EYLI (My God) 
From the Album "Ars Poética" by Tracy McDonnell (2023)

Eyli, Eyli, Eyli 
Shelo yigamer l’olam
Hachol v’hayam
Rish rush shel hamayim 
B’rak hashamayim 
T’gilat ha’adam 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

My God, I pray that these things never end: 
The sand and the sea
The rush of the waters 
The crash of the heavens
The prayer of humankind

* * *
Text: Hannah Senesh. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Music: Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & Harmony Vocals / Piano: Tracy McDonnell. Violin: Susan Jones. Acoustic Bass: Jon Nazdin. Drums: David Lopez. Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mixed by Tracy McDonnell & Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA.  Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2023 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved.

Eyli (My God)

O LIVING FLAME OF LOVE (Oh llama de amor viva)
From the Album "Ars Poética" by Tracy McDonnell (2023)
(Suite San Juan, Movement V)

O living flame of love, 
How tenderly you wound my soul
In her profoundest core!
You are no longer shy.  Do it now, I ask you: 
Break the membrane of our sweet union.

O soothing cautery!
O wound that is a joy!  
O gentle hand!  O delicate touch!
Tasting of eternity, repaying every debt.   
Killing, you turn my death to life.

O lamps of human fire, in deep transparency
The lowest caverns of the senses, once shadowy and blind
Flare in light and warmth 
And wake the lover with amazing joy!

How lovingly and soft you make my heart recall 
Where you alone lie secretly
And with your honeyed breath
Replete with grace and glory
How tenderly you make me love!

O lamps of human fire, in deep transparency 
The lowest caverns of the senses, once shadowy and blind
Flare in light and warmth 
And wake the lover with amazing joy!

* * *
Text: St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) from the poem “¡Oh llama de amor viva!” as translated by Willis Barnstone. © 1972 by Willis Barnstone & © 1968 by Indiana University Press. Adapted & arranged by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Music: Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & Harmony Vocals / Piano: Tracy McDonnell. Acoustic Guitars: Gantt Mann Kushner. Acoustic Bass: Jon Nazdin. Drums: David Lopez. © 1999 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell.  Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mixed by Tracy McDonnell & Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2023 Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Icon: "San Juan de la Cruz" (St. John of the Cross) by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM. © Seraphic Icons, courtesy of Trinity Stores, trinitystores.com. All rights reserved.

O Living Flame Of Love (Oh llama de amor viva)

In this week’s segment we learn about efforts to end legacy college admissions in New York State and a lawsuit seeking to end death by incarceration for felony murder in Pennsylvania. But first we discuss Haiti, how its sovereignty has been undermined by the US and why that country’s people are adamantly opposed to another invasion.

Black Agenda Radio July 21, 2023

O WISDOM!  

From the upcoming album "Spiritus" by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell

Text: Traditional. Music: Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & Harmony Vocals: Tracy McDonnell. Harmony Vocals: Marvin Myer McCoy. Percussion: Aloys Biondokin. Recorded @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD by Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2023 Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Icon: "Hagia Sophia" (Holy Wisdom"), artist unknown. All rights reserved.

O Wisdom!

JESU, JOY OF OUR DESIRING
Track #14 from the Album "Beati Pacifici" 
St. Camillus Multicultural Choir
Tracy McDonnell, Director

COMPOSER: J.S. Bach
PERFORMED BY:  Tracy McDonnell (keyboard), Andrea Heilmann (flutes) and Jose Luis Oviedo (trumpet)

Cover Art: "Cosmic Christ," artist unknown.

Jesu, Joy of Our Desiring

First Nations Chant 

© 2023 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved.

ARRANGEMENT & ALL VOCALS: Tracy McDonnell
CANE FLUTES: Ron Warren
PERCUSSION PROGRAMMING: Gantt Mann Kushner
PHOTO: Photographer unknown.

First Nations Chant

LITANY (REMEMBER HIS TEARS)
From the Album "Tears of St. Lawrence" by Tracy McDonnell

Remember his tears
A silent voice said
Remember his tears
(A voice in my head)

Remember his tears
Again and again
Remember his tears
(Not voices of men)

Remember his tears
Still speaking to me
Remember his tears
(Though a mystery)

Tears, tears, tears
Falling free

Remember his tears
A silent voice said
Remember his tears
(A voice in my head)

Remember his tears
When you lean too shoal
Remember his tears
(In the dark night’s soul)

Remember his tears
And their spring’s shrine
Remember his tears
Mingled with mine

Mingled, mingled, mingled
With mine

I remember, I remember his tears
Mingled with mine, mingled with mine
And thine, and thine, and thine

***
After the Perseid shower of meteors known as the “Tears of St. Lawrence” which appear annually on or about the eve of St. Lawrence (August 9). Text & Music: Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Piano, Synth, Lead & Harmony Vocals: Tracy McDonnell. Guitars & Back-Up Vocal: Gantt Mann Kushner. Acoustic Bass: Jon Nazdin. Drums: David Lopez. Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, Va. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. Photo: Tracy McDonnell. © 2003 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved.

Elementa

Litany (Remember His Tears)

DARK NIGHT (Noche Oscura)
From the Album "Ars Poética" by Tracy McDonnell (2023)
(Suite San Juan, Movement II)

On a dark and secret night, 
starving for love and steeped in flame
Waiting for what seemed like years 
until belovéd darkness came
Finally free from light 
Disguised and down a secret way
In fever I escaped
Silently I slipped away

O happy lucky flight! 

On that night of secret sweetness 
no one saw me through the dark
No other light to mark my way 
but fire pounding my heart
That flaming guided me more firmly,
More firmly than the noonday sun
And waiting there was he I knew so well, 
who shone where no one appeared to come

O happy lucky flight! 

O night, my guide!  O night, my joy!  
O night more welcome than the dawn!
O tender night, tying lover 
and loved one, fused as one!
Upon my flowering heart gladly saved for him alone
Like a child he slept, cradled in my love
As gentle cedars breathed 
and fanned the perfumed air above

O happy lucky flight!
 
Wind from the castle wall 
like my fingers winding through his hair
Its hand so peaceful ‘round my neck, 
my senses vanished in the air
I lay, forgot my being
And on my love I leaned my face
My every care fading away in his embrace
A midnight lily blooming in her secret place

* * *
Text: St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) from the poem “Noche oscura” as translated by Willis Barnstone. © 1972 by Willis Barnstone & © 1968 by Indiana University Press. Adapted & arranged by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Music: Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & Harmony Vocals / Piano: Tracy McDonnell. Acoustic Guitars: Gantt Mann Kushner. Acoustic Bass: Jon Nazdin. Drums: David Lopez. Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mixed by Tracy McDonnell & Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2023 Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Icon: "San Juan de la Cruz" (St. John of the Cross) by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM. © Seraphic Icons, courtesy of Trinity Stores, trinitystores.com. All rights reserved.

Spiritus

St. John Suite III: Dark Night (Noche Oscura)

From the album "Tears of St. Lawrence" by Tracy McDonnell

* * *

Bring a hundred sacks of gold and God will say, "Bring the heart.”  ~Rumi

WHAT CAN I GIVE HIM

What can I give him, poor as I am? 
If I were a shepherd, I’d bring a lamb. 
If I were a wise man, I’d do my part. 
What can I give him, give him my… 
 
***
"What Can I Give Him?" excerpt from “In the Bleak Midwinter,” by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), from the posthumous collection "The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti," Poem #426, 1904. First setting: Music by Harold Darke (1888-1976), © 1911, Stainer & Bell Ltd., London, and Galaxy Music Corporation, New York.  Used with permission. Second setting: Composer unknown. Adapted and arranged by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & harmony vocals, synth bass & piano: Tracy McDonnell.  Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mixed by Tracy McDonnell & Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2005 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved.  

ALL THE THINGS SHE GAVE ME

All the things, all the things she gave me
All the things, all the things she gave me

I wrapped them up in a big brown box
Tied it with ribbon, drove to the dock
Checked my time by the old town clock, all the things . . .
 
I saw the watchman
He was blowing into cupped hands as he walked to my car.  
He said, “Where do you think you’re drivin’ to, son?  
All good folks are in bed and the day’s work is done.”
I said, “I’m just lookin for someplace to burn all the things . . .”

All the things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where can I hide them?  
All the things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where can I hide them away?

It’s dark as hell here, this city’s grown cold
The devil’s in drag, playing poker with souls
The lots are all empty, the last man’s out
The moon’s made of cheese, God is a boy scout
When I go to sleep I’ll be dreaming about all the things . . .

All the things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where can I hide them?  
All the things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where can I hide them away?

Then I’ll dream about churches with great tall spires
Cathedrals and candles, chimneys and choirs
I’ll dream about that place where I set fire...

All those things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where must I hide them?  
All the things that she gave me, 
where do I put them, where I can keep them out of my life?

All the things, all the things she gave me
All the things, all the things she gave me

***
Text & Music (All the Things She Gave Me): Mike Scott, from "The Waterboys: A Pagan Place," © 1994 Dizzy Heights Music Publ. Ltd. / MCPS. Excerpts: “All the Things You Are,“ text by Oscar Hammerstein, music by Jerome Kern, from “Very Warm for May,” © 1939 Polygram International Publishing, Inc. “Evil Ways,” text & music by Carlos Santana, from "Santana," © 1971, BMI. “Gimmie Dat Ding," text & music by the Pipkins, © 1970, Capitol Records. “Drive My Car," text & music by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. © 1965 by Capitol Records. Used with permission. Adapted & arranged by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. Lead & harmony vocals, synth Rhodes: Tracy McDonnell. Additional vocals on "All the Things She Gave Me," rhythm, lead & bass guitars: Gantt Mann Kushner. Drums: Andy Hamburger. Recorded by Gantt Mann Kushner @ Gizmo Recording Company, Silver Spring, MD. Mixed by Tracy McDonnell & Gantt Mann Kushner. Mastered by Bill Wolf @ Wolf Productions, Alexandria, VA. Produced by Tracy McDonnell. © 2005 by Tracy Alexandra McDonnell. All rights reserved.

What Can I Give Him / All The Things She Gave Me

In Paradísum  

In paradísum dedúcant te ángeli: 
in tuo advéntu suscípiant te mártyres,
Et perdúcant te in civitátem sanctam Jerúsalen. 
Chorus angelórum te suscípiat, 
Et cum Lázaro quondam páupere 
aetérnam hábeas réquiem.

May the angels lead you into paradise. 
May the saints and martyrs welcome you, 
and take you to the holy city, Jerusalem.  
May choirs of angels welcome you, 
and with Lazarus, who was poor in this life,
may you have eternal rest.

Text & Music: Plainchant, 11th century
Vocal, keyboard & harmonization: Tracy McDonnell. 
All rights reserved.

In Paradísum

Paris Live 1969

Strawberry Fields Forever

Song-Poems Ancient & New
www.TracyMcDonnell.com

Eyli (My God)

Tracy Alexandra McDonnell

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