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Trail of Tears (w rschletty) by mint01 [Email]

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 1402
Comments: 26
Votes: 18
Plays: 252
Last Played: Apr 08, 2008 - 02:18:40 PM
Downloads: 54
Fans: 11
Uploaded: Nov 27, 2006 - 03:09:39 PM
Last Updated: Nov 27, 2006 - 03:09:39 PM
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Keywords:
Indians (1), trail (2), of (69), tears (32), strings (248), pop (459), protest (21), history (16), American (16), acoustic (472), melancholy (56), sadness (25)
Description:
Hi everybody! This is a new collab with rschletty. Let the lyrics do the talking. Enjoy, please!

Lyrics:
Trail of Tears

Touch me this day, let your story unfold.
Lift me on wings to mountains of gold.
Thanks for the grieving, damned for the taking.
Cherished possession cut from your flesh.

On the path where you died,
in the land of the free,
on the trail where you cried,
"Nunna daul Isunyi."

In 1830, Jackson let go
a Land Exchange Treaty for settlers greedy.
This Act of Removal Davy Crockett decried.
But in 1838, Van Buren complied.

On the path where you died,
in the land of the free,
on the trail where you cried,
"Nunna daul Isunyi."

Send your army of thousands
to shepherd them west.
Make them homeless in their homeland
with rifles and fists.

On the path where you died,
in the land of the free,
on the trail where you cried,
"Nunna daul Isunyi."

Music by Hendrik Steiner and Karl Anselm
Lyrics by Richard C. Schletty
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There is really &mdash 11/27/06 - 03:38:58 PM
a very nice sound. Your voice is terrific here Richard. The music is really quite pleasing to ear.

Glad I had the prevledge of hearing this gem.

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... &mdash 11/27/06 - 05:23:19 PM
Thanks, Bill. We appreciate your listening.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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Beautiful... &mdash 11/27/06 - 03:44:42 PM
...simply beautiful. The Iroquois in my blood wept! My Celtic heart raged! My spirit shuddered at the recollection of this awful tragedy. Well played. Well told. Well sung. BRAVO!

Be well gents!

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This so enjoyable to... &mdash 11/27/06 - 08:24:23 PM
listen to. Everything blends so well. Great instrumentals boys, great production. And Rich, your harmonies are lush. I love the chorus... and that violin---nice!

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By the way... &mdash 11/27/06 - 08:32:09 PM
An interesting historical family side-note that ties into this song: Barb's great, great, great (not sure how many greats) uncle is Martin Van Buren, the 8th president. Van Buren is her maiden name. : )

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Dadai
... It's just music

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thanks &mdash 11/28/06 - 01:14:10 PM
Thanks for that bit of genealogy, Jack. Interesting.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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What they said &mdash 11/27/06 - 09:06:42 PM
Very weell done. I really like the violins and the harmony. Perfect arrangement, too.

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beautiful &mdash 11/28/06 - 01:23:26 AM
Beautiful, such a full sound acoustically, a great feeling, a great sentiment, sung beautifully, played beautifully.

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smiling &mdash 12/04/06 - 08:45:36 AM
Thank you, Ian!

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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So lush &mdash 11/28/06 - 11:28:31 AM
The overall sound of this is really soft and beautiful. Just the opening notes, right after the percussive intro, really grabbed me.

And when your voice and the violin joined in... well, it was great.

Lovely melodies, nice arrangement and a luxurious, lush sound to everything.

Beautiful track.


-Einar S.

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Wow... &mdash 11/29/06 - 03:19:19 AM
Great tune here!
Excellent collab :)

beautiful music..thank you :)

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Melody &mdash 11/29/06 - 07:24:19 PM
great melody, a sweet romantic cry through history

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thx &mdash 12/02/06 - 06:41:07 PM
thx, ego

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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The Trail Where We Cried &mdash 12/02/06 - 08:56:58 PM
I like how the opening drumbeats are imitative of Native American song, which foretell the subject matter.

Nice twist of phrasing in "make them homeless in their homeland." The hard imagery of "rifles and fists" really drives home the brutality.

Also like how you spell out (number out?) the dates.

The mix of singing and speaking parts works well for a story-telling type song. The well-phrased vocals blend so perfectly with the lushly-articulated music that it's difficult to believe you all weren't in the same room working on this piece in unison.

The phrasing on the choruses, with the solo soaring subtly over the supportive voices, is especially nice work.



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2/3 of the credit goes to mint01 &mdash 12/03/06 - 10:48:43 AM
Hendrik and Karl are amazing. Their soundtracks are so very well constructed and easy for a lyricist to work with. Classic styling with progressive touchs.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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Reallly well written.... &mdash 12/03/06 - 04:59:13 PM
Felt as if I was being narrarated a piece of History, great effort here, just one thing, not to go negative, the vocals were almost over the top for me(I am but one soul) meaning:just my opinion, great arrangement, recording level is good too. Thanks for sharin' MJG

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over the top &mdash 12/03/06 - 09:24:18 PM
Hendrik, Karl and I do appreciate your ear. I'm curious what you mean by "over the top". Should the singing be more understated? I felt that the refrain should reach up and out...as an invitation for many voices to cry out. Sorrows, injustice and longings can not always be heard above the din of modern life. Sometimes, you have to shout. Imagine you are singing this for a large crowd of Boy Scouts at a summer camp or on the Front Lawn of The White House and I think you will understand why I went over the top. It's living history, my friend. I am working on an acoustic solo version (single voice and guitar)...the way I would like to sing it in a coffee shop. I'll run that by you when I'm finished.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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I hear ya..... &mdash 12/04/06 - 01:03:55 PM
by over the top, I meant, it's a little Hollywoodish, not in a bad way,don't get me wrong, I do like your song. I feel as a musician, it's not my mission to make everyone listen, that's the whole key for me, it's a person's choice to listen or not, just free will for human's. You guy's are very talented and you taught me a piece of History, thanks and I will continue to listen to more of your music-MJG

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ah, that's the rub! &mdash 12/04/06 - 04:43:53 PM
You see, we ARE trying to get Hollywood's attention. We are unsigned and unsung. As it is, we have no one's attention except that of some kind MacJammers. Personally, I do have other songs that are less polished and far below the top (check out my rschletty artist page). Nice to hear you say that this sounds quite polished. Credibility is a prized possession. I submitted this song to www.cherokee.org and to www.nationaltota.org but neither organization has written back. We're just trying to help tell the sad story of the Indian Removal Act.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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very cool intentions &mdash 12/05/06 - 12:06:42 PM
I'm really happy to hear you respond about what your trying to do with your tune, I fully respect this idea of sending your song out to the reservation's. Songs with a conscience, a meaning, a purpose are the ones that will get noticed, and should be noticed. In the two years I've been on this site, your comments I feel are some of the most genuine. Thanks for the push, that there are some of us that remember the Native people of this country-MJG(Ever read Black Elk?)

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Black Elk &mdash 12/06/06 - 12:47:48 AM
Seems to me some of my kids read Black Elk. I have not. I just absorb stuff randomly and reprocess some of it randomly. There were several factors that led to this song, but frankly, the impetus came when I picked up a newspaper about 10 days ago and my eyes went to an article about the Trail of Tears. While waiting for Caribou Coffee staff to finish brewing three large vats of coffee for the 125th Anniversary Gala of St. Matthew's Parish (I was the delivery guy), I wrote most of the song. Took about 30 minutes. An hour later, I recorded it over Karl and Hendrik's soundtrack which had been waiting for lyrics and vox for about five weeks. Like I said, random, but sometimes fortuitous.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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Nice &mdash 12/04/06 - 05:41:55 AM
Such a nice melody with melodious sounds, very well played !
Such a good collab !
I like this piece, very pleasant to listen to, bravo, thanks to share...
Marc

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This is nice! &mdash 12/04/06 - 11:11:27 PM
Great tune man!

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Dignity &mdash 12/06/06 - 08:41:14 AM
I appreciated the dignity with which you arranged and performed this piece. Love the 6/8 feel. Excellent stuff.

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Dignity &mdash 12/07/06 - 09:54:28 AM
Thanks, Tobin. It's funny that another MacJammer thinks everything I do sounds like a parody to him. His comment (prompted by listening to this very same tune) really shocked and concerned me. Your comment about dignity is most affirming. I needed to hear that.

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http://www.schletty.com/song

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Fantastic! &mdash 12/15/06 - 09:28:31 PM
Epic lyrics, sweet melody, catchy instrumentals you got a hit here...
keep rocking it out and laying it down!

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