Ring out, solstice bells! #PoetryFriday

I’m a day early, but happy winter solstice, everyone! Buffy Silverman is hosting Poetry Friday this week at her blog. I hope you will visit her and many other participants over the next week. She’s celebrating the days getting longer, too, and has a sneak peek at a book I can’t wait to get my hands on, One Dark Bird by Liz Garton Scanlon. 

Because I love it so much, I’m resharing Jethro Tull’s “Solstice Bells” from last years’ solstice post. It’s too joyful not to do! 

As a teenager, I played Jethro Tull’s Songs from the Wood album over and over and over on my record player. The music had a mystical, magical feel to it. I’m sure my parents were sick of it, but they never said anything. There was far worse music I could have been listening to, after all! I always found the words to their songs poetic, especially “Solstice Bells.” What I didn’t know at the time was that there was a 3-minute (very poorly) animated and a tad bawdy video to go along with the song. Remember these are the pre-music video days. No MTV or VH1, yet! Here’s a SafeShare of the video for your viewing and listening pleasure. It has a very Canterbury Tales-like feel to it.

And now it’s time. Ring out, solstice bells!

(Image created with Canva.)

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Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me, and I hope you’ll join us on this lovely, wintery Poetry Friday. Best wishes to everyone for a joy-filled week of festivities, if you are celebrating, and onto 2020!

Ring out, solstice bells! #PoetryFriday

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! Buffy Silverman is hosting Poetry Friday this week at her blog. I hope you will visit her and many other participants over the next week.

Believe it or not, I’ve had the idea for this post for an entire year. For some reason last December 21, I realized that this year’s solstice coincided with Poetry Friday. At the time I was thinking about a favorite song from my youth — Jethro Tull’s “Solstice Bells.” When I was in Middle School (way back in the 70s!), I was obsessed with Jethro Tull and lead singer/flautist Ian Anderson. I was a flute player myself, and my sister took me to my very first rock concert at the old Boston Garden to see them.

I played the Songs from the Wood album over and over and over on my record player. The music had a mystical, magical feel to it. I’m sure my parents were sick of it, but they never said anything. There was far worse music I could have been listening to, after all. I always found the words to their songs poetic, especially “Solstice Bells.” What I didn’t know at the time was that there was a 3-minute (very poorly) animated video to go along with the song. Remember these are the pre-music video days. No MTV or VH1, yet! Here’s a SafeShare of the video for your viewing pleasure. It has a very Canterbury Tales-like feel about it.

And now it’s time. Ring out, solstice bells!

(Image created with Canva.)

*************************************************

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me and I hope you’ll join us on this lovely Poetry Friday!