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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <

USA
2792 Posts

Posted - 07/04/2006 :  22:21:41  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
so looking in a vermont shop for poetry books i came across
Western Star by Stephen Vincent Benet
1943
franks has a song by that name. any thoughts?

Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =

USA
918 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  02:10:23  Show Profile  Visit Jefrey's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Western Star is my favorite FB song.

That's my thoughts.

Did you read it or buy it? Can you post the poem?
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  08:10:57  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Frank is a Western Star. He lives in the West, and he's a Star!


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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~

Belize
5305 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  16:58:29  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Haven't read it. Although I have heard of and am sure I've read/seen some of his works.

Couldn't find a copy of the poem online but this is what one database said:


"Western Star
Western Star , a fragmentary work, which was to have been another epic like John Brown’s Body , was published after Benét’s death in 1943. He had begun writing it previous to World War II, but upon the entry of America in the war, he put it aside, planning to resume work on it when peace was achieved. Western Star was to have been Benét’s interpretation of the settlement of the United States and of the westward movement of frontier life. He intended to present frontier life in a way similar to that he had used to present the Civil War in John Brown’s Body—by using actual events and both actual and imaginary persons for his characters. Unfortunately, his early death prevented his completing this work.

Essay by: Sherry G. Southard"

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a guy in a rover
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
535 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  17:59:51  Show Profile  Click to see a guy in a rover's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Someone told me Western Star was about Bowie.

Kiss my ring...I am the greatest

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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~

Belgium
15320 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  20:18:30  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13088


I’m the only one who can say that this light is mine
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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <

USA
2792 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  20:45:01  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
just thought i'd drop a name thinking someone might pick it up.
daisy girl laid it out clearly. it's a long ass poem.
jack kerouac might have read it.
and i still think frank is saying "nero playing his violin"
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~

Belize
5305 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  21:04:15  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
well if it helps any I checked the dicopedia and there was no clear cut info from FB about the song. It only said he wrote it while sitting at Jean's desk.

i tried getting a hold of the copy of the poem from my lib online and no luck.
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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <

USA
2792 Posts

Posted - 07/05/2006 :  22:43:40  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it's not the size of poem you can post, it's almost two hundred pages.
how hard can it be?
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 07/06/2006 :  09:00:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Daisy Girl

It only said he wrote it while sitting at Jean's desk.


I'm probably wrong, but I thought he said that about Dog Gone. In regard to that song, I believe he was inspired by Jean saying she would'nt go anywhere without her dog!


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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~

Belize
5305 Posts

Posted - 07/06/2006 :  15:26:46  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
well I bet you are right, but the discopedia did say that he wrote it at Jean's desk


get ready for the monster link.... lol:

http://www.frankblack.net/songs/db.asp?mode=search&songID=66&searchString=western%20star&searchCb1=Title&searchCb2=Lyrics&searchCb3=Notes&searchCb4=Quotes&searchCb5=References&searchCb6=Definitions

(whooo hoo post #4,000)

Edited by - Daisy Girl on 07/06/2006 15:27:17
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ScottP
= Cult of Ray =

USA
618 Posts

Posted - 07/06/2006 :  16:20:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Super-great song. I love how he starts this one up, too.
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prozacrat
* Dog in the Sand *

USA
1186 Posts

Posted - 07/07/2006 :  08:11:53  Show Profile  Visit prozacrat's Homepage  Click to see prozacrat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
I heard an advert on the radio around 3:00am today for some service/product called "Western Star." I thought it had something to do with trucking, but I'm not sure. I was distracted while I was listening to it.

http://www.prozacrat.com
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 07/08/2006 :  09:39:43  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Somebody mentioned before that it was something to do with trucking. Here's previous WS threads:

http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13088&SearchTerms=,western,star

http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14429&SearchTerms=,western,star


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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <

USA
2792 Posts

Posted - 07/13/2006 :  22:48:09  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
western star is a great song and western star is a great read.
a poetic take on new worlds.
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orangemagic
- FB Fan -

USA
102 Posts

Posted - 07/14/2006 :  08:36:47  Show Profile  Visit orangemagic's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I love it. Western Star is an amazing song. The chord progressions rule, especially the verse: F# - A - B - G. I wish i thought of that. The lyrics are so cool too, with words you never here in pop songs like "serong", cul-de-sac", "moquette", "freon tingle", etc...
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pixiestu
> Teenager of the Year <

United Kingdom
2564 Posts

Posted - 07/14/2006 :  08:45:13  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by orangemagic

The lyrics are so cool too, with words you never here in pop songs like "serong", cul-de-sac", "moquette", "freon tingle", etc...

These are all in the same verse too!

This is one of my favourite songs on Pistolero. I also love how he sings just one line in Spanish ("Yo soy un pistolero") but continues the verse in English.

"The arc of triumph"
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orangemagic
- FB Fan -

USA
102 Posts

Posted - 07/14/2006 :  11:06:07  Show Profile  Visit orangemagic's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Yeah, I like that line as well. It's one of my favorites on pistolero also. Pistolero has SO MANY good songs too. "I Think I'm Starting To Lose It" is awesome. I never saw him play it live. I hope I get a chance to someday. "Bad Harmony", "Such A Wire", "85 Weeks", and "Billy Radcliff" are my other favorites. I think that album is highly underrated.
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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <

USA
2792 Posts

Posted - 07/14/2006 :  21:48:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
an excerpt from Western Star by Stephen Vincent Benet.

and so, at dawn, on the twenty-sixth day of april,
just over four months from london,
they sailed between cape henry and cape charles
and saw the broad chesapeake, and the wished-for shore.
we shall not see it as they, for no men shall
till the end and the ruin have come upon america,
the murmuring green forest, the huge god,
smiling, cruel, lying at ease in the sun,
and neither smiling nor cruel, but uncaring,
the vastness where no road ran but the indian trail.
and the little clearings of man were small in the forest,
the little dirt of man soon washed away,
the riches of man white shells and opossum skins,
the scalp of a foe, the ritual of the clan,
squash-vine and pumpkin seed and deer's sinew
and the yellow life giving corn.

we shall not see the birds in their multitudes,
the thunder cloud of pigeons blotting the sun,
The fish that had never struck at an iron hook,
the beaver, breeding faster than men could kill,
the green god, with the leaves at his finger tips
and a wreath of oak and mapel twining his brows,
smiling, cruel, majestic and uncaring,
as he lies beside bright waters under the sun,
whose blood is the spring sap and the running streams,
whose witchery is the fever of the marsh,
whose bounty is sun and shadow and life and death,
the huge, wild god with the deerhorns and the green leaf.
we shall not see their americas as they saw them
and this is what they saw.
now we must follow them, into the wood.
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fbc
-= Modulator =-

United Kingdom
4903 Posts

Posted - 07/15/2006 :  05:08:36  Show Profile  Visit fbc's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I think one of the reasons 'Western Star' is a great song is because it's on one of Frank's greatest records, and Pistolero's been in the stereo since I first read this thread. The Man's never sounded so good, so ready to rock and up to 11. What a nice antidote to the present sound. This is some serious rockin' and a rollin', even McC's vocals hit the spot.


* * * * * PLAY ME * * * * *

Edited by - fbc on 07/15/2006 05:10:32
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Suicide_Samurai
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
431 Posts

Posted - 07/15/2006 :  07:52:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Pistolero has the best backing vocals of any of his albums.
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orangemagic
- FB Fan -

USA
102 Posts

Posted - 07/15/2006 :  09:47:46  Show Profile  Visit orangemagic's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Ah, Pistolero! Crammed with hits.
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 07/15/2006 :  16:48:35  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Suicide_Samurai

Pistolero has the best backing vocals of any of his albums.


Ah, the famous mews!!


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orangemagic
- FB Fan -

USA
102 Posts

Posted - 07/15/2006 :  19:04:43  Show Profile  Visit orangemagic's Homepage  Reply with Quote
The new bolero?

How hard can it be, y'all?

-mew
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mikemambo
- FB Fan -

Argentina
6 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2006 :  10:56:35  Show Profile  Click to see mikemambo's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
im looking for frank black and pixies tribute albums

thank everybody
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