We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Man with the Hoe (and Songs From the Valley of the Moon)

by Scott Hylbert

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD  or more

     

  • Poster/Print

    Poster commemorating the defense of this graduate program capstone project. 11x17" heavy stock poster (See PDF in liner notes upload)
    ships out within 10 days
    edition of 50 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Features a contextual essay on back cover

    Includes unlimited streaming of Man with the Hoe (and Songs From the Valley of the Moon) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 100 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 10 alrights reserved records, ik ben & (The) Upper Middle & Scott Hylbert solo, bloke (Tobias Hylbert) releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Upper Middle, Semisolid State, The Upper Middle - Tennessee Valleygirl Authority, Man with the Hoe (and Songs From the Valley of the Moon), Lay Down Your Arms, Nothing Sad to Sing, No None's Gonna Die, Cutting Glass (with Diamonds) by The Upper Middle, and 2 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $42.25 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

1.
Up, horses, now! And straight and true Let every broken furrow run The strength you sweat Shall blossom yet In the golden glory to the sun Hands, gather, round! We speak as one Not as dogs clamoring for bones The blood you let, Shall temper yet The laboring man’s union of the world
2.
Obadier, he dreampt a dream Dreampt he was drivin’ a ten-mule team But when he woke he heaved a sigh, The lead-mule kicked out the swing-mule’s eye Root Hog, or die Meet me on the ‘morrow, my bounty by and by Oh! Times on Bitter Creek, they never can be beat Root hog or die is on every wagon sheet; The sand within your throat, the dust within your eye Bend your back and stand it - root hog or die Root Hog, or die Crossing the great plain, my bounty by and by Root Hog, or die Meet me on the ‘morrow, my bounty by and by
3.
Million Heir 03:06
Nobody loves a millionaire Nobody likes his looks Nobody’ll share his slightest care, He classes with thugs and crooks Thriftiness has become a crime, So Spend everything you earn; We’re living now in a funny time, When money is made to burn We’re living now in a funny time, When money is made to burn I wanna be a millionaire I wanna take my turn Nobody loves a millionaire Nobody likes his style Nobody knows what it takes to walk in his patent-leather shoes for a mile He doesn’t give as much as he takes And nothing that he has is his Says the man in the easy chair sipping on a slow gin fizz Says the man in the easy chair sipping on a slow gin fizz I wanna be a millionaire and take over I can run that biz (ness) Nobody loves a millionaire Nobody seems to think The one who pulls the wagon train should be living flush in the pink Thriftiness has become a crime, So Spend everything you earn; We’re living now in a funny time, When money is made to burn We’re living now in a funny time, When money is made to burn I wanna be a millionaire I wanna take my turn
4.
Jesus, lover of my soul Let me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is nigh Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide And receive my soul at last Jethro tie that packhorse down Water up thy chestnut mare Onto the valley of the moon, Our pastures await us there Foggy coast of redwood groves, Oh how I’ve dreampt of thee, Lead us into nature’s garden Where we long to be (bridge) Meet me first down in Chinatown won’t you JC? Who will save all the pagans from Bacchus and me? (he he)
5.
Oh! some folks boast of quail on toast, because they think it’s tony; But I’m content to owe my rent and live on abalone. Oh!  Mission Point’s a friendly joint where every crab’s a crony, And true and kind you’ll ever find the clinging abalone. He wanders free beside the sea Where ’er the coast is stony; He flaps his wings and madly sings ­The plaintive abalone. Some stick to biz, some flirt with Liz Down on the sands of Coney; But we, by hell, stay in Carmel, And whang the abalone. We sit around and gaily pound, And bear no acrimony Because our ob ­ject is a gob Of sizzling abalone. Oh! some like ham and some like lamb And some like macaroni; But bring me in a pail of gin And a tub of abalone. Oh! some drink rain and some champagne Or brandy by the pony; But I will try a little rye With a dash of abalone. Some live on hope and some on dope And some on alimony.  But our tom-cat, he lives on fat And tender abalone. 
The more we take, the more they make In deep sea matrimony; Race suicide cannot betide The fertile abalone.
6.
Sweet as the wind-lute’s airy strains Your gentle muse has learned to sing, And California’s boundless plains Prolong the soft notes echoing I want to find that valley of the moon Chorus: I want to find that valley of the moon Show me Jesus, Buddha or Vishnu Tell my mama the mountain, I’m coming soon There’s no stopping till we’re through The dusk of the greenhouse is luminous yet With quivers of opal and tremors of gold; For the sun is at rest, and the light from the west, Like delicate wine that is mellow and old I want to find that valley of the moon
7.
Figment 03:15
Am I a figment of your imagination And are you one of mine? Am I trying too hard to find applications for narrative and rhyme? I don’t know how to fix this situation I’m as confused as I look And I don’t know how to wage inner peace All I know is I’ve got me, myself and I and a little time and I don’t know just how much time, no I don’t know time, and I don’t know just how much time, time, time Am I a subject of your exasperation And are you a cause of mine? Am I trying too hard to find cooperation ‘tween narrative and rhyme? I don’t know how to fix this situation I’m as confused as I look And I don’t know how to wage inner peace All I know is I’ve got me, myself and I and a little time and I don’t know just how much time, no I don’t know time, and I don’t know just how much time, time, time
8.
Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages in his face, And on his back the burden of the world. Who made him dead to rapture and despair, A thing that grieves not and that never hopes. Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow? Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave To have dominion over sea and land; To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; To feel the passion of Eternity? Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns And marked their ways upon the ancient deep? Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf There is no shape more terrible than this — More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed — More filled with signs and portents for the soul — More fraught with menace to the universe. What gulfs between him and the seraphim! Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? What the long reaches of the peaks of song, The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; Time's tragedy is in the aching stoop; Through this dread shape humanity betrayed, Plundered, profaned, and disinherited, Cries protest to the Powers that made the world. A protest that is also a prophecy. O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, Is this the handiwork you give to God, This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched? How will you ever straighten up this shape; Touch it again with immortality; Give back the upward looking and the light; Rebuild in it the music and the dream, Make right the immemorial infamies, Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes? O masters, lords and rulers in all lands How will the Future reckon with this Man? How answer his brute question in that hour When whirlwinds of rebellion shake all shores? How will it be with kingdoms and with kings — With those who shaped him to the thing he is — When this dumb Terror shall rise to judge the world. After the silence of the centuries?

about

Written, performed and recorded by Scott Hylbert. Produced and mixed by Roger Moutenot. Lyrical content edited by Joe Henry, the poet/song-writer/novelist. Academic direction by Cecelia Tichi, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and professor of American studies at Vanderbilt University. Special thanks to Martin Rapisarda, Associate Dean of School of Arts & Sciences and the head of the Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences program. Music performed by Scott and Roger with some additional stringed and percussion instruments added by Brian Hylbert and Kris Woolsey. Inspiration from progressive-era literary works: Jack London's Valley of the Moon, Edwin Markham's Man with a Hoe and Frank Norris' The Octopus: A Story of California. This project originally served as a Capstone Project for the artist's graduate studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally presented and defended on December 3, 2013

credits

released November 22, 2016

Songs:
1) Up Horses, Now!
2) Root Hog, or Die
3) Million-heir
4) Jesus Lover of My Soul
5) Song of the Abalone
6) Valley of the Moon
7) Figment
8) Man with the Hoe

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

alrights reserved records, ik ben & (The) Upper Middle & Scott Hylbert solo, bloke (Tobias Hylbert) Nashville, Tennessee

contact / help

Contact alrights reserved records, ik ben & (The) Upper Middle & Scott Hylbert solo, bloke (Tobias Hylbert)

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Man with the Hoe (and Songs From the Valley of the Moon), you may also like: