david_wendelken
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2023
- Messages
- 944
Just wrote a poem that's part of a song for volume 1. Just in draft version, I need to season it a bit. Always wanted to do this particular part of the story this way but there were several major obstacles.
1) I have no musical talent AT ALL.
I have found that I can occasionally write a poem that has the correct number of beats for a given tune and scanned well for it. Ok, well, I managed it once before.
My newest attempt doesn't quite match the sample tune, it's a beat off on each line. One option is to convince a musician friend to modify the tune for me and record it, the other is to adjust the wording to match the tune. I'll post it when it's fully ready.
2) I can't hear the "metre" of a poem unless you exaggerate it by two orders of magnitude.
I'll just blame it on the difficulties inherent in translating poems from a different language. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
3) Apparently, I often can't correctly count the number of syllables in a given word, either.
For problem #3, the number of syllables, I just found this website: https://www.syllablecount.com/syllables/.
Here's the song/tune I managed to do some years back. I used the words from the group Steeleye Span's version of The Lowlands of Holland, then adjusted them to match the story I wanted the song to tell and to match the beat and tempo of the music. It turned out pretty well. (Or at least, I think so.) The Steeleye Span song is a great one, and it is very catchy, by the way. Here's their version of this old folk song:
My words to the above tune are an angry protest song from the maiden to the king who won't let her marry as she wishes. My words are as follows:
The Love that I have chosen
and therewith be content,
and the salt sea shall be frozen
before that I repent.
Repent it shall I never
until the day I die;
but through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
My Love wars in the shadows
while I sit with the Sidhe,
tis enough to break a young thing’s heart
wha’ was to be a bride.
Wha’ was to be a bonny bride
with pleasure in her een;
but through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
My Love, he built a bower fine,
all for our wedding night,
and though I’ve never seen it, yet;
Oh, how can that be right?
Lo, a thousand years are wasted
and more to come I fear;
and through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
FYI, I'm not sure about the copyright of the original song's words. I'm trying to track down whether they were part of a traditional song out of copyright or Steeleye Span's modern (and thus) copyrighted version. I'll need to do that and take the appropriate actions to be able to publish it for profit.
1) I have no musical talent AT ALL.
I have found that I can occasionally write a poem that has the correct number of beats for a given tune and scanned well for it. Ok, well, I managed it once before.
My newest attempt doesn't quite match the sample tune, it's a beat off on each line. One option is to convince a musician friend to modify the tune for me and record it, the other is to adjust the wording to match the tune. I'll post it when it's fully ready.
2) I can't hear the "metre" of a poem unless you exaggerate it by two orders of magnitude.
I'll just blame it on the difficulties inherent in translating poems from a different language. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
3) Apparently, I often can't correctly count the number of syllables in a given word, either.
For problem #3, the number of syllables, I just found this website: https://www.syllablecount.com/syllables/.
Here's the song/tune I managed to do some years back. I used the words from the group Steeleye Span's version of The Lowlands of Holland, then adjusted them to match the story I wanted the song to tell and to match the beat and tempo of the music. It turned out pretty well. (Or at least, I think so.) The Steeleye Span song is a great one, and it is very catchy, by the way. Here's their version of this old folk song:
My words to the above tune are an angry protest song from the maiden to the king who won't let her marry as she wishes. My words are as follows:
The Love that I have chosen
and therewith be content,
and the salt sea shall be frozen
before that I repent.
Repent it shall I never
until the day I die;
but through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
My Love wars in the shadows
while I sit with the Sidhe,
tis enough to break a young thing’s heart
wha’ was to be a bride.
Wha’ was to be a bonny bride
with pleasure in her een;
but through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
My Love, he built a bower fine,
all for our wedding night,
and though I’ve never seen it, yet;
Oh, how can that be right?
Lo, a thousand years are wasted
and more to come I fear;
and through the fears of princes
my Love can’t marry me.
My Love has built another life
of lonely warring strife
and braved uncounted dangers there
all for to make me wife.
But I fear that only mortal wounds
will satisfy their fears.
Oh Varda! Can’t they understand
my heart’s blood flows in tears?
And shall neither smile come on my face
nor comb come in my hair,
then shall neither star nor candlelight
shine in my bower there
And neither will I marry
until the day I’m free,
for I’ve never had a love but one,
and he can’t marry me.
Oh, hold your tongue, o maiden dear,
be still and be content.
There’s men enough in elf-land fair,
ye need not sore lament.
Oh, there’s men enough in elf-land fair,
alas, there’s none for me!
For I never had a Love but one,
and he can’t marry me.
of lonely warring strife
and braved uncounted dangers there
all for to make me wife.
But I fear that only mortal wounds
will satisfy their fears.
Oh Varda! Can’t they understand
my heart’s blood flows in tears?
And shall neither smile come on my face
nor comb come in my hair,
then shall neither star nor candlelight
shine in my bower there
And neither will I marry
until the day I’m free,
for I’ve never had a love but one,
and he can’t marry me.
Oh, hold your tongue, o maiden dear,
be still and be content.
There’s men enough in elf-land fair,
ye need not sore lament.
Oh, there’s men enough in elf-land fair,
alas, there’s none for me!
For I never had a Love but one,
and he can’t marry me.
FYI, I'm not sure about the copyright of the original song's words. I'm trying to track down whether they were part of a traditional song out of copyright or Steeleye Span's modern (and thus) copyrighted version. I'll need to do that and take the appropriate actions to be able to publish it for profit.