DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX
Wynn, Emily and Lois
Dear Mom,
I am on tour and have arrived in Boston this morning on Mother’s Day. I am doing well and miss you very much. I thought it would be nice, instead of a fancy homemade card that would arrive late, to send you a homemade song that would arrive much more on time… well, it’s kind of homemade. This is one of your favorite primary songs…
I actually tried to do it just as it was written, but I just couldn’t! I had to mash it all up… unfortunately, this meant leaving some words out. But I left in my favorite words. I kind of wish I had taken more time on it than I did, but I will do you another one!
I am thinking of you all the time and love you very much. I will see you soon! I’m sure of it!
Love,
Emily Hope
Writing: This is a LDS Primary hymn called I Often Go Walking written by Phyllis Luch and Jeanne P. Lawler in 1969. I generally like this song. It’s very simple, and I love it mainly because my mother loves it. I started reading it from the actual sheet music, but as I recorded it, it just wasn’t coming together. I tuned down and just started working on it in free form. It’s a shortened version that actually ended up incomplete. I find covers difficult to change only because any altered melody is a change based from the original melody… and if you don’t know the original melody one might become lost if there is no reference point, but I hope you can follow it even if you’re not familiar with it.
Recording: A bit more complicated that I had intended. Cello parts are duplicated and sped up after recording which give it that vibrato in the mix. I like it… it’s like it’s got a flanger on it, but it doesn’t. The main vocal was done last, though I had to do a few takes and cut here and there, which you might be able to detect, but if you don’t care, it’s a better listening experience, I think. The main melody line is actually kind of improvised, as are the accompanying back ground vocals, and the main line is loosely based on the original melody that I am familiar with. I also had to do a bit of cutting around with the cello line to make an intro that I totally avoided adding in originally, but it blends alright…
I Often Go Walking
1. I often go walking in meadows of clover,
And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.
I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;
Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you.
2. O mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through;
Left out lyrics:
(For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.)
This is beautiful. The lyrics sound familiar from when I was a little little person, but the melody I had a harder time placing. I think I remember singing this one. (I bet it makes your mom cry)
Ami,
This is a version I found on youtube… it’s a capella, but the melody that is sung is the original…
I hope my mom likes it, too!
Lovely. I loved your moody and dreamy improv on cello in Sommerville. Vocals superb and cello extrodinaire. Let me know when you post it.
Very nice Emily. I like this arrangement better. We sang the original version at my grandmother’s funeral when I was young and it still makes me very sad. I’d love to hear the finished product.
(I may have just “outed” myself . . . oh well, I guess).