History of Sound, The (2025)

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My father said

it was a gift from God.

How I could see music.

How I could name the note

my mother coughed every morning.

What the dog across the field

was barking,

the key of the springtime frogs.

Shape,

color.

I thought everyone could see sound.

Yellow for D.

Tastes too.

My father would play a B minor,

and my mouth went bitter.

It never occurred to me

that music was only sound.

Across the rocky mountain

I walked for miles and miles

Say, I'll never forget

my mother's looks

God bless her sweetly smile

There was an old, rich farmer

Who lived in the neighborhood by

He had

One lonely daughter

On her I cast my eye...

The town's music teacher

noticed my singing.

She wrote her friend in Boston,

a professor...

which is how I left the farm.

A scholarship

to the New England Conservatory.

Across the rocky mountain

I walked for miles and miles

Lionel?

I walked for miles and miles

I'm sorry,

I know that song from home.

Excuse me.

There was an old, rich farmer

Who lived in the neighborhood by

He had one lonely daughter

On her I cast my eye

She was most tall and handsome

Blue eyes and curly hair

There's no one girl

In the wide world

With her I could compare

Where'd you learn that?

Some forest in England.

My father used to sing it

back in Kentucky.

Did he?

David White.

Lionel Worthing.

- What department?

- Voice.

Well, fa-la-la.

Composition.

- People here know songs like that?

- They don't.

This is...

a hobby in the summers.

Collecting tunes, ballads, songs.

Reminds me of home.

What else do you know?

More than you, likely.

Pretty Saro ?

Of course.

Fair Winter ?

"One went east, the other went west."

How about...

Silver Dagger ?

No, I don't think so.

Oh.

- Should I?

- Well, it's such a pretty song.

Well, come on. Let's hear it.

What key?

Come on, what key?

I don't usually sing like this,

with...

- With what?

- With everyone talking.

Oh.

Excuse me!

Quiet, please!

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that.

Now you have to sing.

You shy?

Don't sing love songs

You'll wake my mother

She's sleeping here

Right by my side

In her right hand, a silver dagger

She says that I can't be your bride

All men are false

So says my mother

They'll tell you wicked,

loving lies

The very next evening

They'll court another

Leave you alone to pine and sigh

My daddy is a handsome devil

He's got a chain five miles long

And on every link

a heart does dangle

Of another maid

He's loved and wronged

Don't sing love songs

You'll wake my mother

She's sleeping here

Right by my side

In her right hand, a silver dagger

She says that

I can't be your bride

Okay.

Sit here.

Sing me all the songs you know.

David had a thousand songs

in his head.

A photographic memory,

you might call it today.

He could play a song note-for-note

after hearing it once.

Oh, I like to rise

When the sun she rises

Early in the morning

I like to hear

them small birds singing

Merrily upon their laylums

Hurrah for the life

of a country boy

For to ramble in the new-mown hay

Another drink?

I'm tired.

Bed. Walk me home.

Come in. Have some water.

Sorry. I only have one clean glass.

Come here.

Come on.

The wind doth blow

Today, my love

With a few small drops of rain

I never had

But one true love

And she in the cold grave

was lain

- Never mind. It's too long.

- Keep singing, please.

- I'll teach you the rest later.

- What's it about?

A man,

sitting on a gravestone,

not letting his dead lover rest.

She gets annoyed by all his weeping,

tells him to just

leave her alone, let her be dead.

Oh, who is this

That sits on my grave

And will not let me sleep?

She tells him to enjoy life

while he has it, to go away.

It's a good lesson.

Where'd you learn it?

My uncle and I learned it

on one of our song-collecting

in England.

And why were you there again?

You're asking a lot of questions

so early in the morning.

I told you everything about myself.

I don't even know where you grew up.

You don't?

Newport.

After my parents died,

I lived with my uncle Silas

outside London for a few years.

I was eleven. Twelve maybe.

You were an orphan?

That's a dramatic way to put it.

I was momentarily unparented.

Silas was surprised

by his newfound fatherhood.

He was determined to make me happy,

duty and all.

The English love duty.

He noticed I was spending all day

singing the songs his maid taught me.

She must have said something to him

about my asking her for songs.

I was an obsessive boy,

severely annoying, I'm sure.

I would go around the village

asking people to sing me songs

and I'd write them in a book.

Embarrassing.

It all grew from there.

Silas taking me on trips through

the countryside, first around Surrey,

during the summers

to the Lake District.

Ireland one summer.

He started to be more interested

in song-collecting it than I was.

And where's he now?

Dead. Yes.

Fever of some kind.

Which is why I'm back here.

Inheritance of my parents'

Newport house,

a dislike of English weather,

etc., etc.

I'm sorry.

For what?

Your uncle

and your parents.

You don't have any other family?

Everyone you know is going to die,

you know that.

I have to go.

I'm busy tonight.

Next week?

- Keep it down!

- Sorry.

- Good night!

- Shh!

When the draft came

later that year,

classes were disbanded.

Maybe that was it, I thought.

A handful of nights in one season.

You're going.

That's what I've been told.

Suppose you never have to worry

about the draft,

thanks to these.

I leave this week

to w*r.

Write.

Send chocolate.

Don't die.

Oh, the snow it melts the soonest

When the winds begin to sing

And the corn, it ripens fastest...

And so I went back to the farm

spring of 1917,

suddenly,

regretfully.

Before we part

I'd bet a crown

He'd be fain to follow it yet

Oh

The snow it melts the soonest

When the wind begins to sing

And the swallow skims

Without a thought

As long as it is spring

But when spring blows

And winter goes

Me lad, and you'll be fain

With all your pride for

to follow me

Were it 'cross the stormy main

Get up!

What's wrong?

What?

You're unhappy.

No, I'm not.

You been like this

since you come back.

You didn't wanna come back.

I understand.

You shouldn't have gone.

If you hadn't gone,

you wouldn't have cared coming back.

You're sick.

Just sing something.

Alright.

Across the rocky mountain

I walk for miles and miles

Across the rocky mountain

I walk for miles and miles

Across the rocky mountain

I walk for miles and miles

Say,

I'll never forget my mother's looks

God bless her sweetly smile

There was an old, rich farmer

Who lived in the neighborhood by

He had one lonely daughter

On her I cast my eye

She was most tall and handsome

Blue eyes and curly hair

Oh, there's no other girl

In this wide world

With her I could compare

You ever seen this?

Let me try.

- Like this, right?

- Yeah.

Dad?

Dad?

Come all ye fair and tender ladies

Take warning

how you court young men

They're like a bright star

Of a summer's morning

They first appear

And then they're gone

They'll tell to you

some pleasing story

Declare to you they love you true

I once did meet

a fair, true lover

- A true one too,

I took him to be

Then he went away

And found him another...

You look a bit sideways.

You didn't come to the funeral.

Dead is dead.

w*r in Europe over yet?

No.

Did I tell you about

that charge in Antietam?

Billy Higgins was shot on his horse

must have been ten times

and kept riding?

Yeah, you told me.

What the hell was it all for?

Your grandmother

was right about that.

Said we were all fools.

- Shouldn't give her that.

- What?

Coffee.

It's bad for her heart.

"Bad for her heart."

Who the hell told you that?

Will Hall.

His dog died

from eating a bag of coffee beans.

I'll let you know

when I feed her

a bag of coffee beans.

My dear

silver-throated confederate,

I hope this note

finds its way to you.

How is life on the farm?

As it stands, I return from my

walking tour,

you might say, in Europe.

God help me.

But the day is getting brighter.

I have a position at Bowdoin College

here in the evergreens of Maine.

The department head thought it

a fine idea if I was to

record folk songs

for department's regionalist leanings

in the boreal wilderness.

I have time off this coming winter.

I can't drag this talking

sewing machine by myself.

How about a long walk in the woods?

The journey points north.

Roaring fires, logging camps,

birch beer,

old songs.

Meet me on the 1st of January

at Augusta train station.

Bring warm clothes.

Don't dally, just come.

Yours, David.

I'm leaving.

What?

Where?

To Maine, for a music project.

A music project?

Be gone for a month or so.

Maybe longer.

Maybe the spring too.

Is that what you think?

And who's gonna keep this farm?

The farm will be fine.

You'll be fine.

Pardon me?

I'll be fine? Until the spring?

You come in

with potatoes to tell me this?

I'm not leaving right now.

I can't stay here alone.

Grandfather's here.

And there's food

for weeks in the cellar.

Grandpa?

What use is he?

Some, maybe.

I'm just leaving for a while.

You already said that.

Sorry, excuse me.

Thank you.

Welcome back.

Yeah, well...

Welcome to Maine.

- That's all you brought?

- Mm-hmm.

Don't have much.

And a pillow.

It was a long trip.

I have the tent.

We need a few cooking pots.

I hope you like oats.

- We're sleeping outside?

- It'll be fine.

We need more blankets.

I told you to bring warm clothes.

You look the same.

You look a little less thin.

You didn't get shot.

Yes, well, not yet.

You never sent chocolate.

My apologies,

I was somewhat distracted.

What now?

We have 36 cylinders,

the ancient machine

the department sent me with.

First, we head north,

then east,

then south to the sea,

along the coast to Augusta.

Around a hundred miles in all.

And you just walk up to someone

and ask them for a song?

I'll teach you to use this.

I'll transcribe the lyrics.

What we're looking for

isn't in towns.

You'll find it out there.

First, we have to catch a train.

- Grab that.

- Now?

Now! Your train was late.

Where are we going?

Up north, out of the city.

Well, I thought you said

we needed to buy food.

We got enough for a few days,

then we'll figure it out.

I haven't eaten today.

See this?

It's made of wax,

kind of like your candles there.

And this goes on here

and it spins around.

Sound comes down this big horn here

and it shakes this needle

which cuts a line in the wax.

How's that catch the sound?

Well...

The sound is invisible, right?

But it can be physical.

It can touch something,

it can make an impression.

If you had a magnifying glass,

you'd see ridges in the wax like...

like small hills.

Hills don't make sound.

Um...

Put your hand on your throat,

now hum.

Can you feel something?

Like a vibration?

- A little tickle.

- Right.

That's sound.

Something shaking the air,

shaking something else.

- Shaking the air?

- Uh-huh.

When you wanna play the sound back,

just have another needle on here,

jumps over the ridges of sound

and amplifies through this tube.

Will I feel something?

You won't feel a thing.

- It's on?

- It is.

Come, my soul, and let us try

For a little season

Every burden to lay by

Come, and let us reason

What is this that casts thee down?

Who are those that grieve thee?

Speak, and let the worst be known

Speaking may relieve thee

What is this that casts thee down?

Who are those that grieve thee?

Speak, and let the worst be known

Speaking may relieve thee

What do you do?

In April I open my bill

In May, I sing night and day

In June, I change my tune

In July, far, far I fly

In August

Away

I must

My grandfather once said

that happiness isn't a story.

So there isn't much to say

about those first weeks.

We'll be alright

If the wind was in our sails

We'll be alright

If the wind was in our sails

And we'll all hang on behind

We'll roll the old chariot along

Go to sleep.

Hope you like climbing.

May I ask you something?

Why haven't you said anything

about the w*r?

Spent a long time in the trench,

it was boring.

Felt worse for the horses.

Saint Francis was nowhere to be

found.

My grandfather talks about the w*r

like it was the greatest time

of his life.

I wouldn't say that.

What would you say?

It made everything dimmer,

cold.

Where are we walking now?

Towards the sea.

What's there?

Malaga Island.

It's been in the newspapers.

I read about it before you came.

Settled by sl*ves generations back.

Then Irish.

The governor's evicting them.

How so?

State wants the land.

Why are we going?

Poor immigrants

and former sl*ves

would make for strange old music, no?

That doesn't make you

feel uncomfortable?

Why?

Where I come from, you don't walk

into a place like that.

You don't have to do anything.

I'll talk.

Don't you get nervous?

I just make myself

into what someone wants me to be.

It's what Silas did.

You see a Bible on a woman's lap

and you want her to sing you a song,

you're now collecting songs

in God's name.

You see a half-empty bottle on the

table and a man who hasn't shaved in

a week,

get him to talk about his trouble.

I once saw Silas

invent a stable of horses

because a farmer was sad

about his dead nag.

So it's like lying then?

Making it easier

for someone to be generous.

An invitation.

Works in all ways, not just songs.

Lying, if you want to call it that.

Oh, thank you.

- David White.

- Will Swain.

And he, Lionel Worthing.

Musicians collecting songs.

Thank you, Will.

Who are you?

David White.

This is Lionel Worthing.

Academics

on a song-collecting mission.

This is not the time.

We were just looking

to record a song or two,

posterity.

We have no songs for you.

What is it you do here?

A schoolteacher.

Lucky us! We'll be publishing

the songs in a booklet

for schoolchildren.

Preserve America's heritage

all together.

A booklet?

Well, we could include your class.

I bet you have

some fine young singers.

Here in the vineyard

Of my Lord

I hope to live and labor

And be obedient to my God

Until my dying hour

I love to see the lilies grow

And view them all a-standing

In the right place while here below

Just as the Lord commanded

Can I get some information?

Full name?

Thankful Mary Swain.

Born?

And song title?

Here in the Vineyard.

Come

Come with me to the old churchyard

I so well know these paths

'Neath the soft green sward

Friends slumber there

That we once did regard

We will trace out their names

In the old churchyard

Mourn not for them

For their trials are over

Why weep for those

Who will weep no more?

For sweet is their sleep...

Good morning.

The ground is frozen.

Sorry?

I got two children,

three grandchildren

buried out there

in that graveyard.

And my wife.

I thought it would all just go away,

the governor would find

another project.

I wake up every morning,

look across there,

and I see nothing.

Same trees,

same rocks,

nothing coming.

But when they come,

they'll be coming from there.

Thank you, Will.

We shouldn't have left.

Wasn't right.

What would you have done?

Don't you feel bad?

We didn't say anything,

we just walked away.

The law is bigger than us.

- But it's wrong.

- I know this.

Maybe you don't understand.

- I don't understand?

- You didn't grow up where I did.

Step in front of the police,

they hurt you, k*ll you.

What does it matter

where you grew up?

Maybe you don't always know

how things work is all I'm saying.

You have no idea what I know,

what I've seen,

about how things work.

You did that?

I did.

Why?

Thanks.

You're going home after we finish?

I'd go anywhere else,

but I don't have any money.

You could go back

to the Conservatory.

Teach, I'm sure.

Lessons.

There's an ocean of parents in Boston

with too much to spend.

Is there any jobs at your college?

You'd hate it there. Small town.

Well, I could help

catalog the cylinders.

I'll just get a student

to do it for me.

You got a whole life ahead of you.

A bigger life.

Why do you want to stay here anyway?

If I had what you had, I'd leave.

I'd go sing somewhere...

New York.

Europe, Paris, Rome.

I'd go far away, flee.

Make money.

Money's good.

This summer?

Sure.

Really?

Sure.

In case you need anything.

That was a nice way to explain it.

What?

Sound.

I sent David a letter every month

since our trip ended.

They all went unanswered.

I stopped writing

sometime in spring of 1921.

Ciao.

Ciao.

That's it.

They aren't

the right songs.

I don't know why.

Just sing the songs.

You coming to Venice this weekend?

I need to tell Luisa.

I don't think so. No.

Why not?

I'll show you the Venice I know.

Come.

I don't know.

Maybe.

What's wrong?

You seem distracted.

I'm bored.

- I'm boring you?

- No, not you.

I'm just bored with this work.

This choir.

You're in the most prestigious choir

in the most beautiful city.

- So?

- What do you mean, "so"?

I've been offered

a position in England.

England?

Mm-hmm.

I think I might take it.

I... I've been here too long.

You think you might take it?

Yeah, I've said yes.

Summers are too hot here and...

and it's a good offer.

Summers are too hot?

Mm-hmm.

Where are you going?

You're telling me

you want to move away?

Yes.

Good luck.

Beware of the American.

- Beautiful work. Tremendous.

- Thank you.

That was beautiful, Mr. Worthing.

- You've quite a throng of admirers.

- Thank you, darlin'.

You jealous?

Obviously.

- Anyway, I've made a lunch for us.

- Oh, yes?

- What's the occasion?

- No occasion. A picnic lunch.

Sounds nice.

Oh!

You are a pig!

I'm a rural farm boy.

It's part of my charm.

I want to go to America one day,

see this farm.

No, you don't.

See,

every European thinks

that they want to

go to America, but...

believe me, things are better here.

Maybe they're just better for you.

I was thinking...

Mm-hmm?

...how about coming

to my family's home?

Next weekend.

My parents are dying to meet you.

It's a pretty little place

in the countryside.

Mm-hmm.

I'm imagining a hovel

with ivy and cobwebs.

Ghastly.

Old, drafty, but

it's home.

And I love it.

Meeting your parents?

Mm.

Well, I do think it's time, yes?

Alright, sure.

I'd love to.

This way.

I thought you said

your parents were Bohemians?

They are, in spirit.

Hello?

- Mummy?

- Darling, they're here!

Such a pleasure to finally meet you.

- The American songster.

- It's a pleasure.

No, no.

We are informal here.

Clarissa said so many

sweet things about you.

Yes, you too.

- Hello.

- So naughty. Hello.

Come here.

- Come in, please.

- Thank you.

I abandoned my only child

to greet you.

Really horrible, isn't it?

I love that.

It's Orpheus.

Uh-huh.

Your patron saint.

Would you sing

your way into hell for me?

Of course.

Would you

forgive me for looking back?

Course not!

That's typical man, distrustful,

ruining things for the woman.

Is that the story?

It is.

- Wait, is it?

- Uh-uh.

No?

I thought he turned around

to offer her a hand...

help her out of the cave.

It was an honest mistake, punished.

No.

No, he doesn't trust Hades

to keep the promise.

Oh.

I think they like you.

Who?

My parents.

I like them too.

Good.

Can I ask you something?

Mm-hmm.

Do you ever think about...

how you want your life to look?

Look? Like with music?

No, like, like...

wife, kids, family.

I like kids.

Seems like it's what people do.

That's what you want? Family?

I guess. I don't know.

You worry at all, what we're doing?

What we're doing?

You know, this.

No.

I don't worry.

I think I admire you.

Can I speak with you?

You're so handsome

when you're out of breath.

My mother, she's sick.

Sick? What do you mean?

She's dying.

My grandfather wrote.

I have to go home and see her.

I'm leaving.

When?

Going tonight, or the next day.

I'm sorry,

I can't leave her alone again.

University ends in a month.

I'll come with you.

Let's go together.

It's just one month more.

I'm not staying.

I see.

You're leaving, leaving?

Yes.

Well...

tell me why.

- I'm sorry, I...

- No, I don't want an apology.

You know what my mother wrote

after we left the house?

What?

She said I should leave you...

before you left me.

I want you to go.

Mother?

I had

A bottle of burgundy wine

My true love, she did not know

Was there I m*rder*d

That dear little girl

Down by the banks below

I drew my saber through her

Which was a bloody sight

Can I help you?

Just out for a walk.

It's Lionel.

Gosh.

Lionel Worthing?

It's been ten years.

This is Lionel from over the hill.

We went to school together.

Thought you lived in the north.

And Europe, did I hear?

Yes, both.

Isabelle, this is a famous singer.

What are you doing back?

My mother died.

Yes, I'm sorry.

Please, keep singing.

No.

Now I'm embarrassed.

Why don't you sing? Let's hear you.

No, I just wanna listen.

I like your voices.

Okay then.

Down in the willow garden

Where me and my love did meet

There we set a-courtin'

My love fell fast asleep

I had a bottle of burgundy wine

My true love, she did not know...

Let me get this straight,

you left a fancy job

where all you had to do was open

your mouth and squawk a few notes,

you come back to Kentucky

to pick apples?

Something is not adding up.

I guess not.

Whatever paints your fence,

friend, but...

I'd leave the farm

if I could do what you do.

I guess I feel like

I'm at the end of something.

- The end of something?

- Mm.

What was the beginning?

I don't know.

Probably when I was younger,

in college up in Boston.

I don't think I've been that happy

in a long time.

My mother always used to say,

"Life's only troubles.

"You could get sad,

or you could sing about it."

What else did your mama say?

Hmm...

"Don't marry that son of a b*tch,

Nathan McCloud."

- Can I help you?

- I'm looking for

the music department?

Are you a tutor?

No. A friend of mine works there.

Just upstairs, second floor,

down the hall.

Thank you.

'Scuse me.

I'm looking for a friend.

David White,

he's an instructor here.

- And who are you?

- Lionel Worthing.

We were at the Conservatory together.

- You know David?

- I did.

What?

Oh.

Well.

He passed away,

years ago.

His...

second year of teaching, I think.

That would've been 1920.

When did you last see him?

It was on a song-collecting trip

that... the department organized.

- Song collecting?

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

Folk songs.

Recordings for the college.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure

what you're referring to.

The department commissioned David

to do a song-collecting trip.

I don't think so.

I was department head for years,

I would've--

What about the cylinders?

- Cylinders?

- Yeah.

Maybe Belle could tell you more.

- Who's Belle?

- His wife.

Ex-wife.

Or widow, I mean.

I'm sorry to be the one

to deliver the news.

Thank you.

I'm sorry,

I think I have the wrong house.

I'm looking for Belle White.

Who are you?

Are you Belle?

Yes, I'm Belle Sinclair.

I'm a friend of David's.

Who's that?

It's a friend of David's.

Yes.

My shift's soon.

Is dinner ready?

Yes.

This is a bad time.

Come in.

I need to feed Henriette.

No, no, thank you.

I was just looking

for a box of wax cylinders.

Belle, I have to leave

in 20 minutes.

Come in.

What are you looking for?

We made recordings of songs,

on cylinders.

Trying to find them for research.

He didn't tell me much

about his work.

- Check with the college, I'd say.

- I did.

What sort of research is that?

I just keep a record

of the songs people are singing.

Paid to have people yell down a tube.

Bob.

Seems like a nice life.

What's your line of work, Bob?

Fire.

Fire.

My family's been fighting fires

since the town was founded.

Well.

- It was good to meet you.

- Yes, you too.

You okay here alone?

Of course.

Don't do anything with my wife.

- I'm going to put Henriette to bed.

- I should go.

No, don't go, please.

- You're busy. I should go.

- Stay.

I...

I haven't had company in months.

Just... stay a little longer, okay?

You don't have to do that.

I'm sorry I never...

wrote you back.

What?

Years ago, all those...

letters you sent to David

from Italy.

You read them?

I read all of David's mail

after he died.

You're a fine writer.

Have you ever heard that before?

Are you gonna ask me how we met?

You haven't asked me anything

about me and David, I noticed.

I understand,

I just thought you'd be more curious.

Well...

I'm sorry.

How did you two meet?

It was before

he went to Conservatory.

It was when I was 13.

We had a house in Newport

next to David's parents' house

and he became friends

with my brother, Henry.

Of course I was just

obsessed with David.

Charming friend who lived alone

in a seaside home.

But you know David,

the world loved him.

And then he went

to your school in Boston.

And then

he came back for Thanksgiving,

after...

my brother had died in Ypres.

He came back to console my parents.

He said he had a teaching position

in Maine.

And a few days after arriving,

he asked me to marry him.

I don't know why he did.

I was 18,

I was a child compared to him.

He'd seen so much

and I'd never left Newport.

He was...

I didn't see anything but him.

He was everything, I mean.

Then we moved here,

but...

things were not... fine.

Shell shock, you know.

It's only, I noticed it too late.

He didn't sleep, he didn't...

talk to me for days, sometimes.

And of course, that's the winter

you went off on your trip.

And then he...

then he was just gone.

He left me here.

What were the circumstances

of his death?

You must know.

No, I don't.

He did it up there in his office.

I should probably go.

You wait here for a minute.

You can have these back.

And I'll write to you

if I find those cylinders.

Write your address here.

If you could live anywhere,

where would it be?

Sounds pretty nice

where you were with your uncle.

I'll take you there one day.

The Lake District.

I think you'd die, it's so pretty.

The mountains...

Best voice I ever heard was there.

That's including yours, by the way.

This boy...

Town called Brackish, I think.

This boy's voice was fit

for the Pope and all the angels,

fit for God.

No, strike that.

It was God.

Where would you go?

Can't imagine I'll move again.

I suppose I like it where I am.

Hello.

I'm sorry,

I think I'm lost.

Lost?

- Where you headed?

- Brackish.

That's 20 miles from here.

You're walking north, you know.

I'm sorry to disturb you both.

I don't know how I got so lost.

I didn't make a plan.

I just got off the train

and I started walking.

I thought I was going

in the right direction.

I thought I could sleep outside,

but it's cold.

Do you have family?

Won't they be worried

about where you are?

No.

No, I'm...

I'm here alone.

A friend, a long time ago,

said that I would like it, so...

I just guess I feel embarrassed,

you know, getting lost.

Mostly I'm just tired,

and hungry and cold.

Ah.

What's it about?

A man sitting on a gravestone,

not letting his dead lover rest.

She gets annoyed by all his weeping,

tells him to just let her be dead.

Oh, who is this

That sits on my grave?

She tells him to enjoy life

while he has it, to go away.

It's a good lesson.

The stalk is withered and dry

Sweetheart

And the flower will never return

And since I lost my own true love

What can I do but mourn?

Mourn not for me, my own true love

Mourn not for me, I pray

For I must leave you

And all the world

And go into my grave

So much of this book

is not just about music,

but about the musicians,

their lives, journeys.

How did you start

song-collecting that way?

I've heard your father

had a significant influence on you.

I suppose that...

yeah, that's partly true,

about my father.

It was a friend,

really, to be honest.

- A musician?

- Yeah.

He and I were students together

at the Conservatory,

back in 1917.

I went on a collecting trip with him.

That was his passion,

finding old songs.

There was a moment,

decades ago, when I realized that

I had probably never been as

happy as I was when...

collecting songs.

Do you have a favorite

passage in the book?

Something you could share with us?

Um... yeah.

I think the introduction's

worth reading here.

"I was recently asked

by one of my students,

"what I liked about folk songs,

"the ballads especially.

"And I found myself saying

that they were

"the most warm-blooded

pieces of music.

"And I didn't quite know

what I meant when I said it,

"but I think I do now.

"These are songs

filled with the voices of thousands

"who've sung and changed them,

"and of the people

in our communities,

in our lives."

"These are not songs of divinity,

"angels, spirits.

"They're songs of people.

"Songs my father sung,

songs my grandfather knew.

"They're songs from experiences,

"stories with sadness so great

"that they were turned to songs,

"as if melody

could make hardship lighter.

"Orchestral music sharpens the mind,

"sometimes the soul.

"And choral music

"makes you feel a depth of thought

and spirituality.

"The ballads in this book are messy,

"human experiences,

"events we might like to avoid:

"heartbreak, death, jealousy.

"And put a lump in your throat

just by the melody.

"Emotion in song,

"nothing fancy,

"and that's why I love them."

That's beautiful.

Well, my guest this hour has been

ethnomusicologist, professor,

writer, performer,

Dr. Lionel Worthing.

His new book,

Roots and Branches

of American Ballads ,

explores stories in song.

...In silence

Don't turn away

In silence

Your confusion

My illusion

Worn like a mask of self-hate

Confronts and then dies

Don't walk away

"I found this in the attic

"years ago,

after we bought the house.

"I saw you on television last week.

"What a coincidence."

Here in the vineyard

Of my Lord, I

Hope to live and labor

And be obedient to my God

Until my dying hour

Nineteen-twenty.

Hello, Lionel.

I hope this finds its way to you.

I suppose I should explain.

I just feel like there's...

like there's something in me

that's not...

that's not going away,

like a false note...

You've been very good to me, Lionel.

Thank you for coming north.

Sorry,

I don't know what to say anymore.

Really.

Don't sing love songs

You'll wake my mother

She's sleeping here

Right by my side

In her right hand,

a silver dagger

She says that I

can't be your bride

All men are false

So says my mother

They'll tell you wicked,

loving lies

The very next evening

They'll court another

Leave you alone to pine and sigh

My daddy is a handsome devil

He's got a chain five miles long

And on every link

a heart does dangle

Of another maid

He's loved and wronged

Don't sing love songs

You'll wake my mother

She's sleeping here

right by my side

In her right hand, a silver dagger

She says that

I can't be your bride

I feel I've missed something.

How to put this?

It's not nostalgia,

it's not grief.

It's the... hardness of a fact

that I should've stayed in Maine.

Would I feel differently

if we hadn't met?

Would I feel now,

that I had missed something?

But we did meet.

And what do I want now?

I want the sound of my life, I think.

What happens to it all,

all the sounds

released into the world,

never captured?

I want all of it.

The history of sound.

Lionel Worthing.

David White.

Here in the vineyard of my Lord

I hope to live and labor

And be obedient to my God

Until my dying hour

I love to see the lilies grow

And view them all a-standing

In the right place while here below

Just as the Lord commanded

We ofttimes meet,

both night and day

A faithful band of pilgrims

We read, we sing,

we preach and pray

And find the Lord most precious

But while we sing our song of love

Our hearts are deeply wounded

Perhaps we all will meet no more

Here in a congregation

But if on earth we meet no more

We hope to meet in heaven

Where congregations ne'er break up

But dwell in sweet communion