Come Ready and See Me
Two comments follow, the source of each identified at its end.
Comment One
It's interesting that one of Richard Hundley's most popular compositions bears the name "Come Ready and See Me." The world seems now ready to hear this 66 year-old American composer of songs. Perhaps this song is an invitation:Comment Two
Come ready and see mePerhaps these closing years of the twentieth century have brought a brought a kinder, gentler audience to compers like Hundley, Harrison, and Rorem who were, during the middle of the century, hardly audible over the din of enforced serialism.
No matter how late
Come before the years run out
The very first thing we notice about Come Ready and See Me is that it has a key signature (Eb) and that it begins and ends on the tonic of that key.
The music is usabashedly beautiful and flowing.
The first note outside of the key is an A natural that doesn't appear until the 12th bar.
There is a great deal of tenderness to this song. It was written in 1971 and might have made it as a popular song if Hundley had tried to sell it that way, for it reminds me of pop songs that were written in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The descending line in the bass in paticular reminds of pop songs from this period of time such as " Mr. Bojangeles" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, or " The Weight " by The Band, or perhaps even Billy Joel's early hit " Piano Man ". I don't say this to trivialize Hundley's work. I have great respect for the composers of all the above songs. But in this day and age the distinctions between "high" and "low" art become less and less defined. Perhaps what is left is good music and bad music. Come Ready and See Me is definitely the good kind.
Richard Carr, professional keyboard artist.
Come Ready and See Me is perhaps Hundley's most widely performed song. Because the song arouses strong feeling, critics have been diovided in their opinions of it. William Crutchfield (1986) in a New York Times review (May 5, p. C-12) called it a "sappy song", while Robert Sherman (1987), also in the Times, called it "absolutelyu ravishing" (Cctober 25, p C-9). Whatever the critics have written, this song continues to find new advocates eacy hear and to deeply move audiences.Epitaph on a Wife
Esther Jane Hardenburg, Professional Soprano and Voice Teacher.
This song is almost the exact opposite of Come Ready and See Me. There are no flowing consonant harmonies here, but rather off balance rhythms, large melodic leaps, and playful dissonance. The music reminds me of Virgil Thomson who could also produce the same kind of playfulness in his music. This is not surprising insofar as Hundley was a close friend and protege of Thomson's and had numerous conversations with the great composer on the subject of music. The text is attributed to an anonymous author and one gets the sneaking suspicion that this may have been a real epitath from a real gravestone.
Here lies my wife
Semanthia Proctor
She had a cold
And wouldn't doctor
She couldn't stay
She had to go
Praise God from whom
All blessings flow.
Is the author of this epitath glad to see his dear wife departed? All of this helps to create the twisted humor of the song. This is the first of seven songs written to epitaphs. One wonders if perhaps Hundley spends a lot of time in graveyards.
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