Last Song, an Illustrated Lullaby
Posted on: February 23, 2011
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Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Collage Artwork by Emily Gleichenhaus for SBWE
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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Last Song (A Lullaby)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Everson Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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Last Song (A Lullaby)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Everson Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
To view or print this page, click here:
SBWE Advent Calendar Last Song
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
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Last Song (SBWE Songbook Series)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Page Coordinated by ELEG for SBWE Songbook Series
To view or print this book, click here:
SBWE SBS Last Song
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
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Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Pictures Assembled by Emily Gleichenhaus
To view or print this book, click here:
last song book eleg sbwe
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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Emily muses about writing the song in 2011
A little spark of magic happened for me this week (in 2011). Tuckahoe Elementary had its annual Book Fair and I found a small but beautiful picture book that called itself “A Lullaby.” The book didn’t come with music, though, and no tune emerged from an internet search either.
Reading through the lovely poem, however, a tune twinkled in my head. I wrote the notes on some staff paper and sang it into a recorder (not knowing even the time signature) and sent it off the wonderful Paul Raimon (www.myrehearsalpianist.com) who wrote a lovely music box accompaniment for it.
This past Monday, we had our first recording session for the CD to accompany “Sing Books With Emily, the Cabaret,” and while we were at it, we recorded the song:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
With Emily on vocals, Judy Simmons directed and Jeff Tucker (www.artofmusicstudios.com) sound engineered the track. The accompaniment is composed and played by Paul Raimon (www.myrehearsalpianist.com).
The song and Singable Picture Books are settings of a “spare ode to the heavens” written by James Guthrie (1874-1952). Sadly, precious little seems to be available online about the life and times of Mr. Guthrie, except that he was a Scottish Poet and that he founded a private publishing company called “Pear Tree Press.”
His verse for “Last Song,” is sprinkled with wonderful words that most of us seldom get the chance to say, much less in rhyme:
Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
To the sun
Who has shone all day,
To the moon
Who has gone away,
to the milk-white, silk-white, lily-white star,
A fond goodnight
Wherever you are.
Eric Rohmann, an Chicago illustrator, has set this poem with wonderfully woodsy watercolors in browns, blues, greens, and purples, depicting a family of squirrels enjoying each other and the delights of trees, an open grassy clearing, and the magical night sky. Read it at bedtime or sing the tune for an extra special moment before sleep.
This song was recorded in part by a grant from the Arlington County Commission for the Arts Individual Spotlight Grant, 2010/2011.
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A page for the Sing Books with Emily SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
Last Song , a lullaby gift from Emily…
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Last Song (A Lullaby)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Everson Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
To view or print this page, click here:
SBWE Advent Calendar Last Song
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
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LAST SONG for the Sing Books with Emily Songbook Series
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Last Song (SBWE Songbook Series)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Page Coordinated by ELEG for SBWE Songbook Series
To view or print this book, click here:
SBWE SBS Last Song
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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I found LAST SONG poem by James Guthrie) printed, though not illustrated, in:
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Piping Down the Valleys Wild (a Merry Mix of Verse for All Ages)
Poems and Music by Various Artists
Edited by Nancy Larrick
Illustrated by Ellen Raskin
Above is cover art for the 1968 Delacourt Press First Printing
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Piping Down the Valleys Wild (a Merry Mix of Verse for All Ages)
Poems and Music by Various Artists
Edited by Nancy Larrick
Illustrated by Ellen Raskin
Above is cover art for the 1999 Yearling Publication
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Addendum, 4/26/2012
I need to try this out sometime, if LAST SONG can be sung in the round.
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Addendum, 11/06/2013
This little sing-along book I made is not in any way intended to compete with Eric Rohmann’s gorgeous little book with an illustration of the song. It was Mr. Rohmann’s book that originally inspired the tune I wrote for singing the song. Only problem is that there are page turns in the book (which was not created to be sung) for singing with it to be practical, so I made this little book for the purpose of sharing the song, and the sweet words of the poem, in Sing Books visits.
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Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Pictures Assembled by Emily Gleichenhaus
To view or print this book, click here:
last song book eleg sbwe
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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Last Song (SBWE Songbook Series)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Page Coordinated by ELEG for SBWE Songbook Series
To view or print this book, click here:
last song book eleg sbwe
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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A revamped sing along book for:
LAST SONG, an Illustrated Song
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/last-song-a-singable-picture-book/
I wrote this little song, made the collage art to illustrate it, and assembled the book to sing it.
To improve the book today, I added some collages and printed the pages on cardstock.
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LAST SONG: Sing Books with Emily Sing Along Hootenanny
Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Collage Artwork by Emily Gleichenhaus for SBWE *
LAST SONG, an Illustrated Song
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/last-song-a-singable-picture-book/ *
This and all other sing along videos are gathered in the SING BOOKS WITH EMILY SING ALONG HOOTENANNY Playlist on Sing Books with Emily’s YouTube Channel. https://bit.ly/2vZvgt6
To find more info and materials for Sing Books with Emily, visit the link in this post or type the song title into the search box of the Sing Books with Emily blog:
http://SingBooksWithEmily.wordpress.com
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Addendum, 3/5/2018
These are collages I made to illustrate LAST SONG. The poem is written by James Guthrie. I wrote the tune and Paul Raiman wrote the accompaniment. The vocals were recorded at Jeff Tucker’s Art of Music Studio. The music was recorded in part with an Arlington County Commission for the Arts Individual Spotlight Grant (2010 or 2011).
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
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Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Collage Artwork by Emily Gleichenhaus for SBWE
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
Sing Along with the Instrumental, here:
https://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song-instrumentaleleg-for-sbwe
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Related Posts
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LAST SONG, SBWE SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/sbwe-singable-advent-calendar-last-song/
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Oh, What a Beautiful Day: Sing Books with Emily, the Cabaret
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/sing-books-with-emily-the-cabaret/
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ADVENT CALENDAR
Sing Books with Emily Singable Advent Calendar
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/the-sing-books-with-emily-singable-advent-calendar/
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POETRY SINGABLE POETRY IN COMPILATIONS
An list of singable poems from compilations of poetry for children
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/singable-poetry-a-list-of-poems-that-can-be-sung-from-illustrated-compilations-of-poetry-and-singable-picture-books/
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POETRY, SINGABLE POETRY IN INDIVIDUALLY ILLUSTRATED SINGABLE PICTURE BOOKS
A list of individually illustrated poems that have been set to music and can be sung
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/poems-individually-illustrated-spb/
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SING BOOKS WITH EMILY SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/the-sing-books-with-emily-singable-advent-calendar/
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SONGS BY EMILY
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/songs-by-emily/
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RECORDINGS BY EMILY
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/recordings/
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LAST SONG SINGING PAGES
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LAST SONG, A SINGABLE PICTURE BOOK
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/last-song-a-singable-picture-book/
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SING-ALONG RESOURCES AND PRINTABLE MATERIALS
This is the place to find Print Materials Created by Emily, Service Providers, Vendors, Audio and Video to help you SING-ALONG!
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/sing-along-resources-2/
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LULLABIES IN SINGLE SONG SINGABLE PICTURE BOOKS
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/illustrated-lullabies-in-single-singable-picture-books/
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LULLABIES: ILLUSTRATED LULLABIES IN COMPILATIONS
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/illustrated-lullabies-in-compilations/
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Sing Books with Emily Songbook Series: Lullabies
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/sing-books-with-emily-songbook-series-lullabies/
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Collage Art by Emily for LAST SONG
https://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/collage-art-by-emily-for-last-song/
Sing Books with Emily, the Blog 
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