And Music Monday is making a determined bid to break the spell of appalling weather we’ve had this ‘summer.’ Move, jet stream, move! Go away! Take the rain with you!
So: in a bid to change the weather with some kind of convoluted counter-jinx, Music Monday will embrace therain! Going forward, I shall be posting rainy day songs until the weather changes (with the exception of next week, where I have a Music Monday special edition already booked… but who knows, maybe I’ll post on Sunday instead to keep the spell going?).
Here goes: rainy day song #1–a Eurythmics classic and very appropriate. “Here comes the rain again…”
Whoa! So then… will you help me change the weather? Let me know your favourite rainy day song!
Yes, Music Monday is back (you’re welcome to cheer… ah yes, I heard that, thank you!)! And once again it is tinged by my reflections on life and my recent experiences. The Wells family has spent its first non-unpacking weekend in the new family home in Lincolnshire, and we’ve had our first visitors from Bristol, some of our closest family friends. It was hard to say who was most excited, the parents or the children! Needless to say, there were tears and a sense of renewed bereft-ness when the visitors had to leave. And as I was explaining to the boys that the visit was a wonderful occasion, a confirmation that we would alwaysbe friends with the many folks we’ve left behind, the inspiration for this Music Monday came to me.
Moreover, as I’m reading through recent comments on my blog, I’m also realising how many wonderful friends I have acquired in the blogosphere, and this is post is to say “thank you” and “I really appreciate your support.”
Being already overcome all sentimental, I also am reminded that I am lucky enough to have a few friends scattered all over the world, back in Germany and even in the States, who remain friends even though we rarely ever see each other. Yet when we do, we pick up right where we left. These friendships are truly the fabric of my life, my safety net, my cocoon.
So without further sentimental ramblings or additional ado, I give you an ode to everlasting friendship…
Friends Will Be Friends by Queen!
Another red letter day / So the pound has dropped and the children are creating / The other half ran away / Taking all the cash and leaving you with the lumber / Got a pain in the chest / Doctors on strike what you need is a rest.
It’s not easy love, but you’ve got friends you can trust / Friends will be friends / When you’re in need of love they give you care and attention / Friends will be friends / When you’re through with life and all hope is lost / Hold out your hand cos friends will be friends right till the end.
Now it’s a beautiful day / The postman delivered a letter from your lover / Only a phone call away / You tried to track him down but somebody stole his number / As a matter of fact / You’re getting used to life without him in your way.
It’s so easy now, cos you got friends you can trust / Friends will be friends / When you’re in need of love they give you care and attention / Friends will be friends / When you’re through with life and all hope is lost / Hold out your hand cos friends will be friends right till the end.
It’s so easy now, cos you got friends you can trust….
When do you count most on your friends? Have you got cross-country or even cross-continent friendships that simply last a lifetime? I’d love to hear about it if you don’t mind sharing! 🙂 x
Music Monday: today with a home moving theme (sort of!)…
As all matters ‘house’ and ‘moving’ are dominating my life right now, I thought I’d share some of the joy and excitement with you with a classic song sporting a totally apt title. I opted for the original rather than the fancy version on top of Buck House… And please imagine me singing at top volume as I direct the movers and supervise the Madness!
Today I have a very special treat for me you! As you all know by now, I am about to move house for the first time in nine years. This is the biggest move since I left home age nineteen. It is probably for this reason that the upcoming move is creating associations with long-forgotten emotions of ‘uprooting’ the first time; and among all of those associations has swum to the surface what turned out to be the ‘theme song’ of my first few months in England.
It wasn’t an elected theme song, you understand, it just kind of happened. It was on the radio all the time and some of the lyrics resonated. For example:
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I’m neither here nor there
That described me perfectly, making it a happy song to me. I had run away, in a manner of speaking; in an organised, planned and orderly fashion. I didn’t just up-stick and go, but it still felt like The Great Escape. I was never going back, no way Jose. My family didn’t really believe I would last, but I knew this was ‘it’. Yet I hadn’t quite arrived anywhere even when I started to settle, and for the longest time I really was ‘neither here nor there.’ It’s not that easy to fit into a new culture, and it takes time until you feel like you truly belong.
It was only much later that I took the time to listen to all of the lyrics and also happened to see the video on MTV (not something readily available on the shared TV in the Hall of Residences lounge). It was therefore only much later that I realised that the song is really about missing persons, many of them children, who have run away for a whole host of devastating reasons, or been cruelly taken from their families. In fact, the intended meaning and message of the lyrics didn’t apply to my circumstances; and I was greatly saddened by the story the video depicts, which is a million years from my own experience. But still: the sentiment of the chorus at least had become my own, my little runaway theme.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one to read a different meaning into the lyrics; quite a few folks out there seem to feel the lyrics were about depression in some capacity. Goes to show how much the written (or sung, as it were) word is open to interpretation if taken out of a concrete context! 🙂
Thus Runaway Train by the amazing Soul Asylum continues to be one of my favourites to this day, for all the right reasons.
And of course, as always, it’s over to you right now….
Do you perhaps have a ‘theme song’ for a particular period of your life?
Or have you, like me, ever made a song ‘your own’ before discovering that the lyrics tell a radically different story from your own interpretation?
It’s the Jubilee weekend. So what could be more fitting to post on Music Monday than this classic? And what song could be more appropriate?
No further comment or lyrics needed, methinks. Have a great Jubilee Bank Holiday, one and all. Oh, and don’t forget to tell me what you’re up to by way of party…..
It’s Music Monday! And what better way to start the week than to honour the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.
I love Eurovision! I can recall watching it being very young, curled up on the sofa with my Mum and Dad. Consequently, to pass on the tradition, we let our children watch the whole programme with us yesterday, and my 5 year-old nearly managed to stay awake through it all. A real family occasion!
We had great fun discussing the artists, enjoyed Jedward’s bizarre performance and the highly entertaining Russian grannies. But what we were really looking for was a voice that would captivate us, irrespective of whether we understood its words.
The Wells family is in agreement: our favourite vocalist is Željko Joksimović!
Here are the lyrics in English, and the voice below.
Better luck next time
You say that so easily
I can see we’re over now
But it could have been so good
Know that even if you leave
Something of yours will stay.
Love is not a thing
That I can just give back to you
This is only me, I’ve only ever loved you
Love is not a thing
That I don’t know what do to with
I wish you just the best
This love is my sinking ship.
Your love is not a thing
That I can just give back to you
This is only me, I’ve only ever loved you.
Go,just, just go
Fly away, sing
Give your heart to someone else
But know
That goodbye is not the end.
So here is your challenge! Irrespective of the rankings… who was YOUR favourite and why?
This past week I have been thinking about emotion. In my deliberations and ruminations, I recalled a fantastic song whose lyrics and melody portray raw emotion like few other songs I’ve known. The song is unbelievably sad and yet, in a strange way, I find it uplifting. Perhaps it’s a sorrow shared; perhaps it’s the knowledge that sadness complements happiness like sunshine follows rain.
The song speaks for itself, and I give you today a masterful piece of poetry and music by one of the greatest songwriters the world has known: the haunting Jacques Brel.The lyrics are in French, obviously, but I offer you my feeble attempt at a translation, not always literal. I don’t know if it can touch the original, but it’s the best I can do. There is imagery bar none here, and I wish I had the power to convey emotion in this manner.
As always, if you like this song, please honour the artist and buy it for your own use through the appropriate channel.
Ne Me Quitte Pas by Jacques Brel
Ne me quitte pas / Il faut oublier / Tout peut s’oublier / Qui s’enfuit deja / Oublier le temps / Des malentendus / Et le temps perdu / A savoir comment / Oublier ces heures / Qui tuaient parfois / A coups de pourquoi / Le coeur du bonheur / Ne me quitte pas
Moi je t’offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas / Je creuserai la terre / Jusqu’apres ma mort / Pour couvrir ton corps d’or et de lumière / Je ferai un domaine / Où l’amour sera roi / Où l’amour sera loi / Où tu seras reine / Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas / Je t’inventerai / Des mots insensés / Que tu comprendras / Je te parlerai / De ces amants là / Qui ont vu deux fois / Leurs coeurs s’embraser / Je te racont’rai / L’histoire de ce roi / Mort de n’avoir pas / Pu te rencontrer / Ne me quitte pas
On a vu souvent / Rejaillir le feu / De l’ancien volcan / Qu’on croyait trop vieux / Il est paraît-il / Des terres brûlées / Donnant plus de blé / Qu’un meilleur avril / Et quand vient le soir / Pour qu’un ciel flamboie / Le rouge et le noir / Ne s’épousent-ils pas / Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas / Je ne vais plus pleurer / Je ne vais plus parler / Je me cacherai là / À te regarder / Danser et sourire / Et à t’écouter / Chanter et puis rire / Laisse-moi devenir / L’ombre de ton ombre / L’ombre de ta main / L’ombre de ton chien / Ne me quitte pas
NOW THIS IS WHERE THE VIDEO WOULD BE. However, I have run into embedding restrictions on this occasion so bear with me and click through to the link instead. It’s well worth it!
And here’s the English translation by yours truly.
Don’t leave me. Let’s forget, for everything can be forgotten that has gone. Forget the time of misunderstanding, and the time lost determining how those hours sometimes killed the very heart of happiness by questioning “why”.
Don’t leave me. I will give you pearls of rain from countries where it never rains. I will dig up the earth even after my death to cover your body with gold and light. I will make a kingdom where love will be king, love will be law and you will be queen. Don’t leave me.
Don’t leave me. I shall invent meaningless words which you’ll understand. I shall tell you about those lovers who found their hearts ignite twice. I shall you the story of this king who died because he failed to find you. Don’t leave me.
One has often seen erupt the old volcano believed extinct. They say there are scorched lands yielding more wheat than the height of April. And when evening makes the sky burst into colour, don’t the red and the black marry well? Don’t leave me.
Don’t leave me. I’ll cry no more, I’ll speak no more, I’ll hide here to look at you dance and smile and listen to you sing and then laugh. Let me become the shadow of your shadow, the shadow of your hand and the shadow of your dog, but don’t leave me.
It’s Music Monday!
And I’ve added a nifty logo for the feature…
[Logo Back Soon]
So what have I got for you today? Well let’s see! Today I have a feature that was inspired by Joanna Gawn of The Lazuli Portals blog… and you’ll have to visit the ‘Bio‘ Page to find out why!
There are first love memories…
Moreover, I’m bringing you a song that takes me right back, and I mean right back, in time. First love, first boyfriend, first foreign holiday in the sun without parents. A fourteen hour drive in the car from Essen, Germany, to Capbreton, France. Driving through the night to arrive in the blazing sunshine at 10 am in the morning. And always, always that song: Under The Sun by Dare. For some reason, it encapsulates the entire holiday. The haunting voice, the guitars, the piano all fitted the atmosphere and the mood.
Recognising that even at the time, we nonetheless thought we were immune to the lyrics, that our love would last forever. Alas, we were too young, it was too soon, and a few years later, it was all gone. Prophetic words indeed, in places!
…and double starstruck memories!
Amazingly, I did have the good fortune of having a beer with the guys from Dare once. Yes, indeed, my claim to fame!
They were supporting German rockers Warlock (fronted by Doro Pesch!) in the Grugahalle in my native Essen, and they were fantastic. In actual fact, my then boyfriend (he of the first-love-memorable-France-trip) and I had gone to see Dare rather than Warlock, and we were at a bit of a loose end when Dare’s act finished. So we loitered at the back of the hall, my boyfriend focusing on the stage (obviously–what male wouldn’t, with Doro up there?), me being bored. I was keenly clutching the drumstick thrown out by James Ross and very casually (and quite unexpectedly) caught by me, yes me!
And then… Dare just wandered by, heading downstairs to the open bar. Of course I went straight after them. And thus we ended up having a beer and a chat, me clutching my drumstick in one hand and my plastic mug of beer in the other. Oh happy days!
Without further ado, I give you the lyrics and the video… If you like it, remember to honour the artist by buying the music through the appropriate channel. Thank you! 🙂
Under The Sun by Dare
Nothing lasts forever
Especially the things you always wanted to
See the reddened sky
I long to be there where the eagles used to fly
Methods to their madness
Or so they say before they throw away the key
Is there anyone there
Won’t you open the stairways for me
Under the sun
Where can we run
Under the sun
Where has love gone
Hear the deafening silence
While slowly losing all control of what you do
Chance would be a fine thing
A momentary loss of all thoughts
Holding back the fear
They point the finger every minute of the day
Doesn’t anyone care
Won’t they open the stairway for me
Nothing lasts forever
Especially the things you always wanted to
See the reddened sky
I long to be there where the eagles used to fly
Methods to their madness
Or so they say brfore they throw away the sky
Doesn’t anyone care
Won’t they open the stairways for me
Do you have a first-love, first-holiday mood song that takes you right back? I’d love to hear about it! xx Rock on!
It’s Music Monday here on Nicky’s blog and today I’m bringing you a real classic. I’m posting no other than the first single I ever bought! It was a proper single, for those of you who remember the shiny black vinyl 45rpm plastic disks you used to get in traditional style record shops.
The motivation: a crush
I was thirteen and I bought it the day after a party at a friend’s house, where I had been asked to dance to (yes, you guessed it) just this song by the boy on whom I had a big crush. It was a heavenly moment, and I tried to prolong the exprience by obtaining the music the very next day. I wasn’t really into music then; I was just awakening to it, shall we say. So I didn’t have a clue what or who I was looking for, and I had been too embarrassed the previous night to show up my complete ignorance and ask.
Instead, I opted for making a bit of an idiot out of myself in front of a complete stranger in the record shop. I sang bits of the song to him. Luckily it was very high in the charts, so he recognised it despite my subpar performance.
The fascination: the story in the lyrics!
Having got it home, I put in on play non-stop for something like three weeks. Why’s that, you ask? Well, it wasn’t just to do with having shared a dance with my crush. The lyrics drew me in and didn’t let me go. This is where it all started, my obsession with lyrics! Anyway, here it is… I hope you enjoy. The sentiment of the song is eternal, I feel, even though the actual historical circumstances have (thankfully) changed dramatically.
The insight: rock meets classic
Last but not least, I frequently rant on about how rock music and classical music aren’t actually a million miles apart. I often cite Verdi’s Requiem as a case in point, but consider this! Russians uses the Romance theme from the Lieutenant Kijé Suite by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev! Just for the love it, I attach a link for the theme as well… and you can see how amazingly skilfully Sting used this music in his own work. Rock on!
Russians by Sting
In Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Russians love their children too
PS: I feel I ought to say “thank you” to Sting here for teaching me invaluable phrases. You would not believe the surprise on my English teacher’s face when, challenged during a class discussion, I offered a nonchalant, “Well, I don’t subscribe to this point of view.” 🙂
Here’s the vid:
And here’s the Romance theme from the Lieutenant Lieutenant Kijé Suite by Prokofiev. It’s very quiet, so listen carefully… 🙂
So, hand on heart: what do you feel when you hear this song? Does it give you goosebumps?
Remember The Waterboys? That classic, The Whole of the Moon? It’s one of my favourite songs, always there, often played, occasionally left in a mental drawer for a few months. Fantastic lyrics, of course!
It all came back to me after a lovely chat with the amazing Yasmin Selena, who reminded me of this much-loved favourite. It’s been playing in my head on and off ever since, having plenty of poignant memories attached to it for me… not least one of the first dates with my now husband in a dingy little pub in Stockwell, London.
So ring in Music Monday! Take a look at these lyrics and have a listen to the song (video below). I’ve highlighted my favourite bit for you in bold font–tell me, which part of these lyrics captures your imagination? And do you have a special song that takes you right back in time, ten, fifteen years even, evoking feelings so real as though they’d only just happened?
The Whole of the Moon
I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands
I had flashes but you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years while you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon
You were there in the turnstiles with the wind at your heels
You stretched for the starts and you know how it feels
To reach too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
I was grounded while you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth, you cut through lies
I saw the rain-dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
I spoke about wings
You just flew
I wondered I guessed and I tried
You just knew
I sighed
And you swooned
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon
With a torch in your pocket and the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder and you know how it feels
To get too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon, the whole of the moon, hey yeah
Unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers Trumpets, towers and tenements, wide oceans full of tears Flags, rags, ferryboats, scimitars and scarves Every precious dream and vision underneath the stars
Yes, you climbed on the ladder with the wind in your sails
You came like a comet, blazing your trail
Too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
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