September 2012 - "Waltz of the Waters"

This month's offering is an arrangement of a song David Schnaufer co-wrote with fellow Nashville songwriter Townes Van Zandt called "Waltz of the Waters". Though both were native Texans, they first met in Nashville in the 1990's, through mutual friends and business associates such as "Cowboy" Jack Clement, and John Lomax III. Though Van Zandt seldom collaborated with any other song writers, especially towards the end of his career, he found in David a "kindred musical spirit". Townes once described David as " ... the most musical cat I have ever met". In an interview after Townes' death in 1997, David described Townes as " the rarest of poet musicians that shared the water of his soul from a very deep well"

The melody for "Waltz of the Waters" was inspired by a poem written by Townes (see below). After it was finished, Townes once remarked that the melody for the waltz was so beautiful that he thought that someday perhaps even classical musicians would play it. David recorded it as a solo instrumental for the closing track for his 1999 recording "Delcimore", accompanied only by the recorded sound of the 13-year cicadas.

David's original arrangement was done in the key of G, using a capo at the 3rd fret out of D-A-d tuning, so I’ve transcribed that here. I’ve also tabbed out a 3-part arrangement (Melody, Backup, and Harmony) in the key of D (no capo required).

Enjoy the tune, and as David would say, keep on pickin'!

Cheers,

--Tull

TEF - Key of G

PDF - Key of G (Capo 3)

MIDI - Key of G

TEF - Key of D

PDF - Key of D (3 parts)

Midi - Key of D (3 parts)

Waltz of the Waters

There is a call where rivers collide

The fall of the fish, where the deer stand watch