Although Joanna Newsom's Appalachian-meets- avant-gardetake on folkmusic is her most celebrated work, her range is even more inclusive than her solo career suggests: the classically trained harpist adds a decidedly different, textural sound to Nervous Cop, the noise rock trio that also features Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and Hella's Zach Hill, and she also plays keyboards for the Pleased, another San Francisco-area band more akin to Blondieor Televisionthan her other projects. Newsom's family and hometown of Nevada City, CA, were both musically rich: her mother trained to be a concert pianist, her father is a guitarist, and her brother and sister play the drums and cello, respectively; meanwhile, the Newsoms also counted composer/pianist Terry Rileyas a neighbor, along with Howard Hersh and W. Jay Sydeman. Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) started taking piano lessons at a very early age and played for a couple of years, but switched to the harp at seven. Her approach to the Celtic harp, from the percussive aspects of her playing to her chord changes, was also influenced by West African and Venezuelan harp music, which she began studying at a folk music camp she attended in her early teens.
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Three Little Babes Lyrics
Joanna Newsom
There was a knight, and a lady bright
and three little babes had she.
She sent them away, to a far country,
to learn their grammerie.
They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
about three months and a day,
when the lark spread o'er this whole wide world
and taken those babes away.
It was on a cold, cold Christmas night
when everything was still
ahe saw her three little babes come running,
come running down the hill.
She spread them a table of bread and wine,
that they might drink and eat;
she spread them a bed of winding sheet,
that they might sleep so sweet.
"Take it off, take it off," cried the eldest one;
"take it off, take it off," cried she,
"for I shan't stay here, in this wicked world
when there's a better one for me."
"Cold clods, cold clods, inside my bed,
cold clods, down at my feet -
the tears my dear mother shed for me
would wet my winding sheet."