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Keywords:
bell (13), valley (12), home (47), resolution (9), a bell in the valley (3)
Description:
as the winter solstice approaches
i wrote this melody in the mid 70's as a belated anti-war song, with entirely different lyrics (which i can't find anywhere, i guess i lost them, but they were trite, as i recall). the opening three notes are lifted from the US national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner". sometime around 1990 or so, i did a MIDI version of it that i included on a cassette of traditional Christmas songs that i had sequenced.
i wrote these new lyrics a few days ago.
more versions:
http://www.macjams.com/song/37406 by SmokeyVW
http://www.macjams.com/song/37422 by Moviz
http://www.macjams.com/song/37499 by arachnidzone
http://www.macjams.com/song/37528 by buckhorn
http://www.macjams.com/song/37669 by abstractreality
http://www.macjams.com/song/37772 by Cori Ander
http://www.macjams.com/song/37777 by jfaaz
http://www.macjams.com/song/37807 by Bud
http://www.macjams.com/song/37815 by SmokeyVW
http://www.macjams.com/song/37850 by filters are fun
http://www.macjams.com/song/46825 by Rik_Berryere
http://www.macjams.com/song/47823 a bell in the valley of space (ic42)
http://www.macjams.com/song/48355 by wurzel
http://www.macjams.com/song/48523 by davajonah
http://www.macjams.com/song/48669 by Doadars Uncle
http://www.macjams.com/song/48670 by deputydoofy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Open Collaboration Forum Thread -- Add your version to the collection.
i wrote this melody in the mid 70's as a belated anti-war song, with entirely different lyrics (which i can't find anywhere, i guess i lost them, but they were trite, as i recall). the opening three notes are lifted from the US national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner". sometime around 1990 or so, i did a MIDI version of it that i included on a cassette of traditional Christmas songs that i had sequenced.
i wrote these new lyrics a few days ago.
more versions:
http://www.macjams.com/song/37406 by SmokeyVW
http://www.macjams.com/song/37422 by Moviz
http://www.macjams.com/song/37499 by arachnidzone
http://www.macjams.com/song/37528 by buckhorn
http://www.macjams.com/song/37669 by abstractreality
http://www.macjams.com/song/37772 by Cori Ander
http://www.macjams.com/song/37777 by jfaaz
http://www.macjams.com/song/37807 by Bud
http://www.macjams.com/song/37815 by SmokeyVW
http://www.macjams.com/song/37850 by filters are fun
http://www.macjams.com/song/46825 by Rik_Berryere
http://www.macjams.com/song/47823 a bell in the valley of space (ic42)
http://www.macjams.com/song/48355 by wurzel
http://www.macjams.com/song/48523 by davajonah
http://www.macjams.com/song/48669 by Doadars Uncle
http://www.macjams.com/song/48670 by deputydoofy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Open Collaboration Forum Thread -- Add your version to the collection.
Lyrics:
There's A Bell In The ValleyThere's a bell in the valley
It sings to the wind
There's a bell in the valley
Where do i begin
This time i will listen
But will i hear the song
This night as i'm sleeping
A long, long way from home
I'm a long, long way from home
There's a voice in the valley
It speaks to my mind
There's a voice in the valley
It speaks to mankind
But who here is lis'ning
And hearing what it says
This night as we're dreaming
A long, long way from home
We're a long, long way from home
We're a long, long way from home
(c) 2007 Bill Grundmann
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lengold
holiday feel Bill, but where were the vocals - have you posted an incomplete version?
Cheers
Len
SmokeyVW
the initial idea was to have the listener read the lyrics while listening, so that the message comes through on a second channel. or perhaps sing it to themselves. it's supposed to be kind of personal.
of course, if someone would like to replace the glockenspiel with a vocal - that would be nice too!
Roxylee
and the drone, and the imagined art and lyrics, too. :-)
SmokeyVW
you got it! this is another experiment in minimalism i suppose.
thanks
lostsongs
I got the concept from the start with the artwork. At first I thought it represented the darkest day - longest night - then with the poem it started to click as a fill-in-the-blanks thing. Very cool. You should solicit a vocal track from everyone - without any lead vocal to go by and see what you could build from all the different takes.
bud
it's hard keeping it straight.
SmokeyVW
identity crisis?
a strange phenomenon that.
SmokeyVW
i really like your idea of multiple takes sans the melody.
a mix would approach the idea of everyone contributing, each in their own way, to the whole.
which, actually, is precisely what is happening all around us, every day.
that fits nicely. wow.
kingbee
I don't really like xmas..but I like your song..and it softened my heart a little.
I must be going soft in my old age ;-)
Nice composition..not too sure it really needs vocals. Sounds good as it is
SmokeyVW
the sentiments are not actually about Christmas, but perhaps more about new years' resolutions. it's kind of a "fill in the blanks" sort of thing. perhaps that explains it.
thanks for listening
Henke
I read the lyrics while listening to the music and I thoght, "hope he's not going to sing this and ruin it". (Oops, maybe that was not so polite, but you know I usually like instrumental's best...) And you'd just fooled me all the way to heaven! Cause I really like this one, music and lyrics! It gave me the first sprinkle of Christmas joy this year...
Thanks!
/Henke
Henke
Cool minimalistic artwork too ;-)
SmokeyVW
actually at the moment i can almost hear Moviz doing a voice over on this - no singing - just gentle speech...
SmokeyVW
it's not all dark you know - under the right conditions you may perceive something
:-)
Moviz
on a Christmas song with thought provoking words.... a nice mysterious sound with that slightly ominous background drone and the lighter bright bells that say it will all be fine.... nice sound and words, cheers M
peacepiano
Sweet and simple and just right for the season.
Thanks
Bill
SmokeyVW
thank you!
MissChaos
Organic and fluid -- lots of restraint to pull off something so minimal that packs such a punch. Bravo. I can hear our dear Mystified's voice in this...
SmokeyVW
this ended up growing into a collab "project" - i think you may be the one who planted that seed.
thanks!
guitapick
...it reminds me of my childhood. In my dark room...staring at the lighted church and little lighted Christmas tree next to it. Portable turntable playing carols...
Thanks so much...
SmokeyVW
maybe it's those bells. i glad i dug up this old tune.
thank you
michael2
beautiful. i'm really jealous of this one, you got the gift.
SmokeyVW
don't know what to say, so i'll just say
thanks!
Cori Ander
Hi Smokey, glad you posted the invitation to make versions of this gem. As soon as I heard it (a couple of hours ago) I was struck by its beauty. It sensed as a perfect Christmas tune. Like a classic.
Occasionally I happened to have two rare things at the moment: 1) the microphones set up for recording 2) time. So I decided to give the day to this tune.
Here it is:
http://www.macjams.com/song/37772
cheers
Johannes
SmokeyVW
thanks so much for jumping in. your version came out beautiful.
This is the real great "Holiday" tune. One of the very bests ever posted here. You really captured the atmosphere of the Christmas and turned it into a music. I guess that it wasn't so easy to do because the Christmas has its own style of music. Thanks for sharing such a masterpiece. KUDOS for this work and all the participants who added to this piece.
(Cori Ander's version sounded great btw!)
Take Care
- Yeman A. Al-Rawi
richardhowardjones
I really like this tune. Could you mail me? I have a couple of ideas.
Char
Somehow, I don't want to hear what others have done with this, at least, not yet. Genius. :) Thank you.