Skip to main content

Troubadours

"Can you hear that sound?"


Mark Isham's ringing trumpet lifts us away from mundane matters as Toni Marcus' strings elevate to the realms of dreamt romantic love. The clarity of the playing by the musicians on this track amplifies the purity of Van's own declaration told through this tale from the "days of yore." The three part solo section seems to echo the early stages of  romance, the initial heart skipping swoon before the excitement of reciprocity and finally seduction itself to the sound of Pee Wee's tenor saxophone but all of this virtuosity only leads to the true climax of the song.  

 The moment when it is transformed from fantasy to reality as Van changes from outwardly describing the troubadours, to setting himself in their place "lift your window high, turn your lamp down low, oh baby don't you know? I love you so." and the questioning of whether she hears that sound, "Do you hear that sound? Do you dig that sound?" I'm standing below your balcony.  I'm playing this for you, do you hear that sound?  The knocking of his heart. 


From the ancient sun to the old hearth stove sang the troubadours
From the city gates to the castle walls come the troubadours
On a sunlit day it was bright and clear
And the people came from far and they came from near
To hear the troubadours
Do do do do, do do do do, do do do
If the troubadours sang their songs of love to the lady fair
She was sitting outside on a balcony in the clear night air
It was a starry night and the moon was shining bright
And the trumpets rang and they gave a chime
For the troubadours
Do do do do, do do do
And for everyman all across the land and from shore to shore
They come singin' songs of love and chivalry from the days of yore
Baby lift your window high, do you hear that sound?
It's the troubadours as they go through town
With their freedom song, do do do do
Oh baby lift your window high, do you hear that sound?
It's the troubadours with their freedom sound
Do do, do do, do do, do do, do, baby, baby
Baby lift your window high, turn your lamp down low
Oh baby don't you know? I love you so
Do you hear that sound?
Do you dig that sound?
It's the troubadours, coming through town

Two remarkable live versions.



Did you hear that sound?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Than The World

"Wrapped up in the sound ..." A blissful and affecting piece that seems to me to be composed of almost affirmational statements, combining an element of gratitude and a desire for improvement.  "I'm living in my dreams, I'll make it better than it seems,""I gotta give a life a whirl," "Wrapped up in the sound, I'll make it better all around," "I'll leave these blues behind."  Always leaves me simultaneously soothed and elevated. Magic. Beautiful live versions from 2016 "Just a little bit higher ..."
Post a Comment
Read more

Dweller On The Threshold

Let me go down to the water ... This song resonated with me the first time I heard it as a young man on the first disc of the original Greatest Hits. It gave voice to the feeling that there was so much 'more' and if I could only make a breakthrough, take a step over some 'threshold' then things would fall into place, make some kind of sense.  The remarkable thing about this song, propelled along as it is by the tsking of the high-hat and those insistent horns, is that it still resonates to this day even now when I am so much older. It still feels like I'm on a threshold, possibly we're always and eternally on a threshold. The darkness still exists to be consumed and I'm still waiting for the dawn to end the night. Singing the song of ages until it comes.  I'm a dweller on the threshold And I'm waiting at the door And I'm standing in the darkness I don't want to wait no more I have seen without perceiving I hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God

Standing on the highest hill with a sense of wonder ... Pictures painted once again of the glory of natural creation in this deeply moving psalm. Van and companion, once more down in Avalon, as "suffering long time angels," the wonder revealed, by the beauty which surrounds them, that everything was made in God.  A revelation which returns a sense of lost innocence.  There is also a feeling of frustration contained within the title that this is still something not yet achieved, that despite the knowledge being accepted it is all too easy to be distracted. This God is a presence in which all things are created "down through the history of time." One that "is and was in the beginning and evermore shall be." The pilgrimage route of "turning down the old and bringing up the new" is a highly personal one as "you've got to do it your own way."  The lyrics and melody wonderfully complimented by a passionate solo from Georgie Fame....
Post a Comment
Read more