Garden of Love: Issa's Sunday Service #159

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There is a brand new album by Martha Redbone Roots Project - the Garden of Love: the Songs of William Blake (the entire album is available directly from the artist here). Above is the title selection and, below, Blake's original: 


Garden of Love - William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And Thou shalt not writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires. 


A tip of the hat to Mark Forrester for recommending the Martha Redbone Project be featured on the Sunday Service. As he remarked to me in email, the blending of Blake's composition "with musical influences that lean heavily on Appalachian folk and gospel" works well. This is an album to own for fans of literary sources in unique settings. 

Here's a live version of Garden of Love with lots of great energy. Enjoy.





For those with sharp memories, this is the second time this Blake 'lyric' has been featured (though with a different title) on the Sunday Service: here is the first.


---------------------------------  

7 Birds on Quince Tree and Sparrow on Peony by Hiroshige

in the pitiful garden
no pitiful
peonies!

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 158 songs