Tag: entertainment
Nirvana – Lithium
An evening pause: I must admit that the hard rock music of Kurt Cobain has interested me so little that, until this video was suggested to me, I had never listened to it. Though the music itself doesn’t do much for me personally, the lyrics and the history of the song were quite surprising. To quote from the second link,
Cobain said the song is about a man who, after the death of his girlfriend, turns to religion “as a last resort to keep himself alive. To keep him from suicide.” While Cobain said the narrative of “Lithium” was fictional, he said, “I did infuse some of my personal experiences, like breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships.” Cobain acknowledged that the song was possibly inspired in part by the time he spent living with his friend Jesse Reed and his born-again Christian parents. He explained to Azerrad, “I’ve always felt that some people should have religion in their lives [. . .] That’s fine. If it’s going to save someone, it’s okay. And the person in [‘Lithium’] needed it.”
The song was published in 1992. I suspect that even Cobain would be considered evil by the today’s modern generation for daring to express positive thoughts about religion.
Hat tip Wayne Devette.
Isabelle Druet – Ah que j’aime les militaires!
An evening pause: By Offenbach. The humor of this song, the title of which in English is “Ah, how I love the military!”, is sadly lost on us English-speakers, but you can sense it from the singer’s wonderful performance.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Foo Fighters – Times like these
Rogers and Hammerstein – Oklahoma!
An evening pause: From the 1955 movie, Oklahoma. This Broadway musical is one of the best examples of the fundamental differences between American culture and what preceded it. In the past, all music, drama, fiction, etc, revolved around telling the stories of the powerful, the nobility, the rulers, and the great. In the United States, “of the people, for the people, by the people,” literature, art, drama, and music has focused instead mostly on the lives and concerns of ordinary people. In this musical, for example, the story is about how two ordinary cowpokes decide to give up their roaming ways to settle down and become farmers, all for love. And in doing so, Rogers and Hammerstein end up also telling the story of the American west as it transitioned from the wild west of gold rush boom towns and cattle drive cowboys into a settled society of cities and families.
And the music and choreography is great too!
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Nick Drake – One of These Things First
An evening pause: This cover of the Nick Drake song is quite nice. The musician, who does not identify himself anywhere on his youtube page, is playing everything, though some of the instrument tracks were recorded earlier. One funny bit: The song is so good that I never noticed the first time that he has a black cat on his lap. As he notes, “My cat decided to shift positions on my lap just as it was about to end, almost ruining a good take. Luckily he settled down just in time.” Watch it first for the song, then take a look near the end as the cat tries to steal the scene.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Audioslave – I Am The Highway
An evening pause: Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
“I am not your rolling wheels – I am the highway.
I am not your carpet ride – I am the sky.”
L’Arpeggiata – Ciaconna by M. Cazzati
An evening pause: Anyone who says classical musicians can’t jam has not seen this video. Man, are they enjoying themselves! And for good reason, as the music is quite beautiful, and has rhythm.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
R.E.M. – Driver 8
Dave Matthews Band – Satellite
Merle Haggard – Okie From Muskogee
An evening pause: Someone who did not live through the 1960s cannot imagine the violent reactions to this song when it came out in 1969. It was either loved or hated, expressing the polarization of the times. Sadly, not much has changed in half a century, other than the poles have grown farther apart, with the side Haggard is gently criticizing here so filled with hate that it would not surprise me if they would to try to prevent the song’s performance if someone wanted to sing it on a college campus today.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman, in honor of Merle Haggard’s passing last week.
Imogen Heap – Just For Now
An evening pause: I challenge anyone to tell me what the lyrics in this piece are about. In fact, don’t bother, because the meaning of the words is really irrelevant. The focus is on the sound of the words, and that sound is really really good.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Pink Floyd – Julia Dream
Anne Sofie von Otter & Stéphanie d’Oustrac – Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour
An evenig pause: From Jacques Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman. Performed live in Paris, 2001, conducted by Marc Minkowski.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Evanescence – Going Under
An evening pause: Some modern music, to remind us that there is a culture out there that is very different than the tiny geek-oriented engineering world my readers like. In watching this very nicely produced music video, I was most struck by the vision the singer has of her audience. I wonder thus what her audience thinks of her and themselves, especially when this video has been viewed almost 70 million times.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
John Prine – Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone
Rod Stewart – Moonglow
The Ronettes – Be My Baby
An evening pause: Performed live on the television show Shindig!, August 11, 1965. Be sure to read the notes about this song and group at the youtube link.
Hat tip Rocco.
Guy Clark with Karen Matheson – Dublin Blues
Count Basie- Flight of the Foo Birds
It’s the Beatles
An evening pause: Broadcast on December 7, 1963 by the BBC, this excerpt from the 30 minute television show before 2,500 members of The Beatles’ Northern Area Fan Club gives us a glimpse into the craziness that heralded the Beatles arrival on the world scene. The clip includes the last third of the show.
Why do these teenage girls remind me of modern voters attending rallies for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders?
Hat tip Rocco.
Eddie Reader – Dragonfly
An evening pause: Eddi Reader is one of my favorite singers. This song mixes Celtic, English, Irish, Italian, and even some Greek folk styles.
As soon as we are here, we disappear, like a dragonfly.
“Have they tried SEC to Aux?”
An evening pause: From one of the best dramatic series ever produced of the 1960s space race, From the Earth to the Moon (1998), this is the Apollo 12 launch scene.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Wintergatan – Marble Machine
An evening pause: The video describing how they built this is as interesting to watch.
Hat tips to Tom Biggar and Karla Zajac.
Grace Slick & Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
High Diving Giraffes
An evening pause: Based on some emails I have received, I think some people have been fooled by this cool animation and actually think these are real giraffes! This just tells us that it will not be long now before real actors are no longer necessary and it will be possible to do live action films entirely with animation.
Hat tip George Petricko.
Jeremy Schonfeld & Deborah Cox – Somewhere Out There
An evening pause: From the film An American Tale (1986) and composed by James Horner (who is the guy they show periodically watching in the audience).
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Gaelynn Lea – Someday we’ll linger in the sun
An evening pause: This starts slow, but stick with it. The music and song are haunting and quite beautiful, as is the performance.
Hat tip Elbo Altins.
The Kingsmen – Louie Louie
An evening pause: Normally I don’t post videos with no visuals, but for this I will make an exception. It is probably the first time anyone has ever done the hard work necessary to translate the mumblings of the singer to find out the lyrics of this pop tune. Before now, who knew?
Hat tip Phil Berardelli.