The researching and writing for Pluck was a gargantuan learning experience on a number of levels. And the learning continues, thanks to the kind generosity of people who continue to teach me what music tells us about life. Bob Force is one of those people; he recently sent me down the rabbit hole again to reveal more influences on folk musicians of the sixties and seventies like himself and David Schnaufer. Everyone, he says, knew Sandy Denny's music. And everyone was influenced and inspired by Richard Fariña. Except I didn't, and I wasn't. My life is richer for it knowing it now.
This time, Bob lifted the domed cloche to reveal a powerfully beautiful plate: Denny's arrangement of the old Irish air, "My Lagan Love" set to the twenty-something Fariña's poetry, entitled "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood".
I wish this were on a looped list of songs broadcasted night and day across the Ukraine toward the Russian soldiers trampled over the bodies. Click on the video to listen to Denny sing this exquisite song while you read the lyrics below.
Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
As gentle tides go rolling by, Along the salt sea strand, The colours blend and roll as one, Together in the sand. And often do the winds entwine, Do send their distant call, The quiet joys of brotherhood, And love is lord of all. The oak and weed together rise, Along the common ground. The mare and stallion light and dark, Have thunder in their sound. The rainbow sign, the blended flower, Still have my heart in thrall. The quiet joys of brotherhood, And love is lord of all. But man has come to plough the tide, The oak lies on the ground. I hear their tires in the fields, They drive the stallion down. The roses bleed both light and dark, The winds do seldom call. The running sands recall the time, When love was lord of all. [Richard Fariña / Sandy Denny / Fairport Convention]
Reposted from: https://www.sandydenny.co.uk/lyrics/quietjoys.htm
Explore more about Sandy Denny here.
Learn more about Richard Fariña here.
Visit and explore Robert Force's website here