Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish songwriter, actor, vocalist a… Read Full Bio ↴Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish songwriter, actor, vocalist and guitarist for the Irish group The Frames, and one half of folk rock duo The Swell Season. He is known for his acting, having appeared in the BAFTA-winning film The Commitments, as well as starring in the film Once, which earned him a number of major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly", with co-writer and co-star Markéta Irglová.
Career
Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets. He formed his own band The Frames in 1990, and the group have been gigging regularly in Ireland since. Hansard came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role because he felt it distracted him from his music career. In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ.
On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for the music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its United States premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating. Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid".
Hansard had recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".
Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale. Hansard has recorded several cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.
He voiced a role on an episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather") on The Simpsons as an Irish busker. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on 27 October 2009 on the ANTI- record label.
In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He played a solo concert at the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Guitar Heroes exhibit in New York City in May 2011. and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on 17 June.
In September 2011, he played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at the Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. Hansard plays several guitars, including a very recognisable battered Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar (even sporting a large hole), which he calls "The Horse".
In a November 2011 interview in The Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from The Swell Season. This solo album was later revealed to be titled Rhythm and Repose.
American Songwriter included Hansard's "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting" on its The Muse July Sampler. Another song of his featured in a film soundtrack is This Gift, which appears in The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Hansard sang the song "Take the Heartland" on the soundtrack for the 2012 film The Hunger Games. Another song he wrote, "Come Away to the Water", is featured on the soundtrack, but is covered by Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane. Hansard can be found singing "Come Away to the Water" on the deluxe edition of his first solo album Rhythm and Repose. He guest-starred in an episode of the TV series, Parenthood, playing himself. In the episode, "Trouble in Candyland", he performed "High Hope", a single from his solo debut album Rhythm and Repose. In 2015, Hansard and Lisa Hannigan recorded a song, "On Love", for the soundtrack for the 2014 film Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Hansard sang Coyote at the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday concert Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration in Los Angeles in December 2018.
Influences
Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting centre." Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.
Hansard is a devotee of Krishna and performed for the 80th birthday of Swami Prabhupada in London, staying at a manor donated to the Hare Krishna movement by The Beatles' George Harrison, who was a Hare Krishna devotee. In July 2013, he sang with Bruce Springsteen at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland. In July 2015, he performed "Raglan Road" with Ed Sheeran in Croke Park, Dublin.
Other
In 2008, Hansard took a four-week filmmaking workshop at the New York Film Academy.
In 2016, Hansard was a prominent member of the Home Sweet Home Group, a coalition of activists and homeless. The group broke into Apollo House in Dublin and illegally occupied it. They eventually had to vacate the premises due to trespassing.
Career
Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets. He formed his own band The Frames in 1990, and the group have been gigging regularly in Ireland since. Hansard came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role because he felt it distracted him from his music career. In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ.
On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for the music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its United States premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating. Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid".
Hansard had recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".
Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale. Hansard has recorded several cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.
He voiced a role on an episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather") on The Simpsons as an Irish busker. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on 27 October 2009 on the ANTI- record label.
In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He played a solo concert at the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Guitar Heroes exhibit in New York City in May 2011. and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on 17 June.
In September 2011, he played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at the Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. Hansard plays several guitars, including a very recognisable battered Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar (even sporting a large hole), which he calls "The Horse".
In a November 2011 interview in The Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from The Swell Season. This solo album was later revealed to be titled Rhythm and Repose.
American Songwriter included Hansard's "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting" on its The Muse July Sampler. Another song of his featured in a film soundtrack is This Gift, which appears in The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Hansard sang the song "Take the Heartland" on the soundtrack for the 2012 film The Hunger Games. Another song he wrote, "Come Away to the Water", is featured on the soundtrack, but is covered by Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane. Hansard can be found singing "Come Away to the Water" on the deluxe edition of his first solo album Rhythm and Repose. He guest-starred in an episode of the TV series, Parenthood, playing himself. In the episode, "Trouble in Candyland", he performed "High Hope", a single from his solo debut album Rhythm and Repose. In 2015, Hansard and Lisa Hannigan recorded a song, "On Love", for the soundtrack for the 2014 film Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Hansard sang Coyote at the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday concert Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration in Los Angeles in December 2018.
Influences
Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting centre." Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.
Hansard is a devotee of Krishna and performed for the 80th birthday of Swami Prabhupada in London, staying at a manor donated to the Hare Krishna movement by The Beatles' George Harrison, who was a Hare Krishna devotee. In July 2013, he sang with Bruce Springsteen at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland. In July 2015, he performed "Raglan Road" with Ed Sheeran in Croke Park, Dublin.
Other
In 2008, Hansard took a four-week filmmaking workshop at the New York Film Academy.
In 2016, Hansard was a prominent member of the Home Sweet Home Group, a coalition of activists and homeless. The group broke into Apollo House in Dublin and illegally occupied it. They eventually had to vacate the premises due to trespassing.
Lay Me Down
Glen Hansard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I will write you letters that
Explain the way I′m thinking now
I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
In the hallowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
And lay me down
In the hallowed ground
Where my (fore)father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hallowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
Explain the way I′m thinking now
I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
And lay me down
In the hallowed ground
Where my (fore)father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hallowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
In Glen Hansard's song Lay Me Down, the lyrics are a reflection of the singer's desire to return to the one he loves. He promises to write letters to explain everything he's thinking and feeling. He knows that he's taken something important from his loved one before, and now he wants to return it. He's willing to come back again and again, even when the day is done and darkness falls.
The lyrics convey a sense of longing and desperation. The singer wants to be laid to rest in the hallowed ground, by the side of the one he loves. He's willing to do whatever it takes to be with them, even if it means recoiling into the blackest and darkest night. These lyrics are a testament to the power of love, and the lengths that people will go to be with the ones they love.
Line by Line Meaning
I will write you letters that
I will express my current thoughts in written form to you
Explain the way I′m thinking now
I will provide clarity to my current emotional state
I will return to you
I will come back to you
What I have taken long before
I will bring back what I have held onto for too long
I will return again
I will come back once more
When it gets dark and day is done
At the end of the day when night falls
And lay me down
Let me rest
In the hallowed ground
In the sacred, consecrated area
Down by your side I will stay
I will remain close to you
So lay me down
So I can finally rest
And if you wanna stay with me
If you want to be with me
Then let me know before it's light
Let me know before the sun rises
I will recoil myself
I will pull back
Into the black and darkest night
Into the absolute darkness where I am alone
Where my (fore)father waits I will stay
I will rest where my ancestors reside
Writer(s): Colm Macconiomaire, Glen Hansard, Joseph Doyle,, David John Hingerty, David Odlum
Contributed by Julia N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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니키Sonicjinn
I will write you letters that
Explain the way I'm thinking now
I, I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I, I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I, I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
If you lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Where my father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
On the most westerly Blasket
In a dry-stone hut
He got this air out of the night
Strange noises were heard by others who followed
Bits of a tune coming in on loud weather
He blamed their ears
As unpractised, their fiddling easy
For he had gone alone into the island and brought back the whole thing
The house throbbed like his full violin
So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I do not care
He got it out of wind off mid-Atlantic
He still maintains from nowhere
It comes off the bow gravely
Rephrases itself into the airI will write you letters that
Explain the way I'm thinking now
I, I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I, I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I, I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
If you lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Where my father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
On the most westerly Blasket
In a dry-stone hut
He got this air out of the night
Strange noises were heard by others who followed
Bits of a tune coming in on loud weather
He blamed their ears
As unpractised, their fiddling easy
For he had gone alone into the island and brought back the whole thing
The house throbbed like his full violin
So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I do not care
He got it out of wind off mid-Atlantic
He still maintains from nowhere
It comes off the bow gravely
Rephrases itself into the air
Such a passionate love song!
deasymj
Such a talented musician & songwriter.
Thomas Bonner
What a beautiful song and a great story behind it.
Madge O'Brien
Heard, Lay me Down, for the first time on Dave Fanning this morning. So incredibly beautiful! You are a Genius Glen! Love all your lovely music... Such talent! 🎶🎼🎸👍
니키Sonicjinn
I will write you letters that
Explain the way I'm thinking now
I, I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I, I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I, I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
If you lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Where my father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
On the most westerly Blasket
In a dry-stone hut
He got this air out of the night
Strange noises were heard by others who followed
Bits of a tune coming in on loud weather
He blamed their ears
As unpractised, their fiddling easy
For he had gone alone into the island and brought back the whole thing
The house throbbed like his full violin
So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I do not care
He got it out of wind off mid-Atlantic
He still maintains from nowhere
It comes off the bow gravely
Rephrases itself into the airI will write you letters that
Explain the way I'm thinking now
I, I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I, I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
And if you wanna stay with me
Then let me know before it's light
I, I will recoil myself
Into the black and darkest night
If you lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Where my father waits I will stay
So lay me down
And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down
On the most westerly Blasket
In a dry-stone hut
He got this air out of the night
Strange noises were heard by others who followed
Bits of a tune coming in on loud weather
He blamed their ears
As unpractised, their fiddling easy
For he had gone alone into the island and brought back the whole thing
The house throbbed like his full violin
So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I do not care
He got it out of wind off mid-Atlantic
He still maintains from nowhere
It comes off the bow gravely
Rephrases itself into the air
Such a passionate love song!
Red Roots
I mean the story behind this song is just 👌👏😂
Eleanor Finn
Forgot how amazing this song is!
Conor Redmond
your the man glen
Lisa Swaine
man he is morphing into luke kelly
Katie O'Toole
"She'd dig it " ... Pun intended ??? 😂😂
hasdrubal121
D'Arcy eejit perfect lead into the song by Glen and then shite all over it with an ad break.........