Concert Notes
" Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain"
"Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain" A man referred to simply as ‘anyone’ lives in a town all the year round, singing and dancing his way through things in a carefree manner. The men and women who live in the town don’t seem to give him any thought, except for a woman, ‘noone’, who laughs and grieves with him and appreciates him. The children seem to realise that ‘noone’ loves ‘anyone’, but as they grow up they become like the other adults and don’t really care.
Around ‘anyone’ and ‘noone’, other ‘someones’ get married and get on with their lives, just like ‘anyone’ and ‘noone’. They lived, or ‘slept’, their dream. Then, one day, ‘anyone’ appears to have died, and ‘noone’ died of grief some time after. They were buried side by side.
And in time, the other men and women living around them also died, too, coming and going (‘went their came’) as the bells ring and the seasons change. Read more about the poet and this poem here: https://interestingliterature.com/2019/10/a-short-analysis-of-e-e-cummings-anyone-lived-in-a-pretty-how-town/
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream
stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain
"When the Sun Comes After Rain"
At its core, "When The Sun Come After Rain" is a celebration of resilience and renewal. It is a reminder that even in the darkest and most difficult times, there is always the possibility of rebirth and regeneration. The poem is a testament to the human spirit's capacity for hope and the power of nature's cycles. On the surface, "When The Sun Come After Rain" is a simple and beautiful poem about the transformative power of nature. But upon closer inspection, it is a profound meditation on the human spirit's capacity for hope and resilience. The rain represents the dark and difficult times we all face, while the sun represents the hope and possibility that always exists, even in the bleakest of circumstances.
Stevenson's language and imagery are both powerful and accessible. He captures the sensory experience of rain and sun with remarkable clarity, and his descriptions of the transformed world are both evocative and uplifting. The poem is a testament to the beauty and resilience of the natural world, and a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is always the possibility of rebirth and renewal.
"Have You Ever Seen the Rain" John Fogerty has said in interviews and prior to playing the song in concert that it concerns tensions within Creedence Clearwater Revival themselves and the imminent departure of his brother Tom Fogerty from the band. In a 2020 interview with American Songwriter, Fogerty stated that the line "Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?" was inspired by the band's feelings of unease and depression at the height of their fame and commercial success. The band would ultimately split in October 1972, following the release of the album Mardi Gras.
In a literal sense, the song describes a sunshower, such as in the lyric "It'll rain a sunny day" and the chorus, "Have you ever seen the rain, comin' down on a sunny day?" These events are particularly common in the Deep South due to localized atmospheric wind shear effects
"Blue Moon" The final version of the song lyrics contributed to the folklore interpretation of the phrase "blue moon" as a symbol of sadness and loneliness, a meaning which sharply contrasts with those of the astronomical phenomenon Blue moon.
A blue moon refers either to the presence of a second full moon in a calendar month, to the third full moon in a season containing four, or to a moon that appears blue due to atmospheric effects.
"A Song of Night" Born on September 25, 1871, in New York City, Hildegarde Hawthorne was the daughter and granddaughter of well-known writers. Like her father, Julian Hawthorne (1846-1934), and her grandfather, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), Hildegarde Hawthorne wrote of strange and supernatural events, and like Nathaniel Hawthorne, she was published in Weird Tales long after her death. Her lone story for the magazine was "Perdita," originally in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1897, anthologized in Shapes That Haunt the Dusk in 1907, and reprinted in Weird Tales in Summer 1973.
"Good Night Dear Heart" From Dan Forrest.......... "A few years ago, my brother and his wife found out that the four month old girl that they were soon to adopt from Ethiopia had fallen ill and passed away. They had been making plans for her, staring endlessly at her picture, and loving her from across the ocean, so the news was devastating. God’s plans were not for her to ever see the people who had loved her from halfway around the world, but for her to be taken instead to His loving arms. For me, life circumstances (whether euphoric or tragic) don’t usually translate into musical inspiration; the two typically remain separate. The night they received this news, though, I found myself longing to pour out a musical elegy. My search for a suitable text led me to a picture from a cemetery in my hometown (Elmira, NY), where the great American author Mark Twain and his family are buried. My brother and I, from our youth, have known the poem that Twain placed on the tombstone of his beloved daughter Susy, when she died unexpectedly at age 24 and left him heartbroken. I was stunned by the bittersweet irony of this text being from our hometown, and in honor of a beloved daughter who died unexpectedly. I wrote this setting that night; it was quickly added to an upcoming concert and premiered only one week later, as an elegy and a reminder of the orphans of Ethiopia."