Wonderful, edgar. I do believe that song begins in a minor key and the bridge is in a major key. Thanks, Texas:
How about a fandango, folks:
Fandango
(From the album "RECALL THE BEGINNING...A JOURNEY FROM EDEN")
Kim, come and play the drum
Kim, come and join the fun
Can you hear me?
Come and play the drum
Dance a light fandango
Take me 'round and 'round
Dance a light fandango
Never let me down
Dance a light fandango
Take me 'round and 'round
Dance a light fandango
Never let me down
Kim, do not be afraid
Kim, remember what we said
Can you hear me?
Come and play the drum
Come and play the drum
0 Replies
edgarblythe
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 05:47 pm
We were just a plain ol' hillbilly band with a plain ol' country style
We never played the kind of songs that'd drive anybody wild
Played a railroad song with a stomping beat
We played a blues song, kinda slow and sweet
But the thing that knocked them off of their feet was, ooh-wee
When Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie in the strangest kind of way
Play it strange!
Well, we did our best to entertain everywhere we'd go
We'd nearly wear our fingers off to give the folks a show
Played jumping jive to make 'em get in the groove
We played sad songs, real slow and smooth
But the only thing that'd make 'em move was, ooh-wee
When Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie
Now didn't Luther play the boogie strange?
Johnny Cash
0 Replies
yitwail
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 05:48 pm
i always associate this song with the word fandango, but i just now learned it had an extra verse or two i didn't know about, which at first glance don't seem to make the meaning of the familiar verses any clearer
We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, 'There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.'
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well've been closed
She said, 'I'm home on shore leave,'
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree
saying, 'You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.'
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died
If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed
0 Replies
Tryagain
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 05:54 pm
I don't know where they are coming from with that song, but this one is easier to learn.
THE POWER OF LOVE
CELINE DION Lyrics
The whispers in the morning
Of lovers sleeping tight
Are rolling like thunder now
As I look in your eyes
I hold on to your body
And feel each move you make
Your voice is warm and tender
A love that I could not forsake
[first chorus]
'Cause I am your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can
Lost is how I'm feeling lying in your arms
When the world outside's too
Much to take
That all ends when I'm with you
Even though there may be times
It seems I'm far away
Never wonder where I am
'Cause I am always by your side
'Cause I am your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can
[second chorus]
We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love
The sound of your heart beating
Made it clear
Suddenly the feeling that I can't go on
Is light years away
'Cause I am your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can
We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 06:06 pm
Hey, edgar. Johnny Cash is rather like Sara Lee. Nobody doesn't like our Johnny. Love it, Texas.
You know, Mr. Turtle. I just found out that a fandango is a light Spanish dance. That is an odd song, but admit it; you do like those lyrics.
Hmmm. A whiter shade of pale. I do believe that came from a classic piece originally. I need to check that out.
Try, Yes indeed, buddy. Those are words we all understand.
Speaking of men and their ladies, listeners, let's hear one from Loretta:
Loretta Lynn - You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) Lyrics
You've come to tell me something you say I ought to know
That he don't love me anymore and I'll have to let him go
You say you're gonna take him oh but I don't think you can
Cause you ain't woman enough to take my man
Women like you they're a dime a dozen you can buy 'em
anywhere
For you to get to him I'd have to move over and I'm gonna stand
right here
It'll be over my dead body so get out while you can
Cause you ain't woman enough to take my man
[ dobro ]
Sometimes a man start lookin' at things that he don't need
He took a second look at you but he's in love with me
Well I don't know where they leave you oh but I know where I'll
stand
And you ain't woman enough to take my man
Women like you they're a dime...
No you ain't woman enough to take my man
0 Replies
dyslexia
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 06:13 pm
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" was inspired by the Johann Sebastian Bach's "Sleepers Awake" and "Air on a G String", but contrary to some belief, the song is not a direct copy or paraphrase of these or any other Bach piece.
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 06:17 pm
Well, dys. You just reminded us, cowboy. There are many popular pieces taken from the classics, but I believe that is one that had to be stretched to fit.
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 06:54 pm
After searching the archives, folks. I came up with the British rock group called Procon Harum who did "A whiter Shade of Pale." Very interesting.
Well, how about a change of pace for the late evening:
Il Tuo Diamante
Words by 'Mogol' (Giulio Rapetti)
author of many texts for famous Italian singer Lucio Battisti: English translation
Tuo Diamante
(Your diamond)
Ti avrei tenuto nel mio cuore
I would have held you in my heart
Ti avrei preso tra le mani
I would have taken you in my arms (or hands)
Illuminato io ti avrei
I would have lit you up
(con) il sole che era negli occhi miei
(with) the sun that was in my eyes
Però aspettare tu non sai
But you don't know how to wait
Volevi vivere e tu vivrai
You wanted to live, and you will live
Il tuo diamante splenderà
Your diamond will shine
Ma il cuore freddo resterà
But your heart will remain cold
Avresti avuto quel che ho
You would have had what I have (to offer)
Non ti avrei detto mai di no
I'd never have said 'No' to you
Potevi piangere con me
You could cry with me
Potevi ridere con me
You could laugh with me
Però aspettare tu non sai
But you don't know how to wait
Volevi tutto e tu l'avrai
You wanted it all, and you'll get it
Il tuo diamante splenderà
Your diamond will shine
Ma il cuore freddo resterà
But your heart will remain cold
E quando tu ti accorgerai
And when you realize
Ritorna qui se tu lo vuoi
Come back, if you want to
Che qualche cosa forse avrai
And maybe you will get something
E il mio pianto finirà
And my lament will end
E dopo stanca ritornerai
And after you return, worn out
E la mia strada riprenderà
And once I'm able to take up my path in life again
Il tuo diamante getterai
Your diamond you will throw away
E il sole caldo troverai
And you will rediscover the hot sun
Troverai - Yeah
You'll find it yeah
Troverai - Yeah
You'll find it yeah
Troverai ...
You'll find it
0 Replies
edgarblythe
1
Reply
Thu 13 Jul, 2006 09:38 pm
I was born in dixie in a boomer's shack,
Just a little shanty by the railroad track
Freight train was comin' I had to cry,
Hummin all the drivers with my lullaby
I've got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo)
Oh, lawdy mama got 'em on the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
And when the whistle blows, I gotta go
Baby don't you know
It looks like I'm never gonna lose
The freight train blues.
Well, my daddy was a fireman in a house out here
She was the only daughter of the engineer
Sweetheart of the brakeman, that ain't no joke
It's a shame the way she keeps a good man broke.
I got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo)
Oh, lawdy I got 'em in the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
And when the whistle blows, I gotta go
Oh mama don't you know
It looks like I'm never gonna lose
The freight train blues.
Well, the only thing that makes you laugh again
Is a south bound whistle on a south bound train
Ev'ry place I want to go
I never go because you know
Because I got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo)
Oh, lawdy mama, got 'em on the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 12:24 am
Let's remember it's a special day for mon ami Francis!
Bastille Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Champs-Élysées decorated with flags for the 14 July.Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year. It is called Fête Nationale (National Holiday) in France. It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the Fête de la Fédération was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French "nation", and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution.
Current festivities
Jacques Chirac reviewing troops on the 2003 Bastille Day parade.14 July is the French national day, simply called Fête nationale or 14 juillet (though it is generally referred to as Bastille Day in English). Many cities hold fireworks during the night. Many dancing parties are organised (bals du 14 juillet) and it is customary that firefighters organise them (bals des pompiers). Those celebrations take place from July 13 at night to July 14.
The day officially celebrates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, though it is often associated, even in France, with the Storming of the Bastille.
Military parades are held on the morning of 14 July, the largest of which takes place on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic.
The parade opens with cadets from certain schools (École Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr, École Navale, and so forth), then other infantry troops, then motorised troops; aviation of the Patrouille de France flies above. In recent times, it has become customary to invite units from France's close allies into the parade; for instance, in 2004 during the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, British troops (the band of the Royal Marines, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, Grenadier Guards and King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) led the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time, with the Red Arrows flying overhead.[1].
The parade also involves the French Republican Guard, and occasionally (non-military) police units; it always ends with the much-cheered and popular Paris Fire Brigade (which, exceptionally, has military status in France). Traditionally, the students of the École Polytechnique set up some form of joke.
The president then gives an interview to members of the press, discussing the situation of the country, recent events and projects for the future. He also holds a garden party at the Palais de l'Elysée.
Bastille Day also falls during the running of the Tour de France, and is traditionally the day upon which French riders will make a special effort to take a stage victory for France.
Famous Bastille Day celebrations
1989 : France celebrates 200th anniversary of French Revolution, notably with a monumental show on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, directed by French designer Jean-Paul Goude
1998 : Two days after the French football team becomes world champions, huge celebrations took place nationwide
2002 : A would-be assassin's bullet misses French president Jacques Chirac during Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.
History of the celebration
Claude Monet, Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of 30 June 1878.On 30 June 1878, a feast had been set in Paris by official decision to honour the Republic (the event was immortalised by a painting by Claude Monet). On the 14 July 1879, another feast took place, with a semi-official aspect; the events of the day included a military review in Longchamp, a reception in the Chambre of Deputies, organized and presided by Léon Gambetta, and a Republican Feast in the pré Catelan with Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo. All through France, as Le Figaro wrote on the 16, "people feasted a lot to honour the Bastille".
On the 21 May 1880, Benjamin Raspail presented a law proposal to have "the Republic choose the 14 July as a yearly national holiday". The Assembly voted the text on 21 May and 8 June. The Senate approved on 27 and 29 June, favouring 14 July against 4 August (honouring the end of the feudal system on 4 August 1789). The law was made official on 6 July 1880, and the Ministry of the Interior recommended to the prefects that the day should be "celebrated with all the brilliance that the local resources allow". Indeed, the celebrations of the new holiday in 1880 were particularly magnificent.
In 1989, 199 years after the fête, President Mitterrand hosted world leaders to that year's Bastille Day event which was designated by the French government as a commemoration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution, being 200 years since the Bastille storming.
Discourse by Henri Martin to the Senate
Discourse by Henri Martin, Chairman of the Senate, 29 June 1880
(...) Do not forget that behind this 14 July, where victory of the new era over the ancien régime was bought by fighting, do not forget that after the day of 14 July 1789, there was the day of 14 July 1790.
This [latter] day cannot be blamed for having shed a drop of blood, for having divided the country. It was the consecration of unity of France. Yes, it consecrated what the old monarchy had prepared.
The old monarchy had, one could say, been the essence of France, and we did not forget it; Revolution, on this day of the 14 July 1790, made, I shall not say the soul of France?-None but God holds the soul of France?-but Revolution gave France the counsciousness of itself. It revealed its own soul to France. Remember then that on this day, the most beautiful and the purest of our history, from one end of the country to the other, from the Pyrenees to Alps and Rhine, all the French were holding hands. Remember that, from all parts of the national territory, delegations of the National Guard and of the Army came to Paris to celebrate the deeds of '89. Remember what was in that Paris: a whole People, without distinctions of age nor sex, of rank not wealth, was associated from all its heart, had participated with its own hands to the fantastic preparations of the Fête de la Fédération; Paris had worked to erect around the Champ-de-Mars this truly sacred amphitheatre which was razed by the Second Empire.
(...)
If some of you might have scruples against the first 14 July, they certainly hold none aginst the second. Whatever difference which might part us, something hovers over them, it is the great images of national unity, which we all desire, for which we would all stand, willing to die if necessary.
Historical background
The Storming of the Bastille
Main article: Storming of the Bastille.
Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent HouelOn 5 May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General to hear their grievances. The deputies of the Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were clergy and nobility) decided to break away and form a National Assembly.
On 20 June the deputies of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath (named after the hall where they had gathered which was frequently used for playing "jeu de paume", an ancestor of tennis), swearing not to separate until a Constitution had been established. To show their support, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a prison where people were jailed by arbitrary decision of the King (lettre de cachet). The Bastille was, in particular, known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government. Thus the Bastille was a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy.
There were only 7 inmates housed at the time of the siege. The storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than a practical act of defiance. No less important in the history of France, it was not the image typically conjured up of courageous French patriots storming the Bastille and freeing hundreds of oppressed peasants. However, it did immediately inspire preparations amongst the peasants for the very real threat of retaliation. Despite the mythology of freeing revolutionaries, the storming of the Bastille, which housed only a handful of common prisoners, was actually done to raid the prison's supply of arms and ammunition against a false rumor that the king's troops were moving on Paris from Versailles.
Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on 26 August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed.
The Fête de la Fédération
Main article: Fête de la Fédération
The Fête de la FédérationThe Fête de la Fédération of the 14 July 1790 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the uprising of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France and what people of the time considered to be the happy conclusion of the French Revolution.
The event took place on the Champ de Mars, which was at the time far outside Paris. The place had been transformed on a voluntary basis by the population of Paris itself, in what was recalled as the Journée des brouettes ("Wheelbarrow Day").
A mass was celebrated by Talleyrand, bishop of Autun. The very popular General La Fayette, as both captain of the National Guard of Paris and confident of the king, took his oath to the Constitution, followed by the King Louis XVI.
After the end of the official celebration, the day ended in a huge four day popular feast.
La Marseillaise
French lyrics
Couplet I
Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L'étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces farouches soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
Refrain
Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !
Couplet II
Que veut cette horde d'esclaves,
De traîtres, de rois conjurés ?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves,
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés ? (bis)
Français, pour nous, ah ! quel outrage
Quels transports il doit exciter !
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer
De rendre à l'antique esclavage !
Refrain
Couplet III
Quoi ! des cohortes étrangères
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers !
Quoi ! ces phalanges mercenaires
Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers ! (bis)
Grand Dieu ! par des mains enchaînées
Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient
De vils despotes deviendraient
Les maîtres de nos destinées !
Refrain
Couplet IV
Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides
L'opprobre de tous les partis,
Tremblez ! vos projets parricides
Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix ! (bis)
Tout est soldat pour vous combattre,
S'ils tombent, nos jeunes héros,
La terre en produit de nouveaux,
Contre vous tout prêts à se battre !
Refrain
Couplet V
Français, en guerriers magnanimes,
Portez ou retenez vos coups !
Épargnez ces tristes victimes,
À regret s'armant contre nous. (bis)
Mais ces despotes sanguinaires,
Mais ces complices de Bouillé,
Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitié,
Déchirent le sein de leur mère !
Refrain
Couplet VI
Amour sacré de la Patrie,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs
Liberté, Liberté chérie,
Combats avec tes défenseurs ! (bis)
Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire
Accoure à tes mâles accents,
Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire !
Refrain
Couplet VII (Couplet des enfants)
Nous entrerons dans la carrière
Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus,
Nous y trouverons leur poussière
Et la trace de leurs vertus (bis)
Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre
Que de partager leur cercueil,
Nous aurons le sublime orgueil
De les venger ou de les suivre !
Refrain English Translation
Verse I
Arise you children of the motherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny
Has raised its bloodied banner, (1)
Do you hear, in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers?
They are coming into your midst
To slit the throats of your sons and consorts!
Chorus
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march, let us march!
May impure blood
Soak our fields' furrows!
Verse II
What does this horde of slaves,
Traitors, and plotting kings want?
For whom these vile chains
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage,
What fury it must arouse!
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!
Chorus
Verse III
What! These foreign cohorts!
They would make laws in our homes!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would cut down our proud warriors!
Good Lord! By chained hands
Our brow would yield under the yoke
The vile despots would become
The masters of our destiny!
Chorus
Verse IV
Tremble, tyrants and traitors
The shame of all good men,
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will receive their just reward,
Against you we are all soldiers
If our young heroes fall,
The earth will bear new ones,
Ready to join the fight against you!
Chorus
Verse V
Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors
Bear or hold back your blows!
Spare these sad victims
That they may regret taking up arms against us,
But not these bloody despots,
These accomplices of Bouillé,
All these tigers who mercilessly
Ripped out their mothers' breast!
Chorus
Verse VI
Sacred patriotic love
Lead [and] support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty,
Fight back with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone
So that your enemies, in their last breath
See your triumph and our glory!
Chorus
Verse VII (Children's Verse)
We shall enter the career (3)
When our elders will no longer be there,
There we shall find their dust
And the mark of their virtues.
Much less jealous of surviving them
Than of sharing their coffins,
We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or following them!
Chorus
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 12:46 am
William Hanna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Denby "Bill" Hanna (July 14, 1910 in Melrose, New Mexico - March 22, 2001) was an American animator, director, producer, cartoon artist, and co-founder, together with Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera (now known as Cartoon Network Studios). The studio produced well-known cartoons such as The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo.
Career
Hanna started his career in 1931 when he learned that Leon Schlesinger Productions, producers of animated cartoons for Warner Bros., were hiring staff. He gained his employment without any formal training and soon became head of their Ink and Paint Department. When producer-directors Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising left Schlesinger and Warners in 1933 to become independent and produce cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna was one of the employees who followed them. He co-produced Tom and Jerry.
In 1936, Hanna directed his first cartoon, To Spring, one of the Harman-Ising Happy Harmonies series entries. In 1937, MGM made a business decision to stop outsourcing to Harman-Ising and bring production in-house. Hanna was among those hired away from Harman-Ising, and he became a senior director on MGM's Captain and the Kids series. The same year, they hired storyman Joseph Barbera from Terrytoons, and in 1939 the two began what was to be a winning partnership as co-directors.
The first cartoon directed by Hanna and Barbera together was Puss Gets the Boot, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject and introduced their most famous creation from this period, the cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Hanna supplied all the screams and yelps of Tom in the shorts without credit. Leonard Maltin says that "Barbera's strength was in gags and story development, while Hanna saw himself more as a director, with a solid sense of timing; they complemented each other perfectly."
Hanna and Barbera's 17-year partnership on the Tom & Jerry series resulted in 7 Academy Awards for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject, and 14 total nominations, more than any other character-based theatrical animated series. Hanna and Barbera were placed in charge of MGM's animation division in late 1955; this was short-lived, as MGM closed the division in 1957.
From here, Hanna branched out into television, forming the company Shield Productions to partner with animator Jay Ward, who had created the series Crusader Rabbit. This fizzled, and in 1957 he reteamed up with his old partner Joseph Barbera to produce the series The Ruff & Reddy Show, under the company name H-B Enterprises, soon changed to Hanna-Barbera Productions.
Hanna-Barbera Productions became by the late-1960s the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing hit programs such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! by the end of the decade. The studio thrived until 1991, when Hanna and Barbera sold it to Turner Entertainment. Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors and periodically worked on new Hanna-Barbera shows, including the What-a-Cartoon! series.
Hanna died on March 22, 2001 at the age of 90 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. He is buried in Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, California.
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 12:52 am
Terry-Thomas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terry-Thomas (July 14, 1911 - January 8, 1990) was a distinctive English comic actor famous for the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, dressing gown, and such catch-phrases as "You're an absolute shower!" and "Good show!"
Born Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens in Finchley, England, he worked in cabaret and as a film extra before finding success as an entertainer during World War II. After the war he worked in TV, radio and variety, but it was during the mid-1950s that he developed his famous persona, first in his television series, How Do You View?, and then in films. His performance as Major Hitchcock in John and Roy Boulting's Private's Progress (1956) gave birth to his catchphrase "you're an absolute shower", and made him a favourite in British comedy films for the next decade. He reprised the role of Hitchcock in I'm All Right Jack (1959), and appeared in several of the Boultings' other films including Lucky Jim and Brothers in Law.
He played a variety of exuberant, malevolent and silly characters during the 1960s, and became famous for his portrayal of the archetypal cad, bounder, and absolute rotter. He was married twice, first to Ida Patlanski (from 1938-1962, when they divorced) and secondly to Belinda Cunningham (from 1963 - 1990, his death) by whom he had two sons, Timothy and Cushan. He was a cousin of the British actor Richard Briers.
In 1971 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and by 1977 he had retired. He died in 1990 at the age of 78.
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 01:04 am
Woody Guthrie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma, - October 3, 1967 in Queens, New York) was an influential and prolific American folk musician noted for his identification with the common man, and for his abhorrence of fascism and economic exploitation. He is best known for his song "This Land Is Your Land". He is the father of musician Arlo Guthrie.
Life and career
His parents named him after Woodrow Wilson, who was elected president in the same year.
At age 19, he left home for Texas, where he met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children. He used his musical talents to earn money as a street musician and by doing small gigs. He left Texas and his family with the coming of the Dust Bowl era, following the Okies to California. The poverty he saw on these early trips affected him greatly, and many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by the working class. He frequently donated money made from his music gigs and busking to help various peoples and causes. A lifelong socialist and trade unionist, he also contributed a regular column, "Woody Sez," to the Daily Worker and People's World newspapers.
In the late 1930s, Guthrie achieved fame in Los Angeles, California, with radio partner Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman as a broadcast performer of commercial "hillbilly" music and traditional folk music. While appearing on radio station KFVD, a commercial radio station owned by a populist-minded New Deal Democrat, Guthrie also began to write and perform some of the protest songs that would eventually end up on Dust Bowl Ballads. In 1939, Guthrie moved to New York City and was embraced by its leftist and folk music community. He also made perhaps his first real recordings: several hours of conversation and songs, recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress, as well as an album, Dust Bowl Ballads, for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey. He began writing his autobiography, Bound for Glory, which was completed and published in 1943.
In February 1940, Guthrie wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land," which was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America", which he considered unrealistic and complacent (he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio). The melody may have been based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country/bluegrass group The Carter Family around 1930. Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verse:
In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?
As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." [In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.
These verses were sometimes omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself.
In May 1941, Guthrie was commissioned by the Department of the Interior and its Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia River and the building of the federal dams; the best known of these are "Roll On Columbia" and "Grand Coulee Dam." Around the same time, he joined Pete Seeger in the legendary folk-protest group Almanac Singers, with whom he toured the country and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in Greenwich Village.
Guthrie originally wrote and sang anti-war songs with the Almanac Singers, but eventually he and they, along with the Communist milieu with which they were associated, joined the anti-fascist cause. Guthrie famously wrote the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his guitar. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine, where he served with fellow folk singer Cisco Houston, and then the U.S. Army.
In 1944, Guthrie met Moses "Moe" Asch of Folkways Records, for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land," along with hundreds of others over the next few years.
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
?-Written by Guthrie in the late 1930s on a songbook distributed to listeners who wanted the words to his recordings
He began courting Marjorie Mazia in 1942 and married her in 1945 while on furlough from the army. They moved into a house on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, and together had four children?-including Cathy, his daughter who died at age four in a fire, sending him into a serious depression. Guthrie's son Arlo became a famous singer-songwriter in his own right. During this period, Guthrie wrote and recorded Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, a collection of children's music, which includes the song "Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')," written when Arlo was about nine years old.
At the same time Guthrie was still writing topical songs. The 1948 plane crash of a plane carrying 28 Mexican farm workers from Oakland, California to be deported back to Mexico inspired the poem "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)." The poem was set to music a decade later by Martin Hoffman, and the song has since been covered by performers such as Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Dolly Parton, Judy Collins, and Woody's son Arlo Guthrie.
By the late 1940s, Guthrie's health was worsening and his behavior becoming extremely erratic, showing signs of chorea. He left his family, traveling with Ramblin' Jack Elliott to California, where he married for a third time and had another child before eventually returning to New York. He received various diagnoses (including alcoholism and schizophrenia), before he was finally discovered to be suffering from the Huntington's disease, the genetic disorder that had caused the death of his mother.
Guthrie was hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital from 1956 to 1961, then at Brooklyn State Hospital until 1966, and then Creedmoor Mental Institution. Due to his failing health during the final years of his life, he was unable to enjoy the renewed interest in his work as a result of the 1960s folk revival.
Legacy
By the time of Guthrie's death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them in part through Bob Dylan, who visited Guthrie in the last years of his life and described him as "my last hero." Dylan later went on to write Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie, a five-page tribute, and included "Song to Woody" on his first, eponymous album (1962).
In 1964, Phil Ochs's debut album, All the News That's Fit to Sing, included the song "Bound for Glory," a tribute to Guthrie and a criticism of revisionism and ignorance among modern audiences who preferred to forget some of Guthrie's more controversial (especially socialist) lyrics.
In 1967 His wife, Marjorie Guthrie, helped found the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease which became the Huntington's Disease Society of America.
In 1995, Woody's daughter Nora approached the British singer Billy Bragg about recording lyrics her father had composed in the later years of his life. After researching the lyrics at the Woody Guthrie Archive in New York City, Bragg worked with the band Wilco to record 40 tracks, a number of which were released on the albums Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. These albums derived their names from the street on Coney Island where Woody lived with Marjorie and their family. She also approached Janis Ian about writing a song using the lyrics of one of Guthrie's unfinished songs, "I Hear You Sing Again." Ian wrote music in his style for the song, changing some of his lyrics and incorporated some of her own. The song was released on her 2004 album Billie's Bones. Nora Guthrie also invited the punk band Anti-Flag to visit the Archive. Subsequently, they covered "Post-War Breakout" and wrote a song called "This Machine Kills Fascists." These efforts have brought Guthrie's music to a new audience of fans. The Dropkick Murphys did a cover of an unreleased song of his, titled 'Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight' on their 2003 album Blackout. They later covered "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" on their 2005 CD, The Warrior's Code.
Although initially the subject of much controversy, a statue honoring Guthrie stands in Memorial Park on Main Street in his hometown of Okemah. Also in Okemah, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival celebrates his legacy each summer. It is produced by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, founded by his sister, Mary Jo Edgmon. The 2006 festival, July 12-16 in Okemah, will feature Joe Ely, Jimmy LaFave, Ellis Paul, the David Amram Family Band and more. Arlo Guthrie will kick off the festival.
Navajo Native American punk-rock band Blackfire released their "Woody Guthrie Singles" in 2003. The Colorado-based band, Leftover Salmon, honored Guthrie on their 2004 self-titled release with the song "Woody Guthrie".
In 2001, Frankie Fuchs produced "Daddy-O Daddy", rare family songs from lyrics written by Woody, set to music from musicans varied from Joe Ely to Taj Mahal (musician).
Woody Guthrie is also a featured part of the band Son Volt's 2005 album "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" and is mentioned by name in the first track on that album, "Bandages & Scars".
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
Manuscript Version, 1940
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
This land was made for you and me
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
This land was made for you and me
I roamed and rambled, and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me, a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me
Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
When the sun came shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving, and dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief office I saw my people--
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me
Later Changed to:
In the squares of the city by the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office I saw my people
And some were stumbling and some were wondering if
This land was made for you and me.
As I went rumbling that dusty highway
I saw a sign that said private property
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me.
Later Added:
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking my freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
Alternate Lyrics (1952)
This land is your land, this land is my land
From the redwood forest to the New York island.
From the snow-capped mountains to the Gulf Stream waters
This land is made for you and me.
As I go walkin' my ribbon of highway
I see all around me my blue blue skyway
Everywhere around me the wind keeps a-whistlin'
This land is made for you and me.
I'm a-chasin' my shadow out across this roadmap
To my wheat fields waving, to my cornfield dancing
As I go walkin' this wind keeps talkin'
This land is made for you and me.
I can see your mailbox, I can see your doorstep
I can feel my wind rock your tip-top treetop
All around your house there my sunbeam whispers
This land is made for you and me.
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 01:12 am
Ingmar Bergman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (help·info) (IPA: [ˈbɛrjman] in Swedish) (born July 14, 1918) is a Swedish stage and film director who is one of the key film auteurs of the second half of the twentieth century.
Biography and style characteristics
Born in Uppsala, Sweden, to a Lutheran minister of Danish descent, Bergman grew up surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. He had a strict upbringing and was locked up in dark closets for infractions such as wetting the bed. Bergman attended Stockholm University and became interested in theater, and later in cinema. His films usually deal with existential questions about mortality, loneliness, and faith; they are also usually direct and not overtly stylized. Persona, one of Bergman's most famous films, is unusual among Bergman's work for being both existentialist and avant-garde.
As a director, Bergman favors intuition over intellect, and chooses to be unaggressive in dealing with actors. Bergman sees himself as having a great responsibility toward them, whom he views as collaborators in a psychologically vulnerable position. He states that a director must be both honest and supportive to allow others their best work.
Bergman usually writes his own scripts, thinking about them for months or years before starting the actual process of writing, which he views as somewhat tedious. His earlier films are carefully structured, and are either based on plays or written with other authors, usually as a matter of convenience. Bergman states that in his later works, when his characters sometimes start wanting to do things different from what he had intended, he lets them, calling the results "disastrous" when he doesn't. Throughout his career, Bergman increasingly lets his actors improvise their dialogue. In his latest films, he has written just the ideas behind the dialogue, keeping in mind the general direction he thinks it should take.
Bergman developed a personal "repertory company" of Swedish actors whom he repeatedly cast in his films, including Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson, the late Ingrid Thulin, and Gunnar Björnstrand, each of whom appeared in at least five Bergman features. Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann was the last to join this group (in the 1966 film Persona), and ultimately became most closely associated with Bergman, both artistically and personally.
Bergman began working with Sven Nykvist, his cinematographer, in 1953. The two of them have sufficient rapport to allow Bergman not to worry about the composition of a shot until the day before it is filmed. On the morning of the shoot, he speaks to Nykvist briefly about the mood and composition he hopes for, and then leaves him to work without interruption or comment until they discuss the next day's work.
When viewing daily rushes, Bergman stresses the importance of being critical but unemotional, claiming that he asks himself not if the work is great or terrible, but if it is sufficient or if it needs to be reshot.
Bergman encourages young directors not to direct any film that does not have a "message," but to wait until one comes along that does, yet admits that he himself is not always sure of the message of some of his films. By Bergman's own accounts, he has never had a problem with funding. He cites two reasons for it: one, that he does not live in the United States, which he views as obsessed with box-office earnings; and two, that his films tend to be low-budget affairs. (Cries and Whispers, for instance, was finished for about $450,000, while Scenes from a Marriage--a six-episode television feature--cost only $200,000.) Bergman left Sweden for Munich when accused of tax evasion. Though he was later cleared of the charges, he remained in Munich and did not film again in Sweden until 1982. In 1982 he directed Fanny and Alexander. Bergman stated that the film would be his last, and that afterwards he would focus on directing theater. Since then he has directed a number of television specials and written several additional scripts, though he does continue to work in theater. In 2003, Bergman, at 84 years old, directed a new film, Saraband, that represents a departure from his previous works.
When asked about his movies, he says he holds Persona and Cries and Whispers highest in regard, though in an interview in 2004, Bergman said that he is 'depressed' by his own films and cannot watch them anymore. [1] In these films, he says, he managed to push the medium to its limit. He has denounced the critical classification of three of his films (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence) as a trilogy: he had no intention of so connecting them, and cannot see any common motifs in them.
His daughter Eva Bergman (born 1945), is also a director, as is his son Daniel Bergman. He is also the father of writer Linn Ullmann, with actress Liv Ullmann.
In 1970, Bergman received The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards ceremony.
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 01:15 am
Dale Robertson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dale Robertson (born 14 July 1923 in Harrah, Oklahoma) is an American actor. Robertson started his career in the late 1940s.
For most of his career, he played in Western movies and TV shows. His two best-remembered series were the westerns Tales of Wells Fargo, in which he played a roving 'trouble-shooter' for that company, and The Iron Horse, in which he won an incomplete railroad line in a poker game and took up the challenge of running it.
In 1981 he was part of the original starring cast of Dynasty, playing Walter Lankershim, a character who disappeared after the first season. Much later in the series, it turned out he had died.
Robertson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is also in the Hall of Great Western Performers.
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 01:18 am
Harry Dean Stanton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926 in West Irvine, Kentucky, USA) is an American actor. Although he has not achieved star status through lead roles, he is one of the most reliable, consistent, and sought-after character actors in Hollywood. In spite of his character actor status, Stanton's unassailable acting skill and his uncanny knack for appearing in highly-regarded films influenced movie critic Roger Ebert to pronounce the Stanton-Walsh Rule: "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Although, Ebert later admitted that Dream a Little Dream (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a "clear violation" of this rule.
In the DVD extra interview of Repo Man Harry Dean deeply reviews his outlook on life in a way that is considered "Tao".
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 01:24 am
Jack had a blind date with Jill for the prom and, as the
evening progressed, he found himself attracted to her more and
more.
After some really passionate embracing, he said,"Tell me, do you
object to making love?"
"That is something I have never done before," Jill replied.
"Never made love? You mean you are a virgin?" Jack was amazed.
Every morning I was going to go to work,
The fishing caiques were leaving like birds.
Every morning I was planning with Minas,
Distant journeys - Far, to Jamaica.
CHORUS
And we were sailing in the seas, my old love.
And then, in the evening we were getting drunk at the taprooms.
It was like I was drinking you in the glass, like the good wine.
I was too many years in the job, got used of the chisel and the gavel.
I just made a boat for you.
I carved on its stern, a light blue mermaid,
And an evening, I became your ship-master.
CHORUS
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 04:53 am
Good morning WA2K radio fans and contributors.
First, allow us to thank our edgar for the great train song. Love it, Texas. I have a picture hanging in our small studio of the old steam engine complete with caboose.
Hey, hawkman. You're signing in early today, Boston. With the exception of one or two notables, all are quite familiar.
I hadn't realized that Bastille Day was so close to our Independence Day. Thanks for the reminder, and wherever our Francis might be, we hope he has a great celebration.
Well, coffee is the nectar of the gods, so I shall return after a cuppa.
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Fri 14 Jul, 2006 05:05 am
Ellinas, welcome back, Greece. That is a lovely song, my friend, and I especially like the line, "it was like I was drinking you in the glass like a good wine." What a great simile. Isn't there a wonderful liqueur called oozo from your land of the myths and monsters? As I recall, it's rather powerful stuff. <smile>