In my mind, music linked together

Town Without Pity

Quite often, not to your surprise, music gets linked together in my mind.

American classical composer Aaron Copeland finished Appalachian Spring in 1944, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. The ballet was written for dancer Martha Graham.

Copland uses Simple Gifts, a “Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village.”
Here is the song Simple Gifts, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss.
The Aaron Copland version of the Simple Gifts section is isolated here. The part starting at 2:24 was used as the theme for CBS Reports, which may be the first place I heard it.

Simple Gifts was also the template for Lord of the Dance, a hymn written by English songwriter Sydney Carter in 1963. It has been included in at least one hymnal I’ve sung from in the last quarter century.
Come to where the flavor is
As a kid, I thought the theme that accompanied the Marlboro cigarette commercials was magnificent.  I later discovered the tune from the movie The Magnificant Seven by Elmer Bernstein, which I have never seen.

Town Without Pity is a song performed by Gene Pitney and written by composer Dimitri Tiomkin and lyricist Ned Washington. I didn’t learn much about Pitney until after his commercial peak from 1961 to 1964.  The a cappella group, The Nylons, does an excellent cover version. The intro sounds to my ear very much like the theme to the television program Perry Mason, which I think is one of the finest pieces of pure music in that genre, especially the closing.

Of course, the William Tell Overture from Gioachino Rossini’s last opera is quite familiar. The third movement is often used in many animated features to represent a new day. Then the fourth movement was used as the theme for the television program The Lone Ranger. That final movement speeded up appears in the movie A Clockwork Orange.
Earth Day
Since it’s Earth Day, I thought of picking some appropriate songs for the occasion. Instead, there are links here and here and here. Inevitably, there is some overlap, but other tracks are unique to a list.

Wordle songs

Usual is not unusual

Wordle songsSometimes I consider a word because of a song when I do Wordle. So I call them Wordle songs.  Not all of them work. The ones below with the > means the first word is what I thought of, but the word to the right is the answer.

POLKA (3):- My Melody Of Love – Bobby Vinton. My hometown of Binghamton, NY, has a large eastern European population.

WORSE (2):  The Trouble With Normal  – Bruce Cockburn. “The trouble with normal is it always gets worse.”

SYRUP (3): Dang Me – Roger Miller. “Sugar’s sweet, and so is maple syruple.” (Rhymes with purple.)

ARROW > ARBOR (4) – Poison Arrow – ABC

STAGE (3): Are You Lonesome Tonight – Elvis Presley. “You know someone said that the world’s a stage, and each of us must play a part.” Someone?

SLOOP> SCOLD (5): Sloop Kohn B – Beach Boys

APPLE (3): Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree – the Andrews Sisters

NINTH (4): If Six Was Nine – Jimi Hendrix (this was on Feb 6, 2023)

STEAM> SWEAT: Steam– Peter Gabriel

SWEAT (4): Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) – C&C Music Factory

MAGIC (3): It’s Magic – Pilot. By the way, I’m sad that I hear the damn Ozempic ad song every time the tune runs in my head.

Hinting without hinting

USUAL (3): It’s Not Unusual -Tom Jones. My wife, who was doing the Wordle after I had, was having difficulty. So she asked, “Is it a usual word?” I replied, “It’s not unusual,” which was fun for me.

ENVOY > ENJOY: The Envoy –  Warren Zevon

DANCE (5): Do You Wanna Dance – Bobby Freeman

SWING > FISHY (5) – Swing To The Right – Utopia

WORRY (4): Three Little Birds – Bob Marley. “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”

CONDO (5): Buy Me A Condo – Weird Al Yankovic

HAPPY (6): Happy – Rolling Stones

DRIVE (3): Drive – The Cars and Drive – REM

SPELL (3): I Put A Spell On You – Creedence Clearwater Revival, which I heard before the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins version

DREAM (4) – Dream A Little Dream Of Me – Mass Cass, although it appeared on a Mamas and Papas album

CARRY (4): Carry On – Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

GROVE (4) – China Grove  – Doobie Brothers

DANDY (6)  Dandy -Herman’s Hermits. I know it’s a Kinks song, but I heard this first.

BTW, I’ve now played 407 games. I’ve won 405 and lost 2, which shows up as 100%. I’ve got zero ones, 4 twos, 110 threes, 111 fours, 96 fives, and 84 sixes.

There is a dark tune called Wordle by Ahniwa Ferrari. Tom Rosenthal did  Drift Along Small World, a song with only five-letter words. Undoubtedly there are others.

April rambling: No irony

Clarence Thomas

The Party of “Family Values” Sees No Irony in Axing Child Labor Protections

In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers,  Reps. Pearson and Jones, from the state Legislature for “breaching decorum” in their role in a protest that called for more gun control after a school shooting in Nashville.  This move has occurred twice in the state since the aftermath of the Civil War. Rep. Johnson maintained her seat. Outrageous, even though they were both reinstated,

Related: Education Week’s 2023 School Shooting Tracker. One Nation, under gun violence: America tops 100 mass shootings in 2023. Also, radicalizing against guns

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reportedly spent decades accepting exorbitant gifts, luxury vacations, and yacht rides from a major GOP power player—none disclosed to the American public. It may be legal, though unethicalbribery. Ought he be impeached?

The djt indictment, annotated

Candace Owens—Friend of Kanye, Power Troll, Parler “Trad Wife” – Owens was the source of a bizarre family debate.

Debunking the myths and dangers of qualified immunity

From 1440: The Maryland attorney general has accused officials of covering up and failing to act in the sexual abuse of at least 600 children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore since the 1940s. The 463-page report named 156 former clergy, deacons, teachers, and other employees and revealed some children were subject to abuse by multiple abusers. Church officials were also accused of silencing victims and dismissing or ignoring abuse claims.

‘Poverty, By America’ shows how the rest of us benefit by keeping others poor

High Unemployment Continues for Young Minority Men 

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Solitary Confinement and  TANF and Timeshares

A Government Witch Hunt — Masood Haque’s Film Witness. This was a terrible miscarriage of justice in Albany, NY.

‘Hopeless’: Parole denial for 71-year-old Alabama woman with terminal illness highlights ‘tremendous injustice’

More links
He Wanted to Unclog Cities. Now He’s ‘Public Enemy No. 1.’ Researchers like Carlos Moreno, the professor behind a popular urban planning concept, struggle with conspiracy theories and death threats.

Russian defector sheds light on Putin paranoia and his secret train network

If Family or Friend is Arrested

How Generative AI Will Transform the Worlds of TV, Film, Music, and Gaming versus Hollywood’s AI Anxiety Is Showing

A Scammer Who Tricks Instagram Into Banning Influencers Has Never Been Identified. We May Have Found Him.

Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best Films of the 21st Century (So Far)

DNA Stories | Storytelling Tips and Examples. DNA Day is April 25

Seymour Stein, Sire Records Co-Founder Who Signed Madonna, The Ramones and More, Dies at 80

Mark Russell, Piano-Playing Political Satirist, Dies at 90

Louisiana Army base to be renamed for Albany’s Henry Johnson. Currently known as Fort Polk, the base in June will bear the name of the World War I Medal of Honor winner

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Best Fiction Sports Movies Ever Made, Part 1 and  Part 2

“You Must Have Learned Something in 20 Years”: reflections on two decades of blogging by Doug Muder

Kelly’s Tabular Resolution

Speedway math strikes again

Now I Know: The $1 Hotel Where Privacy Isn’t Included and The “I Don’t Care” Collect Call Scam and The Man Who Didn’t Work For a Living and When Make Up Boxed Out Makeup

MUSIC

Grumpy Trumpy Felon from Jamaica in Queens!- Randy Rainbow

Gordon Lustig‘s Randy Rainbow (You’re Annoying to Me) A PARODY PARODY! and Help Me, Randy (Rainbow)

Prelude in C-sharp minor and The Crag by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) – The Choir & The Chorus

The Place Where Dreams Come True/End Titles from Field of Dreams by James Horner

A World Without Love – Peter Asher ft. Lyle Lovett, 3-14-23 City Winery, NYC

Put on a Happy Face  – Dick Van Dyke, from the then-running Broadway show, Bye Bye Birdie

Bits from You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Guys and Dolls and Jersey Boys and Grease, and Little Shop Of Horrors, all in Japanese

Find Your People – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Overture to The Mandarin’s Son by Cesar Cui

Coverville 1436: Cover Stories for Poison and Sugar Ray and 1437: The 60th Anniversary of Please Please Me, and 1438: Cover Stories for Pharrell Williams, The Eels, and Vangelis

Tell Me Why -MonaLisa Twins

Oh, Noah– The Jubalaires

Hi Lilli, Hi Lo – Jimmy Durante

Worthy is the Lamb

Hallelujah!

In 2020, our church choir planned to sing the last piece from the Handel Messiah, Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain, with the Amen on Easter Sunday. The text is from Revelation 5:12-13. While I had heard it many times and loved it, I had never sung the piece.

Then COVID happened. What a killjoy. It literally killed my joy of singing. 

In 2023, our church choir will sing Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain with several instrumentalists on Easter Sunday. The trickiest part for me is the melisma in the Amen, especially starting at measure 110 when the four parts interweave. What has been helpful is a video at Chord Perfect. I’ve been studying the bass part, but here are the soprano, alto, and tenor. CyberBass is a similar service. 

Then at the end of the service, as we did every year I’ve been a member, except for 2020 and 2021, the choir will finish with the Hallelujah chorus. And once again, members of the congregation who know the piece will come forward and join in. It is a joyous celebration. 

Speaking of which…

Every week at 8 pm ET, someone in the choir looks at the community level in Albany County. In 2022, to the best of my recollection, it was green (low) for only one week, just before Easter.

In 2023, it’s been green (low) for THREE weeks, which may be meaningless for all unconcerned about the virus.  For those of us who still care, it’s excellent news. I should note that one choir tested positive for COVID this week, so I took my first test this week in a few months. It’s negative, just the seasonal allergies.

By the way, Rensselaer County (Troy) has been in lockstep with Albany County, COVID-wise, since I began tracking the results weekly in late 2021.

So it will be a very happy Easter for this group of singers and the community.

Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain – VOCES8 & Academy of Ancient Music

Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain -| The Tabernacle Choir

(Grammarly wants me to change it to The Slain Lamb)

Hallelujah – with vocal score

Hallelujah – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge 

And what the heck

Hallelujah – A Soulful Celebration

1933 #1s: Stormy Weather

Forty-Second Street

stormy weatherThere was stormy weather politically in 1933. From A Century of Pop by Joel Whitburn: “Adolph Hitler’s rise to power as Chancellor of Germany coincided with FDR’s inauguration.”

Meanwhile, the Great Depression raged on. “Mirroring the national  economy, the record industry underwent an almost total collapse.” It sold only “six million discs in 1932 – compared to the peak of 140 million just five years earlier. The opportunity to hear all popular songs on the radio for free… also contributed to the desperate slump.”

The Last Round-Up – George Olsen with Joe Morrison on vocals (Columbia), nine weeks at #1

Stormy Weather – Leo Reisman with Harold Arlen on vocals (Victor), eight weeks at #1, from Cotton Club Parade. Arlen co-wrote it with Ted Kohler.

Love Is The Sweetest Thing– Ray Noble with Al Bowlly, vocals (Victor), five weeks at #1. From the film Say It With Music 

Lazybones – Ted Lewis (Columbia), four weeks at #1. Purportedly written in only 20 minutes by Hoagy Carmichael and young Johnny Mercer.

You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me– Guy Lombardo with Bing Crosby, vocals (Brunswick), four weeks at #1. From the movie musical Forty-Second Street

Forty-Second Street – Don Bestor with Dudley Mecum, vocals (Victor), three weeks at #1.  From the movie musical of the same name.

Stormy Weather (Keeps Rain’ All The Time) – Ethel Waters (Brunswick), three weeks at #1

The Last Round-Up – Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo, vocals (Brunswick), three weeks at #1. From The New Ziegfeld Follies. 

Did You Ever See A Dream Walking? – Eddy Duchin with Lew Sherwood, vocals.  (Victor), three weeks at #1. From the film Sitting Pretty.

Shadow Waltz– Bing Crosby (Brunswick), two weeks at #1. From the movie Gold Diggers of 1933.

Repeating Top 3 hits

The charts showed a lot of repeating songs. Stormy Weather also got to #2 by Guy and Carmen Lombardo and #4 as an instrumental by Duke Ellington. The Last Round-Up reached #2 by Don Bestor/Neal Buckley and separately by Bing Crosby. Did You Ever See A Dream Walking? reached #2 with the Lombardos.

Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf made it to #2 by Don Bestor with Florence Case, Frank Sherry, and Charles Yontz, vocals. It got to #3 by Victor Young. Yes, the song from the 1933 Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs was reused often.

Finally, Shuffle Off To Buffalo reached #2 with two different recordings: Hal Kemp/Skinny Ennis and Don Bestor/Maurice Cross. It was also from Forty-Second Street

Ramblin' with Roger
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