George Murray Poet…wrote a song? Apparently he did, because I found it among his files, folders and papers! When I found the two yellowed sheets of heavy (18.5 x 13″) paper, folded, containing a hand-written poem/song on one page, and three pages of the same poem with musical score notation (and errors), I asked my brother, “Dad wrote a song?!” He replied, “Well…it’s not a very good song…”
It seems George Murray had fallen prey to a gimmicky “put your words to music” service offering in the mid-1960’s, and the results were less than wonderful. My brother said he did not remember if the song lyrics (poem) were good, but he recalled that the music and arrangement were dreadful…
I was intrigued when I discovered the yellowed, folded papers, because the outside front and back pages have no text or markings; I opened them up with great anticipation. I read the poem or “song lyrics” (as you will in a moment), and found them (in my humble opinion) to not be his best work, though they have some of his favorite, recurring themes, ideas, and images of life, feeling, and healing. When I looked over at the music, I immediately noticed the arranger had substituted “dul-len” for “sullen” so he (or she) clearly had not read, understood, or really appreciated George Murray’s words! Therefore, it was likely the music arrangement was somewhere between poor, and pablum. If any of you are capable of reading and/or playing (piano) the tune from the images in this post, I strongly recommend that you do NOT do so, unless you have had at least two glasses of wine (George Murray preferred Burgundy), and are in the mood for a laugh or at least an eye-rolling!
Anyway, here is CLEAR DAY, a poem (song) by George Murray, Poet, which is not unworthy of a reading… 🙂
…
CLEAR DAY
Clear day, clean my eyes,
Rinse with your rivers of air
The grey day’s sullen stain;
Polish these lenses with care,
That I might see again.
Clear day, flood my mind
With images golden and tart
As your lemon-rind sun,
And open compartments of heart,
Lay siege to its garrison.
Clear day, claim my soul,
Cleanse with your multiple waters
My multiple wounds, imagined and real;
Send me your beautiful daughters
That the sons of my soul may heal.
…
Copyright ©George Murray, 1966
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
…
Here, in all their yellowed magnificence, are the four pages of poem (song) and musical notes:
George Murray, Poet 