Music

[kathlyn]

There's nothing wrong with bagpipes that are played well. Don't think the parents would go for them learning to play them but it would get rid of visitors quickly.

[Bunnylump]

A sad, sad day today. David Bowie was an inspiration to me, what a musician! Yes, I know this is terribly self-indulgent, but I'm here and this is what is on my mind. So you're getting it, like it or not.

I was just trying to decide my favourite all-time track, and failed. The range of styles and genres he has produced over such a long period is so vast that different tracks have different connections to my life.

So...to remind me of that exciting moment of rushing back to my friend's house in early 1972 with the "Hunky Dory" album, and sitting in her room, avidly devouring the music and the lyrics sheet... (like you could in those days, before the advent of music on the internet! )

Changes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8
"Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace
I'm going through"

But who could forget the iconic

Life on Marshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ

To sum up the excitement and sheer shock value to me as a young teenages of the "Ziggy Stardust" phase (and amazing outfits!) not to mention the thrill of the suggested bisexuality... it has to be
Ziggy Stardust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLYafk0Lui0

"Like some cat from Japan, he could lick 'em by smiling
He could leave 'em to hang"

Next, moving on to Aladdin Sane, the era of the school discos, and starting to be interested in boys (oh no!) and generally becoming a stroppy moo...this one brings it all back!
The Jean Genie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQo6zpVzt8

"He's outrageous, he screams and he bawls
Jean Genie let yourself go! "

Who, in this world would NOT find themselves "stomping" around the room to that?

Teenage angst and trying to fit in with all of my friends who were into the "glam rock" era:
Rebel rebel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U16Xg_r ... 16Xg_rQZkA
"You've got your mother in a whirl"

(Sorry, Mum, you know I loved you really!)

Next step into teenagerdom, the realisation that you could change the way people saw you by changing your image...and beginning to take on board elements of soul music. Well, and who could fail to be blown away by David Sanborn on sax?
The Young American https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJDyIkzqKE

"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I
still too young?"

1977, the year of the dreaded GCE, and the demise of my first, doomed, long-term relationship had the soundtrack
"Heroes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g

"Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time,
just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?"


Trying to understand the crazy world we live in

Loving the Alien https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOaqDEjxQAU

"Thinking of a different time
Palestine a modern problem
Bounty and your wealth in land
Terror in a best laid plan"

For sheer musicality and the glorious fusion of jazz and rock with the Pat Metheny Band, and let's face it, sheer unctuousness ...

This is not Americahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRF8xGzvj4

"Snowman melting from the inside"

And (bizarrely, but it always reminds me of this holiday) driving around the Cotswolds with Janet, with the car window down and singing at the top of our voices... (happy days! )
Let's Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA

"Let's dance
Put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Let's dance to the song
they're playin' on the radio"

And finally, yes I know this is actually by Martha and the Vandellas, but who could forget. just for sheer joy, his collaboration with Mick Jagger in
Dancing in the Streethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4jnaznUoQ

"It's an invitation across the nation, a chance for folks to meet
They'll be laughing and singing and music swinging
Dancing in the street"

I'd defy ANYONE to keep still to that one!

[chazzie]

Thank you Bunny - a sad day - but what a legacy he has left behind.

[kathlyn]

so much good music to remember.

[Scurra]

This seems like a lot of trouble to go to, just to play one tune...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

...although it's ridiculously impressive!

[Bunnylump]

I think it's wonderfully eccentric! Must have taken an age to make!

[LAT]

I think it's brilliant.

[Bunnylump]

Tonight I went to The Stables to see Ally Bain (fiddle player) and Phil Cunningham (accordion.) Entirely brilliant.

They did make me laugh though, commenting after a particularly frenetically paced piece that it was too fast for comfort: they used to play that fast to impress the girls, then as they got older they played that fast to prove they could still do it, but now they play that fast because otherwise they might not actually stay alive long enough to finish it!

The thing I loved what the way they interacted with each other with such sensitivity of playing.

[Scurra]

The thing about cover versions is that it's hard to do them well, especially if the song you are covering is already a cast-iron classic. Not to mention that it's also really hard to be a good "shouty" singer and still do justice to a ballad.
This is an extraordinary cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" by a heavy metal group (yes, really.) It's brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

[Bunnylump]

I've seen this as it's floating around Facebook with a lot of similar comments. It is a good version, although I'm not massively keen on some of his phrasing.

I must say that most of the original Simon and Garfunkel classics take an awful lot of beating. My all-time favourite is For Emily Whenever I May Find Her (which a lot of people have never heard of!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWrdwP1YH0 I adore the melody and the lyrics are just beautiful.

[LAT]

I think a lot of Paul Simon's lyrics are great poems in their own right. One of my favourites is My Little Town. I love the verse
"And after it rains there's a rainbow
And all of the colours are black
Its not that the colours aren't there
Its just imagination they lack.
Everything's the same
Back in my little town"

The Boxer also has great lyrics - except for the chorus!

PS - you've got me listening to S&G now, currently enjoying 'America' which is another favourite.

[Bunnylump]

Haha, Ewan's Evil SATs song made me smile. Ewan is the ukulele teacher we joined up with at the ukulele / singing evening at the pub just before Christmas.

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

[Bunnylump]

Oh my goodness! This is truly creepy! (Sorry about the ad at the beginning.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI2oS2hoL0k

[Scurra]

I was considering posting that myself, but decided against it. (I understand that a lot of non-UK people didn't understand the video at all, given that it's a weird mash-up of Trumpton and The Wicker Man...)

[Bunnylump]

It's REALLY creepy, though, isn't it? Watching friendly, familiar-looking Trumpton-esque characters being truly sinister! I actually dreamed about it last night!!

[Bunnylump]

Just watching T in the Park. Rodrigo y Gabriela were quite something! However, did anyone see Disclosure? Really? What's the point of watching them "live"? Most of it was sampled, looped and just pre-recorded. Awful.

[Bunnylump]

So Facebook does have some uses after all. A boy who I was friends with at infant school, and who also went to my senior school, just contacted me out of the blue. He's a guitarist (actually usually plays electric guitar for a living) but has recently been getting into classical guitar. He remembered I played, and sent me this link to his "first attempt" at something classical.

https://youtu.be/fXs3Tq-_ZFs

[Bunnylump]

Just in case anyone's interested, this is Stanley Dee (my husband drumming!)
https://youtu.be/VkXoD9lj-WQ

[Bunnylump]

Now, come on...Quincy Jones at the proms? Wow! Currently boogying around the living room with the cat...

[Bunnylump]

"Wee B. dooinit " Acapella. Amazing. Wow, you have to watch this!

..And then horribly spoiled by a total overkill of vocoder on Human Nature, and then again on Billie Jean! Why? Boys playing with toys, that's what.

Anyway, who knew Quincy Jones had synaesthesia?