1. “Lord, what a thoughtless wretch was I,
    To mourn, murmur and repine,
    To see the wicked placed on high,
    In pride and robes of honour shine.

    But oh their end, their dreadful end,
    Thy sanctuary taught me so,
    On slippery rocks I see them stand,
    And fiery billows roll below.”

    — Isaac Watts, 1719, still relevant 300 years later :/

    It’s number 183 in the 1991 Sacred Harp, if you feel like singing it to suitably epic music.

  2. New singing goal: be able to sing all of Moondog 2, which just blew my mind

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwBGtgoVPLs

    I couldn’t find the lyrics for all of the tracks collected together in one place, so here are as many as I can find or figure out.

    00:00
    Bells are ringing dinga linga linga linga ling-a linga linga linga ling
    dinga linga linga linga ling-a linga linga linga ling
    dig all the kids who carry bells, merry bells
    who are they?
    why they're the
    hippies

    01:21
    Voices of spring were in chorus
    each voice was singing a song
    I could not sing in that chorus until I wrote me a song
    I wrote my song and joined the throng (source)

    03:10
    What’s the most exciting thing about life?
    tell me or I’ll tell you
    come on come on
    I know you know what I know it’s in your eyes
    I’ll have to tell you, I can’t wait
    it’s L O V E it’s love
    and I’m in love; I’m so happy
    it’s L O V E it’s love
    I’m incoherent my dear
    oh happy happiness
    in love
    in love
    in love
    oh happy happiness, happiness
    Darling the answer is love (source)

    05:43
    All is loneliness before me
    loneliness before me
    loneliness

    07:12
    My tiny butterfly butters my bread
    my briny flutterby keeps me well fed
    why should I mutter?

    08:26
    Why spend a dark night with you?
    what a fearful price to pay
    other nights nights would but be
    lonely dark ages for me

    09:37
    Coffee beans make the finest coffee of all
    it’s time to take
    a coffee break
    to sit a while and savour
    the rarest coffee flavor
    of bean coffee
    I make with bottled spring water
    is my day (source)

    11:50
    Down is up and so up is down because the earth is round
    there is no such thing as up or down

    12:58
    Be a hobo and go with me
    from Hoboken to the sea

    14:08
    Remember, remember, remember, memeber
    to vote the way
    the way we say
    or else
    or else what
    I won’t

    16:03
    I love you
    for your lovely still small voice
    I will love your still small voice
    till my voice
    is still

    17:14
    Nero’s expedition up the Nile
    failed
    because the water hyacinth
    had blocked the river
    denying Nero’s vessels passage through
    the Sud of Nubia

    19:08
    No, the wheel was never invented.
    no, no, no, no
    your legs are spokes of a two legged wheel
    and your hips are knobbly axles
    the world was always on wheels

    20:28
    With my wealth I wish I had lived when great genius lived
    what I would not have done
    Fool, the writings of your dying beggar reveal that he is
    by far the greatest one

    22:05
    This student of life
    has enrolled
    as that student for life
    his Alma Mater
    is all the world
    with father time as mentor

    23:31
    Some trust all
    some trust some, ho
    some trust one
    I trust none, ho
    not even myself

    25:01
    Wine, woman and song are too, too much for me
    I am contented with the latter two
    for
    woman and my song are simply
    wine enough you see

    27:25
    Sadness was so mixed with gladness
    that she wept with joy
    she was so sad
    tears filled but enhanced the smile on her face
    she was so glad

    28:48
    Maybe, maybe, maybe someday
    I’ll be recognised for what I am
    before I’m dead and gone
    or if not before then after it all

    30:53
    Each today is yesterday’s tomorrow which is now
    now is all I have
    now is all I need
    now is all I want
    now

    32:32
    Imagine what it's like to have a long suffering
    night walker walking on you
    I’m standing there barefoot, facing the meadow
    oh, oh, something is crawling on my muddy foot
    what the, it's a wet worm
    I tell you I started walking, too
    I mean we parted company
    maybe we think it safe enough to say,
    we had quite enough of us that night

    34:51
    You, the vandal
    plunder the village as you will
    the earthworm will pillage you
    the vandal
    when you are under

    37:01
    Trees against the sky
    fields of plenty
    rivers to the sea
    this
    and more
    spreads before me

    38:22
    Behold the willow bows before me
    but not the oak I’m uprooting
    remarked the wind

    39:51
    Sparrows wake me in the morning in Gotham where I live
    except when I’m up to Tioga
    other birds wake me there
    so fair their singing

  3. Apparently the lyrics for Steve Knightley’s Unlock Me are not on the web yet. Here is my attempt to fix this:

    you hand me a bunch of keys
    said “let’s look through the past.”
    you know I like to please
    but all I ask
    is which one,
    oh, which one
    unlocks me.

    the first key opens a garden gate
    where I play in the sun.
    under the trees a shadow grows dark
    and I want to run.
    does this one,
    oh, does this one
    unlock me?

    you look around, there’s no-one there
    you say “something’s wrong”.
    what is it that I’ve got to hide?
    then we move on.

    the next key opens the old front door
    daylight shines in the hall.
    I hear a voice I’m trying to hide
    pressed up against the wall.
    does this one
    oh, does this one
    unlock me?

    we enter a room at the top of the stairs
    I hide under the bed.
    my hand touches a small wooden box
    with my name written in red.
    you open the box, there’s nothing inside
    you say “something’s wrong.”
    what is it that I’ve got to hide?
    unlock me

    I’m not speaking to you any more
    I throw your keys at your feet
    down the stairs, through the front door
    I open the gate to the street
    will someone
    please someone
    unlock me

    unlock me
    unlock me
    unlock me

  4. Anyone know the name/origin/lyrics of a probably English xmas-themed folk song with this chorus:

    Bring in the green bring in the green
    for it is our desire
    to celebrate the holiday
    with food and drink and fire

    Various google searchings reveal nothing, and I never got a copy of the lyrics.

  5. yiddishsong.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/di-gantse-velt-iz-hevl-havolim-performed-by-lillian-manuel has some interesting background about the song “Hevl iz Havolim”, and one of the comments has what appears to be a quite extensive translation, but of a different version — it doesn’t translate the two longer verses in the middle of the version the Klezmatics sing.

    That version is covered by this klesmer-musik.de/hevl_iz_havolim.htm German version, which seems to line up better with the sung lyrics, but Google-translated the middle verses are still rather vague. I suspect they’re using idioms and imagery which does not easily translate word-for-word.

  6. Twelve Days of Show of Hands Christmas

    On the first day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me the Keys of Canterbury
    On the second day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me two Tracks of Words…
    On the third day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me three Cutthroats, Crooks and Conmen…
    On the fourth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me four Beaten Bushes…
    On the fifth day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me five Bristol Slavers…
    On the sixth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me Six O’Clock Waltzes…
    On the seventh day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me seven Galway Farmers…
    On the eigthth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me eight Blind Fiddlers…
    On the ninth day of Christmas Steve Knightely gave to me nine Silver Daggers…
    On the tenth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me ten Preachers on islands…
    On the eleventh day of Christmas Steve Knightly gave to me eleven Crazy Boys…
    On the twelfth day of Christmas Show of Hands gave to me twelve Twats Twittering…


    Rejected lyrics included “sallys free and easy”, “gallons of red diesel”, “inane youtube videos”, and “old jokes”. Songs: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12