Alas-we-must-die songs for halloween

Peter Lynch another version for halloween itself, as sung in "songcatcher"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxE4rDEb6M

song catcher oh death

www.youtube.com

mountain life in appalachia

7 hours ago · Comment · · Share

• You like this.
• • 

    Parvati Roma

    Loved it! In return, two lovely songs on the inexorability of death from the Italian tradition:
    1) Passacaglia della Vita - also known as "Homo fugit velut umbra" (Man flees like a shadow..) by Stefano Landi, sung by the Neopolitan-English t...enor Marco Beasley accompanied by Christina Pluhar's ensemble "l'Arpeggiata"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpAxBZSXW28&feature=related
    Quick attempt at a resumé-translation:
    "Oh, how wrong to believe our years never end, alas we must die ! Life's but a dream so sweet it may seem but brief are its joys, alas we must die! No medicine saves no boldness deflects some die playing the harp some fall as they dance .. alas we must die, alas we must die" etcetc.
    More info here:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/rd3n
    ...
    No mention of hellfire-fears though, mood more like Hadrians' sad little ode to his soul? http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/65865.htmlSee More

    29 minutes ago
  • 

    Parvati Roma

    Here's the second song I promised, same source: Lucia Galleazzi singing "Ah vita bella" -
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvjq6Iu5fI
    Quick summary: first lament-part sings about "a sudden shadow has fallen like darkness at midday, all light ...around me has vanished and I don't know why ..." Then the song becomes an increasingly frantic tarantella : "I used to like eating sausages but can't do that any more... I used to like making love but can't do that any more... I used to like wine and picnics I used to love dancing too - ah beautiful life where have you gone, ah beautiful life where have you gone... I used to like watching the sun as it sank into the sea - ah beautiful life why won't you return, ah beautiful life why won't you return?"
    .......
    P.S. Yet again, this song seems to reflect the survival in the Latin world of the greco-latin vision of Hades as a place of despondent shades rather than a roasting-pit?See More

    3 minutes ago