Who will Buy? (The Flower Girl)

cool tune Malcolmb. I had never heard VM sing before. I had seen it so I knew it was available. Ain't technology great? It is very useful in letting the melody come through. 

Most people in developed countries like the US and many European countries do not really understand the abject poverty in which the vast majority of this world actually lives.  Even our poorest here in the US are in the top 10% on a global scale. In Argentina a number of years ago I had the chance to see what poverty really looked like. 

http://www.herbhartley.co...edited_slimmer_007.htm  this is a link to a video of 3 trips there. It's on my links page on my web site. Just a note: in the video, Augusta and Maccarana had no food in their house and had not eaten in several days. 

The neighborhood where we were working had an average income of a few (US) dollars a day equivalent. People were crossing from Bolivia into Argentina and coming there to that neighborhood because ...."there was greater economic opportunity" in Hogar 3 than in Bolivia. Imagine that!

I like the song. The acoustic and flute sounded nice. 

Hi Herb - So pleased you liked it. Just spent a wonderful time watching your video. Now that is real inspiration. I totally agree with you about the Western world's lack of understanding about poverty even when they only have to today look outside their own doors and the poverty has returned. None so blind as those who refuse to see. What struck me about your video was the joy in the people. When I look at the apathy, greed, violence and bitterness in the West, it was a wonderful reminder of what we have lost.

Aw, shucks!

Hi bapu - Sincere thanks. I dream of having a real person sing my songs (OK, at my age, all I have is dreams!); If Julibee ever sung one of my songs, that would be the perfect dream - and would definitely make me refuse to wake up!

Good advice!

Very nice work. Great feel for a good documentary.

I wholeheartedly agree about people being unaware of the level of poverty in the world. Even worse, our (USA) corporate empire is responsible for a lot of it. christians as well. At least the far right fundie type christians anyway.

"I like your Christ but I don't like your christians" Ghandi
"If you want to stop terrorism, stop doing it" Noam Chomsky

Sorry for the slight rant. Your excellent work brought it out. I'll stop now.

Imagine - John Lennon.  Fallen on deaf ears.

Hi Guitarpima - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like it. No need to apologise for the rant - I totally agree with you although I would not place blame on corporations within a single country; I see the problem as a global issue needing a global solution. I just wish I could see even a glimmer of hope that such a solution will be found.

Hi Warren - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like the piece. I must admit that each time I play it, I have this urge to dance - I think I had better start taking my pills again!

Hi James - Sincere thanks and like you, I rather like the sound of the vocal VST - seems to suit my music. But I very much take your point about ethnicity (!) - the product is Japanese so you can imagine there are some letters of the alphabet which can be 'R'ather difficult! Mind you, Miriam Stockley is South African, so your choice of country is very apt!

Hi Rik - Sincere thanks and I must admit I had a lump in my throat when I wrote it. I was doing what I suppose we all do, throwing a few notes at the screen and came up with the three notes for "who will buy". Immediately those words came to me and my mind turned to Oliver Twist (the movie!)/ My Fair Lady and the flower girls. With my inability at writing lyrics (!), I did some research and found to my sadness that the majority of flower girls where orphans who had lost their mother, had no idea who their father was and had young brothers and sisters to support. It really was a rough world in those days. So I just tried to reflect that reality in the words. I can tell you that after my research, I was ready to go back in time and give some Fagins a taste of rough justice - I just hope they don't run too fast - I'm not as quick as I used to be!

This really moved me - in a good way! Well done with both the song and the slides.

I'm a little alergic to Vocaloid but you've programed it really well. Would LOVE to hear this with a human singer and really hope you find someone to sing it.

Either way, this is really, really beautiful and you set an interesting perspective to powerty and it really moved something within me. Well done and thanks for sharing!

Hey Malcomb,
I really enjoyed this piece. The lyrics are very well written. I kinda like the VST vocal.  IMO the tone of her voice and the story is what kept my attention.  It was easy for me too listen from the beginning, to the end of the piece.  I fall short of that goal at times.
I also like the chord structure. It had a real calming warm flow. Simple but grabs you and makes you listen.  GREAT job/song!


Kev

Very nice Malcolmb. The clav fits the Victorian mood. Sad, yet uplifting at the same time. She finds hope in spite of her basically dire situation. A bright light in otherwise bleak surroundings. I would buy a Posy from her.
On a side note, many years ago I had a vocal synthesizer for my Tandy CoCoIII. If I spelled words the way they sound, it worked better. For instance, where she says "pleasee" try spelling it as "pleez". Computers are amazingly powerful, but really quite stupid and literal. Sometimes you have to trick them.
This is very nice, and captures the spirit of the time.

Malcomb,

Really fine song,  fine composition and performance. I hope you are successful finding a singer to perform it.  I appreciate the effort that went into programming your "vocalist" but a real singer would add a whole dimension.   Nice message too.


Regards

Hi Markno999 - Sincere thanks and very much agree about a real singer - the odd thing is that all the requests I have had for the sheet music have come from men! It's a funny old world!