Whether men do (Rosseter 1601 XXI Tk2
I am happy to be able to finally post a Philip Rosseter song from his only Booke of Airs. This is Take 2 but it did not finish so I added the end of Take 3 to end.
Elisha Zaporelostzi's first performances were the Open Stages put on by the Bytown Live in Ottawa Ontario, Canada. It is how Neil Young and Joni Mitchell started.
Phreap magazine is a one page thing that went around Ottawa in the 1980s. Now it is a web site;
http://home.att.ne.jp/blue/patchan
With the help of Joe-Charly Smith, Molly Ding, Calhoon-Fred Febealie, and Butter Jones I was able to put out Phreap magazine.
Story behind the song
I am very happy to be able to finally post a Philip Rosseter song from his only Booke of Airs.
After years of not being able to do a good recording of Rosseter's 'When Laura Smiles' I found the music to this simple Rosseter Air kicking around. I had worked out the chords on February 2, 1988 when I was living in Vancouver. This was recorded in the very hot Tokyo Summer of 2010.
Line 12 brings to mind William Shakespeare's famous poem (in As You Like It?) starting 'All the world is a stage'. This line is interesting in light of Rosseter's future involvement with the theater. More importantly, it is an intriguing hint that, Rosseter's association with the stage goes back far. - P. T. C.
Take 2 - 1 stanza & 6 bars.
Track 4 - Guitar strumming timing - August 10, 2010.
Track 3 - Vocal & guitar - August 10, 2010.
Track 2 - keyboard bass - SynthBass - August 16, 2010.
Lyrics
XXI. WHETHER MEN DO LAUGH OR WEEP
Whether men do laugh or weep
Whether they do wake or sleep,
Whether they die young or old,
Whether they feel heat or cold,
There is underneath the sun,
Nothing in true earnest done.
All our pride is but a jest,
None are worst, and none are best,
Grief, and joy, and hope, and fear,
Play their pageants everywhere,
Vain opinion all doth sway,
And the world is but a play.
Pow'r above in clouds do sit.
Mocking our poor apish wit,
That so lamely with such state,
Their high glory imitate,
No ill can be felt but pain,
And that happy men disdain.
