1) Moondog was the pseudonym of Louis T. Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999). Hardin was a blind New York City street musician, influential composer and former beat poet. From the late 1940s until 1974, he was a permanent fixture on 54th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, wearing a cloak and Viking-style helmet, sometimes busking or selling music, but often just standing silent and still. He was known not only for his music and poetry, but also for the distinctive Viking garb that he wore all his life, including a horned helmet, cloak and spear. He routinely gave away copies of his work to anybody who would take them. In this way, he came to the attention of producer James William Guercio, who took him into the studio to record an album, released as "Moondog" (1969) on the CBS label. The track Stamping Ground, with its odd preamble of Moondog saying one of his epigrams, was featured on the sampler double album "Fill Your Head with Rock". A brief phrase of another track on the album, Bird's Lament (In memory of Charlie Parker) was sampled by Mr. Scruff as the basis for his 7-minute track Get A Move On.
Hardin played drums for the high school band in Hurley, Missouri before losing his sight in a farm accident involving a dynamite cap at the age of 16 After learning the principles of music in several schools for blind young men across middle America, he taught himself the skills of ear training and composition. He studied with Burnet Tuthill and at the Iowa School for the Blind. The music of Moondog in the 1940s and '50s is said to have been a strong influence on many early minimalist composers; Philip Glass has written that he and Steve Reich took Moondog's work "very seriously and understood and appreciated it much more than what we were exposed to at Juilliard."
A second album produced with Guercio, and featuring both himself and his daughter as vocalists, contained song compositions in the forms of canons and rounds. It did not make an impression on popular music as the first had. The two CBS albums were re-released as a single CD in 1989.
In a search for new sounds, Moondog also invented several musical instruments, such as the "Oo", a small triangular shaped harp, and the "Trimba", a triangular percussion instrument invented in the late 40s. The Original Trimba today is still played by Stefan Lakatos, Swedish percussionist, close friend and pupil of Moondog, who also taught him how to build the instrument.
Moondog had an idealised view of Germany ("The Holy Land with the Holy River" — the Rhine), where he settled in 1974. A young German student named Ilona Goebel accommodated him, first in Oer-Erkenschwick, and later on in Muenster in Westphalia, Germany, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Moondog visited America in 1989, at the invitation of the New Music America Festival in Brooklyn, stimulating a renewed interest in his music.
He recorded many albums, and toured both in the US and in Europe — France, Germany and Sweden.
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2) Moondog was the name of the post-Gorilla Biscuits, pre-Quicksand project-band of Walter Schreifels, started due to his desire to sing for a band, and to follow the path Gorilla Biscuits had been on before their break-up (one Moondog song, “Distance”, was actually written for the 2nd Gorilla Biscuits full-length that never happened). It’s now being sold as a digital download at Anthology Recordings The band also featured Gorilla Biscuits’ drummer Luke Abbey. The band’s only recorded output is a series of demo-recordings (recorded at Don Fury’s legendary Lower East Side recording-studio). These sessions had Abbey playing drums, with Schreifels handling both guitar, bass and vocals. The few times they played live, Abbey switched to bass, with Armand Majidi (Sick of It All, Rest In Pieces) on drums, and the guitars being handled by Tom Capone (Beyond, Bold, Quicksand, Handsome, Instruction) and Howie (Alone in a Crowd). Although further sessions were planned (which most likely would have led to official releases), the band ultimately collapsed before this took place, with Schreifels shifting focus towards his new band Quicksand, who were initially meant to inherit some of the Moondog-songs, but with the band going in a very different direction than Moondog, that idea was eventually scrapped.
The band only played a handful of live shows (at infamous locations like CBGB and ABC No Rio), and the only officially released Moondog-track (Expression) appears on the “Look At All The Children Now” compilation LP (Evacuate Records, ‘90). Another post-GB band, namely CIV (featuring GB-singer Anthony “Civ” Civarelli, -bassist Arthur Smilios and -drummer Sammy Siegler) also recorded the Moondog-song “They Said We Were The Best” for their first full-length record (“Set Your Goals - an album that Schreifels also helped write songs for).
A bootleg 7” of Moondog-songs did appear sometime in the early 90’s, featuring 2 songs from the demos, making them gain a certain cult status. After years of pressure from fans, Schreifels recently (2006) “released” a number of songs from the demos through the online label Anthology Recordings, making them officially available for the first time.
High On A Rocky Ledge
Moondog Lyrics
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She has a shadow, lovely as lace, and cold as ice.
High on a rocky ledge, I pledged my ove to her.
Ev´ry time I climb up to Paradise.
How many times I´ve been up to see her, goodness knows,
Huffing and puffing, dressed in the warmest climbing
clothes.
How many dabces would be taken in my Hopeless pursuit of
Then spoke a spirit, "If you would win your Lady Love,
There´s only one way: fall to your death from high above.
You will begin to grow in snow beside the one You have
waited for to be mated with." Now, I´m an Edel, vice to
my Mädel, Edelweiß.
Dying to be with her wasn´t any sacrifice.
We´re so deliriously happy on your ledge where I pledge
my love to my Lady Fair.
You who are climbing breathless to see me and my love.
Snow flowers growing fonder on Lover´s Ledge above.
If you´ve the yen to pluck, then pluck us both, for we
who have lived as one, wish to die as one.
The song "High On A Rocky Ledge" by Moondog tells the story of a man who is deeply in love with a woman who lives high on a rocky ledge, surrounded by snow and ice. She is described as having a shadow that is both lovely as lace and cold as ice, which could symbolize the duality of her personality - she is beautiful and alluring, but also somewhat distant and unattainable. The man has climbed up to see her many times, dressed in warm climbing clothes and hoping to win her heart. However, despite his efforts, he has not been successful.
One day, the man hears a spirit speak to him, telling him that the only way to win his lady love is to fall to his death from high above. The spirit promises that he will then begin to grow in the snow beside his beloved and be mated with her forever. The man decides to take this drastic step, and as a result, he becomes an "Edel", or flower, and is united with his "Mädel", or girl, the Edelweiß. They are both now happily living on the rocky ledge, and the man invites others to climb up to see them and their love.
The lyrics of the song can be interpreted in different ways. On a literal level, it could be viewed as a tragic love story with supernatural elements - the man sacrifices his life in order to be with his love, but is granted a second chance in the form of becoming a flower. Alternatively, it could be seen as a metaphor for the pursuit of an ideal or unattainable love. The man's quest to win the heart of the Edelweiß represents a universal human desire for connection and love, even when it seems impossible.
Line by Line Meaning
High on a rocky ledge lives a Mädel, Edelweiß.
A girl named Edelweiß lives on top of a rocky cliff.
She has a shadow, lovely as lace, and cold as ice.
Her shadow is beautiful like lace but it's also very cold.
High on a rocky ledge, I pledged my ove to her.
I declared my love to her on a high cliff.
Ev´ry time I climb up to Paradise.
Whenever I climb up to see her.
How many times I´ve been up to see her, goodness knows,
I've lost count of how many times I've visited her.
Huffing and puffing, dressed in the warmest climbing clothes.
I always climb up to the cliff exhausted and wearing the warmest clothes for protection.
How many dabces would be taken in my Hopeless pursuit of
the Schnee-Mädel-Edelweiß.
I've danced many times in pursuit of Edelweiß who I fondly call Schnee-Mädel.
Then spoke a spirit, "If you would win your Lady Love,
There´s only one way: fall to your death from high above.
You will begin to grow in snow beside the one You have
waited for to be mated with."
A spirit told me that the only way to win Edelweiß is to fall to my death from the cliff, then grow in snow beside her to be with her forever.
Now, I´m an Edel, vice to
my Mädel, Edelweiß.
Dying to be with her wasn´t any sacrifice.
Now, I am an Edel, and Edelweiß is my Mädel. I would do anything to be with her, even if it means sacrificing my life.
We´re so deliriously happy on your ledge where I pledge
my love to my Lady Fair.
We are very happy together on the cliff where I pledged my love to my Lady Fair.
You who are climbing breathless to see me and my love.
Snow flowers growing fonder on Lover´s Ledge above.
Those who climb breathlessly to see us will see snow flowers growing where we are together on Lover's Ledge above.
If you´ve the yen to pluck, then pluck us both, for we
who have lived as one, wish to die as one.
If anyone desires to take us away, take us both. We've been living as one and we want to die as one.
Contributed by Sadie T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jacob Johnson
on Coffee Beans
Coffee beans make the finest coffee of all
it's time to take
a coffee break
to sit a while and savor
the rarest coffee flavor
of bean coffee
I make with bottled spring water
is my day
Maru Lazzaroggi
on Maybe
Maybe someday, I'll be recognized for what I am before I'm dead and gone.