I took a bit of writing from Tolkien's "Fellowship of the Ring". In an early portion of the story, Frodo & co. stop in at the "Prancing Pony" inn in Bree. There, they meet up with Strider, whom they later find out is Aragorn. The innkeeper gives Frodo a letter from Gandalf that sort of introduces Aragorn to them. In a p.s. to the letter, there's a poem / song / prose bit that starts off with these two lines:
All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wander are lost.
I've always been partial to the second line, so that's what I used. I don't think the song turned out as good as I'd hoped, but mostly because I'm without much extra time this week, preparing for a big feast tomorrow, and, I know I won't get to it later in the week. So here's how it stands so far.
Wanderer
========
[v1]
Though he's never owned a house,
never felt like he was homeless.
And he's never had a job,
but he stays quite occupied.
Finding dinner on the trail,
he's got shelter in the forest
and he hopes that he can live that way
until the day he dies.
[chorus]
All that glitters isn't gold,
all who wander are not lost.
When the stories are all told,
your notions may be tossed.
[v2]
He's never owned a TV,
found a radio one day,
but he thought the talk was foolish,
and he threw the thing away.
Some say that he has nothing,
he believes he owns the world.
With a sky as big as heaven,
and a home that can't be sold.
[chorus]
All that glitters isn't gold,
all who wander are not lost.
When the stories are all told,
your notions may be tossed.
[v3]
He's a wanderer, a hobo,
the old folks always say,
the children point and call him "troll"
before they run away.
so he stays up in the mountains,
he has breakfast with the trees,
converses with the animals,
I've never been that free.
[chorus]
All that glitters isn't gold,
all who wander are not lost.
When the stories are all told,
your notions may be tossed.
-- Scratch 8)
-- Scratch 8)
"...if heartaches were commercials, we'd all be on TV" -- John Prine
42
hey scratch,
nice job here. i really do like the lines that you decided to write about. you always manage to tell a good story that is easily understood and able to follow. flows very nice and nothing really seems out of place or akward. sorryfor making this so short, but i am very tired right now. maybe i will comment more later.
-CheapThrill
I like your song but I feel kinda lost (ironic) about whom you are referring to. Who is this wanderer? Maby your point is not to know. I really like the verse you chose to base this off. I like the chorus, a little confused how notions can be tossed but that is just me.
No words no explination just music
Hi Taintedpoet,
The line "Your notions may be tossed" is just a way to say your ideas about some folks may have to be discarded (tossed, as in tossed out) once you have the facts. I should probably re-work this one and make it clearer, but this week is (as I mentioned) quite crammed with activity already.
And the decision to leave the character more general was, as you guessed, intentional. which is not to say it was a good decision, only an intentional one.
Thanks for taking the time to read it, and comment on it.
-- Scratch 8)
-- Scratch 8)
"...if heartaches were commercials, we'd all be on TV" -- John Prine
42
...what's old won't become a ghost
...the crownless ascends the throne.... or something like that :wink:
hi scratch, I read the books a couple of years ago and was fascinated by that verse, too:) I even posted it on my homepage of that time.
I like the chorus and I think the song is getting better towards the end, so the last four lines of verse2 are great and so are the last four lines of verse3...actually, now that I reread it the last 4 lines of each verse are awesome, would be cool just to have them for the 4 verses...but would it still make sense then? no it wouldn't...okay it was just an idea of mine;))
really a cool basement you have here, hope you find the time to build the house upon it;) well, it's just the roof that is to be done yet :wink:
like what you have so far.
bluenightangel
"oh, eventually it will break your heart" - anders wendin
Like this one Scratch.....at first I thought the person you were writing about was Aragorn, then I realised it wasn't...sort of a Grizzly Adams-type "mountain man?"
Reads very well to me, had no trouble fitting a rhythm to it....a few different ways you could do this, though I don't quite know what you have in mind...I saw it as a little Dylanesque...
"And he's never had a job, but he stays quite occupied"...I love word-play like this....
Do I detect a slight wistful yearning here, a desire to quit the rat-race?
:) :) :)
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Do I detect a slight wistful yearning here, a desire to quit the rat-race?
Perhaps not so slight, Vic. But otherwise, yeah. I need to alter the last line, it's far too direct. In fact, the whole last verse could probably stand to be re-worked. But I wanted to post something before the holidays hit.
I was concerned too, that it would sound like I was writing about Aragorn, and I didn't want to re-tell the story, as Bob mentioned, but rather to cast that line to a different setting.
Anyways, glad you liked it. For now though, it goes on the "unfinished" list.
This weekend, I'm going to have a listen to your mp3. Looking forward to that.
-- Scratch 8)
-- Scratch 8)
"...if heartaches were commercials, we'd all be on TV" -- John Prine
42
