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Friday 9 December 2016

Music

I know that Richard(of RBB) thinks that I'm an old reactionary when it comes to my taste in music.



I actually managed to hide his guitar last week when he was going to play our bloody school Karakia as an introduction to our usual Wednesday morning torture session called "Professional Development".  I know it's not his fault.  He has been told to play, to accompany the 'Dedicated singing of the dedicated teachers at Nuova Lazio High School in their morning paean to the f*cking non-existent spirits/gods of our Maori colleagues.

I don't believe in any Gods, gods, spirits, ghosts, invisible beings of any type, so I don't sing.  I stand mute.  All the staff know of my attitide.

I'm not demonstrating against the palaeolithic culture of our Maori, just making a stand against any sort of spiritualism.

Knowing that Richard(of RBB) is also a rabid atheist, I'm surprised that he even allows himself to play the bloody music, but he does.

It's Okay, Richard (of RBB), I forgive you.  After all, as the Germans said in 1945, Befehl ist Befehl.


But I do like music.

Growing up in Scotland in the 50s (20th century, I'm not that bloody old) I was introduced to the music my Mum and Dad liked.

We were a working class family.  My Dad was a cop in Glasgow, my Mum was a nurse, then a school secretary.  We had TV, a radio and a basic record player.

The good old Dansette, I think every home in the UK had one in the 50/60s

Our music was the nostalgic type.  The Black and White Minstrel Show was required viewing every week.  (Let the PC police sort that lot out.  Caucasians, in black-face, singing songs of the 30s.)

We just didn't know any better.

Mum and Dad used to play their kind of songs.  South Pacific.  And Nelson Eddy.

I now live within easy travelling distance to Tahiti, but SWMBO won't let me go ... sob


Then the Beatles began to become well-known. 

My first ever record purchase was a Parlophone 45rpm of "She Loves You" and my second was a copy of  Freddie and the Dreamers playing "If You Gotta Make A Fool of Somebody"

I cannot express the direness of those songs.  They were truly awful, and I cannot even listen to them now.

What a dick


Most modern music leaves me cold, but there are exceptions.

One is a song that I want played at my funeral.  I know I won't be there at all, in any form, but I want my old friends and relatives to remember me, so I'll make them cry.

It's Hallelujah, written by the late Leonard Cohen, and played beautifully by the late Jeff Buckley.
There are many  versions of this song, but I find this one the most emotive.

Enjoy.

20 comments:

  1. Sometimes music says the things we can't say ourselves....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Written from memory as I sit at my computer:
    C Am C Am F G C G C FG Am F G E Am Am | F F Am Am F F Am G C G - I hope I didn't miss any chords out. I've only just woken up and haven't finished my first coffee.
    Leonard Cohen is the best and, yes, it is possible to have spirituality without religion. Actually, I don't mind what style of music anyone listens to; unless, of course, it's Barbershop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll have to take your word about the chords, because it means bugger all to me.

      I loath Rap with a passion.

      Delete
  3. Damn, I just played through the song and those last two Am chords shouldn't be there. Also I was joking about the Barbershop thing, or was I? Here's a Barbershop joke - C E G Bb. Only musicians will get it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful song and a nice version of it.
    Look, when are you planning to pop your clogs? One must make plans you know.
    Will there be some decent scotch at the wake? I don't like the blended stuff unless it's Johnny Walker Blue or Chivas Regal Extra. No Islay malts please. They're too pungent. A nice Highland one will do nicely.

    Oh, almost forgot, you'll be missed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no immediate plans to "pop my clogs", and if I had my way it won't be until at least 2055.
      I've gone teetotal, so there will be plenty of tea and coffee available, but I've left strict instructions with SWMBO that a maximum of $5 will be available for refreshments.

      Delete
  5. That's a beautiful song. It's been sung by a lot of different people at this point and it's almost always really nice to listen to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is beautiful. I first consciously heard it only about 2 years ago, at a SOLE MIO concert. I searched found that the Late Leonard (cut-my-wrists) Cohen had composed and performed it, but I found this recording of the Late Jeff Buckley which I thought was superior to the original, especially in the guitar work. This music was also played at the funeral of a colleague only a couple of months ago. IF there is an afterlife (which I very strongly doubt) it would be nice to think of Derek listening to a duet played by Leonard and Jeff.

      Delete
  6. it is a crime to not go to Tahiti when it is that close! but I might gouge my eyes out if I had to listen to South Pacific.

    I do find it hard to believe in ghosts and invisible beings. Much more straight forward using science. But that is just me. I heard this past week that Donald Trump has nominated a nay-sayer on global warning to head the EPA. And apparently proceeded to find out who he should fire .... those that believed that crazy conspiracy theory on the whole global warming thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I completely agree, but SWMBO doesn't, a well, c'est la vie. Actually, a mate told me that the main city, Papete is a dirty dump, I felt so disillusioned. Sorry about your eyes.
      I feel really sorry about you getting old TRUMPette as your new boss. I don't suppose he'll survive that long.

      Don't forget, there's plenty of empty spaces down here, and we're a LONG way from possible fallout zones.

      Delete
  7. We had a Dansette of some kind - I remember it was black with a huge heavy needle arm.

    Then some point in the late 60s Dad bought Mum a huge stereogram - it was an HMV one. It was about five foot long! Most of it just empty space frankly! It had two smallish, about 8in oval speakers I think. More a piece of furniture than a stereo. But that had a much better arm and was where my growing album collection, Supertramp, Led Zep, Status Quo, Rush etc. got played.

    Somewhere about 10 years further on or so he bought Mum a music centre - deck, radio, cassette player all in one with two separate speakers and for a couple of years or so the huge stereogram somehow was show horned into my bedroom until I bought a music centre off my wife's brother not long before he sadly passed away.

    Memories! Actually the basis of our front room hi-fi is still the amp and speakers from the hi-fi my wife's brother had bought. He died in 1982 so that shows how old that is. Partly I can't upgrade it as there is so much sentimentality linked to it being his although I did replace the deck many years back and the CD player is an old NAD one I've had for years and years now

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, the stereogram, I think you are right. It was more a piece of furniture that happened to play music.

      The way things are going, the CD/DVD is going to go the way of vinyl, as downloads and flash memory are now so cheap.

      Delete
  8. It's total joy to see you back in blogville, TSB!
    And I agree with you on every count.
    Must be the end of the world, then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Austan,
      it's nice to be back.
      Agree with every word?
      Has the universe changed that much?
      Anyway, not the end of the world, just almost the end of the year.
      Until ol' Trumpo gets the power to push the button anyway.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete

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