From A Coffin (by Slumbering - Covers Challenge) by Rebsie
Genre: Acoustic Rock
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Keywords:
earthbound (1), isolation (6), longing (34)
Description:
You can find Slumbering's original version of the song here.
The song is about an earthbound spirit, trapped between two states of being and stifled by the grave. On her original songpage Slumbering explains what personal significance this has for her. It touches me deeply too for my own reasons. But I think anyone who has experienced an overwhelming sense of isolation will be able to relate to it.
I've made my cover pretty close to the original in every respect. I feel that what she did with it was so good and so right for the song that there was no point trying to turn it into something else just for the sake of it. So this is really a selfish pleasure for me, I just love the song and wanted to sing it. Working on this has given me an even deeper respect for her songwriting and piano skills (and vocal range) which are streets ahead of mine and gave me a genuine challenge!
My deepest gratitude to Slumbering for allowing me to work with this and for creating such a hauntingly beautiful song in the first place, which I now dedicate back to her with love and thanks.
For you Slumbs!
The song is about an earthbound spirit, trapped between two states of being and stifled by the grave. On her original songpage Slumbering explains what personal significance this has for her. It touches me deeply too for my own reasons. But I think anyone who has experienced an overwhelming sense of isolation will be able to relate to it.
I've made my cover pretty close to the original in every respect. I feel that what she did with it was so good and so right for the song that there was no point trying to turn it into something else just for the sake of it. So this is really a selfish pleasure for me, I just love the song and wanted to sing it. Working on this has given me an even deeper respect for her songwriting and piano skills (and vocal range) which are streets ahead of mine and gave me a genuine challenge!
My deepest gratitude to Slumbering for allowing me to work with this and for creating such a hauntingly beautiful song in the first place, which I now dedicate back to her with love and thanks.
For you Slumbs!
Lyrics:
Don't goNo, no, my love
I hear you above
Don't go
Don't know how long since I died
Or how I can know I'm shut inside
But I hear you above
And I'm longing
For the world that I love
For belonging
I can't forget
I can't let go
Let me return
Don't go
Oh, to see the birth of Spring
Feel it soften
Or even to feel the earth
Just outside my coffin
I dream of the sky
Of ascent
And I ache for your skin
And I'm helpless within
This torment
I need to breathe
I need to be free
Of this body
I cannot scream
Can only dream
Even the dreams they smother
I can't break through
Can't reach you
Or any other
I can't forget
I can't let go
Let me return
Don't go
No, no, my love
I hear you above
Don't go
To all strangers passing by
Here lies a ghost that cannot fly
So sing her a lullaby
That she may rest.
Hardware:
G5, Rode NT1-A microphone, M-Audio Keystation 49e, bodhranSoftware:
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Jean-Christophe
Very beautiful ! I'm looking forward to play with you :-)
Rebsie
Thanks J-C! I will be looking out for a song which needs fingerstyle guitar ...
saymme
10sssssssssssssssssssssss
Rebsie
Cheerssssssssssss! I really appreciate your support Lena.
jiguma
I'm a really big fan of Slumbering - and you do total justice to this gem. Slightly outside your usual vocal style - beautiful harmony part, and you have such a wonderful voice to start with. Lovely backing track as well - a real tour de force for you. Touches of Sinead O'Connor in the lead vocal - just wonderful!
This is a definite MJ classic!
Neil
Rebsie
Thank you Neil. The harmonies are one of the only things I added to the original arrangement, so I'm pleased you like them. I hadn't really thought about it being a different vocal style until I listened to it after it was finished, and it sounded strangely unlike me. While I was recording I just tried to lose myself in the song and let it express itself ... I think I must have been channelling someone.
Char
magnificent job. What a real pleasure to hear you do this. I am not familiar with slumbering's version, but I will seek it out. Twice as much of a good thing is just re-doubled joy. Thank you.
Rebsie
Bless you Char. Thanks for giving it a listen, and yes, please do check out the original ... it is wonderful.
DWL
and this works really well. Confident vocals and a beautifully restrained backing. A genuinely haunting piece.
Great job :-)
Cheers
Dick
Rebsie
Thanks Dick, you already know how much your support means to me.
And thanks too for your feedback on an earlier demo of this ... I heeded your advice.
ktb
beautiful effort here. Your vocal is aural silk. The music was haunting and extremely well crafted. Now i'm off to slumbering's page. To see what I've evidently overlooked. Face reddens with embarrassment.
Rebsie
What a lovely comment John, thanks! Slumbering only has a handful of her songs posted on MJ so you needn't be embarrassed to have overlooked her ... but I highly recommend giving her a listen. She is very special.
Jim Bouchard
slumbering is a great friend of mine, and I love hearing you sing this lovely song. She should be very proud of your work on this, and how close it is to the original is a tribute to how well written and how deep a place this song comes from. It's very clear in your rendering, the depth of love there.
Rebsie
Thanks so much Jim. I know you're very friendly with Slumbering and was hoping you'd approve of my effort. She's a dear friend to me too, a wonderful person and a kindred spirit, whose talent I admire enormously.
As you say, the song is so beautifully written and comes from such a deep place ... it stirs me to the depths of my soul. I'm glad that comes across in my rendering of it.
yrp
my!
This is like being surrounded by translucent mermaids while being gently taken away...
Beautiful.
(Now I am off to listen to the original)
Rebsie
Thank you. I'm always pleased when a song conjures up imagery, and translucent mermaids are right up my street. :)
lavalamp
Excellent delivery on the vocals. I'm sure did this song justice. (I'll go back and listen to the orig.).
Terrific job, hitting the low notes, too. Sometimes it harder to hit them, too.
Rebsie, real professional job here.
Stellar,
Dave
Rebsie
Indeed Dave, this stretched both ends of my vocal range (and Slumbering made her version sound so effortless). A bit of reverb covers the worst of my high-pitched squawking but at the lower end there's nothing to hide behind!
VicDiesel
You have a very beautiful voice, but still, it takes to courage to have an arrangement that is so sparse and almost completely relies on just your vocal. But you carry it off very well. This is hauntingly beautiful.
Rebsie
Thank you Vic. I admit I go for sparse arrangements on most of the songs I do on my own because I lack the instrumental and compositional skills to do much else. So it's always a relief to be told I did OK at it!
I appreciate your nice comment.
cjdaley
not my usual fare, but this gives me goosebumps. It goesuptheer in my book with the this mortal coil version of "song to the siren"
Rebsie
Well thank you. I really appreciate you dropping by.
sonnyjim
Great choice of instruments here to hold up your lovely vocal. The range of color you get out of your voice is.....well.....humbling.
Rebsie
Thank you Sonny Jim. The song itself provided all the raw materials I needed. A very nice range of colours you have in your avatar too. :)
Vic Holman
.... beautiful. I like the sparse arrangement and how the song takes it time.
Rebsie, you sang this with great confIdence and care. One of the greatest vocal deliveries I have ever heard! wow, what a range!
Rebsie
Wow, what a compliment. I always appreciate your comments, you're such a great talent yourself. Thanks Vic!
slumbering
You made this so much better and your voice is perfect for this song. Absolutely stunning.
I love the harmonies you added, when i heard them on first listen, that sent shivers through me. And the subtle differences in the singing melody, too. Beautiful.
As i already told you, it had me in tears, not just teary-eyed. I was really weeping when i first heard this. Hearing my song sung back to me, by none other than you, it is like nothing i've ever experienced. I was and am deeply touched.
I'm reading Jim's note now and he is right - i am very proud of what you've done with this.
Thank you for something i will treasure forever. I can't explain what it means or how honored and how humbled i feel.
And thank you for the dedication, too. :)
slumbering
Haha, Rebsie, i was just looking at my own song page and i saw that, when i first posted the song, you'd described my voice as "absolutely stunning."
That is the first thing i thought when i was writing my post today and listening to this again. I didn't mean to sound like a parrot. :D
Rebsie
:D There you go. I love coincidences.
Peter Bauckham
this is a wonderful interpretation - amazing vocal performance - and an excellent choice of song. I think Slumbering's comments sum it up rather nicely.
Peter
Rebsie
Your support is always hugely appreciated Peter. I'm sorry I've been so slow to reply to your message ... it's been a helluva week and I'm still catching up!
Feter
this is pure ART ... the arrragment of the
insteruments feel so awesome ..your singing
at its best ..was impressed by the use of
the piano ..the flow of the insteruments
just moved me ...thank you so very much
for sharin this gem !!!!!
Rebsie
I'm very pleased you mentioned the piano Feter ... I'm very self-conscious about it because I was unable to play it as beautifully as Slumbering did on her original. I always appreciate your comments, thank you.
dajama
This is truly beautiful. Your voice is astounding here, filled with soul, ethereal and vulnerable in parts, and warm and stronger in parts. The harmonies are beautifully done - subtle and balanced. Nice instrumentation, and a lovely arrangement too, framing the vocal performance, and echoing the sentiment of the song. I'm floored. Kudos to Slumbering on such a great song, and kudos to you on such a perfect interpretation. Nicely done. Peace.
Rebsie
Big thanks for a very lovely and considered comment, which I appreciate a great deal. This was such a great song to start with ... and such a joy to perform ... I couldn't go too far wrong with it. Thanks again.
Rocha Malhada
Can't really add anything more to what everyone has already said. "Your vocal is aural silk." what a killer remark, John.
Very enjoyable, indeed.
. - Harold
Rebsie
I love you Harold.
I may have mentioned that once or twice before.
davisamerica
velvet voice ... great track ... very nice
Rebsie
Thank you Jack. You're one of the most valued people on this site and I marvel at how you always seem to have time to give support.
Dragonas
that keep me coming back to MJ.
:-)
Beautiful and stunning emotional song.
Great piano and voice.
The overall ambience just consumed me.
Love your voice, sort of reminded me of Chris Martin from Coldplay in a few parts.
Thank You for this gem.
Fav'd.
Rebsie
Thanks so much, I really appreciate that. The whole idea is to pull you into the ambience, so I'm glad it did that for you. I've never been compared to Chris Martin before. :) Thanks again.
Dragonas
listen to this wonderful song again.
I listened to K.D Lang's "Constant Craving" right after this and it made for a very eclectic musical mix.
Just for fun, try this!
damiengh
How brave and how wonderful, to take something so already hauntingly beautiful and to reverently, echo your own respect to the artist, by your own superb delivery, enhanced by all that is, Rebsie.
Slumbering's remarks above, truly show her blessing on what you bring to the song.
I would certainly look forward to a collaboration of both your minds, lyrically and voices, harmonically, on future possible projects.
Your excellence is a constant here at MacJams.
Rebsie
You expressed it perfectly, Damien, about echoing my respect to the artist. I still think her original is way better than anything I could do but I wanted to reflect something of what the song means to me when I hear Slumbering sing it.
I'd be very happy to duet with her. That would be nice.
HenriROGERsoloandbands
Sad and beautifull song .
You did a very good job with the orchestration , the vocals harmonies and your expressive voice .
Rebsie
Many thanks Henri. I had some great material to start with, which helps a lot!
guitapick
...that I wish I had your voice...
...but that would entail quite a few, very large changes in my life...
Beautiful. I love the way you go from octave to octave so fluidly...
Rebsie
Yes Bob, I definitely prefer you as a man. :)
I'm glad you think the grand leaps in the melody are all right. It's hard to go straight into the high notes from the ultra low ones, but I wanted to sing this in complete takes so that I could lose myself in the soul of the song. I always feel I'm better off nailing the emotion of a song rather than the technical accuracy.
sloparts
and the original right after you posted it Rebsie. The only thing was it was getting me so depressed, (the song itself, not yours or slumberings verwsion) that I just could not force myself to listen to the entire song. I apologize to you and slumbering for not saying something before this, and I'm here to mend that.
First, I hated where the song made my mind and heart go, it's that kind of song for me on a personal level.
That said, both you and slumbering did a wonderful job musically and vocally on the song. The background you did sounded a little less dark to me, and was very well mixed and performed. Your vocal was also more out front then the original and sounded great. You did a truly wonderful job capturing the feeling of the original while still making it your own version my friend.
Again, I apologize for holding back so long but I had to let my spirit rest after listening before I could even think about the song again.
Be well and be cool Rebsie
Ed
sloparts
but the song hurts my heart too much.
Ed
Rebsie
Thank you Ed ... sending my reply in a private note.
Boris the Bull
amazing, rebsie!
an already wonderful song taken and made unique all over again.
well done!
Rebsie
Cheers ... I'm so pleased you like it. You'll notice I haven't made any significant changes to it, it's as much an homage as a cover. Such a wonderful song, it didn't need my interference ... I'm just happy she let me have a go at it.
Gumbo
That is a beautiful harmony, Rebsie. Lovely version of a profoundly moving song.
I'd love to hear you and slumbering singing together sometime. That would be bliss.
Rebsie
OK, well I'm up for that if she is. :) Thank you Gumbo.
MarkOla
itīs so exciting to hear this version of one of my favorite songs from slumbering and such a wonderful job you have done.
Cheers.
Rebsie
Thank you! It's wonderful for me to have the approval of Slumbering's friends who already know and love the original. I'm humbled by her talent and I'm so glad you enjoyed my effort.
davajonah
This is a lovely version of a truly wonderful song. I'm lucky enough to have a full audio version of the original - complete with fantastic artwork!
Slumby is a great songwriter, you have done her proud with this version. It's beautiful, and I agree with Stu; I'd love to hear you both singing together.
Rebsie
Thank you. You're right, she is an amazing songwriter. And I hadn't realised how complex the structure of this song was until I started working on it ... it's a great piece of work.
Ah, so you're one of the lucky recipients of Slumbering's beautiful handmade CDs! She sent them to me too as a cheer-up gift when I was feeling low. They are truly something to treasure.
composerclark
Somebody has probably said this already, but this is hauntingly beautiful. You do such a wonderful job here! I think this song may have some of the lowest notes I've ever heard you sing.
what an honour it must be for the artist who wrote this song to have you give it such a lovely (and loving) treatement!
Rebsie
Much appreciated! Yes, they may well be the lowest notes I've ever sung. I don't even have these notes available to me all the time ... some days I can reach them, some days I can't. Even on good days they only hold out for a couple of takes. The enormous range on this song was a big challenge for me.
racerat
Tender and soothing in a dark room. You have a magnificent voice. The the sadness is layered with a thin veil of hope and yearning. Lovely.
Philip
Rebsie
Yes, the hope and yearning is definitely meant to be there. Thanks Philip for a lovely comment, it's always a pleasure to hear from you.
jie
very haunting lovely. thanks for sharing
Rebsie
Thanks for listening, John. Appreciated.
moorlandt
perfectly beautiful. Eyes closed listening. So pure. Goosebumpish harmonies. I'm off for a listen to Mirienne's original. Congrats, Rebs. You got me sitting on the tip of my chair for more than 5 mins.
-W
LunaTrick
Love the instrumentation and pure poise with the vocal lines. Glorious harmonies too.
You are a delight!
kassia
Rebsie, this is gorgeous. Not much to say that hasn't already been said...haunting yet hopeful. Lots of yearning and longing. Your vocals are beautiful, so well controlled, yet full of emotion. This is just a gorgeous song and you've done a wonderful job with it. Thank you for sharing this.
Alannah
.. this is just SO up my alley Rebs ! WOW WOW WOW ! Whoever you "think" you were channeling ... it was brilliant ! Luv luvved it ! Fantaastic Vocal ... I hope to hear more "like this" from you in the future !
kristyjo
lovely. The range is indeed quite a challenge, and you took it on quite well. Now, I must listen to Slumbering's original.
macoco
Your voice is made of light, Rebsie.
I really like your singing, the harmonies, the nuances in the instrumentation.
Great.
macoco.
Dj French Toast
Rebz ...beautiful tune !
Sunbeam
hello my name is Anna i come from sweden and i like yore sing.I can only litle inglish.I'm ten yerse old.Curry is my dad.
Sunbeam
hello i like yore sing.Curry is my dad.
stacey
I don't know how I missed this challenge!!! So now I'm checking out all the songs done for this Covers Challenge. And THIS. THIS? THIS! Is amazing. I am going to check out the original now. You did an amazing job!