We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

I Hear America Singing, Highlights from Volumes 1 - 5

by Barbara Hume and David Paul Mesler

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 4 Barbara Hume releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Duets, A Concert of Prayers, Island in the Sound, and I Hear America Singing, Highlights from Volumes 1 - 5. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $18.20 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

1.
Women sit or move to and fro Some old, some young The young are beautiful But the old are more beautiful Than the young.
2.
Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor- Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now- For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
3.
mr youse needn't be so spry concernin questions arty each has his tastes but as for i i likes a certain party gimme the he-man's solid bliss for youse ideas i'll match youse a pretty girl who naked is is worth a million statues
4.
Wild nights - Wild nights! Were I with thee Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile - the winds - To a Heart in port - Done with the Compass - Done with the Chart! Rowing in Eden - Ah - the Sea! Might I but moor - tonight - In thee!
5.
Where had I heard this wind before Change like this to a deeper roar? What would it take my standing there for, Holding open a restive door, Looking down hill to a frothy shore? Summer was past and day was past. Somber clouds in the west were massed. Out on the porch's sagging floor, leaves got up in a coil and hissed, Blindly struck at my knee and missed. Something sinister in the tone Told me my secret must be known: Word I was in the house alone Somehow must have gotten abroad, Word I was in my life alone, Word I had no one left but God.
6.
Going to Him! Happy letter! Tell Him Tell Him the page I didn't write Tell Him - I only said the syntax And left the verb and the pronoun out Tell Him just how the fingers hurried Then - how they waded - slow - slow And then you wished you had eyes in your pages So you could see what moved them so. Tell Him - it wasn't a practised writer You guessed from the way the sentence toiled You could hear the bodice tug, behind you As if it held but the might of a child. You almost pitied it - you - it worked so Tell Him - no - you may quibble there For it would split his heart to know it And then you and I, were silenter. Tell Him night finished before we finished And the old clock kept neighing "Day"! And you got sleepy and begged to be ended What could it hinder so - to say? Tell Him just how she sealed you - cautious! But if he ask where you are hid Until tomorrow - Happy letter! Gesture Coquette - and shake your head!
7.
I cannot live with you It would be life And life is over there Behind the shelf The Sexton keeps the key to Putting up Our Life - his porcelain Like a cup Discarded of the Housewife Quaint - or broke A newer sevres pleases Old ones crack I could not die with you For one must wait To shut the other's gaze down You could not And I - could I stand by And see you freeze Without my right of frost Death's privilege? Nor could I rise with you Because your face Would put out Jesus' That new grace Glow plain and foreign On my homesick eye Except that you than He Shone closer by They'd judge us - how - For you served heaven You know, or sought to I could not Because you saturated sight And I had no more eyes For sordid excellence As paradise And were you lost, I would be Though my name Rang loudest On the heavenly fame And were you saved And I condemned to be Where you were not That self were hell to me So we must meet apart You there - I here With just the door ajar That oceans are and prayer And that pale sustenance Despair
8.
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plan or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
9.
Time will say nothing, but I told you so. Time only knows the price we have to pay; If I could tell you - I would let you know. If we should weep when clowns put on their show, If we should stumble when musicians play. Time will say nothing but I told you so. There are no fortunes to be told, although, Because I love you more than I can say, If I could tell you, I would let you know. The winds must come from somewhere when they blow, There must be reasons why the leaves decay; Time will say nothing, but I told you so. Perhaps the roses really want to grow, The vision seriously intends to stay; If I could tell you, I would let you know. Suppose the lions all get up and go, And all the brooks and soldiers run away; Will time say nothing, but I told you so? If I could tell you - I would let you know.
10.
If you were coming in the fall, I'd brush the summer by With half a smile, and half a spurn, As housewives do a fly. If I could see you in a year, I'd wind the months in balls And put them each in separate drawers, Until their time befalls. If only centuries delayed, I'd count them on my hand, Subtracting till my fingers dropped Into Van Dieman's land If certain, when this life was out- That yours and mine should be I'd toss it yonder, like a rind, And taste Eternity But, now uncertain of the length Of this, that is between, It goads me, like a goblin bee-- That will not state its sting.
11.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year. Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees in heard, The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, And off a blossom in mid air stands still. For this is love and nothing else is love, The which it is reserved for God above To sanctify to what far ends He will, But which it only needs that we fulfill.
12.
I had for my winter evening walk No one at all with whom to talk, But I had the cottages in a row Up to their shining eyes in snow. And I thought I had the folk within: I had the sound of a violin; I had a glimpse through curtain laces Of youthful forms and youthful faces. I had such company outward bound. I went till there were no cottages found. I turned and repented, but coming back I saw no window but that was black. Over the snow my creaking feet Disturbed the slumbering village street Like profanation, by your leave, At ten o'clock of a winter eve.
13.
I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn I dream a world where all Will know sweet freedom's way, Where greed no longer saps the soul Nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the earth And every man is free, Where wretchedness will hang its head And joy, like a pearl, Attends the needs of all mankind - Of such I dream, my world!

about

The following tracks are highlights from volumes 1 - 5 of "I Hear America Singing." Go to the website davidpaulmesler.com to listen to the full playlist on each of the five albums.

credits

released January 1, 2008

David Paul Mesler, composer/pianist
Barbara Hume, vocalist

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Barbara Hume Seattle, Washington

Barbara Hume lives in the Seattle area where she has collaborated with composers for the past 20 years including David Paul Mesler, Bonnie Murphy, Paul Lewis and other northwest artists producing original music, set to a rich and varied canon of poetry. In these albums, the weaving of melody and imagery produce songs that unearth the raw senses that nurture the soul. ... more

contact / help

Contact Barbara Hume

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

Barbara Hume recommends:

If you like I Hear America Singing, Highlights from Volumes 1 - 5, you may also like: