In my last post, I wrote about "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood". I heard it for the very first time earlier this week. Bob Force had emailed me this youtube clip of Irish singer Lavinia Blackwell and David Swarbrick's cover of the song, and he led me to Sandy Denny's version to illustrate again the outsized influence of people like Fariña and Sandy Denny on the Dulcimer Boomers like Bob and David Schnaufer. I had never heard of Sandy Denny, and both versions blew me away. The lyrics, he wrote, were Fariña's.
Don't ask me why I didn't pay further attention to that sign the universe sent. Lately I've been busier than a duck at a June bug festival as they say, so maybe that is why. But, sometimes the Muse keeps nudging until we pay attention to where it wants us to focus, and this morning she nudged again.
I read an email from Don Grundy, entitled "Check out this youtube video". It was Richard and Mimi's original version on their album, Reflections in a Crystal Wind. Watch theirs, Denny's and the Lavinia Blackwell cover. Which one do you prefer? And, if any of them resonate with you, maybe you have some thoughts on why this song kept bobbing up on my shore this week.