Open a PDF of the free sheet music for personal use. View, print, or download from there. This song is copyrighted. It cannot be revised, copied, sold or otherwise distributed, or performed for pay, without permission from the copyright owner, David A. Woodbury (contact).
Wilton, one of the four main characters in Cold Morning Shadow, lands in Vietnam in 1969 as a soldier. Unable to sleep one night, he sits outside the barracks and begins a letter to the girl he hopes is waiting for him back home.
I’ll let him describe it: As I write these lines I am witness to a nocturnal lepidopteral ballet under artificial lume. Here it’s well past midnight, about one a.m. on the 21st (June). So it’s yesterday noon where you are right now… I had a startling experience tonight. Three stanzas of a song were carried to me on the wings of a tune. Think of the stork delivering a bundle: I was lying in bed, not yet asleep, when I heard the strains of a melody in my head and then realized that there were words woven into it.
Over several days, with help from his friend, Brent, he completes the verses. Brent, outside the Army, is a musician. Wilton is not. But Brent is able to transcribe Wilton’s tune and (much later) turn it into a finished song.
Always Loving You
At an outpost in a jungle in a land that’s torn apart
I return your latest letter to a pocket near my heart,
And until we’re back together you can know this much is true:
I’ll be loving you. I’ll be loving you.
With a menace all around me only one thing do I fear:
It’s the danger that somebody else has whispered in your ear.
So until I’m back there with you and we’re holding hands anew,
I’ll be loving you. I’ll be loving you.
But it’s your will that I yield to, and whatever you decide
Is the choice that I concede to, even if I am denied.
For I had your love in season, a delight I’ll never rue
As I’m loving you, ever loving you,
Always loving you, I’m still loving you.
I can’t stop loving you, truly loving you.
I’ll be loving you. I’ll be loving you.
In the morning light I’m reading the new poem that you sent,
And my heart near stopped its beating; I know exactly what you meant.
So until I’m back beside you and we both can say “I do,”
I’ll be loving you. I’ll be loving you.
And if I should leave here broken, or I never leave at all,
And if words remain unspoken for I’ve lacked the wherewithal,
You can know that I’ve been faithful, that I could not say adieu
As I’m loving you, ever loving you,
Always loving you, I’m still loving you.
I can’t stop loving you, truly loving you.
I’ll be loving you. I’ll be loving you.
You would need to read the story to understand the depth of Wilton’s angst in composing it. Download the sheet music (with lyrics) above or email me for a copy. Either way, it’s a PDF file arranged over the piano score you hear here, which can be printed across four standard sheets of paper.
And, yes, as author of the book I wrote both the lyrics and the tune to the song, then I put it all together using NoteFlight. Fortunately, I have an extensive background in classical music, so I only needed to learn the software in order to generate the sheet music for the book. For another song composed and published using NoteFlight, see “Dead-end Road” at DamnYankee.com.
the novel 