ME = Moderately Easy
M = Medium
MD = Moderately Difficult
D = Difficult
Earth Called To My Friend (Nancy Wood)
SSA, piano - SEA-057-00 - $2.50/copy5 minutes - M Commissioned by Ida and Jerry Franklin for the students of Union School, in memory of Alex Franklin
This memorial song acknowledges the depth of grief and loss, while courageously embracing the vitality of life. Abundant text painting and musical color grow from poet Nancy Wood's vivid Native American imagery, suggesting beauty and light, clouds and rain, shadows and withered fields, a fine white horse, an eagle feather, and the cherished memory of "the wild old dances of our youth."
The Earth Called To My Friend - Score
The Earth Called To My Friend - Recording
University of North Carolina Women's Choir; Sue Klausmeyer, conductor
University of North Carolina Women's Choir; Sue Klausmeyer, conductor
The Earth Called To My Friend
The Earth called to my friend and he went,
Deep into the Earth Root from which he came,
Down into Blue Lake where our ancestors dwell,
Deep into the heart of the Yellow Corn Maiden,
To a place of beauty and light.
I watched the sky for a long time and then I saw
A cloud in the shape of my friend,
Riding a fine white horse with wings so big
They blotted out the sun, making shadows
Across my withered fields of corn.
I called to my friend to ask if he was happy
And if he knew more than when he left.
I called out his name and blessed him
With an eagle feather, dancing in his behalf
The wild old dances of our youth.
Good-bye, my friend, I said, watching the clouds
Crumble into little pillows that fell as rain
Into the dryness of my fields.
"The Earth Called To My Friend" copyright by Nancy Wood
From "Hollering Sun," Simon & Schuster, 1972 All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
The Earth called to my friend and he went,
Deep into the Earth Root from which he came,
Down into Blue Lake where our ancestors dwell,
Deep into the heart of the Yellow Corn Maiden,
To a place of beauty and light.
I watched the sky for a long time and then I saw
A cloud in the shape of my friend,
Riding a fine white horse with wings so big
They blotted out the sun, making shadows
Across my withered fields of corn.
I called to my friend to ask if he was happy
And if he knew more than when he left.
I called out his name and blessed him
With an eagle feather, dancing in his behalf
The wild old dances of our youth.
Good-bye, my friend, I said, watching the clouds
Crumble into little pillows that fell as rain
Into the dryness of my fields.
"The Earth Called To My Friend" copyright by Nancy Wood
From "Hollering Sun," Simon & Schuster, 1972 All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
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