Music Free-for-all

[RVInit]

[RVInit]

[Phoenix520]

I’m afraid to admit that Taylor Swift has flown almost completely under my radar. I know her songs are everywhere but I can’t actually point out any except ‘Cardigan’.

Why do so many people badmouth her?

[Foggy]

Why do so many people badmouth her?

If’n I was in a room full of people, and she walked into the room, everybody there would instantly forget I was in the room.

I hate people like that.

[bill_g]

https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kbv1OpIpaA

https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yEhTF_teos

Those drummers were awesome. Thank you!

[AndyinPA]

I’m afraid to admit that Taylor Swift has flown almost completely under my radar. I know her songs are everywhere but I can’t actually point out any except ‘Cardigan’.

Why do so many people badmouth her?

I don't know either, but I don't know much about her either. I know when she was in Pittsburgh two weeks, it drew hundreds of thousands of fans in, even when they couldn't get tickets. They just wanted to be where she was and were content to stand outside the stadium or across the river and listen. They were a polite bunch of fans. (When Kenny Chesney comes every summer, it's a rowdy bunch with lots of problems.) They said she donated enough money to the food bank for thousands of meals.

[Phoenix520]

Well, I love ‘Cardigan’ so I probably like her other songs. I saw a clip where she stood up to her family, said she’s not not endorsing Trump. I guess her dad is a big time Trumper.

[John Thomas8]

[northland10]

And now for some completely different organ music. One of the performers played it on her concert at this week's convention. I liked it instantly.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Well, that'll wake them up after the sermon!

[northland10]

Well, that'll wake them up after the sermon!

One of the many tasks of an organist.

Years ago, I was going to play the opening movement of Léon Boëllmann's Suite Gothique (I posted a recording somewhere here or on the formerTFB) at some point the service. Even with the small instrument I was playing, I decided to warn the congregation. They still jumped when I started.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Oh, the horror!!!!!

https://www.openculture.com/2023/07/str ... 944-2.html

Stravinsky’s “Illegal” Arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner” (1944)

In 1939, Igor Stravinsky emigrated to the United States, first arriving in New York City, before settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard during the 1939-40 academic year. While living in Boston, the composer conducted the Boston Symphony and, on one famous occasion, he decided to conduct his own arrangement of the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which he made out a “desire to do my bit in these grievous times toward fostering and preserving the spirit of patriotism in this country.” The date was January, 1944. And he was, of course, referring to America’s role in World War II.

As you might expect, Stravinsky’s version on “The Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t entirely conventional, seeing that it added a dominant seventh chord to the arrangement. And the Boston police, not exactly an organization with avant-garde sensibilities, issued Stravinsky a warning, claiming there was a law against tampering with the national anthem. (They were misreading the statute.) Grudgingly, Stravinsky pulled it from the bill.

You can hear Stravinsky’s “Star-Spangled Banner” above, apparently performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The Youtube video features an apocryphal mugshot of Stravinsky. Despite the mythology created around this event, Stravinsky was never arrested.

[Volkonski]

That's it?

Pretty darn tame.

Considering all the fuss about it I was expecting something more like "The Rite of Spring".

[northland10]

What was shocking in 1944 is now commonplace today. It did happen in the home of Banned in Boston, so not entirely a surprise.

At one point, My Country Tis Of Thee (America) was more of an anthem, unofficially, since we did not have the official one yet. So, of course, Charles Ives wrote his Variations on "America".

For Charles Ives, it is actually rather tame. He does have some places where the right and left hand are in different keys, a half step or so apart (or major and minor in the same chord), just to remember it was Ives.

Some may have heard the Wind Symphony or orchestral arrangement, but the organ version was first, and I am an organist, so organ it shall be. I have played it before, sometime back.

[John Thomas8]

Flakes, flakes
Flakes, flakes

They don't do no good
They never be workin' when they oughta should
They waste your time
They're wastin' mine
California's got the most of them
Boy, they got a host of them
Swear to God they got the most
At every business on the coast, yeah
Swear to god they got the most
At every business on the coast
They got the flakes

Flakes, flakes

They can't fix your brakes
You ask 'em, "where's my motor?"
"Well, it was eaten by snakes"
You can stab and shoot and spit
But they won't be fixin' it
They're lyin' and lazy
They can be drivin' you crazy

Swear to god they got the most
At every business on the coast, yeah
Swear to god they got the most
At every business on the coast

Take it away, Bob
I asked as nice as I could
If my job would
Somehow be finished by Friday
Well, the whole damn weekend came and went, Frankie
Wanna buy some mandies, Bob?
You know what, they didn't do nothin'
But they charged me double for Sunday

Now, you know, no matter what you do
They gonna cheat and rob you
And then they'll give you a bill
That'll get your senses reelin'
And if you do not pay
They got computer collectors
That'll get you so crazy
'Til your head'll go through the ceilin'
Yes it will

I'm a moron and this is my wife
She's frosting a cake with a paper knife
All what we got here's American made
It's a little bit cheesy, but it's nicely displayed
Well, we don't get excited when it crumbles 'n breaks
We just get on the phone and call up some Flakes
They rush on over and wreck it some more
And we are so dumb, they're linin' up at our door
Well, my toilet went crazy yesterday afternoon
The plumber he says, "never flush a tampoon"
This great information cost me half a week's pay
And the toilet blew up later on the next day, ay, ay
Yay, yay, yay
Yay, yay, yay
Yay, yay, yay
Blew up the next day
Woo

One, two, three, four

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Flakes, flakes
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Flakes, flakes
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Flakes, flakes
Ooh, ooh, ooh
One, two, three, four (flakes)
Ah, ah, ah, ah (bow, dow, dow, dow)
Ah, ah, ah, ah (bow, dow, dow, dow)
Ah, ah, ah, ah (bow, dow, dow, dow)
Ah, ah, ah, ah

We are millions and millions
We're coming to get you
We're protected by unions
So don't let it upset you
Can't escape the conclusion
It's probably God's will
That civilization
Will grind to a standstill
And we are the people
Who will make it all happen
While your children is sleepin'
Your puppy is crappin'
You might call us flakes
Or something else you might coin us
We know you're so greedy
That you'll probably join us

We're coming to get you, we're coming to get you
We're coming to get you, we're coming to get you
We're coming to get you, we're coming to get you
We're coming to get you, we're coming to get you

[Kendra]

On this date in 1967, LIGHT MY FIRE by THE DOORS went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Jul 7, 1967)
The video here is The Doors defying Ed Sullivan and the CBS censors by refusing to change the word “higher” while performing their #1 hit, “Light My Fire,” on The Ed Sullivan Show, (September 17th 1967)

"You will never do this show again," Ed fumed after we’d directly disobeyed his censorship requirements said Doors’ drummer John Densmore.
Jim turned to him and remarked, ‘Hey, that’s okay — we just did The Ed Sullivan Show.’”

Doors’ guitarist Robby Krieger’s reaction was, “We thought they were joking. Who were they kidding? Wanting us to change the lyrics on the number one song in America? We decided to just do the song as-is and maybe they would forget all about it. What could they do? After all, it was live television! So, yeah, we never played The Ed Sullivan Show again. But we didn’t care.”

“Light My Fire” was not the first time The Ed Sullivan Show, a Sunday-night viewing ritual in American homes, had censored pop music performers—Elvis and the Rolling Stones included.

As Doors’ co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek explained in an interview filmed in 1991, Jim Morrison and his bandmates decided they would not buckle to the network censors.

Manzarek promised the CBS executive just before the performance that they would go ahead and replace the offending lyric.
But they would be performing live, so the Doors knew that they could get away with singing the controversial song as it was written. In the process, the Doors won their battle with CBS and made television history.

Until producers at SOFA Entertainment decided to dig into the Sullivan production files in Sept. 2017, they had no idea what lyrics the network was suggesting Morrison sing instead of the song’s infamous line.

Andrew Solt of SOFA Entertainment, the company that owns the Sullivan archive, relates how the discovery occurred. “Greg Vines and I discussed how good it would be if we could find the word CBS wanted Morrison to sing instead of ‘higher.’

When Greg returned from the vault, he was elated. “You won’t believe it. We not only have the word, we have the whole line! Instead of ‘Girl we couldn’t get much higher’ Jim was asked to sing, ‘Girl, there’s nothing I require.’ It’s laughable. Imagine Morrison singing ‘require’ instead of ‘higher’?”

[Kendra]

This week in 1978, JOE WALSH released the single LIFE'S BEEN GOOD (Jun 1978)
Serving as an uproarious and sardonic take on rock 'n' roll stardom, "Life's Been Good" proved a crowning jewel for American singer-songwriter Joe Walsh. Debuting on the soundtrack of the 1978 film FM, its undiluted, eight-minute version graced Walsh's album But Seriously, Folks..., later appearing in a compacted four-minute single which clinched the No. 12 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. Beyond its commercial success, this song remains Walsh's most impactful solo endeavor.
Riding a wave of satire, Walsh humorously depicts the flamboyant lives of rock stars during the era, with sly references to figures like Keith Moon. Lyrics such as "I live in hotels, tear out the walls/I have accountants pay for it all" and "My Maserati does one-eighty-five/I lost my license, now I don't drive" expose the unchecked extravagance of the times. The 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide hailed it as "riotous", and a potentially crucial commentary on rock stardom in the late seventies. Years later, Walsh would write Ordinary Average Guy as a reflective continuation of the theme.
Embedded in "Life's Been Good" is a laid-back, reggae-inflected groove, fortified by foundational guitar riffs and synthesizers which dovetail with the song's witty lyrics. Billboard asserts that these lyrics draw from Walsh's personal experiences, further supported by Walsh's anecdote from a 2012 concert at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. Confirming the truth behind the lyrics, he shared tales of tearing down hotel walls to create connecting rooms, losing his driver's license (not to government confiscation, but a lost wallet), and an embarrassing mix-up between a party's exit and a closet. These anecdotes only serve to underline Walsh's playful critique of the rockstar lifestyle's frivolous excess.
Innovative elements within the song include the memorable pre-chorus sections of the second and third verses, employing a call and response pattern with Bill Szymczyk and Jody Boyer providing the backup vocals. Record World praised the song's blend of "Walsh's signature guitar work with a touch of reggae," observing the light irony Walsh applied to his lyrical subjects. Further uniqueness comes with the inclusion of an inside joke, "uh-oh, here comes a flock of wah wahs," tucked at the end of the LP version, heard only after a ten-second gap following the music's conclusion. This quirk also features at the end of disc one of the Eagles' box set, Selected Works: 1972–1999.
Though conceived after Walsh's inclusion into the Eagles, "Life's Been Good" became an integral part of the band's concert repertoire, frequently appearing in their performances and reunion tours, while also maintaining its status on classic rock radio playlists. Notably, a live version of the song featuring altered lyrics can be found on the Eagles' 1980 album, Eagles Live.
Throughout his career, Walsh often found his personal antics mirroring those immortalized in "Life's Been Good," as he confessed to Rolling Stone in 2017, "I started believing I was who everybody thought I was, which was a crazy rock star…It was a real challenge just to stay alive." His wry take on rockstar excess was not limited to song lyrics; the album cover of But Seriously, Folks... portrays Walsh, almost comically, dining underwater—a daring feat he is "proud of" but admittedly "won't be repeating."

[keith]

Well, this is 'Music Free-for-all.

[Frater I*I]

So it seems I will bridge gapes again with opera which for this one I'm surprised I haven't posted before...

For Third Grandma...

La donna è mobile...

By Luciano Pavarotti...

[Kriselda Gray]

This is a piece by Tom Morello (from Rage Against the Machine), KIrk Hammit (Metallica) and (surprise, surprise) Alex Lifeson (Rush).

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

"I Have Seen the Way" is better than my second cup of coffee for waking me!

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

So it seems I will bridge gapes again with opera which for this one I'm surprised I haven't posted before...

For Third Grandma...

La donna è mobile...

By Luciano Pavarotti...

Thank you, sweet Frater!!!!!! I luvs Luciano!

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_donna_%C3%A8_mobile
Joe Green wrote the music.

La donna è mobile

"La donna è mobile" (pronounced [la ˈdɔnna ˌɛ mˈmɔːbile]; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. Raffaele Mirate's performance of the bravura aria at the opera's 1851 premiere was hailed as the highlight of the evening. Before the opera's first public performance (in Venice), the aria was rehearsed under tight secrecy:[1] a necessary precaution, as "La donna è mobile" proved to be incredibly catchy, and soon after the aria's first public performance it became popular to sing among Venetian gondoliers.

As the opera progresses, the reprise of the tune in the following scenes contributes to Rigoletto's confusion as he realizes from the sound of the Duke's lively voice coming from the tavern (offstage) that the body in the sack over which he had grimly triumphed was not that of the Duke after all: Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke, but Sparafucile had deceived Rigoletto by indiscriminately killing Gilda, Rigoletto's beloved daughter, instead.[2]

La donna è mobile
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensiero.

Sempre un amabile,
leggiadro viso,
in pianto o in riso,
è menzognero.

Refrain
La donna è mobil'.
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensier'!

È sempre misero
chi a lei s'affida,
chi le confida
mal cauto il cuore!

Pur mai non sentesi
felice appieno
chi su quel seno
non liba amore!

Refrain
La donna è mobil'
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensier'![3]


Woman is flighty.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes in voice
and in thought.

Always a lovely,
pretty face,
in tears or in laughter,
it is untrue.

Refrain
Woman is fickle.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words
and her thoughts!

Always miserable
is he who trusts her,
he who confides in her
his unwary heart!

Yet one never feels
fully happy
who from that bosom
does not drink love!

Refrain
Woman is fickle.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words,
and her thoughts!

[northland10]

And for some more Joe Green.

"Il balen del suo sorriso" from Il Trovatore as sung by the gone too soon Dmitri Hvorostovsky (1962-2017).


Jonas Kaufmann and Thomas Hampson singing "Dio, Che Nell'alma Infondere Amor" from Don Carlo.


We return to Il Trovatore with "Miserere d'un'alma" sung by Pavoratti and Joan Sutherland. This is one of my favorite opera choruses by Verdi, and Verdi had such great opera choruses. When I saw it in Chicago, the chorus was amazing.


Speaking of choirs and Verdi, he really knows how to do angry, such as in the "Dies Irae e Tuba Mirum" from his Requiem. When we sang this in college, our director told us not to shout. Um, yeah, that wasn't gonna happen.

[northland10]

And for another composer who pulled out all the stops on the Dies Irae of a Requiem, we have the Tuba Mirum section from the Berlioz Requiem. This one is scored for, amongst other things, 4 offstage brass choirs, and 16 timpani (yes, 16 among around 10 players).

It is set to start around the beginning of the section, around 19:40