BELOW I HAVE WRITTEN LYRICS TO A SONG
(the music bed is not yet written)
* the first couplet is the slower tempo intro
* the quatrains are the verses
* the italicized quatrain is the bridge
* the final verse has a tag couplet coda (outro)
* song fades with coda improvisation
When I was young I learned the magic held by a song
since then I’ve been singing my whole life long
at 11 I discovered
I could truly sing
learned the joy
singing can bring
it was at Christmas
nineteen fifty eight
I found my pipes
then changed my fate
a tear can cloud even the brightest day
but a song will blow those clouds away
sadness is just a passing state
so sing — let your heart celebrate
a frightened child
singing set me free
that wonderful discovery
is my life’s epiphany
I have sung for many
and I’ve sung for few
it was thrilling to know
they really wanted me to
a tear can cloud even the brightest day
but a song will blow those clouds away
sadness is just a passing state
so sing — let your heart celebrate
sung on big stages
sung in little bars
the adventure of singing
has traveled me afar
I’ve sung for money
also sung for free
what I truly enjoy
is singing just for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
sung on big stages
sung in little bars
this adventure of singing
has traveled me so far
I’ve sung for money
also sung for free
what I truly enjoy
is singing just for me
but — what I enjoy most
is singing for you and for me
singing — sets my soul free!
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
As Tony Curtis said to Olivier in SPARTACUS,”I am a singer of songs”–which meant poet as well. I envy you your music. I could never sing, could barely match pitches. I could have worked more as an actor if I could have sung. Are you a baritone?
I was a bari-tenor when I was young, with falsetto, I had over a 3 octave range. I could even reach down into bass. Now I have lost much of my falsetto range, and my breath control has gone weak in the past three years, so sustaining a song is near impossible now.
I enjoyed this piece. Singing is so wonderful and magical! Unfortunately, I cannot claim that my voice sounds so magical to other people, but I certainly enjoy the feeling and experience of singing.
Singing is a gift we should all enjoy. If one can also sing themselves, it is a double gift.
In the course of tracing your love of singing, I love where the epiphany (“a frightened child/singing set me free”) took you: a freedom that brings its own enjoyment more than any other reward. Didn’t you tell me that you and your band used to tour with Grand Funk Railroad? What memories to hold onto! Thanks, Rob, for this great response to the prompt.
We were a regional band, so in those days, when tours came through the midwest, we might get included for a few area cities from time to time. Based in Cincinnati, we also opened for bands in the local concert venues. We also were the feature act at times.
A wonderful poem Rob. Yes, singing is one of the joys of life. I am glad it took you all those places that left indelible memories.
Thank you Dwight. The memories are vast and deep.
Singing can be such a release for me, but I’m not very good at it!
Much love,
David
Enthusiasm is always more important than quality David. Many successful famous singers — can’t sing. ????
This really is so very delightful Rob, I would love to hear you sing it … it feels like it should be sung!
Thank you. As I told Dora, I wrote this piece as lyrics. Maybe someday?!
Beautiful
Thank you Ron.
I know about a billion lyrics, sing along (not beautifully, but enthusiastically & passably well) with whatever’s playing, but I often find myself (when things go silent around me) humming, whistling, or mumbling the lyrics to my (2) go-to earworms: Under The Boardwalk and Why Do Fools Fall In Love.
Maybe, someday, I’ll write my Magnum Opus: Why Do Fools Fall In Love Under The Boardwalk?
You epiphanied this one beautifully RK. Thanks.
I hear ya dude. I have a jukebox in my head, and it seems to constantly be playing — occasionally to the frustration of those around me, because we’re perhaps in the doctor’s office, or a restaurant. Well, when the mood strikes! 🙂 Just realized Ron, I need an intro and a bridge to go with all my burst verses. I’ll work on it. 😉
A new carol! As a (former) singer, I feel this.
Cool Xan! But as I commented here to Ron L — I need an intro and a bridge. 🙂
OH YES!!!! Those are the epiphanies I love most. When we begin to strut our stuff. Come into our own! I would love to hear you sing.
Love that freedom Helen. I can still sing a bit of my upper bass, and my baritone is mostly intact. However, I lost my tenor falsetto — and my breath control is shot. Could likely sustain maybe a line or two — on a rare great day I might get through one verse. But I’d never make it effectively through an entire sound… those days are past. ;(
Sing it, sing it. Enjoyed this one. Cheers!
Thank you Grace.
I would love to hear you sing this, Rob! Maybe you could add a recording later? Do you write music as well? I’m feeling a bit down, so perhaps I’ll fire up the karaoke machine and upset the neighbours!
I do not formally write music. I had a friend who played keyboards for me in a couple bands. I’d fumble out a melody suggestion with my voice, but he wrote the charts. He passed a while ago, and I haven’t written a song, that included the sheet music, in years. I just write lyrics, as I have enjoyed doing since I was 16. I hadn’t even conjured a melody for this yet. I had loosely envisioned this as a down-tempo’d Don McLean “American Pie” kinda tune. Maybe I will find a way to work up a music bed for this. If I do, I’ll let you kmow Ingrid”