Paul McCartney was best at writing songs about the human condition. There is a tinge of sadness in today's song, but there's also hope and encouragement.
You know, that album was actually released before my time (I was still absorbing Sinatra and the other crooners whose albums my mother played constantly at home in the 1960's -- and listening to Big Band and my Dad's favorite, Nat King Cole). I had to look it up to see, and I read that the cover didn't go over well, so they replaced it. They were clearly trying out all kinds of in-your-face ideas back then, and some of what they did seems to have been designed for sheer shock value. I never enjoyed the John and Yoko business, to be honest. (And from what I have read, neither did the other Beatles. It's part of what broke up the band.) It seemed pointless exhibitionism to me at the time. As for Adorno, I am way out of my league with that question, knowing next to nothing about modern philosophers.
I have never been a fan, to be honest, of entertainers making politics their business. They have adoring fans, which is to be expected, but I want to be a fan of the music, not have the music (or the marketing of it) be used to nudge me politically, unless it's openly and honestly acknowledged as having that purpose. Alas.
I didn’t know about his Standards album but not surprised he ventured there. So many have (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, to name a few) just proving that the Great American Songbook is the Gold Standard.
I based my evaluation of Linda Ronstadt's voice on the standards she did, with Nelson Riddle. Excellent, even flawless. And yes, everyone it seems jumped on that bandwagon, after Willie Nelson made his great crossover album, with Stardust. ALL of those folks grew up when that great music was still in the air. Thay had to love it growing up, even if they were sort of what I was (a closet Sinatra fan)! The Songbook is simply great.
Love the Beatles---but I must confess a personal shortcoming (?).....Unless some word or line in pretty much ALL songs really catches me, I don't actually pay a lot of attention to lyrics. For example, one of my favorites, While My Guitar Gently Weeps...not only is the music terrific, but that title/lyric really caught my attention so I paid more attention to the actual lyrics, rather than JUST the overall "sound" of the whole. In a similar way, while not a big Peter Gabriel fan, the first time I heard the song Solsbury Hill, I was hooked because the music was terrific and in my head it became 'Salisbury', and therefore connected with King Arthur; and even though I was wrong, the lyrics really are terrific.
I have a LOT of music with lyrics in languages I have no clue about--but the sound of the WHOLE is wonderful.......A lot of music from Mali, a favorite is Habib Koite--no clue what the words are. Or Tuvan throat singing, especially from Huun Huur Tu...there is even a heavy metal group from the region which incorporates throat singing. A Particular favorite is 'Les derniers trouvères', a French ancient music ensemble which uses period instruments...terrific, but no clue what they're singing about. A more recent group I have gotten into is Faun, described as 'a German band doing pagan and medieval music'.........once again, no clue about the words (probably just as well), but the totality of the sound is wonderful.
Another is a Canadian 'ancient music' group called La Nef....my introduction to them was a CD of songs related to the Hieronymous Bosch painting of the same name, 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'--the songs are from a variety of traditions & languages, and the whole album is fantastic. The other 2 CD's I have of them are 'Music For Joan the Mad' and 'Montsegur'...after those, their music moved in a direction I didn't care for.
Mark, you remind me of my husband, who has always had trouble distinguishing sung lyrics. That's funny, because he actually is a poet, a very good one. Maybe it's because modern lyrics are often not quite grammatical? It's a brain logic thing, so if it doesn't fall into place you let the words go and just enjoy the song, sort of the way you do if you are listening in a language you don't know. You know from reading W&S that I'm kind of old-fashioned in my musical tastes -- though I love all sorts of different genres. I gave a listen to a couple of your links, and I can hear some of what appeals to you there. I will try to listen to some more of them when I get a moment. Thanks!
I think I may have mentioned in another comment that my musical tastes are extremely wide ranging; I grew up hearing Classical & Jazz at home, then in my teens started branching out into more and more different types...Honestly, I don't know anyone with as varied a music collection as I have...Some I noted above, there's also Japanese kodo drumming; Native American chants; Native American flute + (one group styles their music "synthacousticpunkarachinavijazz"); traditional Indian music e.g. Ravi Shankar, and a lot of combination genres...the Afro-Celt Soundsystem, Loreena Mckennit who combines Celtic w/ Middle Eastern (she has a song of St. John of the Cross poetry, 'Dark Night of the Soul')......and more recently, I've been very impressed with a lot of the 'covers' of songs on traditional Korean instrument (Gayageum).........here is one, going back to the Beatles.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npaCHtnFMgU Here Comes The Sun
....I get a little carried away when talking about music.....
Ah, The Beatles. Early 1960’s New York city and Beatlemania, radio station “WABeatleC” as the dj said. Car rides with 5 kids singing along seems every other song was Beatles. 1964 they had 6 #1 songs on Billboard. Living in London ‘66-‘67, the Beatles were gods. Back home they continued to dominate music. I still have to get my monthly Beatles fix. None better. Thanks for reminding me.
I'm glad to oblige, Bob! I didn't catch on to the Beatles until I hit high school in around 1970. But even in junior high, when I had to ride a long way on the school bus, of course we had on WABC. I remember "Hey Jude" taking up -- how MANY minutes? of ride time for many weeks! And good old Cousin Brucie! To be in England when the Beatles were on top, wow! My own father saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show and commented that "they were okay, but they weren't nearly as good as The Four Seasons!" Haha. Later on, he admitted to me that he liked songs like "Michelle" and "Penny Lane" and "Yesterday." He liked some Elton John songs, too. Dad liked harmony.
I have always loved Blackbird by McCartney and thought you might pick it this week. I don’t think I have ever heard his version of Bye Bye Blackbird—I am going to look into the album! I have to confess my favorite version of that song is Joe Cocker from the movie Sleepless in Seattle. I like its bluesey feel. And it is hard to overcome the connections a song takes on when it is in a movie that you enjoyed watching—though i do not enjoy that movie quite as I did-tastes change.
How do you interpret the Beatles butcher babies album cover? Seems to have somehow platformed a normalization of abortion.
Didn't Adorno write some of their lyrics.
You know, that album was actually released before my time (I was still absorbing Sinatra and the other crooners whose albums my mother played constantly at home in the 1960's -- and listening to Big Band and my Dad's favorite, Nat King Cole). I had to look it up to see, and I read that the cover didn't go over well, so they replaced it. They were clearly trying out all kinds of in-your-face ideas back then, and some of what they did seems to have been designed for sheer shock value. I never enjoyed the John and Yoko business, to be honest. (And from what I have read, neither did the other Beatles. It's part of what broke up the band.) It seemed pointless exhibitionism to me at the time. As for Adorno, I am way out of my league with that question, knowing next to nothing about modern philosophers.
I have never been a fan, to be honest, of entertainers making politics their business. They have adoring fans, which is to be expected, but I want to be a fan of the music, not have the music (or the marketing of it) be used to nudge me politically, unless it's openly and honestly acknowledged as having that purpose. Alas.
I didn’t know about his Standards album but not surprised he ventured there. So many have (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, to name a few) just proving that the Great American Songbook is the Gold Standard.
I based my evaluation of Linda Ronstadt's voice on the standards she did, with Nelson Riddle. Excellent, even flawless. And yes, everyone it seems jumped on that bandwagon, after Willie Nelson made his great crossover album, with Stardust. ALL of those folks grew up when that great music was still in the air. Thay had to love it growing up, even if they were sort of what I was (a closet Sinatra fan)! The Songbook is simply great.
I think our lives had the same soundtrack! And don’t fret about more snow. Mud season will soon be here. Personally I’d rather the snow.
I agree all around. Mud season, indeed! I actually like snow as long as I don't have to be on the roads in it.
Love the Beatles---but I must confess a personal shortcoming (?).....Unless some word or line in pretty much ALL songs really catches me, I don't actually pay a lot of attention to lyrics. For example, one of my favorites, While My Guitar Gently Weeps...not only is the music terrific, but that title/lyric really caught my attention so I paid more attention to the actual lyrics, rather than JUST the overall "sound" of the whole. In a similar way, while not a big Peter Gabriel fan, the first time I heard the song Solsbury Hill, I was hooked because the music was terrific and in my head it became 'Salisbury', and therefore connected with King Arthur; and even though I was wrong, the lyrics really are terrific.
I have a LOT of music with lyrics in languages I have no clue about--but the sound of the WHOLE is wonderful.......A lot of music from Mali, a favorite is Habib Koite--no clue what the words are. Or Tuvan throat singing, especially from Huun Huur Tu...there is even a heavy metal group from the region which incorporates throat singing. A Particular favorite is 'Les derniers trouvères', a French ancient music ensemble which uses period instruments...terrific, but no clue what they're singing about. A more recent group I have gotten into is Faun, described as 'a German band doing pagan and medieval music'.........once again, no clue about the words (probably just as well), but the totality of the sound is wonderful.
Another is a Canadian 'ancient music' group called La Nef....my introduction to them was a CD of songs related to the Hieronymous Bosch painting of the same name, 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'--the songs are from a variety of traditions & languages, and the whole album is fantastic. The other 2 CD's I have of them are 'Music For Joan the Mad' and 'Montsegur'...after those, their music moved in a direction I didn't care for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08n2b9IU78Q La Nef
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XTPe8y0s0 Faun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx5KVjsmKIo Les derniers trouvères
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3c_4Sp7Q3E Les derniers trouvères
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9t0QsEtR3s Les derniers trouvères
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHyFwLfgmvs Huun Huur Tu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tKZF3yYXpA Habib Koite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68483tVx0eA Alegria (Cirque du Soleil)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gITHJlFqXCc Zooby Dooby (3 Idiots...bollywood film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc43tD6-E4U Tere Naina (My Name is Khan--bollywood, filmed in US)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMgzTMSosQA Taare Zameen Par (Like Stars On Earth--bollywood film)
Mark, you remind me of my husband, who has always had trouble distinguishing sung lyrics. That's funny, because he actually is a poet, a very good one. Maybe it's because modern lyrics are often not quite grammatical? It's a brain logic thing, so if it doesn't fall into place you let the words go and just enjoy the song, sort of the way you do if you are listening in a language you don't know. You know from reading W&S that I'm kind of old-fashioned in my musical tastes -- though I love all sorts of different genres. I gave a listen to a couple of your links, and I can hear some of what appeals to you there. I will try to listen to some more of them when I get a moment. Thanks!
I think I may have mentioned in another comment that my musical tastes are extremely wide ranging; I grew up hearing Classical & Jazz at home, then in my teens started branching out into more and more different types...Honestly, I don't know anyone with as varied a music collection as I have...Some I noted above, there's also Japanese kodo drumming; Native American chants; Native American flute + (one group styles their music "synthacousticpunkarachinavijazz"); traditional Indian music e.g. Ravi Shankar, and a lot of combination genres...the Afro-Celt Soundsystem, Loreena Mckennit who combines Celtic w/ Middle Eastern (she has a song of St. John of the Cross poetry, 'Dark Night of the Soul')......and more recently, I've been very impressed with a lot of the 'covers' of songs on traditional Korean instrument (Gayageum).........here is one, going back to the Beatles.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npaCHtnFMgU Here Comes The Sun
....I get a little carried away when talking about music.....
If you are going to get carried away, music is the way to go! I love "Here Comes the Sun!" The Beatles really ran the gamut with their music.
Great picks
Thank you, Janet! I've really enjoyed the past few weeks.
Ah, The Beatles. Early 1960’s New York city and Beatlemania, radio station “WABeatleC” as the dj said. Car rides with 5 kids singing along seems every other song was Beatles. 1964 they had 6 #1 songs on Billboard. Living in London ‘66-‘67, the Beatles were gods. Back home they continued to dominate music. I still have to get my monthly Beatles fix. None better. Thanks for reminding me.
I'm glad to oblige, Bob! I didn't catch on to the Beatles until I hit high school in around 1970. But even in junior high, when I had to ride a long way on the school bus, of course we had on WABC. I remember "Hey Jude" taking up -- how MANY minutes? of ride time for many weeks! And good old Cousin Brucie! To be in England when the Beatles were on top, wow! My own father saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show and commented that "they were okay, but they weren't nearly as good as The Four Seasons!" Haha. Later on, he admitted to me that he liked songs like "Michelle" and "Penny Lane" and "Yesterday." He liked some Elton John songs, too. Dad liked harmony.
I have always loved Blackbird by McCartney and thought you might pick it this week. I don’t think I have ever heard his version of Bye Bye Blackbird—I am going to look into the album! I have to confess my favorite version of that song is Joe Cocker from the movie Sleepless in Seattle. I like its bluesey feel. And it is hard to overcome the connections a song takes on when it is in a movie that you enjoyed watching—though i do not enjoy that movie quite as I did-tastes change.
Like?! More like - love! Thanks, Debra.
I'm glad!