Original Song Lyrics from "Woven Harmonies"

Tree of Life (3:10)
Eric Peltoniemi (1983
Arrangement: Nadine Sanders

This song was a part of the musical Plain Hearts. The lyrics include names of different quilt patterns.

Straw Into Gold: vocals
Banjo: Lawson Dumbeck
Fiddle: Anthea Lawrence
Bass: Steve Lucceno

Beggar's Block and Blind Man's Fancy
Boston Corner and Beacon Light
Broken Star and Buckeyed Blossom
Blooming on the Tree of Life.

Chorus
Tree of Life
Quilted by the lantern light
Every stitch a leaf upon the tree of life
Stitch away sister, stitch away.

Happy's Choice, Wheel of Fortune
And High Hosanna, Indiana
Hills and Valleys, Sleepwood Lilly
And Hearts Delight, Tale of Dungeon and Skies
Hummingbird, Hovering Dander
Honeysuckle, Oleander
Blooming on the Tree of Life.

We're only known as someone's mother
Someone's daughter, or someone's wife.
But with our hands and with our vision
We make the patterns of the Tree of Life.

The Spinning Wheel (3:34)
John Francis Waller, England 1800's
Arrangement: Pam Sloper and Nadine Sanders

Today spinning is a passionate hobby of women and men. In the 1800's it was a necessary chore of females young and old.

Straw Into Gold: vocals
Harp: Rachel Greenspan

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning,
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning,
Bent o'er the fire, her blind grandmother sitting,
Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting.

Chorus
Merrily, cheerily, noiselessly whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel,
While the foot's stirring,
Spritely and lightly and errily ringing, (this is the spelling of spritely and errily from the original music)
Trills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.

Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping,
'Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping.
Eily, I surely hear somebody sighing,
'Tis the sound, mother dear, of the Autumn winds dying.

There's a form at the casement, the form of her true-love,
And he whispers with face bent, I'm waiting for you, love,
Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly,
And we'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly.

The maid shakes her head, on her lips lays her fingers,
Steps up from the stool, longs to go and yet lingers.
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother,
Puts one foot on the stool, spins the wheel with the other.

Slower and slower and slower the wheel swings,
Lower, and lower, and lower the reel rings,
Noiseless and light to the lattice above her,
The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover.

Holly Ann (The Weaver Song) (4:16)
Judy Collins (Rocky Mountain Park Music Co. Inc.

A friend sent me this song thinking it was appropriate for the Singing Weaver to perform.Yes!
Judy Collins wrote this song for her sister the weaver.

Nadine Sanders: vocals
Jon ten Broek: autoharp
Anthea Lawrence: fiddle
Steve Lucceno: bass

She is a weaver,
Through her hands the bright thread travels,
Blue green water willows weeping silver stars,
She sings and sighs as the shadow flies
Through the yarn like a Kerry dancer,
Thinking purple, velvet red for a lover's bed.

Chorus
Living north of San Francisco
With a man who built his house alone.
Living peaceful in the country.
The lights of the Golden Gate will lead her home.

She is a spinner,
In her hands the wooden wheel turns the wool round then around again.
A gypsy from Torrijos sits and plays the mandolin,
Faces smile in the firelight of a foggy night.

Chorus
Living north of San Francisco
Sometimes it's nice to be alone.
She says it's peaceful where she's living.
The lights of the Golden Gate will lead her home.

She is a weaver,
Through her hands the bright thread travels,
Blue green water willows weeping silver stars.
She is my sister, the baby born when I was older,
Her hands are light, her hair is bright as the summer sun.

Chorus
You can see the bridges of the city
Hanging in the air by steel and stone.
She says it's peaceful where she's living.
The lights of the Golden Gate will lead her home.

Living north of San Francisco,
Sometimes it's nice to be alone.
Living peaceful in the country.
The lights of the Golden Gate will lead her home.

How Can I Keep From Singing (2:39)
Lyrics: Anne Warner, 1865 (Verse 3 Doris Plenn)

Music: Rev. R. Lowry
Arrangement: Nadine Sanders

I went to St. Olaf College where I sung in the choirs. My arrangement is dedicated to Alice Larson who conducted the Manitou Singers.

Jessica Clary: Soprano
Nadine Sanders: Soprano
Rachel Greenspan: Alto
Katrina Haeger: Alto

My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real tho' far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Thru all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing.
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing!

My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real tho' far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Thru all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing.
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing!

What tho' the tempest round me roars, I know the truth it liveth.
What tho' the darkness round me close, songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love prevails in heav'n and earth, how can I keep from singing.

When tyrants tremble as they hear the bells of freedom ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing!
In prison cell and dungeon vile our thought to them are winging;
When friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing!

Baby's Lullaby (3:28)
Laurie Miller (1997
Arrangement: Pam Sloper

Laurie, an original member of Straw Into Gold, wrote this song while pregnant with her first child.

Katrina Haeger: lead vocal
Nadine Sanders: soprano
Jessica Clary: alto
Rachel Greenspan: piano
Steve Lucceno: bass
Anthea Lawrence: fiddle

When the wind whispers soft
When the stars awaken
Sleep my sweet, rest my dear
Let your cares be taken

Chorus
Arms that shield you
Smiles that hold you
Let our love
Always enfold you
Sleep my sweet
Rest my dear
Trust knowing we'll be here

When the storms
Toss the trees
When the thunder's pounding
Boldly brave forward please
Hear nature's sounding

When you're grown
On your own
When your path takes you far
When you feel lost, alone
Know that love's who you are

When you're old
Your story's told
Memories in your keeping
Have no fear
Peace is near
Hope be in your sleeping
WHEN YOU'RE OLD

The Downy Tree (2:55)
Laurie Miller (1999
Arrangement: Nadine Sanders and Pam Sloper

A poem Laurie wrote as a child took flight with music years later.

Jessica Clary: lead vocal
Nadine Sanders: soprano
Katrina Haeger: alto
Harp: Rachel Greenspan

I saw a downy tree
With gently waving leaves,
That almost spoke to me
As it fluttered in the breeze.
I liked the colors of the leaves
The red of those, the green of these,
But best of all I liked the one
As golden as the sun.

The Egocentrics (1:04)
Lyrics: Piet Hein
Music: Pam Sloper (1998

The lyrics for this song are a "grook" -- a short, playful, insightful, poem crafted by Hein, a 20th century Renaissance man. Hein was intimately acquainted with theoretical physics, creating mathematical games, Scandinavian design, and devoted the last years of his life to writing. Another well-known grook: "Love is like // a pineapple // sweet and // indefinable. Pam, the original alto of Straw Into Gold, gave this poem music.

People are self-centered
To a nauseous degree.
They will keep on about themselves
While I'm explaining me.

Potter's Wheel (3:04)
Bill Danoff(Watch Your Head Music
Arrangement: Jessica Clary and Nadine Sanders

We are both John Denver fans. This was on his 1991 Different Directions recording.

Jessica Clary: vocals
Nadine Sanders: vocals
Jon ten Broek: guitar
Steve Lucceno: bass
Anthea Lawrence: fiddle
Connie Bunyur: percussion

The world is fast becoming younger
The news is all they've ever known
They've seen the wars
The hurt the hunger
How will they choose
When they are grown

What do you tell forever's children
When it's their turn to hurt and heal
Whatever spins a grim tornado
Can also turn a potter's wheel

Chorus
Take a little clay
Put it on a wheel
Get a little hint
How God must feel
Give a little turn
Listen to it spin
Make it in the shape
You want it in

Tell with your life the bloody story
Teach to their dreams
Not burning steel
It's not in bombs where lies the glory
But in what's shattered on the field

The potter's wheel takes love and caring
Skill and patience fast and slow
The works it makes are easily broken
Once they survive the potter's throw

Some day some children will be digging
In some long forgotten ground
And they'll find our civilization
Or what's left of it to be found

They'll find the weapons of destruction
But buried deeper in the hole
They'll find a message and a promise
In the sand, the potter's bowl

Earth and water and wind conspire
With human hands and love and fire

The Loom (2:59)
Lyrics: Grace Williams
Music: Welsh Folk-song

I love much of the twentieth century classical repertoire written for solo voice. With David's playing, we have brought this emotive piece into the 21st century. I actually do sing at the loom as I give public weaving demonstrations.

Nadine Sanders: vocals
David Lange: piano

One night as I sat weaving at my loom,
at my loom, All my thoughts were filled
with dark and wintry gloom; My joy had
long departed, My youthful years had
flown away, Flown away and left me
all too soon, all too soon, and, alas, upon
my spirit care was strewn, care was
strewn.

Then slowly I arose and left my loom,
left my loom, And in sorrow, wandered
from my lonely room; A myriad stars
were shining, And all the heavens were
bright and clear, Bright with silv'ry
radiance from the moon, from the moon,
And the nightingale poured forth her
silv'ry tune, silv'ry tune.

Such beauty eased my heart, and I came
home, I came home to my loom, to my
loom.

The Spinner's Wedding (2:01)
Scottish from the Dundee spinning mills
Arrangement: Jessica Clary and Nadine Sanders

I use this song in the program Woven Harmonies that I present to weaving guilds about the connection of fiber arts and music.

Straw into Gold: vocals

The gaffer's looking worried and the flats are in a steer (carding machines are in a mess)
Jessie Brodie's getting married and the morrow she'll no be here.

Chorus
Hurrah, hurroo a daddy-O
Hurrah, hurroo a dadd- O
Hurrah, hurroo a daddy-O
Jessie's getting married-O.

The helper and the piecer they went down the town last night
To buy a wee bit present just to make her home look bright.

They bought a china tea-set, aye and a chanty full of salt,
A bonnie coloured carpet, a kettle and a pot.

The spinners they're all singing, and the shifters dancing too,
The gaffer's standing watching but there's nothing he can do.

Here's best wishes to ye, lassie, standing at your spinning frame,
May ye aye have full and plenty in your wee bit hame.

Sometimes I'm Cedar (3:37)
Linda Allen (1995
Arrangement: Pam Sloper and Nadine Sanders

Linda is a prolific singer/songwriter from Bellingham, WA. She recorded this on Lay it Down Images of the Sacred. We love arranging her songs.

Rachel Greenspan: lead vocal
Jessica Clary: Soprano 1
Nadine Sanders: Soprano 2
Jon ten Broek: guitar and autoharp
Steve Lucceno: bass
Connie Bunyur: percussion

Sometimes I'm cedar
With rain in my hair
Roots growing deeper
With each passing year
Sometimes I'm willow
I bend in the wind
Sheltering my children
'Til the sun comes again

Sometimes I'm deer
Walking soft through the trees
Part of it all such a sweet mystery
Sometimes I'm seagull
Soaring high above ground
Most times I'm squirrel
How I scurry around

Sometimes I'm poppy
How my colors explode
Longing to please
Every heart on the road
So filled with myself
That I light up the sky
Sometimes I'm nettle
And you'd best pass me by

Sometimes I'm river
Just dancing along
Filling the air
With a sweet river
Then I am ocean
So strong and so wide
Rocking my lover
Live a boat on the tide

Ridin' On A Rainbow (2:57)
Don George, Jean Herbert, Teddy Hall (1940 Famous Music Corporation
Arrangement: Pam Sloper

Our tribute to Gene Autry

Jessica Clary: lead vocal
Nadine Sanders: Soprano
Rachel Greenspan: Alto
Katrina Haeger: Alto
Steve Lucceno: Bass

If you want me I'll be found
Far a way from the crowds
With my feet on the ground
And my head in the clouds

Chorus
I'm ridin on a rainbow
Riding high
Ramblin thru the mountains
My horse my dreams and I
Ridin on a rainbow
Through the blue
Roundin up the sunbeams
Just a footloose buckaroo

I'm a roamin cowhand
Wearin nobody's brand
Campin where the greenest
Pastures grow
Playin on my guitar
Yippe kai yay
Maybe ropin a star
Or riding a moonbeam
Goin anywhere I want to go

When the Snow Fell Down (2:16)
Nadine Sanders (1998

Being in love with a true romantic who loves to swing dance inspired this piece. Thank you JWS.

Nadine Sanders: lead vocal
Jessica Clary: soprano
Katrina Haeger: mezzo
Rachel Greenspan: alto
Joe Baque: piano
Steve Lucceno: bass

With the snow falling down
I gave you a hug
In our first embrace
I knew you'd found a place for me
Inside your heart
Never to depart
When the snow fell down.

With the snow falling down
I gave you a kiss
It was slow and warm
You held me in your arms
And then I asked myself
How can this be?
When the snow fell down.

Descant
Snowfall, gently drifting down
Melting, believe in love.

I didn't think love would come so easily
Perhaps love would not come at all.
But I'm breathing in the spirit of a friend and a lover
You've torn down the walls.

With the snow falling down
We shared our souls
They began to dance
I knew that this was more than romance
Here I can be open and free
With the snow falling down.

I can see it falling
I hear you calling
Love of my life we're home.