My little Dave Matthews joke. Because here’s Dave Matthews putting the “Come Away” song from Twelfth Night (Act 2, Scene 4) to music:
I found it hard to understand him, particularly in the beginning, so here’s the words:
Clown
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown:
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there!
What do you think? I thought it was slow and mumbly, myself. But as I wrote on Twitter, it’s always a big deal to me when professional musicians go after Shakespeare. David Gilmour’s rendition of Sonnet 18 changed my life. If they can bring the audience for their music into my world? It’s a win for everybody. If music makes people understand and remember Shakespeare? Yes please.