Philmont Hymn

The internet is a strange place. The elder daughter is expressing an interest in Girl Scouts. I had been holding out until she was 14, so she could join Venture Scouts, the co-ed program run by the BSA. I have an ulterior motive. Venture Scout crews can go to Philmont. I went thrice as a Boy Scout, and want to go back, badly. If she goes, I can go. To entice the elder daughter I told her, again, about Philmont. To drive the point home I searched youtube for Philmont videos. It wasn't hard to find nice videos with slide shows of the scenery. I may have hooked her. Of course I ran across some videos that use the Philmont Hymn as a soundtrack. I like the Philmont Hymn, and a spent the better part of the evening singing it. (The younger daughter now hates it.) After my evening shower I had a brain fart on the lyrics, and looked them up via Google. A little bit if searching turned up an astonishing coincidence. The Philmont Hymn was written by a 16 year old Philmont Ranger in 1947, John Westfall. Mr. Westfall died this month after a good life aged 81. It turns out that he lived in town I now live in. His funeral was at the Episcopal Church down the street from my house, the church my family occasionally attends. His obituary describes as active in scouts and in his community throughout his life. He was a past member of the board of directors for the ballet company my daughter is in. I never met him, but throughout my life his song has meant a great deal to me. I never met him, but I miss him.

So far as I know, the Philmont Hymn has only bee professionally recorded once, by the US Air Force Academy choir. I used to own this version as a single.

For unto us a child is born!

Merry Christmas.

Suzanne

Leonard Cohen was one of these famous musicians I knew about, but whose music I didn't really know. I knew that he was widely regarded as a genius. I, of course, knew the song from the Judy Collins version. About six months ago, while coming home from work, I heard his version on a radio program that specializes in obscurities and was blown away. He is not a great singer, but his voice works well with the spareness of the lyric and melody. As fall fades into winter in my part of the world, this seems to be an appropriately melancholy song.

City of New Orleans

I'm not much of a train guy. Never got that "romance" thing that so many guys see in them. Part of it might be that I don't have much experience with trains. I've seen freight trains all of my life but, have very little experience riding them. A couple of times on the Durango-Silverton, and about a month riding trains around Europe, pretty much sums it up. (I do have fond memories of the ride down the Rhine valley though.) On the other hand, I've lived in towns bisected by tracks. Nothing like getting stuck for half an hour watching a train go by a 1/4 mile per hour to make you hate the damn things.

So why this song then? Partly because of the melody, which I think is just about perfect, especially the chorus. The lyrics really make this song though. "Dealing cards with the old men in the club car. Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score." Has any one every caught the boredom of long distance travel so well? This song is so good that it can almost make someone like me see the what the train guys see in the them. "And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel".

Why Willie? I think he sounds better than Arlo.

2nd Suite in F for Military Band

Holst is best know for The Planets, but I knew him first through his 1st and 2nd Suites for Military Band. These are basic parts of the band repertoire, are easy enough for a good high school band to pull off. And they have baritone horn solos! Every baritone player loves Holst. I can still play large parts of these solos by memory almost thirty years later. This is the 2nd Suite. The baritone solos are in the 1st and 4th movement.

This Frederick Fennell recording is the definitive recording.

Movement 1:March:
Movement 2:Song Without Words



Movement 3: Song of the Blacksmith
Movement 4: Fantasia on the Dargason

In the Mood

Another of the charts from my Jazz Band days. This always terrified me. The beginning was manageable, but the end when everything gets softer an softer drove me nuts. I played bass trombone, and to be honest, I wasn't that good. The bass trombone part in that section is at the very bottom of the horn's register. Playing that soft and that low stretched by abilities. So of course we played it at the State competitions. We got a I, but didn't place in the top three. We were the only band to get a I other than the top three, so I guess that means we came in 4th. That's a lot better than the football team did.

Here is the master, himself.

Those Were the Days

Some songs are nostalgic. This song is nostalgia itself. I was first attracted to this song when I was in my early twenties, which just show how early one can become nostalgic. I suppose that everyone has a tavern that comes to mind when they hear this song. I have three. First is Papa Rollo's in Waco. Coming in a distant second is Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, from before the time that they became a restaurant. Finally there is St. Michael's Alley in Tulsa, which wasn't really a tavern, more of a coffee house. St. Michael's Alley is gone, Eskimo Joe's has become civilized. Perhaps Papa Rollo's still continues.

This song has an interesting history. Gene Raskin took the melody of a Russian Gypsy folk song, Dorogoi Dlinnoyu (The Long Road), and wrote or translated English lyrics. (Not knowing Russian, it is hard for me to tell if it is a translation or not). It was recorded by several people in the late sixties. The definitive version is by Mary Hopkins, although it was recorded at the about the same time by Britain's Sandie Shaw. Later cover version were done by host of people, including Bonnie Tyler, Dolly Parton and Liam Clancy.



The song was also a hit in French as Le temps des Fleurs (The Time of the Flowers) for Dalida. I like this version very much as well.



And, since we are being international, here is the Russian version, sung by Nikolay Baskov: