I like to watch the night sky and stars on a clear evening.
A couple of weeks ago when The Old Girl was working late in the study (her office) I turned the TV off and all the lights (other than the study) and sat on the deck looking at the stars. At one point, to get a better view I lay down on my back on the deck table and stayed like that for a while ... until The Old Girl finished up in the study and came into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She had thought I'd gone to bed and when she saw me on the table out on the deck she jumped and exclaimed "what the hell are you doing out there?"
I told her that I was looking at the Southern Cross. She in turn looked at me strangely. I then told her that sometimes, when she's away, on a clear evening I climb up on the roof to get a better view. She was aghast and said "not on my watch Matey!"
I was thinking of Patti Smith's song 'Beneath the Southern Cross'. Here's an excellent live performance she did at an interview on Skavlan:
Another Southern Cross song I like is the Crosby Stills, Nash one 'Southern Cross'. Beautiful.
There are some others but these two have a resonance with me.
It's nice and clear tonight - I think I'll set the ladder up and get up on the roof.
When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day
I heard a snippet from an interview with a musician - I think it was Billy Bragg - when I was driving today. He said something along the lines of keeping his music contemporary and as his views and politics have changed over the years he has no hesitation in changing the things that he said in his youth.
This got me thinking. There are so many bands and musicians nowadays who are still on tour playing the same songs 50 or more years later that frankly have little to do with the septuagenarians now performing them.
Many songs need an update. Here are some examples.
Paul McCartney 'When I'm 64.'
Original
When I get older losing my hair Many years from now Will you still be sending me a Valentine Birthday greetings bottle of wine
Revised
Now that I'm older having lost much of my hair Many years ago Will you be sending me some Levothyroxine
Simvastatin and Hydrochlorothiazide?
Rolling Stones 'Stray Cat Blues'.
Original
I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs I know you're no scare-eyed honey. There'll be a feast if you just come upstairs But it's no hanging matter It's no capital crime I can see that you're fifteen years old No I don't want your I.D. And I can see that you're so far from home But it's no hanging matter It's no capital crime
Revised
I hear the clatter of boots on the stairs I'm now scare-eyed and it's not funny. There'll be a mess when the cops come upstairs It might not be a hanging matter But it's now Me Too and a capital crime I know that she was fifteen years old I should have asked for her I.D. And I could see she was so far from home
It might not be a hanging matter But it's now Me Too and a capital crime.
Ringo Starr 'Sweet Sixteen'.
Original
Woo
You come on like a dream Peaches and cream Lips like strawberry wine You're sixteen, you're beautiful and you're mine (ooh, mine all mine)
Revised
Oo
You're a bit wide in the beam
Too much peaches and cream
I see on your lips you've been drinking my wine
You'r sixty eight now, you're still beautiful and you're mine (ooh, mine all mine).
Elton John 'Saturday nights alright for fighting'.
Original
Oh, don't give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline Oh, Saturday night's alright for fighting Get a little action in Get about as oiled as a diesel train Gonna set this dance alight 'Cause Saturday night's the night I like Saturday night's alright, alright, alright, oo
Revised
Oh, don't give us none of your condescension We don't want to go out Oh, Saturday night's just right for a night in Get a little television in Have a shandy and a glass of chardy Hope I can get my pants off alright 'Cause Saturday night's the night I like Saturday night's alright, all night, I'm tight, oo
You know that The Curmudgeons Incⓒ brings you the latest innovation in posting so it won't come as a surprise that, for the first time in this blogging community we introduce a post that's a collaboration of two bloggers - myself, The Music Curmudgeon and another The Curmudgeons Incⓒ blogger, The Religious Curmudgeon.
No need to thank us.
Due to the overwhelming success of the 'concept' post "THINGS WERE DESPERATE UP NORTH" we've written this new post titled MAD ON A TUNE.
Given the religious theme, which is almost as important as the music theme, The Religious Curmudgeon joins me in the selection and the presentation of the songs. This is kind of like those silly old duffers Phil O'Brien and Simon Morris who've been presenting the holiday music show Matinee Idle since Christ was a cowboy.
The Religious Curmudgeon ...
... and I will provide some banter like Phil and Simon do. We're not as old as those old twats so our banter will be fresher with a bit more Mmmmm (an old coffee joke there that'll appeal to the old instant coffee drinkers who follow our blogs).
This list will not be definitive. It could be, I assure you but there's an old ex schoolteacher who reads these blogs and finds it hard to concentrate. There's also an old toilet cleaner who has difficulty reading anything that doesn't include his own name and/or reference to Jesus or The Holy Ghost. Fortunately this post has The Madonna as its theme and we know that this guy has a fetishunhealthy interest passion for The Virgin Mary and has been known to photograph statues of her and keep these in a secret photo album. In the interests of brevity we have shoRtened the list to 12.
ONE
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: First up is 'Food For Thought (Ivory Madonna)' by UB40.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: "Ivory madonna dying in the dust, waiting for the manna coming from the west." Ha ha - I thought the lyrics to this were I'm a prima donna, dining out on toast.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Well it's not bloody funny matey. The song was inspired by the massacre of Kampuchea, which was a state existing from 1975 to 1979 in what is now Cambodia. It was run by the Khmer Rouge, a Communist group that controlled the state with an iron fist and murdered all who opposed it.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Sheesh! Just as well I didn't mention what I thought the rest of that lyric was. This is starting out well.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: well.... listen:
TWO
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: (sulking).
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: OK, sulk then. I'll take your turn with the second choice. Any search of music with 'Madonna' in the title or lyrics predictably turns up that awful scrawny old tart who goes by the stage name Madonna, commonly known as Mags. Personally I can't stand her but I suppose that you do given your insensitivity to religion, politics, society and decency in general ..... wait .... let me finish. This Madonna tart has used religious themes in her songs for sensationalist reasons - take the song 'Like a Virgin' for example. I know one old catholic guy that will get upset and/or excited by that. My choice though, to get this Madonna person out of the way is the song 'Like a Prayer' This was controversial as it featured Mags dancing in front of burning crosses, experiencing stigmata and kissing a statue of a Black Jesus who comes to life in a church.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Robert will be conflicted then. He'll like it and hate it at the same time. Good choice.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Ah - you're back then. Thanks. Watch this:
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: That was truly awful - she's going to hell for sure. Thank Robert's god that we got that out of the way. I'll have a go now but I'll find something that doesn't have 'madonna' in the theme or title. How about the Virgin Mary?
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: fill your boots man.
THREE
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: OK. We've given Robert a bit of stick already which is unfair - or at least unfair so early in this 'concept' post so, especially for him I think a Marion antiphon is called for. as you know The Religious Curmudgeon, Marian antiphons are a group of hymns in the Gregorian chant repertory of the Catholic Church, sung in honour of the Virgin Mary.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Er , yeah, yeah I knew that ...
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: OK. here goes:
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: That was really horrible - worse than old Mags's caterwauling.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Yeah, sorry about that. We'd better get some decent Gregorian stuff in to make up for it. Try this:
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: That's better even if it didn't feature Mary the virgin. You'd better have another turn.
FOUR
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Like Charles Mingus who we referenced in that last post who plays too much double bass music, I've found that songs about Mary have too many damned religious references. I thought I'd break things up a bit with a song from one of my favourite bands from the 1970s - Jethro Tull. Here's 'Cross-Eyed Mary' for your education, edification and elucidation...
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: (sotto voce) Wanker.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: what's that?
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Aqualung I said. It's from that album.
FIVE
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: My turn again. I think we're drifting away from the 'madonna' theme. I thought that it'd be easy. Maybe that old guy Richard was right and a theme of storms would have been better. We're used to storms up here and there are some good songs about storms. I can think of ....
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Franklin!
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: What?
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Aretha Franklin. She did that excellent 'Mary Don't You Weep' song.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Oh, I thought that now you were calling me a wanker.
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: No - why would I ...hey!
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: OK - moving on. It was supposed to be my turn but I'll accept that. I love Aretha Franklin's songs. Listen to this:
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Great. That leaves old Mags in the dust.
THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON: Ivory madonna dying in the dust?
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Ha ha - I see what you did there.
SIX
THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: My turn again. Aretha's going to be a hard act to follow but I'll give it a try. As I get older - and no funny comments because I happen to know that you're exactly the same age as me - I've harked back to things from my past. When it comes to music the seminal influence obviously has been 1960s music. While I didn't like all of the songs that 'got into my head' some I did and others just kind of sat there. The Monkees are a good example. In many ways they were naff and the TV show was kind of stupid but the songs, particularly the Neil Diamond penned ones were pretty good. This next song I put in the 'got into my head' category. It never was a favourite but I do remember at the time driving my youngest sister nuts by saying to her when ever I saw her "Mary Mary - where're you going to?"
****************************
THE CURMUDGEON: Well done guys, I couldn't have done better myself. Let's have a break now and call the above PART ONE. We can continue with the rest of the 12 songs in PART TWO should it be necessary. I want to get some feedback from the readers first. I also have to get on with cooking dinner - Pasta Siciliana, that orange and kumara dish I love and The Old Girl doesn't. I'll make enough for my dinner tonight and tomorrow night. I love this dish.
Being indoors on a rainy day - actually a long rainy week I watched videos and documentaries on YouTube on the TV. One of the docos I watched was about pop/rock music from the 1960s and 1970s and the emergence of 'concept' albums.
This gave me a great idea that I thought that I'm obliged to share with you. Maybe The Music Curmudgeon could write 'concept' blog posts. BINGO!
The first will be a look at what songs are applicable to each day of the week. Now I'm not saying that these are definitive as there are just so many songs out there with days of the week in the titles - they are my choices and, in some cases the overwhelming most popular choices.
MONDAY
There are lots of songs about Monday but we would be remiss for not selecting the Mama's and Poppa's song 'Monday Monday'.
It's not my favourite but in this concept series we will often be looking at the most popular options.
I prefer 'Blue Monday' by New Order
TUESDAY
The 'biggie' of course is 'Tuesday Afternoon' by The Moody Blues. Back in about 1969 I would have voted this top as well.
I prefer The Pogues 'Tuesday Morning' now. The sound is a lot like the 'Dunedin' sound in 1980's New Zealand released by Flying Nun Records as popularised by The Verlaines, The Chills, Toy Love and The Clean. great stuff.
WEDNESDAY
It's hard to go past the talented Paul Simon and 'Wednesday Morning 3AM' is still good and no doubt the most popular of the Wednesday songs.
Charles Mingus' s 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting' is pretty damned good though. Mingus isn't first favourite of mine in Jazz music (too much damned double bass) but I was listening to him on Miles Davis's 'Blue Moods' album the other night while I was playing snooker (the stereo system is in the snooker room).
THURSDAY
Maybe not the 'biggie' here but, in its day DD Smash's 'Outlook for Thursday' was pretty popular. Dave Dobbyn, like Neil Finn is a really good songwriter. I like this.
For something a bit darker though with some scary undercurrent check out David Bowie's 'Thursday's Child'. Be careful.
FRIDAY
For guys of our age there's no contest for the first pick. The Easybeats 'Friday On My Mind' pretty much defined the 1960s and our priorities. Still sounds damned good.
In later years though I discovered Steely Dan which, to me, is the best by far rock/pop band. I'm so glad I saw Becker and Fagen playing in Auckland a few years ago before Walter Becker died.
SATURDAY
Yes I know Elton John is famous for his 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' song but Elton John's not for me. I'll go back to David Bowie whose 'Drive In Saturday' was just as big and a whole lot better. This is really good - buddy!
'Saturday Night At The Movies' by The Drifters is classy but for older class I'll go with Sam Cooke's 'Another Saturday Night'. Lovely.
SUNDAY
The 'biggie' no doubt is U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and I'd better put it here because I did say that we'd be looking at the most popular options.
For me though, my youth was defined by the 1960s British music from the likes of Cream, Traffic, Rolling Sones etc but especially The Small Faces. This song, 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon' I adored when at school in about the fifth form.
I trust that you enjoyed this 'concept'. who knows it could be extended into months of the year, seasons of the year (Vivaldi and Stravinsky wrote some tunes about these), planets (Holst will be at the forefront there but The Moody Blues could give him a run for his money not to mention Alabama 5 with 'Woke Up This Morning').
The Curmudgeon, in a recent post mentioned a couple of one-hit wonders that still resonate:
There are some others that I like - and, thinking of them this morning there's one song that I can't get out of my mind - 'A horse with no name' by America.
Now. I know that America had other songs and maybe hits but this song is the only one I can think they did.
Wikipedia informs me that:
"Originally called "Desert Song", "Horse" was written while the band was staying at the home of studio musician Arthur Brown, near Puddleton, Dorset. The first two demos were recorded there by Jeff Dexter and Dennis Elliott, which were intended to capture the sensation of the hot, dry desert that had been depicted in a Salvador Dali painting, and in a picture by M.C. Escher which featured a horse. Writer Dewey Bunnell also says he remembered his childhood travels through the Arizona and New Mexico desert when his family lived at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Bunnell has explained that "A Horse with No Name" was "a metaphor for a vehicle to get away from life's confusion into a quiet, peaceful place"."
OK, probably a bit too much information but for the music geeks in this blogging community - two thirds of the community at last count here's some incomprehensible music blurb:
"Blah blah blah blah blah Robert blah blah blah blah Richard blah blah bla ....."
Sorry, I was still thinking of that Gary Larson cartoon that The Curmudgeon posted - the one that Robert either didn't read or didn't understand.
Here's the Wikipedia quote I was looking for.
"Composition.
"A Horse with No Name" was recorded in E minor with acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drum kit, and bongo drums. The only other chord is a D, fretted on the low E and G strings, second fret. A 12-string guitar plays an added F♯ (second fret, high E string) on the back beat of the Em. A noted feature of the song is the driving bass line with a hammer-hook in each chorus. A "waterfall"-type solo completes the arrangement. Produced by Ian Samwell on the day of final recording at Morgan Studios, when at first the group thought it was too corny and took some convincing to actually play it. Gerry Beckley has explained in 'Acoustic Guitar' magazine (March 2007) that the correct tuning for the guitar is D E D G B D, low to high. The chord pattern that repeats throughout the entire song is: 202002 (Em), then 020202 and 000202. The tuning is unique to this song; they did not use it on any other America song."
Got that.? Maybe you should just go back and listen to the song again.
Well, not us today. We've had a cracker of a day here - probably the hottest for a while. I know that Richard will complain about the brevity of this post but then, who's he to talk? His frequency of posting seems nowadays to be directly opposite to his frequency of urination in the middle of the night. Let's just be thankful that he doesn't blog in bed.
I must admit that this post was inspired by The Twitter Curmudgeon's new post OI YOU!
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