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Spirits of the Dead by E A Poe (with mandolinquent) by Rebsie [Email]
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Keywords:
halloween (32), dark (298), ghost (26), spirit (14), psychic (1), dead (19), eerie (12), spooky (22), creepy (26), scary (27), ethereal (27), Edgar Allan Poe (3), poetry (97), mandolin (36), fiddle (25), whistle (8), spoken (15), british (27), rebsie (46), mandolinquent (20), revolving doris (11)
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Description:
Our contribution to the MacJams Halloween Challenge: a reading of E A Poe's 'Spirits of the Dead'.
Rebsie: voices, tin whistle, windchime
William: mandolin, fiddle
Photo: Pershore Abbey
Lyrics:
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
by Edgar Allan Poe
(1827)
Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.
The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!
Hardware:
G5, iBook
Software:
GarageBand. Mixed by moonlight.
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The Breath of God is still &mdash 10/26/05 - 02:22:45 PM
The man had a way with words didn't he? I was more familiar with his
short stories than his poetry but this is a great one and you did it
proud! You made this poem come alive. The words started to squirm,
wiggle and shake. [ Reply to This ]
The Breath of God is still &mdash 10/27/05 - 02:05:34 AM
Yes, I love that line about 'the breath of God is still'. You have a way with
words yourself though, bronco. Squirm, wiggle and shake is a great
description! [ Reply to This ]
Blimey! &mdash 10/26/05 - 02:29:51 PM
I love Mr Poe's words but you've given real life to this poem… or
should that be death??!! Absolutely incredible version and easily
one of the best Rebsie/Mando collabs on MacJams so far.
Thoroughly chilling and spine-tingling… I love it! Really spooky
atmosphere throughout, wonderful choice of instrumentation &
effects, and incredible performances. Be afraid… be very afraid! [ Reply to This ]
Disturbing &mdash 10/26/05 - 02:51:29 PM
This is one of Poe's that had escaped our attention until now. It is truly
a lovely piece of writing, delivered in a chilling performance. We prefer
more festive pieces, although come to think of it, Coventry Carol
creeps us out here at the Project. Jazzed up infanticide and all that.
Excellent work! Mando too. Beautiful backing. [ Reply to This ]
Disturbing &mdash 10/29/05 - 09:08:12 AM
'Jazzed up infanticide' ... heh ... our Mando is someone else who has a great
way with words.
Yes, this is one of Poe's lesser known poems ... no specific mention of
infanticide, but plenty of ghosts floating about. [ Reply to This ]
Excellent setting &mdash 10/26/05 - 02:55:10 PM
To an excellent poem!
Wonderfully creepy background setting, mando, and delightfully chilling reading, Rebsie.
You guys are such a great team in collaborations.
Proud to fav and d/l this one! [ Reply to This ]
Chills.... &mdash 10/26/05 - 03:37:32 PM
Haunting and lovely. I can see the fog moving in across the lonely
cemetery overgrown with time where the spirits of the past wait forever
alone. This was wonderful, guys. Rebsie, you and Mado give it the sad and
beautiful touch that you both do so well. (And you used wind chimes!) [ Reply to This ]
Chills.... &mdash 10/27/05 - 05:10:18 PM
I'm amazed how versatile and interesting windchimes are. I wish I'd
discovered them earlier (especially since most of mine are falling to bits).
Delighted you like it! [ Reply to This ]
Great Reading &mdash 10/26/05 - 04:41:36 PM
Love the accent. I am going to listen to this on headphones in a bit.
I like this. You picked a long one. The backdrop music works so well. Very
creepy. Well worth waiting for. 4 more days!
I added this to the Poe playlist.
Later tonight I am going to make a post in the thread with the
contributions "Thus Far." Thanks for contributing. [ Reply to This ]
Great Reading &mdash 10/27/05 - 05:23:11 PM
Thanks very much Christopher ... we have you to thank for starting the whole
thing off! A great idea, and it's been a pleasure to work on it.
It's lovely to have my accent appreciated because where I come from nobody
takes much notice of it! :-)
Yes, headphones are definitely the best way to hear this one. [ Reply to This ]
sheesh girl - you were wrong!!! &mdash 10/26/05 - 08:22:12 PM
i DO like it and i admire it too - i won't listen to it when i watch the news but i do like - nice work both of you - if my life ever gets really pink and fluffy - and stays that way.... i'll be back!! xxx [ Reply to This ]
sheesh girl - you were wrong!!! &mdash 10/27/05 - 05:32:31 PM
Well, I stand corrected then, Caroline. I thought this would be too dark for
your tastes, so I'm especially pleased now. [ Reply to This ]
Poe-fect &mdash 10/26/05 - 08:54:55 PM
Nicely done, a wonderful atmosphere! I've got to get me a tin whistle... [ Reply to This ]
Poe-fect &mdash 10/28/05 - 10:09:52 AM
Thanks jmt, I really enjoyed your submission too.
The tin whistle was something I found while I was looking around for
something to make noises with ... sounds pretty good with a bit of reverb! [ Reply to This ]
Well chosen &mdash 10/27/05 - 09:20:11 AM
So far, this is my favorite of the Poe series at Macjams. Well done, well
chosen. I like the "mixed by moonlight" description too. [ Reply to This ]
Well chosen &mdash 10/28/05 - 09:31:58 AM
Thanks Tobin, that's a really big compliment considering the other Poe
submissions have been so good.
I did mix the track by moonlight to help get myself in the right mood for it,
though I also ended up giving myself a headache from staring at the screen in
a darkened room! [ Reply to This ]
Wonderful! &mdash 10/27/05 - 12:29:22 PM
Excellent, you two! Rebsie, wonderful delivery. The music is just right,
gentle and mood-setting without distracting from the words, and it's
performed so very well. You and Mando have delivered another fine
piece. Haunting and beautiful. [ Reply to This ]
Wonderful! &mdash 10/28/05 - 10:18:24 AM
Thank you Peter ... we always appreciate your support and we're glad you like
this one. It's nice to try something a bit different and we haven't done a
spoken word track before. Your version of Annabel Lee was what gave me the
incentive and inspiration to try it. [ Reply to This ]
rich and shivery &mdash 10/27/05 - 02:45:17 PM
Great storytelling voice... I kept finding myself lost in the light ambient
background and the deeply lulling quality of your voice, and I had to
keep snapping back into reality to follow the words. Perfect use of
mandolin and whistle and chimes... good poem choice, wonderful!
ttfn,
Drakonis [ Reply to This ]
A quiet grave... &mdash 10/27/05 - 02:48:46 PM
Eerie, very eerie - music which seems to rise from the very bowels of the
earth. The words and music intertwine like ivy on a rusted churchyard
gate. Excellent delivery, restrainted effects, apposite accompaniment -
verily a hit in Hades!
KK
[ Reply to This ]
the poe thing &mdash 10/28/05 - 10:48:03 AM
I really like the poe tracks that have been comming out.
I haven't heard a bad one yet. There's something special
that your voice brings to the table, though. I thought this might be
because I grew up on watching various old BBC shows that
made their way to rural nebraska by way of our public broadcasting
channel...making the various accents from the UK sexy to me.
But there's more to it than that; you really do the dramatic reading well. [ Reply to This ]
the poe thing &mdash 10/29/05 - 11:00:26 AM
Thanks very much. Before I got obsessed with music I was obsessed with
theatre, and I used to do a lot of acting ... so I guess that's come in useful
here. (I used to work for the BBC too, though that's completely unrelated.)
Thanks for listening. [ Reply to This ]
Great Performance ! &mdash 10/30/05 - 02:20:28 PM
That's the only way i can explain this fantastic performance of yours.
I know musically, our genres are different. But i would love your voice on a song of mine.
CR
---
Cecil Reynolds [ Reply to This ]
Given me the shivers!! &mdash 10/30/05 - 04:05:49 PM
Well Done &mdash 11/02/05 - 04:36:06 AM
I enjoy your work here - restrained and foreboding. It sounds like you two
had fun ... in a spooky way! [ Reply to This ]
Running scared &mdash 11/02/05 - 08:40:31 AM
halloweeny &mdash 11/02/05 - 03:49:33 PM
Very Good Piece! &mdash 11/09/05 - 02:35:43 PM
Excellent mix and very cool soundbed to go along( subtle yet
enchanting music)
Poe was quite a enigma while while alive and now in death and history
My wife and I lived In Richmond Virginia and went to what I recall
was a museum in a stone house, I can not recall if he lived in that
particular house or not but it was very interesting (that was in the mid
1980's when we were
there.So much of Richmond was burned to the ground near the end of
the Civil War. I surfed a bit and found this about his "life" in Richmond
on the net.
www.poemuseum.org/poes_life/poe_in_richmond.html
once again you have done a great job and I will vote it highly.
I sure am sorry I missed your gig on the radio this past Sunday.
Congrats! [ Reply to This ]
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short stories than his poetry but this is a great one and you did it
proud! You made this poem come alive. The words started to squirm,
wiggle and shake.
[ Reply to This ]