THAT OL' DEVIL MUSIC

TRISTAN AND ISOLDE

I read an interesting article by Judith Kogan The Unsettling Sound of Tritones, The Devil's Interval on Flipchart today.

I'm borrowing heavily from it here but thought it worthy of sharing, particularly with Robert who seems to have a thing about the power of three and connections with the devil and all.

"Everyone knows the sounds of Halloween: creaky floorboards, howling winds, the amplified sound of a beating heart. But back in the day, the devil was said to exist in a particular musical tone. For centuries, it was called the devil's interval — or, in Latin, diabolus in musica. In music theory, it's called the "tritone" because it's made of three whole steps.


"The reason it's unsettling is that it's ambiguous, unresolved," says Gerald Moshell, Professor of Music at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. "It wants to go somewhere. It wants to settle either here, or [there]. You don't know where it'll go, but it can't stop where it is."


There used to be rules against writing music that contained this interval. Moshell says that during the Renaissance, all music had one purpose: to be beautiful and express the majesty of God. Anything otherwise was studiously avoided. But once music was no longer shackled to the church, it was free to express all kinds of tension. The devil's interval was ideal for that.


From classical to jazz to rock and even Broadway musicals, the tritone conveys feelings ranging from forbidden love and longing to fear and defiance." - Judith Kogan

In addition to the Wagner example above here are a couple more:

MILES DAVIS - WALKIN'

SAINT SAENS - DANSE MACABRE

THRILLING

See here where Wayne Brady performs an excellent version of Michael Jackson's Thriller done in a Cab Calloway style:


WAYNE BRADY - THRILLER

Miles Davis - So What

MILES DAVIS - 'SO WHAT'


 Yeah, this was recorded in 1959 so doesn't fit Robert's criteria of modern nor his assertion that good music only came from the 1960s and 1970s.

So what!

ARE WE HUMAN - OR ARE WE DANCER?

I know that CURMUDGEONS INC.ⓒ has published something similar in the past about The Killers and their outstanding song Human but ROBERT THE LOSER (his latest nom du guerre) in a Post that had the life expectancy of a mayfly made, I think that I can remember the fleeting reference,  a scathing remark that THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON would only witter on about his recollections of music from the 1970s.

Well, I guess to be fair to Robert (and he's not a loser) a lot of my memories that connect with life experiences are from the 1970s (but not all). I was born in the 1950s and have managed to potter along to the now 2010s and I have great experiences from each decade that I can match to a song or a piece of music (Tibetan throat singing doesn't feature).

The Killers song featured in this Post isn't actually my favourite Killers song. My favourite is Mr Brightside (look it up) but both come from the 2000s. The song has a lot of resonance though as it's one of The Old Girl's favourites and was one of her best friend, Sheila's favourites. Whenever we were together, no matter where, The Old Girl and Sheila would get up and dance manically when Human was played. This could be in a pub or bar, at parties or, annoyingly, when we were playing snooker.

Here's a neat photograph of The Old Girl, Sheila and The Old Girl's mother dancing to The Killers Human at a get-together at our Pt. Chevalier house in 2007.

And here is another of them dancing to, yes, The Killers at an outdoor concert at, I think, The Auckland Zoo:

And once again, The Old Girl and Sheila dancing to Human when we were supposed to be playing snooker!

In the first two photographs are The Old Girl with her best friend Sheila and The Old Girl's mother who sadly both have since died. The last photo is just of The Old Girl and Sheila.
Call me an old softie but these photographs immediately remind me of the love, humour and good times that were had at the time and - the music that connects them is The Killers song Human.
Definitely not from the 1970s but it's good enough to have been so.

SPILL THE WINE - WASTE THAT TIME

Back in the early 1970s when I was at university I used to get bored by the lectures, the seminars and basically the studying and I would, in the middle of the day jump in my car and go for a drive.

Depending on the time of the day, my mood or other commitments the drive could be just around the Kelburn area or could be to Makara or around the bays. Often it was the music on the car radio that influenced me. I remember when Eric Burdon's Spill The Wine was being played regularly and it was just perfect to drive aimlessly to. I can't remember what radio station I was tuned into back then but a good DJ would match a particular track like Spill The Wine with similar music so this would make for a good half hour or hours drive.

A nice wastage of time which I admit became a habit and even when I was working in my later life if I got bored with meetings and work I'd jump in the car and go for a drive, listening to music.

I always felt sorry for people who had jobs where they were stuck in the one place.