Taking a humorous but analytical look at just about anything in the spirit of Groucho Marx: I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member!
Showing posts with label Music Appreciation 101. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music Appreciation 101. Show all posts
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton again spoke very strongly of the need for the world to unite in holding North Korea accountable for the unjustifiable act of sinking a South Korean warship and killing its crew of 46. In reporting this during the 7:00 a.m. CDT broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition," NPR newsman Paul Brown at one point started to say "North Caro--" before correcting himself and saying "North Korea."
I, of course, immediately thought of Tom Lehrer's "Who's Next?", his early Sixties' commentary on both nuclear proliferation and civil rights. Its tag line? "We'll try to stay serene and calm, when Alabama gets the bomb--Who's next?"
Once I stopped laughing, I marveled at how what goes around, comes around. Who'd have thought, nearly half a century later, with Rand Paul's case of foot-in-mouth and North Korea's eternal petulance, that both civil rights and nuclear proliferation would still be in the headlines?
As Weird Al celebrates the 20th anniversary of his 29th birthday, let us all contemplate his unique talents.
OK, that didn't take long, did it?
But seriously: writing parodies of popular songs, parodies which themselves skewer popular culture, is not nearly as easy as it seems. I know whereof I speak. I have the itch to write such parodies, too, and I have to admit that I don't do it nearly as well as does Mr. Yankovic.
Nevertheless, I am offering my latest, in appreciation for a kindred spirit, as my tribute to Al's birthday [I cannot believe I am 2-years-plus older than he is.--Ed.]. Have a happy one, Mister White and Nerdy!
It's The Most Horrible Time Of The Year (to be sung to the tune of the Christmas carol "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," written in 1963 by Eddie Pola and George Wyle)
It's the most horrible time of the year With the endless campaigning And no one explaining How the heck we got here It's the most horrible time of the year
There'll be speeches for hearing And opponents for smearing and Ads cutting into your favorite shows, There'll be mud-slinging stories and Tales of gory lies spread in campaigns of Long, long ago
It's the most horrible time of the year
The incessant door-belling and Robocalls are compelling me To drink more beer . . .
With the lies and mud-slinging Politicians are bringing Us unending fear . . .
It's the most abhorrent time, It's the most disgusting time, It's the most horrible time of the year!
[copyright 2008, Eclectic Iconoclast all rights reserved]
People For The American Way has started a haiku contest. The winners will submit, in the proper 5-7-5 syllable format, haiku best describing the McCain-Palin ties to the far right, the issues at stake in this election, or what their election would mean for the Supreme Court should they [shudder--Ed.] win in November. Contest winners will be announced October 27th, and the winning entries will also be published in The Nation.
To submit an entry (up to three are allowed per person), or to get more details, go to: https://secure.pfaw.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=action_haiku&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr001=ete4zfjin1.app304a
I have submitted my three entries, but I have to confess, my creative muse is more like Weird Al than Ogden Nash. That is to say, I do better with songs than with poetry.
To honor my musical muse, here is my entry into my own personal Skewer-the-Candidates contest. It is to be sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques."
Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Cooks moose stew Eats it too Rocky begged you not to Bullwinkle's hiding from you Moose pot au feu? Shame on you!
If you can come up with anything better [and I am certain you can--Ed.], post it as a comment to this post of mine. I promise not to delete anything on the basis of whom or what it skewers. All I ask is that you be witty as opposed to going for cheap, potty humor.
The "Top 10 Favorites" music lists recently submitted [at whose request, I do not remember, I am sorry to say--Ed.] by this year's major party putative presidential candidates surprised me. Senator Obama listed a song or two with which I am not familiar (though I recognized the artists involved), and Senator McCain listed two--count 'em, TWO!--Abba songs.
The only artist they both listed was Frank Sinatra, though they listed different favorite Sinatra songs. That's OK. My own favorite Sinatra song differs from both of theirs. I'd have listed "(One For My Baby, And) One More For The Road." Then again, after listening to Sinatra's cover of "Blues In The Night," I might have to add that to my list. On the other hand, after remembering Bugs Bunny singing "A buzzard is two-faced," I'd better go back to my original choice. Talk about [worrisome--Ed.] things you can't get out of your head!
So I got to thinking about what else I'd put on my own personal "Top 10" list. Without a doubt, I'd choose Nat King Cole's cover of "Stardust." What an extraordinary interpretation! It makes the Hoagy Carmichael song truly sublime. Not even Carmichael's own original comes close . . . though, I must admit, Willy Nelson's cover does. But Nat King Cole's version is the standard by which all other covers must be measured. They all fall short.
If instrumentals are allowed, I'd also include Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing." I've always liked raucous percussion and reeds, and this one has the most raw clarinet and drum parts ever. It's also guaranteed to make you get up and dance in the aisles, just as it did during Goodman's Carnegie Hall premiere in 1937--if memory serves. Not that I was there. But I have seen The Benny Goodman Story several times [as if that mattered!--Ed.], and I have more than one LP and CD which include that performance.
For sheer silliness, I'd include something by Weird Al Yankovic, most probably "Yoda." We all need to laugh out loud several times a day, and the brilliance of Yankovic's parody of "Lola" cannot be overstated. I guffaw with delight every time I hear it. When you know all the lyrics to a parody and find yourself singing the parody's lyrics even when the original song plays, you are far, far gone. That the parody has lodged itself that deeply in my brain proves how brilliant it is.
I must include Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I know Paul Simon was unhappy with his third verse. He said it has always bothered him that he couldn't repeat perfectly the parallel structure of the lyrics from verses one and two. I don't care. The recording is ethereal--Garfunkel's tenor was at its most soaring and true; Simon's melody and the pair's original performance were--and are--perfect.
Can't add anything to that.
I'd like to include Beethoven's 9th Symphony [the whole thing, not just the 4th movement--Ed.], but it's probably too long and esoteric for most folk. Too bad. Beethoven was truly original, a voice of the people, even though he's considered very, very highbrow today. The sheer power and the hope in his music can lift me out of my deepest darknesses, and I treasure his message: all odds CAN be conquered. He is profound. That he could create and conduct such beauty when he could not hear is astonishing.
Now choices get trickier. I am not listing my preferences in any particular order, but the order in which they occurred to me, thus the order in which I write about them here, accurately indicates my probable preferences. Then again, the only reason I started with the Sinatra song is because he's the only one both Obama and McCain listed, not because he's my personal favorite. The choices from here on get trickier anyway. Limiting myself to just 10 total songs is beyond challenging. It's going to be virtually impossible.
I'd also have to include something by the Beatles, but I'll be hanged if I can limit myself to one Beatles song. I have wrestled with this for the better part of the last two days, and I just can't do it. The melody of "Eleanor Rigby" moves me deeply, though the lyrics are a downer; "All You Need Is Love" is fun, but kind of silly [we all know there's nothing wrong with silly love songs, but really!--Ed.]. "A Day In The Life" is masterful in both composition and lyrics, but it wouldn't be my first choice if I must limit myself to one. "Hey, Jude," "Blackbird," "Let It Be," "Norwegian Wood," "Revolution," and on, and on, and on . . . any or all of them would do. Here's a twist: "In My Life," but the cover by Sean Connery. It works. But it seems like something one would say at a funeral.
I give up. The Beatles. Their entire catalog. It's the only option.
And now for something completely different: Garth Brooks, "Friends In Low Places." It's the fun value. This is a great song just to sing. Perfect party music.
Likewise, Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House." Not only is it a great song, it's the greatest background music for doing the housecleaning I've ever found. A survey of NPR listeners about 19 years ago confirmed it. But I said it first!
Enya's "Caribbean Blue." I love the way her music flows over my soul. "Orinoco Flow" is wonderful, too, but I think "Caribbean Blue" is less over-exposed. Besides, I remember hearing a DJ say once that "Orinoco Flow" reminded him of the soundtrack to an epic Western. I get it. I even agree with it. But I can't get it out of my head, and that song deserves more.
I'd also have to include two songs by Johnny Cash, believe it or not. His cover of "Hurt," made a year or so before he died, proves that the man was a genuine artist. It's an amazing performance. My other Cash tune? "Ring Of Fire." Talk about "portrait of the artist as a young man"--this is it. The orchestration, with the Mariachi horns and no drums, was a first. I didn't appreciate how unique this song was when I was younger. I've grown in my understanding.
I think I've already chosen more than 10. I haven't even gotten to Duke Ellington, Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow (jazz-oriented only, thank you), Lyle Lovett, or Beck! Let alone Prince, The Police, and God only knows how many other artists. My CD collection is embarrassingly large. I lost count at 500, and I have broad collections in just about every genre.
OK, just one or two more so that I can assuage my ethnic pride. Tommy Makem's "Rocky Road To Dublin," and De Daanan's "Hibernian Rhapsody." The former because it's a rousing good rebellion song; the latter, because hearing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" arranged for traditional Irish instruments is simply delightfully offbeat. Even though the music is perfectly on the beat.
I shudder to think what I've left out. I'd love to know your choices. I guess my inability to limit myself just proves I don't have the self-discipline to be president. Or that I know too much about too many things.
Belle Silverman, you will be missed. If I wanted to be cheeky, I suppose I'd say that Bubbles has finally burst . . . but I don't want to be cheeky. I just heard that opera soprano Beverly Sills died last night. She was the least diva-like of divas, projecting an openness and a down-to-earthiness that oddly never clashed with her truly ethereal voice.
She retired from singing 27 years ago, when she was 51. Her coloratura was already somewhat in decline by the time she achieved her greatest singing fame and made her best-known recordings in the 20 years before that. I can but imagine The Voice in her prime. But I mourn her passing as deeply as if I'd been alive to hear her sing at the top of her powers in the 1940s.
Ms. Sills was truly an original, the first American opera superstar, and at the same time, just plain folks. I cannot picture her in my mind without seeing her smile--and without seeing that shock of red, red hair. Nor can I think of her without admiring the essense of contradiction her life and legacy personify. C'mon! An opera star, who was born in Brooklyn?!? A rather husky speaking voice which produced the most angelic, delicate songs? "Bubbles," the diva? Her graciousness and class shone through, even when she had to make hard-nosed business decisions while running the City Opera of New York and also holding the reins at the Lincoln Center. And always, that voice--so delicate, but pulsing with strength, sureness, and power.
I do not pretend to have an iota of her gifts, but being a red-head myself, and having had (before my lung disease ruined my instrument) a bit of a talent for singing on key, I can at once revel in the beauty of her voice and sorrow for the pain she suffered in dying of lung cancer . . . especially since she, like me, was a life-long non-smoker. Besides, I am--or, more properly, was--only a mezzo soprano. Even when my voice was at its best, I couldn't dream of singing the things she sang. I could appreciate them, though, and believe me, I do.
I am eternally grateful that such things as film, video tapes, LPs, and remastered CDs of some of her most celebrated performances exist. So Bubblesis effervescent . . . and eternal . . . all at once. As she herself may have commented, "Ain't technology grand?"
I always thought I'd be going to hell. Now I know it. I actually agree with Dubya about something, to wit: his stand on the singing of the National Anthem. Yes, it should be sung in English and only in English.
I have no problem with translating the lyrics into Spanish (or any other language for that matter) so that people whose English is not so good can learn to understand what the Anthem is and what it means. I have no problem with putting the Anthem's melody to a salsa or any other kind of Latin rhythm. After all, the Anthem itself was adapted from an old British English drinking song. Besides, good music withstands just about any melodic/rhythmic treatment one cares to give it--I do not mind listening to the Beatles in Muzak, for one example. [Note that I said "just about any." Roseanne's desecration of the Anthem at a baseball game a few years ago is NOT included.--Ed.]
But to sing the Anthem in anything other than its language of composition is to make it no longer American. And that is just plain wrong.
Teddy Roosevelt in 1907 allegedly said: "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
I have not had the chance to confirm independently that this is in fact an exact quote, but I do not doubt its accuracy in spirit.
The notion that being an American is more a state of mind than anything else is of sound and long standing in this country. That is what being an American is. In no other country in the world can you become a citizen of full and equal standing just by living there. Oh, you can become a citizen, but you will never be recognized as being a FULL citizen, because your ethnic and religious background matter to the native-born citizens of every place on Earth except in America. Emma Lazarus enshrined it in her poem "The New Colossus." "Give me your tired, your huddles masses, yearning to breathe free."
To those who say it is their right to sing the Anthem in Spanish because of the First Amendment, I say two things. First, do not twist our laws against us to promote an essentially un-American end. Second, sing it in Spanish all you want, but do not say that it makes you American to do so. It does not. That is by definition not what being an American is.[I keep wondering what would have happened had we gone into Germany in post-WW II Europe and translated the post-Nazi German anthem into English and started singing it all over the place. As badly beaten as the Germans were, I think they'd have risen up in opposition to that. And it would have started the recognition that we were not so much an ally as an occupying power a lot earlier than it actually occurred to the Germans.--Ed.]
But to agree with Dubya!?!?!? Like I said, this means I am going straight to hell. Or maybe not. After all, as Ann Landers so cogently noted several years ago, "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." Dubya is most definitely a stopped clock.
Did anyone notice that the Italian National Anthem sounds an awful lot like an opera chorus?
Actually, I thought the Italians did a lovely job of hosting the recent Winter Olympics. I just couldn't help but giggle quietly to myself whenever their anthem played. I kept expecting to see "The March of the Toreadors" from "Carmen" . . . or Spike Jones's version of same . . . or PDQ Bach's "Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice, An Opera In One Unnatural Act" . . . or Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd performing "The Rabbit of Seville."
