The Empty Cabin (Andy's Blue Yodel #1)
Song lyrics
I climbed the mountain pathway, looking for the old man’s still
I climbed that mossy pathway, looking for the old man’s still;
But the old man wasn’t home . . .
Just his footprints on the hill.
Tangled weeds and grasses grow around the cabin door,
Those fragrant wild grasses grow around the cabin door.
No panes [pains] in the empty windows,
No rugs on the barren floor.
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The morning’s rising sun illuminates the pines
That golden sun it sparkles on the highest pine
There’s a shadow on the marshes
And a stillness in my mind
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Hear the cheerful call of songbirds, then there’s silence all around.
The songbirds make a joyful noise, then there’s silence all around.
There’s a stillness in the valley;
Distant bells the only sound
The old man isn’t home, but the day is mighty fine
The old man’s out, but the day is mighty fine
He left an empty Mason jar,
And a crock of clear moon-shine!
Source Poems
Shantena Augusto Sabbadini comments on his website, Pilgrimage to Emptiness in Tang Poetry:
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“The visit to a sage or a hermit is a common theme in Chinese poetry, and the pilgrimage is often the occasion of a deep insight, a spiritual experience. The hermit frequently resides in a remote place, and the arduous journey to reach him is an essential part of the experience.”
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Sabbadini graciously allowed me to use his careful translations, which he presents with discussion on the website.
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Chang Jian (708-765?), The monastery behind Bo Shan temple:
Clear morning, entering ancient temple,
Rising sun, illuminating tall trees,
Meandering footpath, leading to secluded place,
Meditation hall, deep in flowers and plants,
Mountain brightness, joyous birds’nature,
Marsh shadows, empty human heart,
A myriad sounds, now complete silence,
Only remains the stone bell’s chime.
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Liu Chang Qing (709-785?), Looking for the Taoist monk
Chang of the Southern stream
All the way traveling across places,
in the tender moss seeing clogs’ footprints,
white clouds surrounding the quiet islet,
fragrant grasses obstructing the idle door,
after the rain looking at the pine’s color,
going-round the hill reaching the river’s spring,
stream flower offers the meaning of Chan,
face to face, equally without words.
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Jia Dao (779-843), Visit to a hermit without finding him
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Under the pine-tree asking the young disciple,
Saying: master collect medicinal-herbs gone,
Alone in the middle of this mountain,
Deep clouds, not know where.
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My song:
Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933) was perhaps America’s first country music recording star. A railroad man by trade (until his commercial success), Rodgers was known as “the Singing Brakeman.” Drawing on elements of the blues, Rodgers wrote a series of songs he called “blue yodels,” marked by a somewhat irregular metric structure and the interjection of falsetto “odel-ay-hee, lay-hee, a-o-lay-hees” to express loneliness, heartache, or even joy. His “T for Texas” sold half a million 78 rpm records.
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The Empty Cabin is my tribute to Jimmie Rodgers and his blue yodels.
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The original Rodgers recording are available as reissues on CD or MP3. They take us into the earliest days of commercial country music recording and radio. Rodgers influenced many later artists, from Lefty Frizzell to Waylon Jennings and even Lynyrd Skynyrd. My favorite tribute to Rodgers is Merle Haggard’s 1969 release, Same Train, A Different Time, a 2 LP set on Capital Records (SWBB-223).
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My song includes a shout to my pianist friend Caleb Hutslar. I imagine a piano solo from Caleb through the magic of Toontrack’s EZ Keys midi program.