17. Ancient Green - A Breath of Song

Song Ancient Green
Words & Music by Kathleen Hannan

Lyrics
1. I lay under a tall oak tree,
Asked the Goddess to shelter me.
She wrapped me up in ancient green,
ancient green.
(twice)

2. All my tears,
all my tears.
all my tears,
the river’s gonna wash away.
(twice)

Notes: Kathleen says she caught this comforting song while lying on a huge rock next to the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, crying her heart out over a relationship that was transforming. A beautiful oak tree was growing out of the rock, and as the song was born her sorrowful feelings washed through with the sound of the river, and she was left feeling whole, and at peace with the way things were. She also shared this story with me, "One time I sang the song in a show with a group of women drummers. Their teacher, a lovely African man, also played with us in the concert and rehearsal. After I taught them in the rehearsal and we had played it for a while, the African drummer told me that the song felt like an African song to him. That was one of my happiest moments, since I have for so long felt inspired by African diaspora music. And I did not really feel like I wrote that song... it just came through as a whole as I cried by the river."

Songwriter info: Kathleen has been writing, collecting and sharing songs for over 50 years. Her songs were awarded a North Carolina Arts Council Songwriter Fellowship. She currently leads the Bodies, Voices & Spirit Choruses in North Carolina and Maine, and is also a Dances of Universal Peace leader. She's a student of the Heart, and she facilitates The Work of Byron Katie.

Links:
Kathleen's blogpost & recording of Ancient Green with guitar, bass, piano, and drum. (So much fun to sing with!)
https://www.kathleenhannan.com/song-blog/songs-for-our-journey-26
Kathleen's online presence: www.kathleenhannan.com
Kathleen's chorus: https://bodiesvoicesandspirit.weebly.com/
Kathleen's song blog, which is searchable by title, subject or excerpts from lyrics: https://www.kathleenhannan.com/song-blog

Kathleen's most recent CD is Seen & Unseen: Songs from the Light of Midlife
Purchase CD here: https://www.kathleenhannan.com/seen--unseen-cd1.html
Lyrics are here: https://www.kathleenhannan.com/lyrics--credits.html
Photos from the recording process: https://www.kathleenhannan.com/photos.html

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Ionian (major), round with possible harmonies, or optionally could be taught as a layer song

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10 Comments

Clint - 4 years ago

Great song, very calming, wonderful ensemble! I sensed a kind'a analogy: Her tears nurturing the oak tree as the Goddess wraps her in green (tree leaves?) then the river gently washes it away. Energy and mater in constant transmutation; the pages of our lives emergening in the form of our very own hand/mind selected conscious.

Kathleen Hannan - 4 years ago

Thanks Clint,
I love what you wrote. That song came through in 1990, and in all these years of singing it, I never thought about my tears nurturing the tree. I had only thought of being nurtured by the tree, and by all of nature. But reading your words I feel the truth that I am not separate from the tree, and that the whole is constantly transforming, so of course I am the nurturer as well as the receiver of nurturing. Thank you for this insight into the song and into the moment on the rock in the forest by the river when the song was born.

Patricia - 4 years ago

What wonder-full thoughts, Clint, literally -- I love "constant transmutation".... Thanks for posting!

margery phillips - 4 years ago

i love this dong and the harmonies. each episode gets better and better. Maybe that’s because I do too!

I love this observation, Margery! -- I think we are probably both getting better together, side by side here...

Hi Kathleen, you might enjoy this: "Kurt Vonnegut observed in discussing Hamlet during his influential lecture on the shapes of stories. “The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad,” Alan Watts wrote a generation earlier in his sobering case for learning not to think in terms of gain or loss." https://getpocket.com/explore/item/a-stoic-s-key-to-peace-of-mind-seneca-on-the-antidote-to-anxiety?utm_source=pocket-newtab
We separate ourselves from nature, most devastatingly each other. And un-grounded our fears grow to irrational heights. Our irrational thought dominates and we lose our presence of mind. Maybe, either way I just wrote this to tell you that I love you and that just like you I'm on a journey too!

bt - 4 years ago

Hi Patricia, Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed listening to this dear familiar song coming from a stranger far away; though not a stranger, for we all share song and breath. I've been part of Kathleen Hannan's Women's Bodies, Voices, Spirit chorus for many years, and it is truly a gift to hear her song coming through new channels. Thank you!

Hi bt --
Thank you so much for this comment. I was honored to be given permission to share this song, which is so beautiful and comforting -- I love having it singing inside me. Lucky you for getting to spend so much time with Kathleen in person!

Tembre De carteret - 1 year ago

Really lovely song . A beautiful song for Spring , here is Ireland we celebrate St. Bridget on the first day of spring . We were told about laying a cloth of green outside on the eve of st . Bridgit 1st feb

I look forward to sharing this song with my singers
Love Tembre

Patricia - 1 year ago

Tembre, I’m so glad you found it… I love this song, too, and sharing it with others. Thanks for sharing the connection to St. Brigid… I love thinking about that cloth of green….