connie converse “How Sad how lovely”
from:musicks, 1956
“How sad, how lovely
How short, how sweet
To see the sunset at the end of the street
And the day gathered in to a single light
And the shallows rising
From the brim of the night
Too few, too few are the days that will hold your face
Your face in a blaze of cold
How sad, how lovely
How short, how sweet
To see the sunset at the end of the street
And the lights going on in the shops and the bars
And the lovers looking for the first little signs
Like life, like your smile, like the fall of leaf
How sad, how lovely, how sweet”
There’s a lot of low level drama surrounding the mysterious life of Connie Converse. She exited a fairly conservative family upbringing in New Hampshire and after two years at toney Mt. Holyoke College moved to Greenwich Village and immersed herself in the burgeoning folk scene. But she did it with an insight, originality, empathy, intelligence, and wry humor setting the stage for the growth of the singer songwriter. The simple beauty of her guitar playing has her sweet singing perched atop it. In 1974 she disappeared and was never found again.
“Everything that’s lovely is but a brief dreamy kind of delight”