Recorded at Icebird Records, Tacoma Washington 2003

Art work credits
Page header Wandbild von Joan Miró, Palma de Mallorca, 1983By Alinea, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Cover art: Speakeasy and brothe; by Stephen Hogan from Chicago, United States, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
credits
released August 28, 2021
Geof Bard - violin
Steve Nebel - guitar
Kristi Nebel - bass guitar 

ABOUT THE ARTIST Geof Bard learned to play violin from his grandfather and a succession of teachers including Lenore George amd Tibor Horn. He currently plays a vintage Kriml with a CODA Diamond carbon fiber bow. He has been in numerous bands and currently plays in Phantom Fold based in Southern California. He has written numerous songs & poems and is currently finishing up a novella set in 14th c Europe.

Geof Bard - House Of The Rising Sun

A song about an injustice.

The story of the song is largely true.

James MacPherson was an outlaw in the North East of Scotland, one of the travelling people and the leader of a band of robbers. He was said to have been generous to and popular with the poor people, but he was the enemy of Lord Duff, the Laird of Braco.

MacPherson was caught in Keith and hanged at the Cross of Banff on 16 November 1700, 300 years ago. The story tells that no-one would arrest him because he was such a fine swordsman,,,The court jury was packed with the dependants of Lord Duff, the Laird of Grant, who found him guilty, but a friend of MacPherson rode to the higher court in Aberdeen for a pardon. The Laird saw the rider coming with the pardon, so ordered the town clock to be put forward so they could legally hang MacPherson before it arrived.

MacPherson ... offered to give his fiddle to anyone who would play the tune at his wake. No-one would, so he smashed the fiddle. Anyone who had accepted it would have shown themselves to be a relative or friend of his and so liable to arrest themselves...The pieces of MacPherson’s fiddle are displayed in the MacPherson Clan House Museum in Newtonmore.
- Scots Language Center
lyrics
Fareweel, ye dungeons dark and strang, fareweel, fareweel tae ye,
MacPherson's time will no be lang on yonder gallows tree

Chorus

Sae rantinly and sae wantonly, sae dauntinly gaed he
For he played a tune and he danced aroon, below the gallows tree

It was by a woman's treacherous hand that I was condemned tae dee
Above a ledge at a window she sat and a blanket she threw ower me

Chorus

There's some come here tae see me hang, and some come tae buy my fiddle
But before that I would part wi her I'd brak her through the middle

And he took the fiddle intae baith o his hands and he brak it ower a stane
Sayin, nay other hand shall play on thee when I am dead and gane


The reprieve was comin ower the Brig o Banff tae set MacPherson free,
But they pit the clock a quarter afore, and they hanged him frae the tree.

Additional verses

The Laird o Grant, that Hieland saunt, that first laid hands on me,
He pleads the cause o Peter Broon, tae let MacPherson dee

Untie these bands frae aff my hands and gie tae me my sword,
And there's no a man in all Scotland but I'll brave him at a word.

MacPherson's Lament Traditional Performed By Geof Bard

'Amazing Grace' was first heard on New Year's Day in 1773...written without "ceremony" in an attic room where Newton wrote weekly hymns to amplify the message of his sermons. When Newton put the internal rhyme "amazing grace" together, it wasn't purely for poetic reasons. He understood grace to mean God's unmerited favor to lost souls. Turner says it was a meaning Newton — with his sordid history and personal tale of redemption — could take to heart.

Newton supplied the lyrics, but the tune sung today arrived much later. Turner says that in Newton's day, the song would have been sung "to another song that fit its meter" — if it were sung at all. "
- NPR's Liane Hansen interview of Steve Turner's author of "Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song '
lyrics
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see
Was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils and snares
We have already come
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far
And Grace will lead us home
And Grace will lead us home
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
Was blind, but now I see

Songwriters: John Newton
credits
released August 30, 2021
Geof Bard, Violin
Artwork: Trumphant Songs By E. O. Excell - Triumphant Songs, Chicago:E.O. Excell (Company), Public Domain,

Amazing Grace

Siúbhán Ní Dhuibhir (Siobhan Dnuibuir,Siobhan Dnuibhuir) is air sbout a woman. It is a march or a slow air not a waltz or a polka. You can play it as such in any time signature but the traditional tune is not set one way or another. That does not mean you play it with no particular time signature, just, you get to pick whatever one you prefer. Anyone who thinks differently and that it MUST absolutely be played one way or another is free to record their own interpretation but there is a certain fluidity in living traditional music. At least that is how this fidleyr thinks about the matter.

It may also be known as Sean Ni Duibhir (John Dwyer of the Glen) but I would not bet my bowhair on that. You can find it as Siún Ní Dhuibhir according to some sources in the Dublin government which are alleged to be professional illiterates but I don't have a dog in that fight as my ancestors have not spoken Gaelic for quite some time now. I will leave it for the purists to debate...on with the music.
lyrics
Siún Ní Dhuibhir

D'éirigh mé ar maidin a tharraing chun aonaigh mhóir
A dhíol 's a cheannacht mar dhéanfadh mo dhaoine romham
Bhuail tart ar a' bhealach mé 's shuí mise síos a dh'ól
'S le Siún Ní Dhuibhir gur ól mise luach na mbróg

A Shiún Ní Dhuibhir an miste leat mé bheith tinn?
Mo bhrón 's mo mhilleadh má's miste liom tú 'bheigh i gcill
Bróinte 's muilte bheith scileadh ar chúl do chinn
Ach cead a bheith in Iorras go dtara síoi Éabh 'un cinn

A Shiún Ní Dhuibhir 's tú bun agus barr mo scéil
Ar mhná an cruinne go dtug sise 'n báire léi
Le gile le finne le mais' is le dhá dtrian scéimh
'S nach mise 'n trua Mhuire bheith scaradh amárach léi

Thiar in Iorras tá searc agus grá mo chléibh
Planda 'n linbh a d'eitigh mo phósadh inné
beir scéala uaim chuicí má thug mise póg dá béal
Go dtabharfainn dí tuilleadh dá gcuirfeadh siad bólacht léi

"Beir scéala uaim chuige Go dearfa nach bpósaim é
Ó chuala mise gur chuir sé Le bólacht mé
Nuair nach bhfuil agamsa Maoin nó mórán spré
Bíodh a rogha aige 'S beith mise 'r mo chomhairle féin"

Siobhan Dnuibhuir

Originally titled "The Pirate Song"
Recorded at Icebird Records Studio
Tacoma, Washington 2003
Check out my current (2021) band The Phantom Fold
Written, performed, recorded and mastered by Geof Bard


Photo credit: By Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14551996

Climbing The Rope Ladder With A Dagger Between Thy Teeth

05 Blackberries in a New Light- Played by Geof Bard (2016 01 08 13 34 09 UTC)

I wrote this song ages ago back when I was in high school and first starting to write music
I think this might've been like, the first track I ever fully finshed writing?
I had the midi files just lying around, and upon giving it a relisten I found I still really liked it, and just updated with synths lmao

special thanks to Solom for helping me with the mix <3

Maritime Labor

#TheSixties #theleft #peacemovement The tankie craze is dissected starting with its' roots in the 1956 Russian invasion of Hungary, splits in the left and how, under the rubric of "anti-Imperialism" various groups have been led down the primrose path of apologetics for the likes of Bashar Assad, Vladimir Putin and Sadaam Hussein. Bill traces the early split in the Socialist Workers Party when Sam Marcy created the Workers World Party, initiating an unfortunate trend to white wash the crimes of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union.

The discussion turns then to the distortion of the peace movement objecting to the first invasion of Iraq into a fig leaf for Sadaam Hussein as former Attorney General Ramsey Clark came to prominence.  This video, the first in a series of talks with Bill, is part of a process of shining light on how many factions of the left have failed to properly support Ukrainian resistance to the illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Geof writes at https://medium.com/@dangerousbard

"Tankies" -- Geof Bard Interviews Countervortex Founder Bill Weinberg On Left Authoritarian Fails

Ukraine, Russia, Putin And The Azov Battalion Bill Weinberg Explodes Left Wing Tankie Apologetics

Geof Bard hosts the third  episode with award-winning progressive journalist and human rights activist Bill Weinberg. 

Make sure to also watch the other sections of this series of interviews or discussions. Another episode is in post-production getting the final touches. You may get a sneak preview if you follow the Dangerous Bard podcast at https://soundcloud.com/user-864416694-136799705

PART ONE: Bill Weinberg on Tankies: Geof Bard Interviews Countervortex Founder on Left Authoritarian Fails#Ukraine #Putin #Chomsky 

PART TWO: Bill continues to trace the degeneration of many parts of the left into support for authoritatian regimes such as Bashar Assad, the Khmer Rouge and, of course, Vladimir Putin.

Music "House of the Rising Sun" instrumental recorded  by  Geof Bard, Kristi Nebel and Steve Nebel (violin, guitar, bass) at Icebird Studios, Tacoma Washington


Make sure to also watch all sections of this series of interviews or discussions. The full video playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfycnxKw_NY&list=PLCxiqqOazc-Ix6B6qaG-brUtcbmVImlUQ

PART ONE: Bill Weinberg on Tankies: Geof Bard Interviews Countervortex Founder on Left Authoritarian Fails#Ukraine #Putin #Chomsky

 Music "House of the Rising Sun" instrumental recorded  by  Geof Bard, Kristi Nebel and Steve Nebel (violin, guitar, bass) at Icebird Studios, Tacoma Washington

Chomsky photo credit: Wikicommons By DiEM25 - 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

"Tankies" -- Geof Bard Interviews Countervortex Founder Bill Weinberg On Left Authoritarian Fails

Counter Vortex Special Guest Podcast