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Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night- poem & song
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THIS POEM IS RECITED AT THE TMEA CONVENTION FOLLOWED BY THE SONG OF THE SAME NAME, PERFORMED BY THE TEXAS ALL STATE CONCERT BAND. WELSH POET DYLAN THOMAS COMPOSED THIS POEM FOR HIS DYING FATHER IN 1951. THE SONG WAS WRITTEN BY ELLIOT DEL BORGO (1979)
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Charts
#336 in subgenre today Peak #1
Charts
Peak #1
Author
Dylan Thomas - 1951, Elliot Del Borgo - 1979
Rights
public domain
Uploaded
April 05, 2009
MP3
MP3 18.3 MB, 192 kbps, 13:20
Story behind the song
Do not go gentle into that good night, a villanelle composed in 1951, is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914 to 1953). Originally published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1952, it also appeared as part of the collection "In Country Sleep." Written for his dying father, it is one of Thomas's most-quoted works. The poem has no title other than its first line, Do not go gentle into that good night, a line which appears as a refrain throughout the poem. The poem's other equally famous refrain is Rage, rage against the dying of the light? Thomas watched his father, formerly a Grammar school teacher, grow weak and frail with old age. Thus, the speaker in his poem tries to convince his father to fight against imminent death. The speaker addresses his father using wise men, good men, wild men, or grave men as examples to illustrate the same message: that no matter how they have lived their lives or what they feel at the end, they should die fighting. It is one of Thomas' most popular, most easily accessible poems, and implies that one should not die without fighting for one's life, or after life. The Dylan Thomas poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" was the motivation for this musical composition. While not a programmatic depiction of the poem, the work attempts to recreate the essence of the poem in sound. The opening motive, representative of the life force, permeates much of the work. An Ivesian use of sound layers - in the form of polytonal hymns - calls to mind the struggles and persistence of the human spirit and its refusal to "go gentle." Elliot A. del Borgo (born on October 27, 1938 in Port Chester, New York) is an American composer for winds and strings. He is also in demand as a guest conductor. Though Del Borgo's primary instrument is trumpet, his love of percussion is apparent in his works, which typically focus around intricate percussion parts and an immense variety of instruments and complex rhythms. His style of writing has a rhythmic, sometimes atonal quality. His works include "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", an orchestral piece based on a villanelle of the same name by Dylan Thomas and Rituale that is reminiscent of The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. He also has written countless multiple percussion ensemble and solo pieces for percussion, such as Mosaics For Percussion (a four part ensemble piece), and composed the music for the Closing Ceremonies of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Another notable piece is his 11 minute "Parable". He has also published about 600 pieces for junior high and high school bands and orchestras.
Lyrics
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light
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