April 13, 2013

Loreena McKennitt - The Highwayman

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"The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
And the highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding,
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

"He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

"Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark innyard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by the moonlight,
Watch for me by the moonlight,
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way....."

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--The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 13, 2013 9:37 AM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

I remember that poem!

The moon as a galleon was what struck me at first when I read it almost thirty years ago.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at April 13, 2013 3:30 PM

And without listening, I remember that she sacrifices herself to warn him...and he returns and is slain...and their ghosts haunt the old inn ever after.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at April 13, 2013 3:33 PM

I wonder what could be done with 'The Wreck of the Hesperus'?

Posted by: Mikey NTH at April 13, 2013 3:46 PM

Mr. Vanderleun, Your work has been an inspiration to me, but if you aspire to this, I cannot imagine what you may achieve. May the hand of God weigh heavily on your pen. Best wishes.


PS. I do not mean to cast any aspersions on your work by my comment. The Highwayman, as a timeless classic, is just extremely worthy of emulation by a wordsmith such as yourself.

Posted by: Roger Drew Williams at April 13, 2013 5:52 PM

Give a listen to McKennitt's "Beneath a Phyrgian Sky.”

Some used your name for glory
Some used it for their gain
Yet when liberty lay wanting
No lives were lost in vain

Posted by: ErisGuy at April 14, 2013 4:58 AM

Ahhhh! This is the poem that taught me to love poetry!! I had, in 7th grade in 1963, a dried up spinster for an English teacher - what was her name? I've long forgotten it...(SORRY!, Ma'am!!) BUT this poem we read, took apart, and learned about onomotopoeia, and simile, and all the other names for poetic conventions I've forgotten, except for the love of Poetry. I DID think the gal was an idiot for dying for love, at the time. I think differently 50 years later! ;-)))

Posted by: Susan Lee at April 15, 2013 1:43 PM

Beautifully set to music and sung by Loreena McKennett.

Thank you

Posted by: Shutterbug at April 15, 2013 8:57 PM

Find the CBS Radio Workshop broadcast from the 10th of February 1957 (www.archive.org should have it).
William Conrad narrated four poems. With some sound effects....
"The Highwayman" was the first, as I recall.
Truly magnificent.
The Final selection he made was a Japanese item:
Silence:
The butterfly sleeps
on the temple bell.

Wonderful stuff!

Posted by: Eric Fithian at April 16, 2013 5:05 PM