"Never - Never Land" (from Peter Pan)
"Jenny Rebecca" (by Carol Hall)
"Blueberry Eyes" (from Gone With the Wind)
"Castle on a Cloud" (from Les Miserables)
"Not While I'm Around" (from Sweeney Todd)
"My Broth of a Boy" (by Cole Porter)
"Edelweiss" (from The Sound of Music)
"New Words" (by Maury Yeston)
"Count Your Blessings" (from White Christmas)
Lullabies of Broadway by Mimi Bessette was one of our family's earliest lullaby purchases, so early, in fact, that we owned the old technology cassette tape version (1990), ordered from one of our all-time favorite catalogues: Music for Little People. I upgraded a few years ago to CD, because I just can't live without this beautiful, lyrical collection of tunes for night - night and early morning ("Manhatten babies don't sleep tight until the dawn"). I first bought it for my kids, of course, and then for friends of ours as their children came along, but it turns out that I'm the one who has remained in love with every song, every word.
One of my favorites is "New Words," a song about discovery, connection, the magic of language, and the gift of naming. I couldn't find it on youtube, but listen ~ here ~ for a short, sweet snippet.
And the rest:
New Words
[published by Yeston Music Ltd.]
Look up there
High above us
In a sky of blackest silk
See how round
Like a cookie
See how white, as white as milk
Call it the "moon" my son
Say "moon"
Sounds like your spoon, my son
Can you say it?
New word today, say "moon"
Near the the moon
Brightly turning
Are a thousand sparks of light
Each one new
Each one burning
Through the darkness of the night
We call them "stars," my son, say "stars"
That one is "Mars," my son
Can you say it?
New word today, say "stars"
As they blink all around us
Playing starry-eyed games
Who would think it astounds us
Simply naming their names
Turn your eyes
From the skies now
Turn around and look at me
There's a light
In my eyes now
And a word for what you see
We call it "love," my son
Say "love"
So hard to say, my son
It gets harder
New words today
We'll learn to say
Learn "moon," learn "stars"
Learn "love"
Music & lyrics
by Maury Yeston
I like the way the opening stanza moves so swiftly from one simile to the next, as the moon becomes first cookie, then milk, then spoon. And a few lines down, the verb astounds is so astounding, isn't it? Not necessarily a word you expect to come across in a lullaby, yet so apt -- because it does indeed "astound us, simply naming their names": Aldebaran . . . Andromeda . . . Cassiopeia . . . I am reminded of a conversation I was having just recently with my mother - in - law Rosanne. She said that it is so entrancing each month to watch the moon get full, you'd think it had never happened before. I had to agree!
This lullaby of amazement is perfect for the night of the full moon, such as February's Full Snow Moon, coming soon, or last month's most unusual Halo Moon, as photographed by my son Ben:
After one of last winter's full moons my friend Cheryl wrote to say that she had been up at 4:00 that morning and seen the full moon "shining across the new snowfall. It was breathtaking, but I couldn't get my camera to capture it very well." A few months of following this blog, and you will notice, if you haven't already, that, like Cheryl, I have a weakness for running outside and trying to photograph the full moon whenever it presents itself. Without any special National Geographic equipment, it's hard to get an excellent shot, but every now and then, with the help of my little zoom lens, I get one that turns out right.
On this occasion, I wrote back to share with Cheryl that, no matter how our photos had turned out, I knew just what she meant about the moonlight on the snow -- it's like that line from The Night Before Christmas: "The moon on the breast of the newfallen snow gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below." When I was little, I had no idea what that meant, but now I get it! [Also, see my post Blue Moon.]
And in closing, how about these inspiring words from my insightful friend and fellow blogger ~ Almost 60? Really? ~ Paula Lee Bright. [Also, see my post Green Stamps]:
When I was a kid I didn't know what it meant either, but it's funny: when presented with something like that a kid's brain still attempts to make sense of it. And in a way, I did! Keywords moon, snow, and mid-day DID kind of sink into our consciousness, and the other words were stored away with a tiny bit of info attached to them. How they were used, with other words. And so we began to understand. Isn't the way kids learn vocabulary and imagery and yes, even art such as poetry ~ isn't it fascinating? Dang, I loved teaching!
Like you, I am in love with language. Nothing else in the world is as all-encompassing and exciting (other than the coolness of TEACHING language to exciting kids!).
Yes, indeed ~ thanks Paula! As Mimi Bessette sings so poignantly:
We'll learn to say
Learn "moon," learn "stars"
Learn "love"
One further connection:
Mimi Bessette has also performed in the musical Opal, written by my cousin Robert Nassif Lindsey. How I would love to have seen that production live!
More on Opal:
Fortnightly: "In Love With the World"
On Kitti's Book List: About Opal Whiteley
Click to watch on youtube
January 2012
SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS FOR MY
Next Fortnightly Post
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogspot.com
Comprehensive List of Full Moon Names
Gutsy Lantern[see first comment below, from Eileen S. H.]
Eileen writes:
ReplyDeleteFor Kitti. From my trusty John Felstiner vol. (bk title:can poetry save the earth?) That man & I have a chemistry. AND i so admire his spouse's work ... So i feel the fullness of the moon as implicit. Maybe not what you have in mind, but i like. It's Tu Fu, from T'ang Dynasty, as conveyed by Rexroth: "Under my feet the moon / Glides along the river. / Near midnight, a gusty lantern {man did i want to type 'gutsy'}/ Shines in the heart of night. / Along the sandbars flocks / Of white egrets roost, / Each one clenched like a fist. / In the wake of my barge /The fish leap, cut the water, /And dive and splash." You know i don't 'spect u to use 'em all. it's different. I am glad i found it. Ttyl~love.
Mimi Bessette wrote:
ReplyDeleteHi Kitti, Thank you so much for posting such nice comments about my album on your blog. I made a comment but I don't think it printed. I've always had a special connection to the song NEW WORDS. I hope some day "love" won't be so hard to say as we get older. It's so important that we always say what's on our minds and tell people how we feel about them. I just finished a wonderful production of Frank Wildhorn's new musical BONNIE & CLYDE. I played Bonnie's mom, Emma. We were at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. The reception there was phenomenal and talk is that we're coming to Broadway in September. I hope you can come see me in the show.
Best of everything, Mimi Bessette
Paula says:
ReplyDeleteI've never felt so honored before. I'm — speechless. And you know that doesn't happen to me. Kitti, I'm simply overwhelmed. Thank you.
Dearest Kite, Last months full moon at dusk was so big here in Perfectville, OH that it took up almost all of the horizon...dark gold and grand. Jo and I were driving home and had no cameras w/us and by the time I got home, grabbed the dog to show him the moon it had staarted to rise and lessen...
ReplyDelete"One Hundred Poems from the Chinese" by Kenneth Rexroth https://www.amazon.com/reader/0811201805?_encoding=UTF8&query=glides
ReplyDelete