Written on Margate sands, by Miss Belinda Bucklersbury.
Oh! lovely Sea; sweet daughter of the sky!
To thee I pour my soul: on
thee I cry:
Oh! let some sister Naiad float this way,
Lend me her
wand, then 'mid the waves I'll stray.
[Here you are, my lady, Bathe you for a shilling. Comfortablest machine on the beach; and no hextry charge for soap and towels.]
Oh! for the merry sea-bird's wind, to fly
To where yon sunny cloud floats
in the sky,
And seems a fairy palace built of light,
A happy home,
where all is gay and bright.
[Try a donkey, ma'am. He'll carry you as quiet as a lamb, and nuffink von't tire him.]
Ocean! how strange, how wondrous strange thy power,
At morning's dawn, or
glowing sunset hour!
Ev'n now my heart earth's narrow bounds hath
pass'd;
My swelling brain for its cribbed cell's too vast.
[Take a pair o' sculls, ma'am. I'll row you a mile out and a mile in for half-a-crown; and there aint a trimmer little craft in all Margate, than 'Moll o' Wapping.']
All sweet emotions on thy shores abound:
All gentle passions gentler here
are found.
'Twas here first sprang to life bright Beauty's Queen;
Nurtured
and cradled on thy billows green.
[Buy a Wenus's ear, Miss? or a box o' powder to perwent sea-sickness? Only von and sixpence the lot.]
Here soothing thoughts come borne on zephyr's wing,
And round the heart,
like summer flowers, spring,
Sweet thoughts of love, that all thoughts
else control,
And in one mighty passion bind the soul.
[Here's a prime box o' smuggled cigars, Miss, for your sweetheart! or a nice little keg o' rale French brandy, for yourself! Let you have 'em a bargain.]
While yet a child, Ocean, I loved to stand
Gazing and list'ning on thy
pebbly strand;
And, even now, the song I seem to hear--
The
mariner's song, to my young heart so dear.
[Yoi-hoi! -- Yoi-ee-ho! -- Yow! -- Yoi-ee-hey! -- Eiugh? -- Yoi-oi! -- Oi-yoi! -- Ee-ow-oi-yo hough! &c. &c.]
Oh! mighty, wondrous world; what fearful forms
Of giant force thou
nursest in thy storms!
Here pond'rous whales 'mid crashing icebergs
stray;
There vast leviathans with tempests play.
[Here's your perriwinkles! penny a pint! Winkle-winkle-winkle-winkle-winkle-man! Fine fresh winkles only a penny a pint!]
Behold, along the beach, these beauteous shells!
In each, I ween, some
ocean-spirit dwells:
Pluck we the first. It's pearly depths behold!
What
hues of crimson, em'rald, azure, gold!
[Oh! crikey, Bill; vot a conch that lady's got!]
Alas! I'm but a hapless child of earth;
I cannot stray where syren songs
of mirth
Are heard in coral bowers with pearls bedight;
On me sweet
Fortune never smiled so bright!
[Try your luck, marm, in the Lottery! A musical box, two paper nautiluses, and a piece of the wreck of the Royal George. Only von shilling a ticket, and only two numbers wacant.]
Ofttimes at eve, when the pale moon shines clear,
And soft winds sigh,
those notes I seem to hear;
Ev'n now, methought I heard the magic
strain,
Oh! syren, sing that well-known song again!
[Nix, my Dolly, pals, fake away -- Ni-ix, my Dolly, pals, fake away.]
But, oh! a weight oppresses my sad soul;
My spirits sinks beneath its
dread control.
[EASE HER! Ease her!]
Thy boiling waves my daring footsteps spurn;
To earth again in grief I'm
forced to turn.
[HALF TURN ASTARN! -- Half turn astarn! GO ON! Go on!]
Farewell! farewell! though I could stay and gaze
On thy bright tide,
sweet Sea, for endless days;
but earthly voices call me to the shore,
I
must away; fare -- fare-thee-well once more!
(In a very small voice, half a mile off.)
[Holloa, marm, you can't get back! you've let the tide come up all roun you, and if you attempt to stir you're a drownded woman. Stop where you are, and hold fast by your camp-stool till the man comes; and he'll bring you ashore wery comfortable on his back for half-a-crown.]"
from The Comick Almanack, 1st Series 1835-1843]
Texts
Recorded
Great Crush Collision - Scott Joplin - E. Power Biggs
a story is told in carefully framed scenes
camera holds still
Goin' Back - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
there are figures deemed appropriate
for particular order positions
along their line
could play it in their sleep
Power of Love - T Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]
the sound of this is confined in a low room
I Have Loved Flowers That Fade (Finzi) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
egregiously sweet intonation
Angel Concert - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]
a sequence made of sounds of instruments
playing the stuff of music
manipulated as blocks
in naked order
Sacajawea - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
frame drum
in a wash of synth
and a round toned flute
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]
easter egg sounds
injected here and there
Five Minutes to Midnight - Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
broad three beat groove
fourth is empty for the fills
Tonight - Acapulco Lips [from Demos]
sock hop skirt twirling tempo
Dust Devils - Steve Layton [from Trouble In Mind]
shukashukashuka
chimachimachima
tangatangatanga
passenger accretion
April 12, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1088 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 20, 2023]
events are singular by definition
even an event of events
is a
singular event
everything that happens in music
happens within a
span of experienced time
and within a volume of experienced space
we roll and we toll
the rolls roll on
exhibiting properties of
curves
tiny shiny tolls
this sonata is a jolly adventure
La Muette de Portici, Act 4 - Daniel-François-Esprit Auber - Dessau Anhalt Theater Chorus, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Antony Hermus, Diego Torre, Oscar De La Torre, Angelina Ruzzafante, Wiard Witholt
this music is very like those fabulous Looney Tunes scores
in affect as
well as purpose
it is the gestural language of the voice that
sings
this dude sounds like he's in uniform militaire
signified by crisply
dotted rhythms
in groups of two and four
this dude is distressed
fabulous horn parts!
the crowds gather
we must be nearing the act's grand finale
trumpets announce celebration
a happy chorus bounces in
spectacle is the name of the game
Novelletten, Op. 21; #4 in D Major - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
this music's feet won't quite stay under its trunk
this one dances
gracefully
floating across the stage
back to chasing one's feet
across the dance floor
Buch der Lieder I, S. 531: III. Mignons Lied - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
bits of this have an almost Webernian clarity and focus
Sonata in F, Op. 68 (#9) - Alexander Scriabin - Ruth Laredo
moved by winds
lines made fast
Shine On Me - Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
the relative steadiness of tempo
follows the breaths of the singers
Green Chri$tma$ - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
amalgamated cheese
less tars
went out with button shoes
Always - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
graceful limbs on cushions of reeds
Emily - Bill Evans [from Another Time: The Hilversam Concert]
putting it across as a song
then as a dance
Bring 'Em Down - Fairport Convention [from Meet On The Ledge]
the singer sings the song
without being involved in it personally
Pilgrimage - REM [from Murmur]
begin with off stage herald
clip in the middles of the verses' lines
sail on through the chorus's lines
bridge bit pounded
Ave Maria - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]
so you know you've purchased a classy item
for your classy home
The Lounge/Funky Big Band - Janet Jackson [from Janet]
the prologue
outside of the song proper
functions
as an
attempt
to produce the illusion
of a glamorous life being led
To Have And Not To Hold - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
the arrangement leaves a hole
right where her voice wants to sit
this song has a steamy moody cover
Turkish Song - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
the world
as seen by the maritime
where musics mix
Your News is Sanitized - Goat [from Special Agent]
this sound is interiored
deep underground
factory sounds
high tech Nibelungs
Hey Yesterday/Love Blackmail - Your Mother Should Know [live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
what does professional mean
with regard to the qualities of sound?
Can't Get Away - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]
fantasy desire
captured by pirates
Blue Pt. 2 - Waxahatchee [from Cerulean Salt]
runs her lines together
across the lines
The Length of the Muscle Does Not Change - Anna La Barge, Tom Baker [from Sand]
keening
surface to surface
squeal
Sister Maude Mule - Alec Johnson [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
there's that legendary stubborn mule
back by popular demand
you can't make me do it
that's all
I ain't gonna do it
that's all
It's Over - Roy Orbison [from For The Lonely]
any music is an image of its time
aspirations
obsessions
prejudices
anxieties
From Me to You - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]
the colors of its fabrics and refrigerators
Sweet Sweet Baby - Aretha Franklin [form Lady Soul]
nicknames from aristocracy
our anxiety for hierarchic societies
Girls On Film - Duran Duran [from Nancy's Mix]
like a photo shoot scene in a film
Old Time Religion - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]
with cars
like biceps
All I've Ever Wanted - Mariah Carey [from Music Box]
is this what we
the listening public
want to be told
or is
it a sedative
or an opiate?
You'll Never Stand Alone - Whitney Houston [from My Love Is Your Love]
this song aspires to prop you up in adversity
buy this product
fantasy tales of complex love lives
daytime serials
beach
reads
the little left/right vocal cadenza is fun
Annoy Hard Rock Hard-Danny - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
teaching tykes to use machinery
Songs 3 and 4 - Red Ribbon [live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
pushing into a chest voice
sailing in head voice
Fall On November - Canals of Venice [from Fall On November]
intentional segregation of tracks
everybody reverbs to their own room
Sinfonia 8 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded December 20, 2023]
a rhythm is a theory about pitch
this one makes me smile
Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington and His Washingtonians [from Ken Burns Jazz Collection]
in a culture
in which
performance practice
was far from
standardized
a song or number
becomes a concept
lurking
behind individual performances
Tomorrow (Rehearsal) - Norman Monath [from Songs of The Pogo]
you'll hoist the high . . . glass
and sit on your . . . chair
Love and Learn - Dolly Parton [from Just Because I'm a Woman]
small form literature for the masses
The Neighbors - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]
neighbors
as euphemism
for busybodies
Ovdaviala Lissitchkata - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares Vol. 2]
a museum exhibit
or an expression
expressed as a museum exhibit
or
an image in a beaker
Cold Mountain Songs: Climbing Up Cold Mountain - Robert Morris - Deborah Norin-Kuehn, Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
hand over hand
with brash care
tenuous hold
Hypercool - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
alt goth
Soundscape-Andi [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
foghorn bass
with angling reel sounds
and wind
and splash
and frogs
splish splash
fresh fish
Tax Lady - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
the wealthy
have no cause
to criticize income tax
since
it
currently
benefits them
both financially
and
politically
screed scrawl
Song 3 - Dead Bars [live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
some times
are recorded
for posterity
Whiskey and Loneliness Don't Mix - Denise Glover [from Gaps In The Stories]
sad sack story
so the guitars
can play
their sad sack licks
Seem an I - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]
a personal geology of psyche
If You Want The Rainbow - Lee Morse [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
a voice from radio days
you must have the rain
across the kitchen
table
cycle the sentiment
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
this and the other
or this and that
and so
our romance
must fall
quite flat
Someone's Coming - The Who [from Magic Bus]
this album
must have been ripped from a dubbed tape
I can't
imagine why the sound would be so awful otherwise
but I honestly think
I'm getting enough of an idea
of what this is
that I don't care to
spend money
to improve the experience
Higher Hell - Echo and The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]
tight columns of words
nonstandard verticality of medium
eights
and sixes and sevens and fives
chorus in threes and fours
verse
numbers loaded back into the chorus numbers
to close
Giz Starts Buggin' - Audio Two [from What More Can I Say]
I think I may have already listened to this
in recent weeks
oh
well
mostly the system works well enough
perhaps not
now the correct track
still boasting
fantasy of financial power
Can Can - Empire Brass Quintet [from Class Brass On The Edge]
during which
those looking to the music
were outliers
and
the legs
were insulted thereby
Born In Puerto Rico - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]
our national linguistic dysfunction
is a lingering symptom
of
global conflicts from all sides
Three for (solo clarinet): Alone - Jesse Canterbury, Bradley Hawkins [from Bradley Hawkins & Jesse Canterbury]
for solo reeds
side by side
one kisser
No Sympathy, No Light - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]
terraced dynamics
mostly subdued
but bigger at articulation points
Love Is Lost - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
what person is this
that tells the poem's you
what they are?
the voice of the world's judgment
Badazzzzz 1 - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
plugging into power
pedal to metal
get the job done
Sinfonia 8 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [November 24, 2023]
flashing lights on a grid
I Truly Understand You Love Another Man - Shortbuckle Roarke and his Family [from Really The Blues]
brown eyes
and flattering tongue
off to a foreign land
I Want a Little Girl - Ray Charles [from Yes Indeed!]
the title phrase holds off
on its clarifying balancing phrase
My Mother-In-Law - Etta James [from Tell Mama]
the standard complaints
ultimatum given
Soups Are - J. K. Randall, Ross Rabin [from Inter/Play]
the sounds
that might be from instruments
sneak in shyly
these sounds
have bodily motions
as necessary generators
show little inclination
to project
beyond the company they were
with at the time
a general pause
the purpose of a session
was
to step back
from making music
in order
to observe
the making of
music
from a different angle
fipple flutes
bicker like birds
there's Jim
muttering into his fipple
lyrical rhythm
and metrical rhythm
poking about
in the
basement
looking for anything
// supper break //
objects are adjusted
objects are tested
what is it
move it here
is it still
what it was?
nudges from back the line
pondering into the notion
of making sounds
what is that for?
the space is in quiet slumber
sputtering in tongues
the space has become a contraption of sorts
engaged in an activity
that squeaks its metallic intervals together
all amid the slumbery snoring see saw beast
lives at pianississimo
excursus:
inventing new sounds
which become historical sounds
immediately
piling into the past
River Euphrates - Pixies [from Surfer Rosa]
accumulating regularly
dealing with the regularity of accumulation
and order of segment types
stanza construction
as chord
changes writ large
does the beauty of a melodic statement
rely on the beauty of the voice
engaged in its making
or are they distinct beauties?
metrical sophistication
lyrical sophistication
beauty as signifier
Cervello a Sonagli - Die Knodel [from Tutto Bene]
study in the skull voice
followed by café combo
Soft Summer Breeze - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
follows the showtune closely
modest liberties where allowed
The Day I Stole Your Car - Peter Fedofsky [from Situations]
not getting involved again
but repercussions on the inside
Pollen Part Two (fountains) - Learning Team [from Aporia Coda]
song is a way to clarify the rhythm of a poem
The Bonnie Ship The Diamon - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
bar band whalers
and Gilligan
and the Skipper too
quod libertine
Acceptance - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]
spacious caring
everyone says their completeness
Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane - Uncle John Scruggs [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
music like turkey gobbles
and what sounds like actual turkey gobbles
leaking through the residues
of vinyl reproduction
Windsong - Harry Partch
in the old weird America
land of the crack pots and oddballs
DIY L'Histoire
rotate the body in all its planes
a play
produced
as a
puppet parade
When You Wish Upon a Star - Louis Armstrong [from Disney Songs The Satchmo Way]
it is not beyond the realm of possibility
that Mr. Armstrong knew the
Mr. Edwards
who sang this
as a cricket
in the movies
Don't Know - Dan Sedia [live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
such a gentle souled hymn
Lovesexy - Prince [from LoveSexy]
an expression of potency
or the boast of it
so the dancers can
prance and strut
Doyna - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
clarinet and violin face off in tension
make careful motions
dance
moves
Black/Noise 1 - Benjamin Boretz [from Open Space 13]
sound in an empty space
empties space
what the pitches are
is not what they say
but
a carrier
wave
envelopes closed off
squelched
Consolation - Greg Sinibaldi [from Nuclear Frog Pond]
we hear notes in a clear figuration
a subject
to ponder vertical
structures
constructed
from moving parts
a vertical
structure
that moves inside
Angel Boy - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]
unaccompanied voice inscribes a song onto a moment numenous
Snake Eat Self - Swamp Meat [from Elephant Graveyard]
hiding voice behind a narrow reverb
as though in a tunnel
Freedom at Normal's - Paul Kemmish, Ollie Klomp, John Seman, Wally Shoup [from Wally Shoup 2x4tet]
we have entered a heavily trafficked speedway
neon attacks from all
sides
whew
we made it
Sinfonia 8 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded November 30, 2023]
like intervals
within a collection
selected
to be paired off
Tight Like That - Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band [from Really The Blues]
quick demands
light
even on the jug
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry [from The Best of Chuck Berry]
the song is an origin story for skirts to swirl to
Big Bird - Eddie Floyd [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
have transport will visit
My Baby Left Me - Jill Borner [live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
a bare bones blues
Dream of Life - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]
introduction with partial sources
intimates a song potential
within the song
3+3+2 rejiggers straight fours
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]
chariot
last syllable
more like "oh"
ends up rhyming
low
chariot
and home
interesting
combinations of regularity
interdiscordant but synchronous
music made of tracks
added in
or taken away
close repetition
obscures all
but the drudgery
does it matter
what is repeating
so incessantly?
all the stacks
of stacks
of product
at the warehouse
shopping horror
more of everything
that anybody can need
ritmato aisle
serenity aisle
pots and pans
solemnities in
rows and rows
stately
ponders
hypnosis aisle
boxcars
full of finalities
as far as the eye can see
quantity
is the stuff of this
industry marches on
durable goods
bangs and clanks
Waltz in C minor - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]
infliction of a manner on a bystander
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
where money goes to dance
Aurora Borealis - Mikey & Matty [from Harbor Island]
reverb was in
to smooth things out
and cushion the hard edges
Inexact Cadenza - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
one could imagine the reckless concerto
to which this attaches
but
one need not compose it
the imagined one
is far superior
Live Too Fast - Broken Toys [from Dirt Cult Records You Don't Have To Be Cool]
garage punk
cost of admission relatively low
society fairly
collegial
It's Right Here for You - Tom Dorsey [from That Devilin' Tune]
depicting a sterotyped behavior
from the inside
so glad when they
look away
There Is Someone In The World For Me - Little Willie John
blues groove
Computer Variations - Hubert Howe [from Open Space 21]
proving the concept
that music exists at a remove
from active
human manipulation
that is
how is it
as music
if
it is simply
set to go?
or
pointing out
that we do it all the time
as I am now
or
composer without shield
of performer
or
the point of this music
is its imperturbable artifice
any stereo playback system
is a music synthesizer
Great Fire - XTC [from Fossilfuel]
verse
in a cabaret three
other parts
in four
Mind Terrorist - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]
beat study
Baseball Boogie (Outtake) - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
it's really gone
what he done
Do The Evolution - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]
muscle flexing
prance dance
In Session at The Tintinabulary
April 2, 2026
Brandeis: 4 Short Pieces for Piano, 1. Cambridge - Elaine Barkin
Brandeis: 4 Short Pieces for Piano, 2. Natick - Elaine Barkin
I neglected to mention these two recordings here a few weeks ago.
April 12, 2026
Chimes - Keith Eisenbrey
Gradus 431 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
registral order
counts
in both directions
in both
dimensions
up down
left right
forward back
simultaneity has durational depth
what makes arpeggiation work
the indication
of a simultaneous structure
made
by a
sequence of items
we point at its nodes
we concoct a polyphony
by means of proximity structures
apparent partitionings
another route
to attack the notion
of motions
being limited
to the Fuxian types
they are voices
because of
our
sense
of how voices
would
move
within such a soup of
sound
in order
to be more accurately characterized
assessed as to
importance
one voice
one being
two voices
two beings
April 14, 2026
Brandeis: 4 Short Pieces for Piano, 3. Waltham - Elaine Barkin
April 15, 2026
Brandeis: 4 Short Pieces for Piano, 4. Lenox - Elaine Barkin
And that finishes up my work on these fabulous little pieces, from 1955, by one from among the virtual symposium of my elder colleagues, alas now no longer among us. On now, gulp, to the first batch of J. K. Randall's Gap pieces.
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 31: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 2) 2014
In 2013 I had reached an inflection point in my big project, Études d'exécution imminent, and took a sabbatical (indifferently observed) from composing written-down music. I filled the time with various forms of improvisation, both "in-the-moment" composing, and sometimes puttering about with multi-tracking and other digitally applied effects. Here is the second bunch of them.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
