Mike Oldfield - The Song of Hiawatha (from "Incantations")
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- Опубликовано: 10 май 2022
- From Part Two of Mike Oldfield's brilliant "Incantations" album from 1978. Words taken from the "Hiawatha's Departure" and "The Son of the Evening Star" sections of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" (1855). The painting shown is "The Departure of Hiawatha," by Albert Bierstadt, which was presented to Longfellow by the artist in 1868. Vocal by Maddy Prior. African drums performed by South African ensemble Jabula. Vibraphones by Pierre and Benoît Moerlen.
By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of the wigwam,
In the early Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leapt the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
As the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and gladness,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha.
Toward the sun his hands were lifted,
Both the palms spread out toward it,
And between the parted fingers
Fell the sunshine on his features,
Flecked with light his naked shoulders,
As it falls and flecks an oak-tree
Through the rifted leaves and branches.
O'er the water floating, flying,
Something in the hazy distance,
Something in the mists of morning,
Loomed and lifted from the water,
Now seemed floating, now seemed flying,
Coming nearer, nearer, nearer.
Was it Shingebis the diver?
Or the pelican, the Shada?
Or the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah?
Or the white goose, Waw-be-wawa,
With the water dripping, flashing,
From its glossy neck and feathers?
It was neither goose nor diver,
Neither pelican nor heron,
O'er the water floating, flying,
Through the shining mist of morning,
But a birch canoe with paddles,
Rising, sinking on the water,
Dripping, flashing in the sunshine;
And within it came a people......
Can it be the sun descending
O'er the level plain of water?
Or the Red Swan floating, flying,
Wounded by the magic arrow,
Staining all the waves with crimson,
With the crimson of its life-blood,
Filling all the air with splendor,
With the splendor of its plumage?
Yes; it is the sun descending,
Sinking down into the water;
All the sky is stained with purple,
All the water flushed with crimson!
No; it is the Red Swan floating,
Diving down beneath the water;
To the sky its wings are lifted,
With its blood the waves are reddened!
Over it the Star of Evening
Melts and trembles through the purple,
Hangs suspended in the twilight,
Walks in silence through the heavens.....
By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of the wigwam,
In the early Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leapt the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
As the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and gladness,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha.
Toward the sun his hands were lifted,
Both the palms spread out toward it,
And between the parted fingers
Fell the sunshine on his features,
Flecked with light his naked shoulders,
As it falls and flecks an oak-tree
Through the rifted leaves and branches.
O'er the water floating, flying,
Something in the hazy distance,
Something in the mists of morning,
Loomed and lifted from the water,
Now seemed floating, now seemed flying,
Coming nearer, nearer, nearer.
Was it Shingebis the diver?
Or the pelican, the Shada?
Or the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah?
Or the white goose, Waw-be-wawa,
With the water dripping, flashing,
From its glossy neck and feathers?
It was neither goose nor diver,
Neither pelican nor heron,
O'er the water floating, flying,
Through the shining mist of morning,
But a birch canoe with paddles,
Rising, sinking on the water,
Dripping, flashing in the sunshine;
And within it came a people......
Can it be the sun descending
O'er the level plain of water?
Or the Red Swan floating, flying,
Wounded by the magic arrow,
Staining all the waves with crimson,
With the crimson of its life-blood,
Filling all the air with splendor,
With the splendor of its plumage?
Yes; it is the sun descending,
Sinking down into the water;
All the sky is stained with purple,
All the water flushed with crimson!
No; it is the Red Swan floating,
Diving down beneath the water;
To the sky its wings are lifted,
With its blood the waves are reddened!
Over it the Star of Evening
Melts and trembles through the purple,
Hangs suspended in the twilight,
Walks in silence through the heavens.....
Gracias por subir el poema!❤
@@martajuliaaria412 It is such a marvelous poem.
Awesome. One of my favourites from Mr Oldfield and Maddy's singing is spellbinding ❤
I agree. This never fails to move me deeply.
Beautiful voice of Maddy Prioy
So true. I was a Steeleye Span when this album was released so I was pleased to hear Maddy on Oldfield’s album.
oh yea, loved Maddy's solo on this..
From Longfellow poem
I need to hear this again….after I clean out my wigwam…thanks Jeff !
I'll bet ol' "Hiawatha" would have loved this music.....haha!
Hey Jeff, Nice serendipity that you'd put this up as I've been on a Mike Oldfield/David Bedford kick the last few days, largely inspired by revisiting your video on the various Tubular Bells albums. This happens to be my very favorite section of this album, so it's perfect! Lovely painting to gaze at as well. Thanks for sharing. -Carm
Thanks Carm. I knew that you'd love this extract as much as do I. I used to drive my college dormmates crazy in 1979 by listening to this double LP over and over at loud volume, and they especially hated this vocal section and would invariably leave the room when I'd play it. But I would lay there in rapt pleasure, with tears in my eyes, basking in the sheer beauty of this music. No words can describe how much those first four albums by Oldfield mean to me. Thanks for the comment, Carm. By the way, I have taken the extracts from Longfellow's "Hiawatha" that Oldfield used, and "corrected" them to match Maddy's singing (except for one change she made that I highly suspect was a rather garbled misreading of the line, haha, so I left it as Longfellow wrote it), and I have posted these words on this video (both in the description and as a pinned comment) if you are interested in reading along while the music plays. I love the whole Hiawatha thing, and always have. Cheers! Jeff
@@CalicoSilver Ah very nice, appreciate you listing the lyrics to read along with. I'm imagining you and them back then in college and understand that so well, as it was at least a couple decades before I found fellow aural travellers that seemed to appreciate music like I did. Same here, the others would roll their eyes at the music that'd bring tears to mine. I wanted so much to find others who felt what I did....or would at least admit to it if they really did! Took a while, though finally did through what we're doing here. :-)
Sit, looking back over a long period loving music you come across a lot of beautiful songs.
But once in a while you hear something for the first time that hits you square in the middle
of you psyche(if that is possible,probably not ,but you know what I mean)
One exquisite moment in time when it ALL comes together
I had this when I first heard e.g. Born to Run by Mr. Springsteen and the CD ,,Impossible Dream,,by
Mrs. Patty Griffin and also the first time I heard the CD(LP at the time) ,,Platinum,,by Mike Oldfield
Thanks for this excerpt. See you around
Wonderful to meet another Mike Oldfield fan, Alexander! His '70s music means so much to me, and I wore out Platinum and QE2 also. Marvelous albums. Cheers! Jeff
I have not heard this album. Somewhat different for Oldfield, though the basic rhythm kind of echoes the main Tubular Bells theme, which he can't seem to escape no matter how hard he tries. Laurie Anderson mines the same territory on her Hiawatha with her own unique take.
This was Oldfield's last gasp with his '70s minimalist-orchestral prog music. He went to more synth-pop and vocal music later into the '80s. But this album 'Incantations' was influenced by David Bedford and Philip Glass and others, so it is quite incantation-like. But I love it dearly. I need to hear Laurie's Hiawatha - thanks!
@@CalicoSilver It's on her Strange Angels album, which is her best one.
Heya no ah
Perhaps a better idea would be ,,make an Immediate connection with,,
(English is not my native language so my vocabulary is somewhatt limited)