Ulalume - Rayon Vert's presentation of Edgar Allen Poe's Ulalume

[Farrell Jackson]

I'm sad to say that Rayon Vert's 5 year run as an internet band has come to a mutual but friendly end. We are all heading off in different musical directions....at least for now. As the saying goes "never say never". We will without a doubt do some musical collaborations in the future but probably not as a structured group.

Having said that, here's one of our last songs together. The music is a dark prog rock setting that is befitting for Edgar Allen Poe's dark poem, Ulalume. So if you have your headphones handy put them on because there is a lot happening in this song. Although I played throughout this song you'll hear my acoustic guitar finger picking peek through the mix now and then.
The credits are below, enjoy!

DrC - musical concept, keyboards, drum programming, mix/production.
Rob Grant - bass and narration.
Gary Carciello - all electric guitars.
Farrell Jackson - acoustic guitar.

Ulalume

The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere —
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir —
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul —
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
There were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll —
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole —
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere —
Our memories were treacherous and sere —
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year —
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber —
(Though once we had journeyed down here) —
We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn —
As the star-dials hinted of morn —
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn —
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.

And I said — "She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs —
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies —
To the Lethean peace of the skies —
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes —
Come up through the lair of the Lion
With Love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said — "Sadly this star I mistrust —
Her pallor I strangely mistrust: —
Oh, hasten! — oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly! — let us fly! — for we must."
In terror she spoke; letting sink her
Wings till they trailed in the dust —
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust —
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied — "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybillic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night: —
See! — it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright —
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom —
And conquered her scruples and gloom:
And we passed to the end of the vista,
And were stopped by the door of a tomb;
By the door of a legended tomb: —
And I said — "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied — "Ulalume — Ulalume —
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere —
As the leaves that were withering and sere,
And I cried — "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed — I journeyed down here —
That I brought a dread burden down here —
On this night of all nights in the year,
Oh, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber —
This misty mid region of Weir —
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."

Edgar Allen Poe

[soundclick]11634505[/soundclick]

Farrell

[chapperz66]

Marvelous stuff Farrell.  Loads going on, as you say.  Truth be told, I'm not a great fan of narrated songs (then again I'm not a great fan of poetry - Philistine that I am) but the music was more than enough to keep me interested.  More than enough! 

Shame the Verts are at an end.  Maybe just resting.....

Regards

Paul

[SwanSong]

HI very well produced..great concept re Poe. writing
well spoken . guess u might call it spoken word
enjoyed it cheers NEIL.!

[launched]

Nice!! This is a huge breath of fresh air, but very sad to see a virtual band of this caliber to end so quickly.

Loved everything about this song, it is extremely tight and has some serious power and vibe. I enjoyed the narration, sounded like that "friends" song Andy Summers spoke on. The acoustic sprinkles were a great choice as well.

Well, the Zombies hit serious stardom after their breakup, maybe that road is paved for Rayon Vert!

Sweet!!

Mark

[Hook]

Love it! (the song) Hate it! (the breakup)
Rock on!

[Ferryman_1957]

Excellent prog epic, love the inspiration, love the execution and admire the musicianship and production. Buit overall it works fantastically well. A fitting epitaph.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Geir]

A shame that Rayon Vert is breaking up. Thanks for all the fine music you've given us!!

This is another excellent example of your great music and as Nigel said a fitting epitaph.

[Hilary]

WOW - Rayon Vert's definately gone out on a high - this is amazing, seriously amazing.

[bruno]

Wow, wow, wow - fabulous. Tell me again, why are you breaking up?
B.

[Farrell Jackson]

Thanks Paul, Neil, Mark, Hook, Nigel, Geir, Haylie, and Bruno!

Wow, wow, wow - fabulous. Tell me again, why are you breaking up?
B.

Bruno: We split because of "Artistic Differences", lol. Just kidding. Really it was changes in some members personal lives that limited the time that could be spent at creating music for the group. So songs weren't being completed in a timely fashion which can be very frustrating to the ones that have done their tracks several months in advance.....and we were all guilty of it.  The long distant musical relationship also added to it. Plus we had four songwriters presenting song ideas and the backlog just got deeper and deeper. As I've said, never say never, because it was a friendly parting and we all still collaborate with the other RV members....and there's that dozen or more partial songs or ideas hanging in limbo.

Thanks!

Farrell