Charles Ives songs and their lyrics

¶ … Charles Ivey Song Lyrics

"Charlie Rutlage" by Charles Ives (1920), from Cowboy Songs and Other Ballads

The song "Charlie Rutlage" by composer Charles Ives was released in 1920 as part of Ives' collection Cowboy Songs and Other Ballads, and the work is distinctive of his signature style. The lyrics are mournful and melancholy, as Ives eulogizes "another good cowpuncher (who) has gone to meet his fate," telling the story of Charlie Rutlage, a hand on the XIT ranch who was killed after his horse fell and crushed him underneath. Ives sings the opening lines of the song with a celebratory bravado, lauding Rutlage by saying "Twill be hard to find another that's as liked as well as he" to suggest that the fallen cowboy was beloved by his friends and family. In my estimation, this passage is used by Ives to form an emotional connection between his listener and the titular character, because in telling a tragic story of death at a young age, it is important to form a foundation of empathy between the audience and the doomed protagonist. I also believe that Ives intends for the individual man Charlie Rutlage to serve as a symbol for the cowboy culture as a whole, a culture which was dying off during the time in which Ives composed the song. When Ives sings of Rutlage's demise "Twas on the spring roundup, a place where death men mock, he went forward one morning on a circle through the hills, he was gay and full of glee and free from earthly ills, but when it came to finish up the work on which he went, nothing came back from him, his time on earth was spent," I view this sudden shift from gaiety and glee to death as a reflection of the wider cultural shift taking place at the time. With industrialization and urban expansion threatening the traditional ranching lifestyle that Ives and many members of his generation had grown to love, the scene of Charlie Rutlage embarking on a spring roundup happy to pursue his work, and entering an early grave as a result, is evocative of the American cowboy's rapid decline in the early 20th century.

Throughout the song Ives employs dramatic changes in his voice to match the tone of the lyrics at the time, alternating between a rollicking patter in the beginning to a somber, solemn elegy as the tale of Charlie Rutlage's demise comes to a close. By the time Ives sings "His relations in Texas his face nevermore will see, but I hope he'll meet his loved ones in eternity. I hope he'll meet his parents, will meet them face-to-face, and that they'll grasp him by the right hand at the shining throne of grace," his voice is a low baritone suggesting doom and despair, which is fitting for such a tragic song. The explicit mention of Texas in the song's concluding lines suggest to me that Ives wanted to reinforce the thematic goal of his work: to mourn the decline of the cowboy culture while celebrating the glory days of American ranching. When Ives mentions Charlie Rutlage's parents waiting for him high in heaven, this is another reference to the bygone days when ranching reigned supreme throughout the American West as the predominant lifestyle and livelihood. He also uses a distinctive cyclic formal design and harmonies built on interval cycles, which could be Ives' subtle way of paying homage to the cycle of seasons which once dictated the course of life for so many ranchers and cowboys living on the open range.

"Soliloquy, or a Study in 7 ths and Other Things" by Charles Ives (1916-17)

This song is brief at under a minute long, but intriguing in its ability to stimulate the listener to ponder its meaning. Ives wrote the song's lyrics and shaped its musical stylings emulate another highly experimental song of his titled "On the Antipodes," relying on dissonance and discordance to jar the audience into paying attention. Both "On the Antipodes" and "Soliloquy" were later classified by contemporary musical critics as among the first examples of serial composition, because the accompaniment and vocalization both capture all twelve notes along the chromatic scale individually before repeating a particular note. Another similarity between "On the Antipodes" and "Soliloquy" comes from the fact that both songs remark on the duality of man's relationship to the natural world in which our species has been forced to survive, live and thrive. The totality of the lyrical content in "Soliloquy" is offered as an enigmatic riddle of sorts, as Ives observes that "When a man is sitting, before the fire on the hearth, he says, 'Nature is a simple affair.' Then he looks out the window and sees a hail storm, and he begins to think that 'Nature can't be so easily disposed of.'"

In my mind, Ives' rhetorical objective in penning "Soliloquy" was to compel listeners to examine their own fragility, as even the most capable and competent of people eventually succumb to the inexorable toll of nature, whether in the form of illness, injury or aging. The man in Ives' song is initially contented and complacent as he ponders his station in life, sheltered and warmed by a fire of his own making. Accordingly, the first lines in the song are delivered in a noticeably slower tempo than Ives usual style, as the lyrics are sung in a lackadaisical, half-whispered drawl which focuses predominately on the "F" pitch. From an instrumental standpoint, the beginning of "Soliloquy" is comprised of chords that are constructed in thirds, alternating between a consonant D-flat Major chord and a dissonant E-Minor chord.