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Thou Art More Lovely: Sonnet 18 (Dadai, rschletty, Mr. Ei Oval) by Postludes Trio [Email]
Genre: Folk-Rock

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 4872
Comments: 26
Votes: 25
Plays: 1768
Last Played: Nov 13, 2008 - 12:03:51 PM
Downloads: 370
Fans: 1
Uploaded: Dec 05, 2004 - 04:17:06 AM
Last Updated: Oct 10, 2005 - 10:21:23 PM
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Description:
Postludes Trio was born at MacJams.com. We're starting out by setting to music the sonnets of William Shakespeare.

Members of Postludes Trio:
Jack Miller (MJ username: dadai) hails from Santa Barbara, CA).
Mike Lavoie (MJ username: Mr. EI Oval) dwells in Chicago, IL.
Rich Schletty (MJ username: rschletty) has a very permanent residence in St. Paul, MN.

Comments by Jack Miller:

Oct. 10, 2005... you can listen to Jack's newly recorded version of Thou Art More Lovely at:

http://www.macjams.com/song/14197

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is one of his best known and most loved, due in part to its accessibility. As you listen, imagine a man walking in an open meadow on a summer's day, daydreaming of his lover. He begins to contemplate, in his own heart, to what he can compare her. But comparisons fail, even as he considers a summer's day or the sun itself. She is unique.

When I first started to write a sonnet-song, I didn't know where I was going. The inspiration to do this was born of a desire to bring Shakespeare in a modern musical form to today's audience. "Love Alters Not" (here) was the initial result and a pleasant surprise. Now with "Thou Art More Lovely" completed, I just want to say how grateful I am to be working with Richard and Mike. We're three middle-aged guys having a lot of fun.

This piece has a light jazz flavor and in it Richard delivers (IMHO) his best vocal performance on MacJams.com. Mike, once again on guitar, provides excellent lead rhythm and flourishes, as well as a short solo, that make this song come together. Richard shows off his growing skills with some great background acoustic guitar playing. Employing the mighty "pencil tool", I provide the upright bass as well as a little live shaker shaking. We hope you like it.

Lyrics: William Shakespeare
Musical Composition: Jack Miller
Vocals and guitar: Richard Schletty
Lead rhythm and solo guitar: Mike Lavoie
Bass & Shaker: Jack Miller
Mixing: Richard Schletty

12-7-2004: Some timing issues resolved. New mix posted.

Lyrics:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Hardware:
Jack’s hardware: iBook 3, Pre-Mobile, Shure 57, guitar.
Rich’s hardware: AudioTechnica mic with windscreen, Mbox interface, G4/500 MHz/768 MB, acoustic guitar
Mike’s hardware: Ovation and Burda guitars, Tascam-122 interface, iMac/800 MHz.

Software:
Sound Studio, Logic Express, iTunes
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.

Fully Developed &mdash 12/05/04 - 05:54:01 AM
Thanks for the opportunity to hear this as it progressed.
You've seemed to have ironed out all the wrinkles... and
delivered a very high-quality recording. Vocals are right
on. Musicianship at its highest degree. Peak
performances. This is a great collaborative project.

Three cheers for Postludes Trio!!!

[ Reply to This ]
Fully Developed &mdash 12/05/04 - 04:22:44 PM
Alimar,

Thanks a lot. I am glad you think the song sounds good. You have a good
ear and your feedback while the song was in process was valuable to us in
tightening things up. And thanks for the 3 cheers!

Jack

---
Making melody with your heart...

[ Reply to This ]
Excellent... &mdash 12/05/04 - 07:59:39 AM
Beautiful song. Great production quality and presentation. Thanks for sharing.

[ Reply to This ]
Excellent... &mdash 12/05/04 - 07:04:31 PM
Skipper.
I always appreciate your comments. You have been encouraging and
generous. It means a lot that you like this song.

Thanks,
Jack

---
Making melody with your heart...

[ Reply to This ]
nostalgic in so many ways &mdash 12/05/04 - 09:15:30 AM
Not only is the poetry timeless and truly lyrical, your
musical treatment of it hearkens back to the '60s and '70s
with the "folk" guitar sound and the close vocal
harmonies. For some reason this tune reminds me of the
song "Crystal Blue Persuasion" from 1969.

In the very first part of the song, the guitars weren't quite
in synch, but then tightened up much better after the
third line of text or so.

VERY NICE sound combination the three of you make!

[ Reply to This ]
nostalgic in so many ways &mdash 12/05/04 - 04:46:54 PM
Cameron: We appreciate your comments. Evoking nostalgia is better than
inducing neuralgia. Thanks for the listen. -RCS

---
Music for the ages...from the aged

[ Reply to This ]
nostalgic in so many ways &mdash 12/05/04 - 04:52:20 PM
I guess the musical treatment betrays the fact that the three of us grew in the
sixties and the musical influences of that time are obviously a part of us. I
am glad you like the song and feel that the music works with this sonnet. It
is a challenge to create a suitable chord and melody combination that works
with the Shakespeare's words. It is a great learning experience for the three
of us. Thanks again.

Jack

---
Making melody with your heart...

[ Reply to This ]
The food of love &mdash 12/06/04 - 07:50:33 AM
This is a very nice song. I think adapting Shakespeare's
work into modern music is difficult (the heightened and
sometimes archaic language being the major reason) but
you've pulled it off nicely.

Technically speaking, there appears to be a slight timing
issue to the tune, though. To my ear the bass seems a
little off, which is odd since you penciled it in, and there
are times where the vocals don't always seem to align
quite well enough.

[ Reply to This ]
The food of love &mdash 12/06/04 - 08:10:53 AM
We appreciate the feedback. We'll take a look at how we can tighten up the
rhythm. There is some off-beat bass stuff in there which some ears may not
be used to (e.g. my daughter, who said the same thing as you). I can also
revisit the vocals to see if I can nail them down better. We are trying to make
this akin to a live virtual performance and do not want to overproduce or
cheat-edit too much. But if it will help to propel this song and the sonnet-
song concept upward and outward, so be it.

---
www.schletty.com/indwellings/

[ Reply to This ]
The food of love &mdash 12/07/04 - 02:53:09 PM
We tightened up the timing and linked to the new mix. Let us know if there
are still some things to fix. We appreciate it. - Richard

---
Music from the heart.

[ Reply to This ]
good! &mdash 12/07/04 - 11:51:36 AM
Absolutelly nice song. I like the voice so much, and the
guitars create a powerfull sound.

[ Reply to This ]
good! &mdash 12/07/04 - 01:16:35 PM
Thanks for the highmarc, lowmarc!

---
Music from the heart.

[ Reply to This ]
I must say... &mdash 12/08/04 - 04:19:21 PM
Rich's vocals on this song are reeeaally good! You are breaking some new ground their Rich man.

Baby, you're the Rich man...

[ Reply to This ]
I must say... &mdash 12/08/04 - 04:21:27 PM
that should read: ... "breaking some new ground there, Rich man." ...

---
Making melody with your heart...

[ Reply to This ]
I must say... &mdash 12/08/04 - 07:03:20 PM
Breaking ground for my grave? Let's hope not. I'm trying to stay on the sunny
side of life. Thanks for your kind comments. I am not the walrus.

---
www.schletty.com/indwellings/

[ Reply to This ]
Sweetest yet &mdash 12/09/04 - 09:24:49 AM
This is your sweetest mix yet. Sparkling lead acoustic
guitar, nice use of stereo guitars, nice bass sound, and
your voice is used in a warm and smooth, embracing way.
Like a summer wind with hymnal overtones. Excellent
work.

[ Reply to This ]
Sweetest yet &mdash 12/09/04 - 10:27:45 AM
Thanks, Tobin. That is a sweet review. We were hoping you'd like this. A
friend challenged me the other day with this: "Who do you think will listen to
the words of a dead poet? Why not write your own love songs?" I tried to
explain the concept. I countered, "Why read the words of dead prophets?"

As a read, there is magic in Shakespeare's timeless stanzas. However, our trio
feels the vehicle of music can help to make even more accessible the bard's
sentiments concerning love, chastity, death, fame, time and eternity. Plus, we
simply like to create powerful music whose whole is greater than the sum of
its parts. That's magic. Personally, I never cared much for Shakespeare until
Jack drew me into his little concept. Now I sing the bard's stanzas with the
greatest pathos that I can muster. The exercise is helping me to develop my
artistic expression. I thank the Master Poet for that. I now care very much
about his sonnets.

By thy way, our trio is also capable of writing original material. All in its due
course.

---
www.schletty.com/indwellings/

[ Reply to This ]
awww.. &mdash 12/09/04 - 10:51:48 AM
you're makin me all sniffly. really touching song.
everything is so very well balanced-i found myself easily
drifting from the lyrics to each of the
instruments & back. excellent all around, guys. i think bill
would be proud

[ Reply to This ]
awww.. &mdash 12/09/04 - 11:25:03 AM

Thank you, my man.

Our goal was to make the girls cry. But if you want to cry... well, that makes us happy too!

Jack

---
Making melody with your heart...

[ Reply to This ]
Cool song &mdash 01/11/05 - 09:55:12 AM
Really like this.

Just a few nits on the production. That shaker is too soft
and intermittent. It also sounds off-beat in places. The
rhythm of the right guitar could really really really use
some variation. Please?

Other than that this is a great collaboration.

[ Reply to This ]
Cool song &mdash 01/19/05 - 02:32:28 PM
Right guitar or left guitar? Depends on how you put on your headphones.
Thanks, Vic, for the comments. We'll try to tighten 'er up when we get the call
to make our stuff broadcast-ready. Call us dreamers.

---
www.schletty.com/indwellings/

[ Reply to This ]
You might be interested... &mdash 01/25/05 - 09:25:23 AM
You might be interested in a song entitled 'Like A
Beautiful Smile' by Sting. it can be found on his last album
'Sacred Love'. I think you should check it out :-)

[ Reply to This ]
No kidding. &mdash 01/31/05 - 06:26:29 PM
That was something else. I would never have heard
that in my life otherwise, thank you. You heard it
here on MacJams.

[ Reply to This ]
Nicely Done &mdash 02/20/05 - 09:18:22 AM
Great mix. I enjoyed listening to it.

I found this song randomly from the Listening
Game

[ Reply to This ]
wow &mdash 01/11/06 - 04:57:47 PM
This is realy good, i love it .id use it for on my way to pic up my sis and id just be one really ckool guy

[ Reply to This ]
wow &mdash 01/11/06 - 05:10:50 PM
This is realy good, i love it .id use it for on my way to pic up my sis and id just be one really ckool guy

[ Reply to This ]
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