Second Spring

• Introduction 1.       The Windfall               to the early 19th-century English melody “Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries” 2.       Joy Will Keep Us              a Christmas carol 3.       The Long Grass              to the 19th-century Scottish lament “Mist-Covered Mountains of Home” 4.       He Will Wake to the Fire              to the 1835 shape-note melody “The Babe of Bethlehem” 5.       The Reason for the Light              adapted from the 1860 parlor song “I’ll Twine ’Mid the Ringlets” 6.       My House Is an Orchestra              to the 1701 longways dance “The Bishop of Bangor’s Jig” 7.       The Faeries’ Farewell              to the 1803 Shetland fiddle tune “Winyadepla” 8.       The Western Gate              to the sentimental 18th-century Irish melody “Snowy Breasted Pearl” 9.       The Rain and Wind              to the 18th-century Appalachian folk tune “The Golden Vanity” 10.    Suzanne Asleep              a pop song 11.    The Dean in the End Will Rise              to the scurrilous 1720 broadside “Duke Upon Duke” 12.    Dream, Pretty Baby              a lullaby 13.    The Only Hurry Is Our Own              to Michael Praetorius’ 1612 Italian dance “Courante 183” 14.    My Love Sees the Rain              to the 18th-century Appalachian plaint “Pretty Saro” 15.    The Apple Revels              to the possibly 18th-century “Gower Wassail” 16.    Down by the Greenwood              to the 17th-century English ballad “Henry Martin” 17.    Holdin’ On              a country-western song 18.    The Rose Once Cut for Me              to the 18th-century French folk tune “Sur les Bords de la Loire” 19.    Such Joys Our Savior Brings              to the 1871 Christmas anthem “Listen, Lordings, Unto Me” 20.    Wherever She May Be              a Nashville song 21.    The Children              to the late-medieval English ballad “Sir Lionel and the Boar” 22.    The Lilac and the Rose              a ballad 23.    The Second Spring              to the 13th-century Galician-Portuguese cantiga “Des Oge Mais”  Appendix: The Soundtracking of America

Ten years ago, in the pages of the Atlantic Monthly, Joseph Bottum took on the overarching problem of the emptiness inherent in so much that passes for music, that white noise we hear everywhere – and was soundly attacked for doing so. In the interim, he has come back to the problem, to dig into the vast riches to be found in forgotten folk ditties, ballads, hymns, and popular tunes, and has sought to revivify them with lyrics worthy of their haunting melodies, which somehow cut to the marrow of the soul. In this, he has succeeded beyond what one would have thought possible, by way of a fierce critical intelligence and a terrific sense of the comedy of errors we call the human condition. Let the music and the lyrics and the brilliance even of his footnotes wash over you, and see what it does for you. My guess is that the hissing sound-bite Muzak of public and private spaces will never sound the same to you again. Without irony, new possibilities – such as poets like Hopkins, the young Pound, and Auden hoped for – will begin to reveal themselves as surely as the fresh dawn rising. – Paul Mariani