It is refreshing to my soul to listen to instrumental music that I can sing along with in my head. I grow weary of watching singers’s faces. It can be an awkward thing, singing.
Simple Gifts - William Coulter and Barry Philips
What do you hear in your head - “Simple Gifts” or “Lord of the Dance?”
Here is a simple, exquisite version by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss
The song was written in 1848 by Joseph Brackett, a Shaker living in Maine. Sydney Carter wrote the “Lord of the Dance” lyrics in the 1960s.
Aaron Copland is probably the person most responsible for popularizing the tune. He used it as the basis for Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Martha Graham. You can find the entire ballet on Youtube, with or without dancers, as well as videos of the Simple Gifts segment set to lovely nature pictures. Most of the pictures appear to be the Rockies, but keep looking...
Michael Flatley exploded on the dance concert scene with Lord of the Dance in the 90’s. While my daughters and I loved the Celtic sound combined with the wonderful Irish dancing, I would occasionally ponder the irony of the original text set to such a lavish, ego-centric production.
For years I would have mentally heard “Lord of the Dance” lyrics and still appreciate the truth of those words, but the original lyrics speak to me of humility, of paring life down to its essence, and still having joy. The tune is always associated with dancing -“to turn” probably has a double meaning - repent and come round right as you turn in a circle with other dancers. Lovely image both ways.
Simple Gifts
‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free,
‘Tis a gift to come round where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ‘round right.
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