Claudia Schmidt Serves Up Her Heartfelt Songs on the Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour
On Air: Monday February 3rd at 7:00 PM EST on 88.1 WVPE
Legendary performer Claudia Schmidt began her Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour performance by recounting a story and song— “Veil of Sorrow.” She had shared the performance at a celebration of life for her mentor and friend, Frank Galati (Award-winning Chicago writer, director, and actor), on Michigan’s Beaver Island. “It’s a song that felt very old to me—when it came in.”
Trail where light seems so far away,
Hearts are truer so near the veil,
There’s no turning back,
We’ll take comfort in love recalled.
No, no, there’s no turning back.
In the conversation that follows with host George Schricker, she discusses her first experiences in the 1970s with Bob Gibson – a friend and mentor during her early days in Chicago. “I would open for Bob, and I sang harmonies with him on stage. When he was helping me get started, I was unaware at the time about his background.” (Bob helped to develop the folk music revival in the 1950s and early 1960s) “Then one night at the Earl of Old Towne, a friend turned and said, “You don’t know about Bob Gibson! I was glad I didn’t know, as I would have been all starstruck.”
Segueing into the song “Hypatia of Alexandria,” she explains, “I was reading this book—“Flow Down Like Silver” by Ki Longfellow and was just astounded. Hypatia should be as famous as Cleopatra. She taught at the Library of Alexandria. She was a brilliant mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. I was so inspired I just had to write a song about her.”
So here’s to the gals like Hypatia,
It’s time that we truly embrace ya,
No longer forgotten or killed for your genius,
We must stop them before we debase ya,
Hypatia!
At the break, Gary songwriter Patti Shaffner performs her song, the tongue-in-cheek “Sink or Swim.” Accompanied by Nathan Waddill on bass and Sean Hoffman on fiddle, the song sizzles along with Patti scatting along and then breaking out into a cool groove.”
Do what you want to do, but don’t raise your voice.
Don’t rock the boat, we might capsize,
Look the other way, while the water’s risin’,
Still they say, it’s your choice. . .
They’ll throw you in the water and watch you drown,
Yell from the shore as you’re going down,
Yeah, remember what we said, it’s sink or swim.
The “Shoot the Moon” game show follows with contestants Mary Jo Finley (Plymouth) and Fred Waldschmidt (Illinois) competing for prizes while answering questions about Claudia Schmidt’s biography. During the show, they answer questions related to Beaver Island Cuisine,
the legendary Evanston, Illinois music venue, Amazing Grace Coffee House, Claudia’s well-known song, “Broken Glass,” and her work composing music for a Bertolt Brecht play, “The Good Woman of Szechwan.”
After the break, Claudia sings a revised version of her signature early song, “Broken Glass.” Eschewing the original rhythm, she opts for a more subdued tempo, remarking before she begins, “This is a song I wrote when I was young; I hardly understood when I wrote it.
That’s the beauty of getting to sing these songs over and over as they keep revealing new truths. This song, for me, is more pertinent than it ever has been.”
Wherever you may be tonight, I hope you’re pleased and calm
That the air around you soothes you like a holy balm
That your lonely anger hasn’t turned your insides inside out
That you found a place some of us still dream about
Before her last song, Claudia discusses her relationship with singing and songwriting as of service – a way of making the world more hospitable and harmonious. She closes with a song sung in solidarity with much of the aging audience who has come to see her: “I’ve always had a hard time sleeping my entire life. We’re told that sleep is so essential as we get older, and then we worry more about sleeping. So I wrote this song about sleeping called “Lullaby for Grownups.”
When you face the night with dread,
In slaughtered slumber in a battered bed,
Take this path around your mind,
And at it’s end, sweet rest you’ll find.
During the song, Claudia sings about different body parts that need rest, recognizing how each part contributes to our lives and needs rest. And, in a manner quite apropos, she leaves us with these heartfelt words:
Rest your heart, which treasures you,
It gets so heavy when the world is cruel,
Remember, kindness makes things right,
Inside and out, you’ll rest this night.
Now, we hope you will all go get some good sleep. And thanks for listening.
- George Schricker
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