Puff, the Magic Dragon

“Puff, the Magic Dragon” is a song written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, and made popular by Yarrow’s group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 recording. The song achieved great popularity.  The lyrics for “Puff, the Magic Dragon” were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, a 19-year-old Cornell University student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled “Custard the Dragon”, about a “realio, trulio little pet dragon.” Continue reading

Jamaica Farewell

“Jamaica Farewell” is a famous calypso about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.
The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie). Lord Burgess was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926. His mother was from Barbados and his father was from Virginia. The song first appeared on Harry Belafonte’s phenomenally successful album Calypso. Continue reading

Green Leaves of Summer

“Green Leaves of Summer” was the theme for the film portrayal of the famous Mexican-Texian battle in The Alamo.

The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, with Frankie Avalon, Chill Wills, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joseph Calleia, Ruben Padilla, Richard Boone, Ken Curtis, Hank Worden, and Denver Pyle. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by William H. Clothier. The subject is the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. By 1945 John Wayne had decided to make a movie about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. He hired James Edward Grant as scriptwriter, and the two began researching the battle and preparing a draft script. They hired Pat Ford, son of John Ford, as a research assistant. As the script neared completion, however, Wayne and the president of Republic Pictures, Herbert Yates, clashed over the proposed $3 million budget. Wayne left Republic over the feud but was unable to take his script with him. That script was later rewritten and made into the movie The Last Command.

The score (featuring the song “The Green Leaves of Summer”) was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin (with song lyrics by Paul Francis Webster), and has been released numerous times, including a version of The Green Leaves of Summer by The Brothers Four. The original soundtrack album has been issued on Columbia Records, Varèse Sarabande, and Ryko Records. In 2010, a complete score containing newly recorded versions of Tiomkin’s music was issued on Tadlow Music/Prometheus Records, as conducted by Nic Raine and played by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. This new release contains previously unreleased material. Another known song from this film is Ballad of the Alamo which was covered by Marty Robbins and Frankie Avalon.

By Brothers Four

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rlE6CQwKMw

Lyrics

A time to be reaping A time to be sowing The green leaves of summer are calling me home Was so good to be young then In the season of plenty When the catfish were jumping as high as the sky
A time just for planting A time just for plowing A time to be courting a girl of your own Was so good to be young then To be close to the earth And to stand by your wife at the moment of birth
A time to be reaping A time to be sowing A time just for living A place for to die
*Was so good to be young then To be close to the earth Now the green leaves of summer are calling me home*
有收割的時節 有播種的時節 夏日的綠葉在呼喚我回家 那時候,年輕是多麼美好的事 當豐收的季節裡 鯰魚躍起像天一樣高的時候
有栽種的時節 有耕耘的時節 還有追求心儀女子的時光 那時候,年輕是多麼美好的事 如此的親近大地 還有陪同妻子迎接新生兒的那一刻
有收割的時節 有播種的時節 在努力活過之後 有安享天年的地方
那時候,年輕是多麼美好 如此與大地親近 如今,夏日的綠葉呼喚著我回家

 

Green Fields, Michael Row the Boat Ashore

The Brothers Four are an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, known for their 1960 hit song “Greenfields”.Bob Flick, John Paine, Mike Kirkland, and Dick Foley met at the University of Washington, where they were members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in 1956 (hence the “Brothers” appellation). Continue reading