelled all over the planet. Amazing really.
According to something I read earlier today there is evidence of migration of homo sapiens out of Africa 60,000 years ago via Asia to Australia somewhere around 55,000-40,000 years ago... thousands of years before homo sapien sapiens colonised Europe.
I was amazed by that Doug, history always is amazing I think, people always want to do the same thing, but not all of them had time to do it in.
I read the average lifespan of a Neanderthal was just 18 years. The oldest at time of death Neanderthal remains ever found were no more than 40, he or she must have been Methuselah in Neanderthal society.
Thanks again for your comments Doug, much appreciated :-)
The more I learn about Henry VIII, the more surprising it is he got anybody to hang around too long as an officer of his court. King James wasn't much better, just ask Walter Raleigh.
DeleteIt is startling to think that a small bunch of bands of homo-sapiens got out of East Africa and got so far, AA. I used to marvel as a grade school student how the likes of Magellan, Columbus and Drake achieved what they did in their voyages...it made my imagination run wild to think of Europeans out in that vast Pacific with little or no idea what the hell they were sailing into.
Now it turns out that these Iberian and English fellows were going "first-class" compared to what early humans likely faced, with no way to measure latitude (!) and boats that were tied together using catgut, bamboo reeds, et al.
I never knew that about Neanderthals. Pension schemes back then probably were less prone to austerity elitism then they are now.
What right did King James I have to order him to become an Anglican priest??
ReplyDeleteThe one he was convinced God had given him Ms C....but he was not alone in that belief! John Donne valued his head too much to object I think, quite right too in my view. When you have a secret life like John Donne it seems to me, it doesn't matter so much what you do for your day job.
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