Text written by Sigrid Sibley
Music composed by Clifford Cameron

Recorded on August 1, 2023 in The Founders Hall at 317 Main Community Music Center. 

Time has not been kind to the old farmstead
Most have forgotten how the old timers lived
These trees once were pasture and the walls that mark the land
Were built stone by stone from a working man’s hand

There are apples for pressing, grapes for the wine
All around the hillside, wild roses on the vine
When many years have passed, I will look back and say
How I long to return to the good old days

The well still holds water after all of these years
In the heat of July there will be no drought here
The ash and the elm smile down like old friends
If all else fails, I will return in the end

There are apples for pressing, grapes for the wine
All around the hillside, wild roses on the vine
When many years have passed, I will look back and say
How I long to return to the good old days

The barn took to rot, the foundation laid bare
Just by looking you’d never know that we lived there for years
A man can lay brick, a man can bury gold
But time sinks like lead, we all must grow old

There are apples for pressing, grapes for the wine
All around the hillside, wild roses on the vine
When many years have passed, I will look back and say
How I long to return to the good old days

Cover photo:
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives. 
https://www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8d37455/

The Old Farmstead [Demo]

Text by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Music by Sigrid Sibley & Clifford Cameron

Recorded on November 22, 2023 at the University of Southern Maine School of Music.
Engineered & Mixed by Clifford Cameron.
https://www.cliffordcameronmusic.com
Mastered by John McLaggan of Parachute Mastering.
https://www.parachutemastering.com 


“Ring Out, Wild Bells” was written by Alfred Tennyson in memoriam for the passing of a friend. The poem references the church bells that were rung on New Year’s Eve in England. The English tradition of full circle bell ringing is meant to ring out the old year and welcome in the next. The practice honors the past and prepares us for the days ahead. 


Text:
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 
   The flying cloud, the frosty light: 
   The year is dying in the night; 
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. 

Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow: 
   The year is going, let him go; 
Ring out the false, ring in the true. 

Ring out the grief that saps the mind 
   For those that here we see no more; 
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor, 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 

Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
   And ancient forms of party strife; 
   Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws. 

Ring out the want, the care, the sin, 
   The faithless coldness of the times; 
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes 
But ring the fuller minstrel in. 

Ring out false pride in place and blood, 
   The civic slander and the spite; 
   Ring in the love of truth and right, 
Ring in the common love of good. 

Ring out old shapes of foul disease; 
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; 
   Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace. 

Ring in the valiant man and free, 
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand; 
   Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be.


Image:
Inness, George, Artist, Copyright Claimant Detroit Publishing Co, and Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. Autumn Woods. [Cbetween 1900 and 1912] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2016816315/>.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/det.4a26144/


Music by Sigrid Sibley & Clifford Cameron
Copyright 2023

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Never Knew Love

Music & Lyrics by Sigrid Sibley
Sigrid Sibley: vocals, guitar
Recorded at Darlin' Corey Studios in Portland, ME

So Much More

Music  & Lyrics by Sigrid Sibley
Sigrid Sibley: vocals, guitar, bass
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Terra Gallo: fiddle
Matt Shipman: guitar, mandolin, bass
Sigrid Sibley: vocals, mandolin

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Music & Lyrics by Sigrid Sibley.

Copyright 2018.

MSA Application Summer 2019

Watch the Rain

Sigrid Sibley is an emerging singer-songwriter in New England and a native of Poland Spring, Maine. She began songwriting at age 14, with a focus on lyric writing. Her music draws on common folk themes, as well as her love for nature, agriculture, and simple living. Sigrid has musical roots in bluegrass, folk, and traditional American music, and she has continued to explore acoustic music genres. She performs as a solo musician and with several bands in Maine.

Sigrid Sibley

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