Something Wonderful: Sarah Jarosz - Annabel Lee @ AMERICAN DIGEST

February 24, 2013

Something Wonderful: Sarah Jarosz - Annabel Lee

21st century bluegrass re-visioning of a 19th century poem by Poe.

1849 fair copy by Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee; -
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee -
With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night,
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me: -
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we -
Of many far wiser than we -
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: -

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride
In the sepulchre there by the sea -
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 24, 2013 5:40 PM

Even better, that's not Bluegrass (which is an artifact of the 20th century,) but authentic 19th-century Southern mountain banjo.

Put another way, it's music that Poe could have heard - or a setting that could have been made by someone who heard Poe reading his stuff. And that, it is obvious to me, was Ms Jarosz' intent.

Wonderful indeed.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at February 25, 2013 12:37 PM

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Lovely, ain't it?! She does a wonderful version of "Ring them Bells" also. The Transatlantic sessions are stellar. So many amazing musicians all playing together.

Posted by: teresa at February 25, 2013 3:17 PM

Sarah Jarosz is one my top five favorite voices, it doesn't hurt that she's from Wimberly, Texas

I'll echo Teresa, her Transatlantic sessions are wonderful.

Give this a listen, the girl's pure heaven.

Posted by: Daphne at February 25, 2013 7:15 PM

thx for this antidote to the bad news on the innertubes. why i keep coming back here as last read of the day...

ps to the musicians here - isnt this mountain music the offspting of scots and other poor englishmen who migrated west when indenditure paid? cousins of poe if so?

Posted by: rlc at February 26, 2013 11:29 AM