Shake these bones

3 Comments

A couple months ago, I mentioned that Angels in Daring (by Cindy Kallet, Ellen Epstein, and Michael Cicone) was one of my favorite albums. A kind reader wrote to let me know both of the K/C/E albums, and various related solo albums, are available for online purchase at the Overall Music website. I hied me thither post-haste and ordered up a passel of CDs: both K/C/E albums and two of Kallet's solo ones, all as replacements for my old tapes.

(I'm not as fond of the second K/C/E album, Only Human, as I am of the first, but Only Human contains the Bobs-like song "I'm a Mammal," the best song about breast-feeding I've heard, which to me is worth the price of the album by itself. And the whole album features the trio's superb harmonies.)

Anyway, a song from Angels in Daring just came up in the iTunes mix: "Shake These Bones," by Malcolm Dalglish. The full lyrics can be found in Rise Up Singing; it starts out:

I'll show you what I'm feeling, Lord, every day

I'll shake these bones and shout and sing my life away

I'll shake these bones and I will shout and sing my life away,

For it won't be long until these bones turn to clay.

For someone who's not religious, I like a surprising number of religious songs. One thing I like about this song is the surprising but satisfying rhythm, with the second line of each verse repeated, with two syllables added, as the third line. But I also like the sentiments of much of this song, particularly this verse:

I'll show you how I'm living, Lord, every day

I may not fall down on my knees and start to pray

I may not fall down on my knees and worship you or pray

But there's reverence in my laughter, Lord, anyway.

3 Responses to “Shake these bones”

  1. Wendy laubach

    I’ve been hunting for the sheet music and/or lyrics to this song for ages. They used to play it 20-30 years ago in the intro to a folk-music hour on the local public radio in Houston. It had a nice harmony I can’t quite remember. Thanks for the info about the title and where I might find a recording.

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  2. Jed

    Glad to help!

    Btw, Rise Up Singing mentions that the song is also recorded on Malcolm Dalglish’s and Grey Larsen’s album First of Autumn. And you can buy the sheet music from the Malcolm Dalglish website. And you can listen to an MP3 of the song for free at Grey Larsen’s website, where you can also purchase the First of Autumn album.

    But I still recommend the Kallet/Cicone/Epstein version, which I like even better than the Dalglish/Larsen version.

    [Edited in 2008 to correct spelling of Larsen’s last name.]

    reply

  3. Jed

    Also, the K/C/E version is now available in the iTunes Store.

    reply

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