They call them "ear worms," which is a rather disgusting term for something that's often lovely - but when those songs do stick in your head, it can be hard to unstick them. One of the ones I've been hearing a lot lately careening around my cranium has dual meaning for me, not only because I sang in once in my previous life as a singer (not anywhere as beautifully as Barbara Hendricks in the clip below), but it's based on a poem by James Agee, who was born near my old stomping grounds of Knoxville, Tennessee. Here's the poem itself:
Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far
alone
Of shadows on the stars.
And here's the haunting song, with music by the often-underrated Samuel Barber:
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