RELEASED ON 22.11.2024 ON MANAGARM MUSIKVERLANG VIA SHELLSHOCK
CATALOGUE NUMBER MANACD001
Moondog's jovial H'art Songs was the first release not to incorporate his name in the title,
but the record that forever proved his genius. A rare vocal album recorded by Moondog
when he was in his sixties, these ten art songs blur the boundaries between classical and
pop music. Moondog called this series of art songs "H'art songs" - Hardin's art songs.
The musical content is on a higher level than most popular music, but has an appeal to a
wide range of tastes, from the pop to the classical listener. This collection of piano pop
songs written and recorded in 1977 made Moondogs' stunningly eclectic discography even
more chaotic musically. It also featured some of his most mesmerizing wordplay. Telling
tales that can be interpreted as metaphors for how to live - sometimes political, some-
times autobiographical, sometimes nature loving - they are always intriguingly poetic,
and helped push this album to the very top of all Moondog's releases.
"My singing style is without vibrato, as is the singing style of most of the people in the
world. The voice part I have kept simple, intentionally, so that I and many others who like
to sing such songs, including the barbershop quartet people, would be able to sing them.
As I did on the record, the voice part should be sung by one voice or in unison, but not in
harmony, because the harmony is exclusively in the piano parts, which are more
complicated than the voice parts, especially in the canons and the obligati, which carry
the main melodic burden."
"Moondog singing Moondog? Really! even goodness knows, Moondog doesn't sing a
song; he shows you how it goes." - Louis T Hardin aka Moondog.
Track listing
Side one
1.I'm Just a Hop Head
2.High on a Rocky Ledge
3.Do Your Thing
4.Enough about Human Rights
5.I'm This, I'm That
6.Aska Me
Side two
1.I'm in the World
2.Here's to John Wesley Hardin
3.Choo-Choo Lullaby
4.Pigmy Pig