Christine Sparks has just recorded this very live version of The Lea-Rig. Written by Robert Burns ...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uKOpZsIleQM

It is a great candidate for her follow up album to The Robert Burns Collection Vol1.

Christine's Facebook artist page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/christinesparksscotland . There you will find an increasing number of other video clips and links to her CDBaby page where you can purchase the album.

Back on track with Robert Burns Songs

Good grief - it has been almost a month since I last blogged. We have had a lot happening - including the removal from our house of all our computers and hard drives plus the video camera. But that is no excuse!!

We have movement on the Robert Burns Songs front in that we are doing a brand new version of "A Man's a Man". Christine has moved the verse into a minor key, revisting the major key for the chorus. It makes for a very edgy feel and really suits the lyrics. It will be interesting to see how the traditionalists respond to the slightly different tune and approach.

Burns himself was a great believer in trying new ideas and borrowing others' ideas when it came to lyrics and melodies, so we are following in his footsteps.

Watch this space for an excerpt of "A Man's a Man" once we have it down on "tape" - Christine is very excited about this new version and it will also translate very well live.

Tomorrow!!

John

Ae Fond Kiss Video

Here is another song from the album The Songs of Robert Burns in video format. It is Ae Fond Kiss.

Christine is singing with only light drones accompanying her and so the wonderful words, written by Robert Burns as one of his most famous love songs, are highlighted in this beautiful version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcOJSqi_3rg

 

My Love is Like a Red Red Rose Video

Here is a video for a song that will be on The Songs of Robert Burns album when it comes out early in 2011.

The song is called My Love is Like a Red Red Rose. It was recorded by Christine Sparks in her home studio and is the song with which she often finishes her live shows - enjoy :-)

My Love is like a Red Red Rose - Robert Burns Songs

Wow - that week was very fast!! Christine was working on A Man's a Man when I wrote my last Blog - just to report that there is still ongoing pre-recording work happening and that another Burns classic,  Ye Banks And Braes O' Bonnie Doon, has made its way onto the recorder ahead of A Man's a Man.

Ye Banks and Braes is, I believe, a very interesting song. The tune is very sweet and when sung with major chords, sounds more like a spring day tune of celebration than the bittersweet message contained in the words. Here are the words:

Ye banks and braes o' bonnie doon
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And i'm sae weary, fu' o' care!
Y'ell break my heart, ye warbling bird,
That wantons through the flow'ring thorn
Ye mind me o' departed joys,
Departed, never to return.

Oft i have roved by bonnie doon
To see the rose of woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sand o' its luve,
And fondly sae did i o'mine.
We lightsome hearts i stretch'd my hand
And pu'd a rosebud from the tree;
But my fause lover stole the rose
And left, and left the thorn wi' me

So true to the heart of the album "The Songs of Robert Burns", Christine has scored a very different piano part that goes deep to capture the feelings encapsulated within Burns' lyrics. A 12 string guitar part has been added to compliment the piano and to add the movement of the water to the stillness of the Banks and Braes. Still to be added are whistle and strings, including a beautiful counter melody, one that everyone will recognise, in the last verse.

I think that I will revisit all the other posts and add the lyrics of each song as appropriate. I hope to be adding some video clips soon as well.

Oh yes, this post is called My Love is like a Red Red Rose. The reason is that I have today recreated the landing page for a free live video of Red Red Rose, recorded by Christine in our home. The link for the page is http://www.myloveislikearedredrose.com/ - here are the words:

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That’s sweetly play'd in tune.


As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:


Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.


And fare thee weel, my only Luve
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.


Red Red Rose will also be included on the album "The Songs of Robert Burns".

All for now.

A Man's a Man - a classic Robert Burns song

Tonight is very cold in the West of Scotland  (-10c going down to -20c in some areas). 

However, Christine is busy recording a brand new version of A Man's a Man as I write this blog. I do not yet know what instruments she is using, but I do know know that she wants to do something very different from the usual approach.

Christine feels that the words of Burn's classic song deserve a special treatment to align the music with the message conveyed.

The album, The Songs of Robert Burns will be all the stronger for the inclusion of A man's a Man - I look forward to reporting how the session went in my next Blog.

Here are the lyrics:

Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

Ca' the Yowes Tae the Knowes

So, another Robert Burns song has been recorded. Ca' The Yowes tae the Knowes is another beautiful ballad, this version being recorded with 6 and 12 string guitars. The album "The Songs of Robert Burns" by The Sensational Christine Sparks is now really starting to take shape.

Christine recorded her guitar in a single take and then did the same with the vocals. We now need to put on the 12 string part and then either a whistle or a violin for the solo part.

Tomorrow we will be speaking with harmonica player, Stuart Farquharson, to arrange for him to come over and put some harmonica parts down.

I think we will be mastering the three songs recorded in our home based studio over the next couple of days, Parcel of Rogues, Aya Waukin O and Ca' the Yowes - three of Robert Burns very best songs.

Chorus.-Ca' the yowes to the knowes,
Ca' them where the heather grows,
Ca' them where the burnie rowes,
My bonie dearie

As I gaed down the water-side,
There I met my shepherd lad:
He row'd me sweetly in his plaid,
And he ca'd me his dearie.
Ca' the yowes, &c.

Will ye gang down the water-side,
And see the waves sae sweetly glide
Beneath the hazels spreading wide,
The moon it shines fu' clearly.
Ca' the yowes, &c.

Ye sall get gowns and ribbons meet,
Cauf-leather shoon upon your feet,
And in my arms ye'se lie and sleep,
An' ye sall be my dearie.
Ca' the yowes, &c.

If ye'll but stand to what ye've said,
I'se gang wi' thee, my shepherd lad,
And ye may row me in your plaid,
And I sall be your dearie.
Ca' the yowes, &c.

While waters wimple to the sea,
While day blinks in the lift sae hie,
Till clay-cauld death sall blin' my e'e,
Ye sall be my dearie.
Ca' the yowes, &c.