Feb 01 2009
Those Dancing Days Are Gone by William Butler Yeats
Photo courtesy of www.poets.org
Born in Dublin Ireland in 1865 William Butler Yeats was destined for greatness He was an Irish poet, writer, essayist and a respected man of letters. His fascination with the occult and legend lent to his imaginative excellence. He served two terms as Senator yet kept up his writing. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in 1923 and had continued success with his writing as a result of the prize.
“Those Dancing Days Are Gone” is one of his many masterpieces. I had never heard of the poem until the other day when my friend Sony Holland sang the poem as a song. I loved it and found out that the singer Carla Bruni had set it to music along with a guitar and harmonica accompaniment. The video below shows Carla’s performance of the poem set to music. I’ve also posted a few of the lines below the video for your reading pleasure.
Come, let me sing into your ear;
Those dancing days are gone,
All that silk and satin gear;
Crouch upon a stone,
Wrapping that foul body up
In as foul a rag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.
Enjoy!
Carla Bruni sounds pretty good but I would REALLY like to hear
Sony Holland sing this…her special touch would be terrific but, then, I do admit to a bit of bias where she is concerned!
Sony’s rendition is amazing - as always