Greatest Love of All/ Aiden Earle (Writers Block Lyrics)

[Wyzsard]

Bluegrass/Old Time effort

The Greatest Love Of All

daddy, he made sure
we’d be in church on time
when mamma read her bible
she’d rock that chair and smile
and grandma prayed for grandpa
‘cause he stayed drunk on wine
she'd sing him rock of ages
he’d lie down and cry

(chorus)
some day, those clouds
will part by the golden light
my angel ,who guards me
will hold me while we fly
on that day, ole St Peter
will take me from her arms
and deliver me for judgment
‘fore the greatest Love of all

(verse 2)
time's trials and it’s troubles
have finally come my way
my dear and precious family
have left me here in pain
but my cross I shall carry
‘cause daddy‘d always say
don’t you worry ’bout your mamma
you’ll be joining her some day

(chorus)
yes some day, those clouds
will part by the golden light
my angel who guards me
will hold me while we fly
on that day, ole St Peter
will take me from her arms
and deliver me for judgment
‘fore the greatest Love of all

(bridge)
how about you my friend
were you raised on the word of the Lord ?
turn your back to the fire, John’s water’s just fine
can you hear him holler all aboard ?

(chorus 2)
yes some day, those clouds
will part by the golden light
our angels ,who guard us
will hold us while we fly
on that day, ole St Peter
will take us from their arms
and deliver us for judgment
‘fore the greatest Love of all

(tag)
yes I’m ready for my judgment
‘fore the greatest Love of all
,..............................

Mountain tale

Aiden Earle (tentative title)

her hair was as soft as a bear cubs fur
and her blossom had begun to bloom
and today Aiden asked her father “sir,
may I be sweet Emma’s groom “ ?
“Aiden, you are a fine young man
you’ll make your father proud
but you’ll never have sweet Emma’s hand
two cousins a’weddin won't be alowed”

Emma wept for her dreams refused
but the family knew what’s right
“my child your Aiden you cannot chose
for your children will be a fright”

Aiden swore if he "weren’t the one
no other man would ever be
I vow ‘fore we lose this days sun
she’ll be mine for eternity”
a scream came from an unnamed hollow
someone said ” it was a girl”
the men ran ahead and the women folk followed
someone asked “where’s Aiden Earle” ?

at Emma’s grave the family wailed
and as anger numbed their pain
Aiden was dragged through town and jailed
and they built the hanging frame

“Aiden Earle what words have you ” ?
the mountain parsons asked
as the hangman offered a plug to chew
and a drink from an old tin flask
“my words have sealed my fate I know
but sweet Emma I did not kill
for I was listening to the water flow
down at the Wheelers mill “

screams of" liar !" filled the sky
the hangmans job was through
but one lone "No!" a young boy cried
"Aiden's alibi is true !"

"I was hunting bear where sweet Emma was found
when the old indian I came upon
stabbed and dropped her to the ground
and like a white tail he was gone
I tracked him all the way to Big Slate Run
but the rains had made the waters rise
as I drawed my sight and fired my gun
I saw poor Emmas crying eyes"

the words that ended young Aiden's life
strangely ended with "eternity"
though a high price paid to take his wife
two lovers are finally free

 

[catdaddy]

Sorry about the delay in responding to your lyrics. I wanted to be sure I can express my thoughts properly. I'm only going to comment on The Greatest Love of All. I need more time to process Aiden Earle.

First, I really like the lyric. I am not a religious person, but as a songwriter I can appreciate a lyric that hits its mark even if it's not a subject that I find personally inspiring. IMO The Greatest Love of All hits the bullseye of a bluegrass/old time gospel inspired song. The characters come alive with the wonderful details of their lives, attitudes and beliefs that you've provided. Their lives provide the basis for the compelling story that you develop based on personal faith and those characters seem so perfect for the genre. I like the meter that the lyric has and your use of language is a perfect fit for a bluegrass tune.

My only criticism involves the bridge. Its proselytizing seems unnecessary to me, but that is probably more my personal bias than a valid criticism of the lyric's style and purpose. On the other hand, I think the metaphoric line turn your back to the fire, John’s water’s just fine from the bridge is beautifully eloquent.

It's my feeling that you've got a terrific lyric with The Greatest Love of All, a perfect match of story to genre.
Congratulations on a really fine piece of writing!! Keep writing!!

 

[Wyzsard]

Sorry about the delay in responding to your lyrics. I wanted to be sure I can express my thoughts properly. I'm only going to comment on The Greatest Love of All. I need more time to process Aiden Earle.

First, I really like the lyric. I am not a religious person, but as a songwriter I can appreciate a lyric that hits its mark even if it's not a subject that I find personally inspiring. IMO The Greatest Love of All hits the bullseye of a bluegrass/old time gospel inspired song. The characters come alive with the wonderful details of their lives, attitudes and beliefs that you've provided. Their lives provide the basis for the compelling story that you develop based on personal faith and those characters seem so perfect for the genre. I like the meter that the lyric has and your use of language is a perfect fit for a bluegrass tune.

My only criticism involves the bridge. Its proselytizing seems unnecessary to me, but that is probably more my personal bias than a valid criticism of the lyric's style and purpose. On the other hand, I think the metaphoric line turn your back to the fire, John’s water’s just fine from the bridge is beautifully eloquent.

It's my feeling that you've got a terrific lyric with The Greatest Love of All, a perfect match of story to genre.
Congratulations on a really fine piece of writing!! Keep writing!!

Thanks for your kind words and taking time to offer them.

I will look at the bridge and see if I can rewrite it.

Aiden Earle is an attempt to write an Appalachian murder ballad. Not the final draft on that one. Murder, incest, mountain justice gone wrong. I may be able to do better on it.

 

[catdaddy]

Thanks for your kind words and taking time to offer them.

I will look at the bridge and see if I can rewrite it.

Aiden Earle is an attempt to write an Appalachian murder ballad. Not the final draft on that one. Murder, incest, mountain justice gone wrong. I may be able to do better on it.

I'm not sure you should change it. I think the question you should ask yourself is whether you "want" to change it. It certainly doesn't "need" to be changed, and my criticism comes from a point of view which in all probability, your potential audience doesn't share. As it stands now, that bridge may be the hook for that fan base.

 

[drewg]

I agree with catdaddy's comments about your first song. I, like him, am not a religious man, but there are a lot of good lyrics and original rhymes, and I recognize sincerity. Nice song.

Aiden Earle is a good title, I'd keep it. Many original rhymes here and the story pulled me in. I'll tell you what I object to, it's that it's an Indian who comes in and kills her, if I understand correctly. It just feels like an old western (which I like) but there has just been so much demonizing of natives and non-whites that I, personally, am tired of that perspective. What I thought was going to happen was that Aiden was going to kill the next lover of Emma – if not him, then no other man.

But that's just my personal reaction to that one part, and I wouldn't say that I'm in the mainstream. When I share my songs and stories I like it when people give me their first, gut reaction, so that's what I did for you.
Sincerely, there is a lot of good writing in both songs!

Do we get to hear the music with it?

 

[drewg]

To say more, I really like how you narrate the story in Aiden Earle. I'm drawn to longer songs with stories, and write some myself. I especially like the two stanzas below, 'anger numbed their pain', 'the hanging frame', 'plug to chew', 'old tin flask', 'Wheelers mill':

at Emma’s grave the family wailed
and as anger numbed their pain
Aiden was dragged through town and jailed
and they built the hanging frame

“Aiden Earle what words have you ” ?
the mountain parsons asked
as the hangman offered a plug to chew
and a drink from an old tin flask
“my words have sealed my fate I know
but sweet Emma I did not kill
for I was listening to the water flow
down at the Wheelers mill “

 

[Wyzsard]

I agree with catdaddy's comments about your first song. I, like him, am not a religious man, but there are a lot of good lyrics and original rhymes, and I recognize sincerity. Nice song.

Aiden Earle is a good title, I'd keep it. Many original rhymes here and the story pulled me in. I'll tell you what I object to, it's that it's an Indian who comes in and kills her, if I understand correctly. It just feels like an old western (which I like) but there has just been so much demonizing of natives and non-whites that I, personally, am tired of that perspective. What I thought was going to happen was that Aiden was going to kill the next lover of Emma – if not him, then no other man.

But that's just my personal reaction to that one part, and I wouldn't say that I'm in the mainstream. When I share my songs and stories I like it when people give me their first, gut reaction, so that's what I did for you.
Sincerely, there is a lot of good writing in both songs!

Do we get to hear the music with it?

Thanks for taking time to read them and offer your thoughts and kind words.

On the old Indian, I didn't give it much thought. In the old days when hanging was still an accepted means of execution, such things happened.

But I see what you are saying with the current, and correct, sentiments regarding having a person of color portrayed as the bad guy in a story. It won't be hard to replace "old Indian" with another character.

I'll eventually get around to doing at least rough demos of some of my lyrics and will post links when they are done.

 

[studio]

Thanks for taking time to read them and offer your thoughts and kind words.

On the old Indian, I didn't give it much thought. In the old days when hanging was still an accepted means of execution, such things happened.

But I see what you are saying with the current, and correct, sentiments regarding having a person of color portrayed as the bad guy in a story. It won't be hard to replace "old Indian" with another character.

I'll eventually get around to doing at least rough demos of some of my lyrics and will post links when they are done.

I too had problems with the Indian line.

Always having to be the perp for no good reason. That Indian is not even alluded to in the first part of the song. No reference to hang your hat on. He just appears out of nowhere!

At very least give him a name like, Native Joe or even a proper native name.

Although my preference would be to substitute the murder with maybe she being the casualty of a wild animal attack. Because that's how this story seems to be portraying the native, as a crazed killer. No Bueno.

I know it's a period piece but at some point intelligent writing should stop perpetuating the stereotype. Thanks.

 

[Wyzsard]

Although my preference would be to substitute the murder with maybe she being the casualty of a wild animal attack

Yes, but then the community would know Aiden didn't kill Emma. And just changing her cause of death and leaving the rest as is wouldn't be so intelligent either. Story wouldn't make sense.

Back in the day, Native Americans killed settlers and vice versa. Our emotions can't change that.

Anyhow I'm not prejudiced toward anyone. If someone sees one of my non-commercial lyrics as such, I honestly don't care.

 

[studio]

... I honestly don't care.

I believe you.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes, but then the community would know Aiden didn't kill Emma. And just changing her cause of death and leaving the rest as is wouldn't be so intelligent either. Story wouldn't make sense.

Back in the day, Native Americans killed settlers and vice versa. Our emotions can't change that.

Anyhow I'm not prejudiced toward anyone. If someone sees one of my non-commercial lyrics as such, I honestly don't care.

Yup, you can write 'em any way you like. When writing, I've learned to ask myself who would be offended — and whether it's someone I don't want to offend. (Sometimes I offend on purpose.)

If I were covering "Aiden," I'd certainly change it. But it's your song, and a good song is a springboard for interpretation, right?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

PS - If I were singing it, I'd probably end up making the killer a Pinkerton detective or a rich landowner or a popular preacher or a railroad bull or a spoiled scion or something.

 

[Wyzsard]

PS - If I were singing it, I'd probably end up making the killer a Pinkerton detective or a rich landowner or a popular preacher or a railroad bull or a spoiled scion or something.

I was going to change it to "old drifter" but after thinking about it I'm not so sure the term drifter was in the lingo back in those days. For some reason when I think of drifter I think of out west. I'll just change it to " old stranger ".

I showed the lyric to a neighbor's wife whose mother is full blooded Seneca. She said it didn't offend her at all but she could see how it might have offended her mother.