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Because I Could Not Stop for Death

from Dickinson's Christmas Carol by Grey Anne

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about

Grey Anne's "Dickinson's Christmas Carol" series of home recordings combines well-known holiday melodies w/ Emily Dickinson poems.

This one is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" + "Because I Could Not Stop for Death."

lyrics

Because I could not stop for Death,
he kindly stopped for me
The carriage held but just ourselves
and immortality

He slowly drove, he knew no haste,
and I had put away
my labor, my leisure too,
for his civility

[It was just ourselves and immortality]

We passed the school where children played
their lessons scarcely done
We passed the field of gazing grain
We passed the setting sun

Or rather, he passed us--
the air grew shivering and chill
through my gown, only gossamer
my tippet only tulle

[as we passed the children playing at the school]

We paused before a house that seemed
a swelling of the ground
The roof was scarcely visible
the cornice but a mound

Since then 'tis centuries
but each feels shorter than the day
that I first saw the horses' heads were toward eternity

[It was just ourselves and immortality]

credits

from Dickinson's Christmas Carol, released December 10, 2011

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about

Grey Anne Portland, Oregon

Originally hailing from Anacortes, WA, Anne Adams has been a mainstay of Portland music since 2003, playing under the monikers "Per Se" and "Grey Anne," and collaborating in electronica duo "Sweater." A trailblazer of the earnest, theatrical folk era that followed ironic indie rock, she's more recently expanded her endeavors to include work on the film Coraline, dinosaur tarot and arts journalism. ... more

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