On Wings of Song for His 200th Birthday

Felix Mendelssohn
German-born Romantic composer, conductor, and pianist
(3 February, 1809 – 4 November, 1847)
This MP3 Selection Expired on 02-14-2009
Rudi Moosmeier, jazz piano, (2006)
Auf Flügeln Des Gesanges (Mendelssohn)

Rise up, my song! stretch forth thy wings and fly
With no delaying, over shore and deep!
Be with my lady when she wakes from sleep;
Touch her with kisses softly on each eye;
And say, before she puts her dreaming by:
“Within the palaces of slumber keep
One little niche wherein sometimes to weep
For one who vainly toils till he shall die!”
Yet say again, a sweeter thing than this:
“His life is wasted by his love for thee.”
Then, looking o’er the fields of memory,
She ’ll find perchance, o’ergrown with grief and bliss,
Some flower of recollection, pale and fair,
That she, through pity, for a day may wear.

A Greeting
Philip Bourke Marston (1850–87)

On Her Birthday - A Sunday Kind of Love

Etta James
R&B Singer
25 January, 1938
This MP3 Selection Expired on 02-01-2009
Etta James (1961)
A Sunday Kind of Love
(Barbara Belle, et al, 1946)

Wishing You A Psalm 51 New Year

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10 KJV)
In tandem with each winter solstice and Christmas celebration, the winter nights become shorter and the days longer. Yet, our Lord, the Sun of Righteousness, reigns in unconceivable splendor even as I write:

"Bright, like a sun, the Savior sits, And spreads eternal noon; No evenings there, nor gloomy nights, To want the feeble moon." – Isaac Watts

On this side of eternity, His advent made it possible to fill us-His elect-with the promised hope and the light of day. His grace and truth poured over us. Our being is filled with an immeasurable joy; His love uplifts and preserves us far beyond the holiday season and temporal tides.

May the Lord continue to make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you in the New Year.

Déjà vu All Over Again - New Year's Morn

New Year's Dawn - Broadway
Sara Teasdale (1884 -1933)

When the horns wear thin
And the noise, like a garment outworn,
Falls from the night,
The tattered and shivering night,
That thinks she is gay;
When the patient silence comes back,
And retires,
And returns,
Rebuffed by a ribald song,
Wounded by vehement cries,
Fleeing again to the stars--
Ashamed of her sister the night;
Oh, then they steal home,
The blinded, the pitiful ones
With their gew-gaws still in their hands,
Reeling with odorous breath
And thick, coarse words on their tongues.
They get them to bed, somehow,
And sleep the forgiving,
Comes thru the scattering tumult
And closes their eyes.
The stars sink down ashamed
And the dawn awakes,
Like a youth who steals from a brothel,
Dizzy and sick.

Happy New Year 2009

a scratchy vinyl LP recording for nostalgic effect

This MP3 Selection Expired on 01-24-2009
Freddy Martin and Orchestra (1973) - Vienna Nights Medley
(Three Waltzes: Vilia; Wien, Wien; and The Merry Widow)

The Peace of God Transcends All Understanding

"How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in."

Thou Forever Wilt Be

Summer and winter, and springtime harvest
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto to me

Je chante avec toi liberté

Nana Mouskouri
Multi-lingual Vocalist
13 October, 1934
This MP3 Selection Expired on 12-31-2008
Nana Mouskouri (1982) - Je chante avec toi liberté
(The Slave Chorus from Verdi's opera 'Nabucco')

Quand tu chantes, je chante avec toi liberté
Quand tu pleures, je pleure aussi ta peine
Quand tu trembles, je prie pour toi liberté
Dans la joie ou les larmes je t'aime

Souviens-toi des jours de ta misère
Mon pays, tes bateaux étaient des galères

Quand tu chantes, je chante avec toi liberté
Et quand tu es absente j'espère

Qui e-tu: religion ou bien réalité
Une idée de révolutionnaire

Moi je crois que tu es la seule vérité
La noblesse de notre humanité

Je comprends qu'on meure pour te défendre
Que l'on passe sa vie à t'attendre

Quand tu chantes, je chante avec toi liberté
Dans la joie ou les larmes je t'aime

Les chansosns de l'espoir ont ton nom et tavoix
Le chemin de l'histoire nous conduira vers toi

Liberté, liberté

Take Care, JC

In heaven's morning breaks
And earth's vain shadows flee
Changes and decay are all around
In life
In death
The Lord changes not

He is kind and good with healing in His wings
for tears of all woes

Where is death's sting?
Where, grave thy victory?
We triumphs still, He abides with us
And we Him

First Day of Autumn, 2008

Falltime
Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)

GOLD of a ripe oat straw, gold of a southwest moon,
Canada thistle blue and flimmering larkspur blue,
Tomatoes shining in the October sun with red hearts,
Shining five and six in a row on a wooden fence,
Why do you keep wishes on your faces all day long,
Wishes like women with half-forgotten lovers going to new cities?
What is there for you in the birds, the birds, the birds, crying down on the north wind in September, acres of birds spotting the air going south?
Is there something finished? And some new beginning on the way?