Literally the last days of summer here, even had the chance for a swim during the Republic Day holiday. Next week I will be in Cuba and try to catch some Cuban sound for the coming posts, with Cuban rum of course. I will try to update the blog, however the internet seems a bit problematic there, so don't worry if you do not hear from me next week...
As Herbie Hancock once said;
"Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference."
So here comes our list for this weekend;
Booth And The Bad Angel - "Dance Of The Bad Angels"
Matt Berninger - "Walking on a String" (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Gnarls Barkley - "Going On"
Stereolab - "Jenny Ondioline"
Sudan Archives - "Water"
Hope you have a great weekend.
nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.
The song I chose for this week is one of my favorite songs of all time. I like the old versions, relatively new covers, interpretations in different genres, anything...Looks like I really have an affinity for George Gershwin.
Please keep your requests and comments coming...
Here is our song for this post;
"It Ain't Necessarily So"
"It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess (1935) where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, who expresses his doubt about several statements in the Bible.
George Gershwin's life work culminated in the three act opera Porgy and Bess, which was based on the 1926 novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward. A jazzy fusion of classical opera and Broadway musical, the work is set in the fictional all-black slum dwelling of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina. The opera tells of the disabled beggar Porgy's desperate attempts to rescue the beautiful Bess from her twin dependency upon her violent and possessive lover Crown and the aforementioned Sportin' Life.
It is said that Gershwin was largely influended by the Jewish blessings when composing the song.The first and most direct example of influence occurs at the start of the song; the melody and phrasing is nearly identical to the blessing incanted before reading from the Torah. The words "It ain't necessarily so" stand in place of "Bar'chu et adonai ham'vorach". This motif repeats multiple times in both, and both include a response from a congregation. While the phrasing of the melody in the blessing varies, it remains strictly in triplets in Gershwin's tune.The song also seems to draw from the tonality of the Jewish prayer mode Adonai malakh (God is King) by emphasizing the minor tenth, the major third, and the minor seventh.
And here are the 3 versions I chose for you;
Bronski Beat - "It Aint Necessarily So"
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh - "It Aint Necessarily So"
Cécile McLorin Salvant - "It Aint Necessarily So"
Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).
nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers...
This week I took on a challenge and picked a Beatles song to present you. It is one of my favorite Beatles' song and I know there are a lot of good covers and it will really be hard to bring them down to three. Anyhow let me give it a try...
Please keep your requests and comments coming...
Here is our song for this post;
"Come Together"
"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album Abbey Road and was also released as a single coupled with "Something". The song reached the top of the charts in the United States and peaked at No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
"Come Together" started as Lennon's attempt to write a song for Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California against Ronald Reagan, which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana.
Timothy Leary was a psychologist who became famous for experimenting with LSD as a way to promote social interaction and raise consciousness. Leary did many experiments on volunteers and himself and felt the drug had many positive qualities if taken correctly. When the government cracked down on LSD, Leary's experiments were stopped and he was arrested on drug charges. In 1969, Leary decided to run for Governor of California, and asked John Lennon to write a song for him. "Come Together, Join The Party" was Leary's campaign slogan (a reference to the drug culture he supported) and was the original title of the song. Leary never had much of a campaign, but the slogan gave Lennon the idea for this song.
Lennon played rhythm guitar and electric piano and sang the lead vocals, Paul McCartney played bass, George Harrison played lead guitar and Ringo Starr played drums. It was produced by George Martin and recorded in late July 1969 at Abbey Road Studios in London.
The whispered lyric that sounds like "shoot" is actually Lennon saying "shoot me" followed by a handclap. The bass line drowns out the "me."
And here are the 3 versions I chose for you;
Aerosmith - "Come Together"
Ike and Tina Turner - "Come Together"
Michael Jackson - "Come Together"
Here is another one for bonus this week coming from a band I like very much "Tok Tok Tok".
Keep in mind that it is out of competition...
Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).
nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers...
Here comes the 50th post for the weekend songs. Music is such an important part of our lives and I hope at least some of the 250 songs I have shared under this title had an influence on your memories, feelings and maybe even your collections...
As the American novelist Sarah Dessen once said;
"Music is the great uniter. An incredible force.
Something that people who differ on everything
and anything else can have in common."
So here comes our lists for this weekend;
The National - "Rylan"
Etta James - "I'd Rather Be Blind"
Róisín Murphy - "The Rumble"
Ólafur Arnalds - "Þú Ert Jörðin"
Nilüfer Yanya - "In Your Head"
Hope you have a great weekend.
nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.
I wasn't planning to post in this series classical (such a wrong definition) music pieces but I have come across some beautiful covers (more like interpretations) in this genre too. This week I am picking a piece that I really love and find rather interesting. I hope you will share my enthusiasm in choosing this piece and send me your comments on the versions you like.
Please keep your requests and comments coming...
And our choice for this week is;
"Gnossienne No.1"
The Gnossiennes are several piano compositions written by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century. The works are for the most part in free time (lacking time signatures or bar divisions) and highly experimental with form, rhythm and chordal structure. The form as well as the term was invented by Satie.
Satie's coining of the word gnossienne was one of the rare occasions when a composer used a new term to indicate a new "type" of composition. Satie used many novel names for his compositions (vexations, croquis et agaceries and so on). Ogive, for example, is the name of an architectural element which was used by Satie as the name for a composition, the Ogives. Gnossienne, however, was a word that did not exist before Satie used it as a title for a composition. The word appears to derive from gnosis. Satie was involved in gnostic sects and movements at the time that he began to compose the Gnossiennes. However, some published versions claim that the word derives from Cretan "knossos" or "gnossus"; this interpretation supports the theory linking the Gnossiennes to the myth of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. Several archeological sites relating to that theme were famously excavated around the time that Satie composed the Gnossiennes.
It is possible that Satie may have drawn inspiration for the title of these compositions from a passage in John Dryden's 1697 translation of the Aeneid, in which it is thought the word first appeared:
Let us the land which Heav'n appoints, explore;
Appease the winds, and seek the Gnossian shore
The Three Gnossiennes were composed around 1890 and first published in 1893. A revision prior to publication in 1893 is not unlikely; the 2nd Gnossienne may even have been composed in that year (it has "April 1893" as date on the manuscript). The piano solo versions of the first three Gnossiennes are without time signatures or bar lines, which is known as free time.
And here are the 3 versions I chose for you;
Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano & Jan Lundgren - "Gnossienne No.1"
Erkan Oğur - "Gnossienne No.1"
Quartet Cinderella - "Gnossienne No.1"
Here is another one for bonus this week coming from "Lost Unicorns".
Keep in mind that it is out of competition...
Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).
nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers...
