Bill Aitken - The First Of May
The First of May is Bill Aitken's new solo album
- a tour de force written, sung, played, recorded and produced entirely by Bill, and available here
- a tour de force written, sung, played, recorded and produced entirely by Bill, and available here
May Morning
From the top of the chapel tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, as the dawn breaks on the First of May, the college choir sing hymns in the sunrise. “Te adoremus, O Jesu..” the boys carol in Latin - high, pure voices trailing like a river mist a hundred and forty feet above the onlookers below.
This ceremony, although re-introduced in the nineteenth century, probably has its roots in pre-Christian worship. The custom of greeting the sun on May Morning from a high place with a hymn is thought to be a relic of Druidical custom.
Each year, this event draws large crowds of students and townsfolk, who make their way, before dawn, down “the high” (Oxford High Street), and across “the plain”, a road junction leading to Magdalen Bridge, which spans the River Cherwell.
The river bank near the tower becomes cluttered with scores of punts full of enthusiasts jostling for the best position from which to hear the voices in the sky. (see the picture by Rena Gardiner on the CD inlay). Sublime soprano voices melt into the dawn, as thousands of revellers fall silent below. Many wear elegant ball gowns and tuxedos, rumpled from a wild night of drink and dancing at a college ball.
Some sport carnival costume, fairy wings, masks, trailing ivy wreaths, togas, smears and sprinkles of glitter. Others appear bundled up, still bleary from bed, but game - even at six in the morning.
Oxord’s city centre is mobbed with maypoles, street theatre, baroque music, jazz, barber shop quartets, Punch & Judy, parade floats and mobile discos; and Morris Men are everywhere, seeking out often reluctant maidens from the crowd to participate in what appear to be throwbacks to ancient fertility rites.
Every year, over 10,000 people gather on the First of May, unperturbed by the incongruous mix of cassocked choirboys and pagan rites; mystical music and drunken carnage.
From the top of the chapel tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, as the dawn breaks on the First of May, the college choir sing hymns in the sunrise. “Te adoremus, O Jesu..” the boys carol in Latin - high, pure voices trailing like a river mist a hundred and forty feet above the onlookers below.
This ceremony, although re-introduced in the nineteenth century, probably has its roots in pre-Christian worship. The custom of greeting the sun on May Morning from a high place with a hymn is thought to be a relic of Druidical custom.
Each year, this event draws large crowds of students and townsfolk, who make their way, before dawn, down “the high” (Oxford High Street), and across “the plain”, a road junction leading to Magdalen Bridge, which spans the River Cherwell.
The river bank near the tower becomes cluttered with scores of punts full of enthusiasts jostling for the best position from which to hear the voices in the sky. (see the picture by Rena Gardiner on the CD inlay). Sublime soprano voices melt into the dawn, as thousands of revellers fall silent below. Many wear elegant ball gowns and tuxedos, rumpled from a wild night of drink and dancing at a college ball.
Some sport carnival costume, fairy wings, masks, trailing ivy wreaths, togas, smears and sprinkles of glitter. Others appear bundled up, still bleary from bed, but game - even at six in the morning.
Oxord’s city centre is mobbed with maypoles, street theatre, baroque music, jazz, barber shop quartets, Punch & Judy, parade floats and mobile discos; and Morris Men are everywhere, seeking out often reluctant maidens from the crowd to participate in what appear to be throwbacks to ancient fertility rites.
Every year, over 10,000 people gather on the First of May, unperturbed by the incongruous mix of cassocked choirboys and pagan rites; mystical music and drunken carnage.
Track List
1 The First of May
2 Body Transplant
3 Don’t Want Nobody Else
4 Down in the Jungle
5 Reality’s Too Real for Me
6 Take Me Back Home
7 Love Toy
8 Walking Through the Vines
9 Break it in Two
10 Forevermore
All songs ©2009 Bill Aitken
1 The First of May
2 Body Transplant
3 Don’t Want Nobody Else
4 Down in the Jungle
5 Reality’s Too Real for Me
6 Take Me Back Home
7 Love Toy
8 Walking Through the Vines
9 Break it in Two
10 Forevermore
All songs ©2009 Bill Aitken