For those who are interested, here are the full lyrics to the songs I chose, as well as the identities of the artists whose talents and skills I gave to my characters :^) 

**The Voices:  I’m a fan of two kinds of music:  classical and contemporary folk :^)  And for my fantasy SG universe, I’ve awarded the skills and talents of some of my favorite musicians to the members of the SGC family.  Here are the sources:

As in Private Artist, the inspiration for Ian’s marvelous fiddling ability comes from the incredible Donal Leahy.  Leahy’s web site is at http://www.leahymusic.com/   The first piece that Ian, Jason and Daniel play is the “B-minor medley,” a sample of which can be heard from the web site.  Ian’s “runner” piece is “McBrides,” which can also be heard on this site.

Again as in Private Artist, the primary inspiration for Daniel’s wonderful talent comes from Chicago folk singer Lee Murdock, with a touch of Shinobu Sato added.  Lee has amazed me from the first moment I met him.  He was my guitar teacher for a couple of years, and passed along a number of words of wisdom—including the suggestion that I practice in the dark so I wouldn’t have to look at my hands as I played LOL!  Daniel’s inherited that skill along with the great guitar playing ;^)  Lee’s home page is at http://www.artistsofnote.com/lee/ , though it sadly contains no sound bites.

For Jack, I used another Chicago musician, Jim Craig.  Jim is much more obscure than Lee is.  He’s made only one tape that I know of, which is a great shame.  Jim is a tall, kind of gangly man, with a gray-shot black beard.  He plays wonderful ragtime, and sings with this warm, friendly baritone voice.  As far as I can find, Jim Craig has no web page :^(

Janet gets her voice from yet another Chicago local, Jacquie Manning.  Jacquie is half of a great duo who call themselves Small Potatoes.  Her partner, Rich Prezioso, is the inspiration for Siler’s guitar playing.  He’s a terrifically talented flat-pick guitarist who started out playing cowboy music LOL!  Small Potatoes put on a terrifically diverse act.  They seem to be able to handle almost any genre of music that can be done with two guitars and two flexible voices.  Small Potatoes’s web site is at http://www.smallpotatoesmusic.com/   You can hear samples of some of their numbers here, though all of the music I used came from their first recording, called “Raw,” which was released only on tape.  They’ve promised that they will soon re-release it on CD :^)  In the meantime, for the fun of it, I really recommend “Waltz of the Wallflowers.”

Sam’s song is another of Jacquie Manning’s.  In this case it was the amazing nature of the song that prompted me to give it to her.  The song is beautiful, but owes a great deal to the style and character of the performance, which means that a lot of vocal weaknesses can be disguised or utilized. 

The source for Joan Tailor is a bit more fuzzy.  She’s patterned after a fiddler I saw at a number of folk festivals several years ago.  This young woman was delightful.  She played with several other local musicians, usually bluegrass style.  The thing I remember most vividly was a piece she’d used for fiddling competitions based on the theme to the old Heckle and Jeckle cartoons.  At one point in this piece, she actually made that fiddle sound like cawing crows LOL!  Never failed to delight me.

Margo Dean is drawn from imagination, but the song she gives to Daniel is real.  I sincerely hope that Doug Miller will excuse me attributing his wonderful song, “Fertile Ground,” to this imaginary character. 

The rest—Streager and his mandolin, the drums, etc.—are simply drawn from amalgams of the many wonderful musicians I’ve delighted in over the years.

**The Songs:  This is going to take a bit of space LOL!  I think I exorcised my urges toward song-fic for the next several years in this one story.  Okay, here we go.

St. Louis Blues:  There are a number of versions of the lyrics to this song out there.  The version that Jacquie Manning recorded is actually quite different from this, but these are the “official” lyrics I was able to find.

Saint Louis Blues

W.C. Handy

I hate's to see dat ev'nin' sun go down

Hate's to see dat ev'nin' sun go down

Cause ma baby, she done lef' dis town.

If I feel tomorrow lak ah feel today

Feel tomorrow lak ah feel today,

I'll pack up my trunk, and make ma git away.

Saint Louis woman wid her diamon' rings

Pulls dat man 'roun' by her apron strings.

'Twern't for powder an' her store-bought hair

De man she love wouldn't gone nowhere, nowhere.

Got dem Saint Louis Blues I'm as blue as ah can be.

Like a man done throwed that rock down into de sea

Got dem Saint Louis Blues I'm as blue as ah can be.

Went to de gypsy get her fortune tole

To de gypsy, done got her fortune tole,

Cause she most wile 'bout her Jelly Roll.

Now dat gypsy tole her, "Don't you wear no black."

She done tole her, "Don't you wear no black.

Go to Saint Louis, you can win him back."

If she git to Cairo, make Saint Louis by herself,

Git to Cairo, find her old friend Jeff,

gwine to pin herself, right there, to his side If she flag his train, she sho' can ride.

Got dem Saint Louis Blues jes as blue as ah can be.

Dat man got a heart lak a rock cast into de sea.

Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me.

Doggone it!

I loves day man lak a schoolboy loves his pie,

Lak a Kentucky Col'nel ....loves his mint an' rye.

I'll love ma baby till the day ah die.

Now a black-headed gal makes a freight train jump the track,

Said a black-headed gal makes a freight train jump the track,

But a long tall gal makes a preacher ball the jack.

Lawd, a blonde-headed woman make a good man leave the town,

I said a blonde-headed woman make a good man leave the town,

But a red-headed woman make a boy slap his pappy down.

*****

Cowboy’s Sweetheart:  This song has been recorded by many country artists.  And by Jacquie Manning LOL!  I told you she was versatile ;^)  The “chorus” to this song has no lyrics… it’s all yodeled.

I Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart

by Patsy Montana

I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart

I want to learn to rope and ride

I want to ride o'er the plains and deserts

Out west of the Great Divide

I want to hear the coyotes howling

While the sun sets in the west

I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart

The life I love the best

I want to ride old Paint, goin' on a run

I want to feel the wind in my face

A thousand miles from all the city lights

Go at a cowhand's pace

I want to pillow my head near the sleeping herd

While the moon shines down from above

I want to strum my guitar, yodel-lay-ee-oo

That's the life I love

*****

Here Comes the Man With the Mandolin:  I decided I wanted to tweak Jack’s nose a bit, so I chose this song, with its very un-Jack-like chorus lyric, as his introductory piece.  Poor Jack LOL!

Here Comes the Man with the Mandolin

Weldon/Cavanaugh/Burke

Biddely um bum bum, biddely um bum bum,

Here come the man with the mandolin.

Biddely um bum bum, biddely um bum bum,

He’ll cheer you up like your ship’s come in.

Lovable old fellow, play an old tune,

Come around every afternoon.

Raggedy old minstrel, wearin’ a big grin.

Here comes the man with the mandolin.

All the kids follow, and they holler

Up to the windows above.

“Mama drop a nickel, and the man’ll pick

A little tune we love.”

Biddely um bum bum, biddely um bum bum,

Open your heart, let the music in.

Biddely um bum bum, biddely um bum bum,

Here comes the man with the mandolin.

*****

Last Winter Was a Hard One:  This depression era song delights me.  Considering the rather sad, painful nature of its subject matter, it’s amazingly bright and lively.  This is a song I know through Lee Murdock.  “Cut a shy,” by the way, means to recut an old garment and make a new one out of it.

Last Winter Was a Hard One

Traditional

Last winter was a hard one, Mrs. Riley did you hear?

It’s well yourself that knows it, and it is for many a day.

Your husband wasn’t the only one to sit beside the wall;

My old man MacGuinness couldn’t get a job at all.

[Chorus]

So rise up Mrs. Riley, don’t give away to blues.

You and I will cut a shy new bonnets and new shoes.

Hear the young ones cry, neither sigh nor sob,

And wait ‘til times get better, and MacGuinness gets a job.

Bad luck to those Italians, I wish they’d stayed at home.

We’ve plenty of our own kind to eat up what we own.

They come like bees in the summertime, swarming here to stay,

And contractors will hire them for forty cents a day.

They work upon the railroad, they shovel snow and slush.

Burt one thing in their favor—those Italians don’t get lushed.

They bring their money home at night and drink no dinner wine,

And that’s something I would like to say for your old man and mine!

*****

Trombone Charlie (pronounced “Trambone”):  My very favorite of Jim Craig’s recorded songs :^)

Trombone Charlie

G. Brooks

I know a fool who blows a horn,

He come from way down south.

You never heard such blowin’ since you been born

Like when that trombone’s in his mouth.

Oh, he wails and moans, He grunts and groans…

He moans just like a cow.

Nobody else can do his stuff,

Even if he shows ‘em how.

Oh, Charlie, play that thing. I mean that slide trombone.

Make it talk, make it sing… Charlie, where did you get that tone?

If Gabriel heard you, how you blow? He’d let you lead his band, I know.

Oh, Charlie, play that thing.  I mean that slide trombone.

Mm, Charlie, do you know, you blow one sweet horn?

I get to movin’ to and fro when you carry on.

Never seen such shakin’ hips like when that horn is to your lips.

Oh, Charlie, play that thing. I mean that slide trombone.

Oh, Charlie, make it sing. I mean that slide trombone.

You could even make a king get down off his throne.

He would break a leg, I know, doin’ the Charleston while you blow.

Oh, Charlie, play that thing.  I mean that slide trombone.

*****

Vampire:  Imagine spooky, liquid music from a rather muted electric guitar, swirling darkness, an intermittently visible moon… You know the drill LOL! 

Vampire

Michael P. Smith

In the dark of moon, there is no light…

I’m free.

I have no love to blind my eyes for me.

Dark of moon’s the time for flying;

Far below the world is lying

Unaware…

And my soul is crying…

Vampire.

This is my song.

Oh I love you all, you’re beautiful to me.

Though there’s not a one among you who can see me.

Who among you understands it?

Bloody mouths and bloody hands are all you know…

But soon you’ll know

The vampire.

And it won’t be long.

Flying… flying.

Oh, your life’s too short—your love is gone too soon.

Come with me, we’ll fly the dark of moon, the dark of moon.

Life’s not life if you must lose it;

Death’s not death if you refuse it.

So who could blame you, if you chose

The vampire.

Forever young… forever young.

…Forever young.

*****

I Like You:  Another song I know from Small Potatoes.  This is a delightful, goofy, bouncy little song. 

I Like You

Sol Hoopy

I like you ‘cause you have such lovin’ ways, hey, hey;

I like you, ‘cause you are so sweet, so neat, so cute, ‘n everything…

Oh, baby, I know why…

Start lovin’, and you smile…

Start hummin’…

Ah!  Whoo!  Those are big-a-blue eyes !

Hypnotised… every time I look at you, hey, hey.

They just seem to thrill me through and through, (you bet they do)

Well, I must admit that it is true,

I throw a fit when I see you,

Baby, I love you ‘cause you have such lovin’ ways!

*****

Fertile Ground:  This is just a lovely song, up-beat, gentle, beautiful.  I strongly recommend Lee Murdock’s version on his Fertile Ground CD.

Fertile Ground

c. 1989 Doug Miller, BMI

Grandma’s out in the garden,

Soon as the hoe can break the sod;

Out in the sun with a trust in God.

In the circle of the seed,

It’s planting time, and time to weed.

And she’d say, just work the topsoil;

Don’t dig too far down.

Leave a little bit to faith

And Work the fertile ground.

Now the sun shines down and the soil rolls back.

A new shoot rises through the crack.

Now, who could have thought it up like that.

There’s a hand in every birth,

That knows just what the seed is worth.

And she’d say, just work the topsoil;

Don’t dig too far down.

Leave a little bit to faith

And Work the fertile ground.

So stop your turning round and round,

Don’t sit and think your world apart.

Some things you just see with your heart.

Take a seed you want to grow,

And put your hand upon the hoe.

And you just work the topsoil;

Don’t dig too far down.

Leave a little bit to faith

And Work the fertile ground.

*****

Safe in the Harbor:  This is a wonderful song about exploration and human nature.  It’s been recorded by quite a few people, including Eric Bogle himself, and Lee Murdock.  Lee’s version is my favorite (surprise!).

Safe in the Harbor

Eric Bogle

Have you stood by the ocean on a diamond-hard morning

And felt the horizon stir deep in your soul?

Watched the wake of a steamer as it cuts through blue water

Being gripped by a fever you just can't control?

Oh to throw off the shackles, and fly with the seagulls,

To where green waves go tumbling before driving sea winds;

Or to lie on the decking on a warm summer evening--

Watch the red sun fall burning beneath the earth's rim.

[Chorus] But to every sailor comes time to drop anchor,

Haul in the sail, and make the lines fast.

You deep water dreamer, your journey is over.

You're safe in the harbor at last.

You're safe in the harbor at last.

Now some men are sailors, but most are just dreamers

Held fast to the anchors they forge in their minds,

Who in their hearts know they'll never sail over deep water

To search for a treasure they're afraid they won't find.

So in sheltered harbors they cling to their anchors,

Bank down their boilers and shut down the steam.

And wait for the sailors to return with the treasures

That fan the dull embers and fire up their dreams.

And some men are schemers, who laugh at the dreamers,

Take the gold from the sailors and turn it to dross.

They're men in a prison, women without vision

Whose only horizon is profit and loss.

So when storm clouds come sailing across your blue ocean,

Hold fast to your dreaming for all that you're worth.

For as long as there's dreamers, there will always be sailors

Bringing back their bright treasures from the corners of earth.

*****

So there you have it :^)  I’ve got lots more LOL!