Three Songs of the Sea
Vanessa McClintock
Our Heritage the Sea
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
Sea-Fever
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This song has an interesting history. Sometime around 1970—when first I began my formal study of music--I had an idea for a tune. After setting the basic melody and harmony, I thought it had a "sea shanty" quality to it and left it alone, almost forgotten.
About one year later, I happened to stumble upon a poem by Allan Cunningham, "Our Heritage the Sea." This was long before our ubiquitous access to near infinite knowledge via the World Wide Web, and I cannot remember how I found it. Possibly it was on one of my daily forays through the library at California State University, Sacramento (still a state college back then).
Now, just over 50 years later, I found the original assignment in a box with other student works. I guess I had seen the potential for another day, when I had developed a better ear, feel, and experience. The version of the poem I had found fifty years ago had only two verses. Now, in this digital world, I found the complete version with the "missing" second verse, to which I created music. As with many other of my early works, I have modified, enhanced, expanded, and generally reworked the song while keeping most of it intact.
Allan Cunningham was a Scottish poet and author living from December 07, 1784, to October 30, 1842.
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
Set to the short poem of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, this song attempts to touch upon the effervescence and cyclical nature of life, as I interpret the message of the poem to be.
The piano accompaniment depicts the sense of uncertainty one might experience when stepping into or onto a small boat of canoe, or onto a larger vessel with stronger pulls and pushes of a larger body of water. Equilibrium is challenged immediately and calls for the stability and assurance of a sturdy set of “sea legs”. The accompaniment is a bit asynchronous and unstable or off-balance, shifting in meters and discontinuity, producing a rhythmic counterpoint and juxtaposition to the melody.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as an America poet and educator living from February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882
The origins of this musical piece set to the poem of John Masefield’s poem escapes me. However, I think it has something to do with my interest in poems and songs related to the sea—this stemmed from my rendition of Allan Cunningham’s poem Our Heritage the Sea (also known by its first line, “A WET sail and a flowing sea,” which got its start in 1970 (see notes for that song).
It was in the fall of 2023 that I read a few online articles that articulated the differences ‘twixt “sea songs” and “sea shanties” and stumbled upon this poem—I think.
The basic melody and harmony came quickly—but with a caveat. While doing some casual background of the poem I happened upon a splendid recording on YouTube of the poem set to music by English composer and teacher John Ireland, performed by Jonathan Lemalu.
Immediately I heard the similarities to my own rendition and set about re-writing the melody (keeping the premise of harmony rather much intact).
The more traditional approach to the poem seems to be that of an eager, still virile, sailor longing to return to life on the sea. In the beginning the accompaniment is set in constant motion and continues through the three verses. But then, near the end, it returns to the first verse with a different attitude. The music is marked “plaintively” and then “wistfully.”
The conclusion becomes that of an aged sailor looking back on his life nostalgically while realizing his final years will be, inevitably, moored on the mainland, with sentimental daydreams of what can never again be.
John Masefield was an English poet and writer living from June 01, 1878, to May 12, 1967.
May 2024
Vanessa McClintock,
Composer