Let The Earth Bear Witness - The Waterboys / WB Yeats

Un dels inconvenients de treballar des de l’ordenador de casa es diu el Senyor Google. Qui pot concentrar-se en la feina i no obrir l’internet per a mirar les noticies, comprovar si tens un mail, llegir algun bloc, mirar allò que t’intriga ... i així fins que t’adonis que no has avançat res en la feina que tenies que fer!
Per sort, la gran avantatge que té la feina és que, si no ho fas avui, no marxa a cap lloc i demà estarà allí esperant-te com un gos lleial!

En fi, després de penjar el Whole of the Moon, no he pogut estar sense mirar que estan fent els Waterboys ara, i així he passat més temps del que tinc llegint webs i mirant YouTubes. Anyway, resulta que ara s’han dedicat a preparar una actuació amb 20 poemes de WB Yeats musicalitzades – acaben d’estrenar el show An Evening With Mr Yeats a Dublin, i s’espera que a la tardor tornaran a presentar-ho. Ha de ser impressionant, trobo jo!

Bé, navegant una mica més, resulta que han barrejat dos poemes de Yeats per a formar una peça anomenada Let The Earth Bear Witness – que la terra sigui el testimoni. I profunditzant una mica més, resulta que durant les protestes a Iran per les ultimes “eleccions”, van preparar aquest vídeo per acompanyar la peça. I aquí callo, ja que sobren les paraules ..... (gràcies Senyor Google).

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Working on the computer at home has one Big Problem – Mr . Google. Who can actually sit there concentrating on work and resist the temptation to see the news, check your mails, browse a few blogs, look up that thing that has always baffled you ... and so on, till you realise you’re getting nowhere fast with what you are supposed to be doing!
Fortunately, work is like a faithful dog, and it will still be there waiting for you tomorrow if you don’t get it done today!

So, after posting the Whole of the Moon last week, instead of working, I’ve been surfing to see what the Waterboys are up to now. Turns out they’ve prepared a show/recital/concert with 20 WB Yeats’ poems set to music. They have just performed this in public for the first time and will be playing it again in the autumn. I’d love to be there ...

Anyway, still surfing, they’ve mixed excerpts from two poems to come up with this piece, Let The Earth Bear Witness. Surfing a little further, I’ve come across this clip. The Waterboys prepared this video clip with the poem during the protests against the Iranian “election process” last year. And watching this, there’s not much more to say .... (except thanks to Mr Google!)

A song from the play Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), sung by the Poor Old Woman:

They shall be remembered for ever, They shall be alive for ever,

They shall be speaking for ever, The people shall hear them for ever.

From "The Blood Bond," a song from the play Diarmuid and Grania (1901), by Yeats and Moore:

Let the sea bear witness, Let the wind bear witness,

Let the earth bear witness, Let the fire bear witness,

Let the dew bear witness, Let the stars bear witness!

The Whole Of The Moon - The Waterboys

Si hem de buscar candidats per a la Millor Cançó De l’Historia de l’Univers, aquesta seria una. The Waterboys amb The Whole of The Moon (Scott) del LP This is the Sea, 1985.

If you ever need to make a short-list for Best Song Ever in the Whole Universe, don’t forget this one. The Whole of the Moon (Scott) from The Waterboys’ 1985 album This is the Sea.


I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands
I had flashes but you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years while you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

You were there in the turnstiles with the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars and you know how it feels
To reach too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

I was grounded while you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth, you cut through lies
I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon

I spoke about wings, you just flew
I wondered, I guessed and I tried, you just knew
I sighed, and you swooned
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

With a torch in your pocket and the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder and you know how it feels
To get too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon, the whole of the moon, hey yeah

Unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers
Trumpets, towers and tenements, wide oceans full of tears
Flags, rags, ferryboats, scimitars and scarves
Every precious dream and vision underneath the stars
Yes, you climbed on the ladder with the wind in your sails
You came like a comet, blazing your trail
Too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon