about
Here’s Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind, the first complete song from the score that Melissa Lusk and I are composing for New York Neo’s next production, As You Like It. The show will be done up as a folksy, dust bowl, immigrant story extravaganza, with head nods to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, traditional eastern European work songs and Django Reinhardt.
Mel and I have started into the heart of the work and are having a good bit of fun devouring the all references we need to coax the world to life. It’s always a joy to listen to new music, especially in genres as vast, storied and instantly familiar as folk.
The above cut is a demo, with Mel’s incredible harmonies recorded over a lunch hour. The final score, I reckon, will be much like a grand old tapestry, weaving fiddle, mandolin, washboard, bass and more into the mix.
Imagine the woods of Arden, and those living there in makeshift shelters, huddled together for warmth. As a light rain begins to fall, a folk singer tunes up and shares with the elements the joke of falling in love, in trusting a brother. As meager provisions are doled out, voices join in, finding warmth in the community of song, the wry humor of it’s sentiment - Bless nature, for, as hard as the wind blows, it will never weigh so heavy on a man as times like these, the trouble his brother makes for him. Campfires pop up along the hills, and a great warmth is felt as all share a meal, breathe as one, and forget for a moment their circumstances. At last, a final crack of thunder and a torrential downpour extinguish the campfires, and the song.
lyrics
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the hol
credits
from
Singles 2010,
released December 31, 2010
by Matt roi Berger and Melissa Lusk
Vox by Melissa Lusk
license
all rights reserved