1. |
Bardfly Blues/Samingo
08:32
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Bardfly Blues
words and music by John Allee
Samingo
words and music by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
Now entertain conjecture of a time, maybe it's 1958, maybe it's 1598, maybe it's today. The date's ambiguous, but the locale is definitely seedy: An out-of-the-way jazz club called "We Three Kings," about which the best thing you can say is the piano's in tune and everybody's been vaccinated.
Feste "The Bardfly" Johnson has been holding court at a sit-down gig every Saturday in February (Two shows nightly. During leap year they make up for lost time by playing all the tempos twice as fast.) sharing the elevation with a tight little combo he met when they were all working downtown at Jack's Slacks For Less over on East Cheap Boulevard. Free tailoring with every purchase. "Let Jack take up the slack."
They're like the Swiss Army knife of jazz quintets. All their instruments have multiple uses. The saxophone doubles as a sledgehammer, breaking down all romantics into a rubble of regret and longing. The trumpet is also a pencil sharpener and a fine furniture polish, slick and shiny and reflective. The piano, of course, functions as a .45 caliber Tommy Gun, AKA the Chicago Piano, AKA the annihilator, and in its more crystalline moments, a chandelier. The bass converts to a lectern from which its strict and righteous rhythms are handed down. The drums moonlight as a, well, as a commuter train, carrying the audience from the deep heart of Kansas City blues to the gumbo pot of New Orleans hot jazz to the shimmering uptown pulse of a Harlem nocturne.
The band provides the only heat in the place, with the exception of Miss Nell, the cocktail waitress who, like the instruments, has a dual purpose, but only one of them is consensual.
Old Feste's been working up some tunes cobbled together from various bits of things -- A used hymnal with a "Property of Stratford Unified" stamp on the inside cover, a few scraps of paper of indeterminate origin -- most likely an unpaid utility bill or the back of a "Dear Romeo" letter, or maybe the discarded remnants of a forgotten folio.
The crowd is hushed, which is only the result of their current state of inebriation and will change with the particular alchemical machinations of the resident bar keep who keeps a sharpened halberd mounted above the register and who makes a mean Martini he calls a Sirocco that is one part gin and three parts loneliness -- A drink so dry, you need another one just to wash it down.
The players hit the stage, ready to strut and fret for an hour set, and for one brief candle of a moment everyone's worries, like the rocks in their spirits, will melt into air, into thin air.
Do nothing but eat and make good cheer
And praise God for the merry year
When flesh is cheap and females dear
And lusty lads roam there and here
So merrily
And ever among, and ever among
So merrily
Do me right
And dub me knight
Samingo
A cup of wine that's brisk and fine
And drink unto my mistress mine
Now what's that old "Sweet Adeline"
That breaks the heart and makes us pine
Summarily
And ever among, and ever among
So merrily
Set em up
And fill the cup
Samingo
A couple of couplets, rhymed or free
Iambs what iambs should be
Dactyl feet, the odd spondee
Repeated with epistrophe
So merrily
And ever a Monk, and ever a Monk
So merrily
Write out a verse
And go rehearse
Samingo
Where there's a will
There's a second best bed
And where there's a way it's straight ahead
Let's sing a song to show the dead
We're happy living here instead
So merrily
And ever among, and ever among
So merrily
A sip of sack
A water back
Straight from the cask
No need to ask
Pick up the tab
For old Queen Mab
Samingo
© 2019
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2. |
Until The Break Of Day
02:55
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Until the Break of Day
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
Now until the break of day
Through this house each fairy stray
To the best bride bed will we
Which by us shall blessed be
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate
So shall all their family
Ever true in loving be
With this field dew consecrate
Every fairy take his gait
And each several chamber bless
Through this palace with sweet peace
And the owner of it blessed
Ever shall in safety rest
And the blots of nature’s hand
Shall not in their issue stand
Trip away
Make no stay
Meet me all by break of day
© 2019
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3. |
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Tomorrow Is Saint Valentine’s Day
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day
All in the morning betime
And there a maid at the window
To be his Valentine
Up he rose and donned his clothes
And dupped the chamber door
Let in the maid that out a maid
Never departed more
He said lady, may I take your coat
And offer you some wine?
She said, you can take my maidenhead
And be my Valentine
Quoth she, “Before you tumble me
You’ll promise me to wed”
He answers
“So will I do, by your holy shoe
Shouldst thou let me come to thy bed”
By Jesus and Saint Charity
Alack, and fie, for shame
Young men will do’t, if they come to ’t
By the Cock, they are to blame
Then up she rose and donned her clothes
And dupped the chamber door
Went out a maid that in a maid
Never knew what was in store
For lo, he took a different wife
A maid not tried, but true
Feign not surprise
It wasn’t hard to prophesize
He did what so many guys do
Quoth she, “Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed”
He answers
“So would I ha' done, by yonder sun
If thou hadst not come to my bed”
Go to, go to, you ladies all
And grab what peace you find
And if your man be great or small
Pray he’s also kind
And maybe pay his words no mind
© 2019
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4. |
Philomel/Hold Thy Peace
03:42
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Philomel/Hold thy Peace
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
You spotted snakes with double tongue
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong
Come not near our fairy queen
And I say
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby
Lulla, lulla, lullabee, lulla, lulla, lullaby
Never harm nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh
So good night, with lullabee
So good night, with lullaby, a byee
Weaving spiders, come not here
Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence
Beetles black, approach not near
Worm nor snail, do no offense
I'll say it again
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby
Lulla, lulla, lullabee, lulla, lulla, lullaby
Never harm nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh
So good night, with lullabee
So good night, with lullaby, a byee
Hold thy peace
I prithee hold thy peace, thou knave
Thou knave, thou knave, thou knave
(Repeat)
© 2019
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5. |
Mistress Mine
03:05
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Mistress Mine
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear your true-love’s coming
That can sing both high and low
Trip no further, pretty sweeting
Journeys end in lovers’ meeting
Every wise man’s son doth know
What is love, ’tis not hereafter
Present mirth hath present laughter
What’s to come is still unsure
In delay there lies no plenty
Then come kiss me, Sweet-and-twenty
Youth’s a stuff will not endure
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6. |
Sigh No More
05:28
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Sigh No More
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more
Men were deceivers ever
One foot in sea, and one on shore
To one thing constant never
Then sigh not so, but let them go
And be you blithe and bonny
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny nonny
Sing no more ditties, sing no more
Of sad songs bleak and keening
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was greening
Then sigh not so, but let them go
And be you blithe and bonny
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny nonny
© 2019
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7. |
The Hungry Lion
03:01
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The Hungry Lion
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
Now the hungry lion roars
And the wolf behowls the moon
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores
All with weary task fordone
Now the wasted brands do glow
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud
Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide
Every one lets forth his sprite
In the church-way paths to glide
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate’s team
From the presence of the sun
Following darkness like a dream
Now are frolic
Not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house
I am sent with broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door
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8. |
Green Willow
04:11
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Green Willow
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
The poor soul sat sighing
By a sycamore tree
Sing all a green willow
Her hand on her bosom
Her head on her knee
Sing willow, willow, willow
The fresh streams ran by her
And murmured her moans
Sing willow, willow, willow
Her salt tears fell from her
And softened the stones
Sing willow, willow, willow
Shall be her garland
Come all you forsaken
And mourn you with me
Sing all a green willow
Who speaks of a false love
None’s falser than he
Sing willow, willow, willow
Let nobody chide him
His scorns she approved
Sing willow, willow, willow
He was born to be false
And she to die for his love
Sing willow, willow, willow
Must be her garland
Take this for her parting
And one last adieu
Sing all a green willow
And write on her tomb
That in love she was true
Sing willow, willow, willow
© 2019
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9. |
Full Fathom Five
03:10
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Full Fathom Five
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Ding-dong, hark, now I hear them
Ding-dong, hark, hark, how I hear them
Ding-dong, ding-dong bell
© 2019
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10. |
Heigh Ho The Holly
03:49
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Heigh Ho, the Holly
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen
Although thy breath be rude
Heigh-ho, sing, heigh-ho
Unto the green, green holly
Most friendship is feigning
Most loving mere folly
Then, heigh-ho, the holly
This life is most jolly
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky
That dost not bite so nigh as benefits forgot
Though thou the waters warp
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not
Heigh-ho, sing, heigh-ho
Unto the green, green holly
Most friendship is feigning
Most loving mere folly
Then, heigh-ho, the holly
This life is most jolly
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11. |
Come Away Death
03:27
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Come Away Death
words by W. Shakespeare
music by John Allee
Come away, come away, death
And in sad cypress let me be laid
Fly away, fly away, breath
I am slain by a fair cruel maid
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew
O, prepare it
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it
Not a flower, not a flower sweet
On my black coffin let there be strown
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse
Where my bones shall be thrown
A thousand thousand sighs to save
Lay me, O, where sad true lover
Never find my grave to weep there
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12. |
Never Come Again
05:39
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Never Come Again
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff
And his sandal shoes
He is dead and gone, lady
He is dead and gone
At his head a grass green turf
At his heels a stone
He is dead and gone, lady
He is dead and gone
He will never come again
He will never come
White his shroud as the mountain snow
Larded all with flowers
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love showers
White his shroud as the mountain snow
Larded with sweet flowers
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love, true-love showers
He is dead and gone, lady
He is dead and gone
In his bed the cold, wet earth
In his stead a song
He is dead and gone, lady
He is dead and gone
He will never come again
Never come, never come again
© 2019
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13. |
The Wind And The Rain
05:20
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The Wind and the Rain
words by W. Shakespeare/John Allee
music by John Allee
When that I was and a little tiny boy
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
A foolish thing was but a toy
For the rain it raineth every day
But when I came to man’s estate
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
‘Gainst knaves and thieves
Men shut their gate
For the rain it raineth every day
But when I came, alas to wive
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
By swaggering I could never thrive
For the rain it raineth every day
But when I came unto my bed
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
Some drunkard’s song rang in my head
For the rain it raineth every day
A great while ago the world begun
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
But that’s all one, our record’s done
And we’ll strive to please you every day
For the rain it raineth anyway
© 2019
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John Allee Los Angeles, California
John Allee is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is a recipient of the ASCAP/Sammy Cahn Award for excellence in lyric writing and his music has been featured in regional theatre, and on TV. His latest album is 'Bardfly' (“Fantastic!”- Jazz Weekly, “Otherworldly, super-literate and supremely swinging” – Broadway World, “A standout” - All About Jazz) ... more
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