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Sting Lyrics - Windmills of Your Mind Lyrics

Artist: Sting Lyrics
Song: Windmills of Your Mind Lyrics
Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnaval balloon
Like a carousell that's turning
Running rings around the moon

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it's own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream.

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle your head
Why did summer go so quickly
Was it something that I said
Lovers walking allong the shore,
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And a fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circle that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Good morning, TTH. That song has become trendy of late, I think, and is still quite cryptic just as the one I just played on our wee radio.

Thanks, gal. Perhaps someone with poetic insight will explicate.

Thank you Letty.

Franchot Tone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Stanislas Pascal Franchot Tone
Born February 27, 1905
Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.
Died September 18, 1968 aged 63
New York, New York, U.S.
Years active 1932 - 1968
Spouse(s) Joan Crawford (October 11, 1935 - April 11, 1939) (divorced)
Jean Wallace (1941 - 1948) (divorced) 2 children
Barbara Payton (1951 - 1952) (divorced)
Dolores Dorn (1956-1959) (divorced)
Notable roles Midshipman Roger Byam in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
The President in Advise and Consent (1962)

Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 - September 18, 1968) was an American actor.




Biography

He was born Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone in Niagara Falls, New York, the youngest son of Dr. Frank Jerome Tone, the president of the Carborundum Company, and his wife, Gertrude Franchot. He had distant French Canadian, Irish, English and Basque ancestry,[1][2] and was related to Irish revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone.

President of the Dramatic Club at Cornell University, he gave up the family business to pursue an acting career in the theatre. After graduating he moved to Greenwich Village, New York, and got his first Broadway role in the 1929 Katharine Cornell production of The Age of Innocence.

The following year he joined The Theatre Guild and later became a founding member of the famed Group Theatre, together with Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, and others. These were intense and productive years for him: among the productions of the Group can be mentioned Green Grow the Lilacs (later to become the famous musical Oklahoma!) (1931), 1931 (1931) and Success Story (1932). Franchot Tone was universally regarded by the critics as one of the most promising actors of his generation.

The same year, however, Tone was the first of the Group to turn his back to the theatre and go to Hollywood when MGM offered him a film contract; nevertheless he always considered cinema far inferior to the theatre and recalled his stage years with longing (he eventually came back from time to time to the stage after the 1940s). His screen debut was in the 1932 movie The Wiser Sex. He achieved fame in 1933, when he made seven movies in a single year, including Today We Live, written by William Faulkner, where he first met his future wife Joan Crawford, Bombshell, with Jean Harlow (with whom he co-starred in three other movies), and the smash hit Dancing Lady, again with Crawford and Clark Gable. In 1935, probably his luckiest year, he starred in Mutiny on the Bounty (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Dangerous opposite Bette Davis, with whom he was rumoured to have had an affair.

He was married October 11, 1935 in New Jersey to actress Joan Crawford; they were divorced in 1939. They made seven films together: Today We Live (1933), Dancing Lady (1933), Sadie McKee (1934), No More Ladies (1935), The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), Love On The Run (1936) and The Bride Wore Red (1937).

He married and divorced three more times: to fashion model turned actress Jean Wallace (1941-48, two sons; she next married Cornel Wilde), actress Barbara Payton (1951-52) (which resulted in his being physically assaulted by Payton's one-time lover, Tom Neal), and finally to the much younger actress Dolores Dorn (1956-59).

He worked steadily through the 1940s without breaking through as a major star: he was beginning to be type-cast as the wealthy cafe-society playboy and very few of the films of this period are notable. One conspicuous exception was Five Graves to Cairo (1943), the third film by the young Billy Wilder, a brilliant war- and spy-story, starring Tone, Akim Tamiroff and Erich von Stroheim as German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

In the 1950s he moved to television and returned to Broadway, where he had begun his career. He co-starred in the Ben Casey medical series from 1965 to 1966 as Casey's supervisor. He also starred in, directed and produced his first film, the adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1957) with then wife Dolores Dorn.

A chain-smoker, he died of lung cancer in New York City at the age of 63. Joan Crawford was moved by Tone's plight during his illness and was reported to have taken him into her home to care for him. According to a visitor who asked who the man in the wheelchair was, Crawford replied: "Him? That's Franchot". His remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered.

Franchot Tone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6558 Hollywood Blvd.

Joan Bennett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 - December 7, 1990) was an American film actress who also achieved success later in life as a television actress.





Early life

Born in Palisades Park, New Jersey, Bennett was the youngest of 3 daughters of stage actors Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison, and was the younger sister of actresses Constance Bennett and Barbara Bennett (the mother of Morton Downey, Jr.).

Joan Bennett and her siblings were also the grand-daughters of prominent stage actor Morris W. Morris, who was of African descent. Morris, who was born in Jamaica (West Indies), was a Civil War veteran who served in the "Blacks" division of the Louisiana Native Guards.


Career rise

Bennett made her first film appearance in 1918 in an uncredited part and appeared in a few silent films while a child. She married at the age of 16, and when this marriage ended two years later, resumed her acting career.

Contracted to 20th Century Fox she appeared as a blonde (her natural color) ingenue in a several films including Puttin' on the Ritz in 1930 and Me and My Gal in 1932, before leaving this studio to appear in Little Women (1933). She was not taken seriously as an actress and struggled to establish herself. Her task was further complicated by the rapid rise to fame of her sister Constance, who at this time was one of Hollywood's most successful and popular actresses, and with whom she was unfavourably compared.

She signed a contract with producer Walter Wanger, whom she would later marry in 1940. He managed her career, and with director Tay Garnett convinced her to change her hair from blonde to brunette. With this change her screen persona evolved into that of a glamorous seductress and she began to attract attention.

During the search to find an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Bennett was tested and impressed producer David O. Selznick. She was briefly considered to be a front runner for this part but Selznick eventually turned his attention to Paulette Goddard, who was then rejected in favour of Vivien Leigh.

In the early 1940s Bennett appeared in four films directed by Fritz Lang. Three of them (Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street) established her as a film noir femme fatale. She also worked with noted directors Jean Renoir in The Woman on the Beach. and Max Ophüls in The Reckless Moment. She also played the wife of Spencer Tracy and mother of Elizabeth Taylor in Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951).


Scandal

Midway through her career, Bennett had changed agents. In 1951 Wanger shot and injured Bennett's new agent, with whom she had begun an affair, and the resulting scandal damaged her career. Wanger spent 2 years in prison for the offense, but he and Bennett remained married until 1965.

She continued to work steadily in theatre and television and was a cast member of the television series Dark Shadows for its entire five year run, from 1966 until 1971, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for her performance therein. Bennett also appeared in a few more films, most notably Dario Argento's Suspiria.

In the last decades of her life, she was married to David Wilde, a wealthy businessman. Bennett died from a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York at the age of 80, and was buried in Pleasant View Cemetery, Lyme, Connecticut.

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for services to Motion Pictures, at 6310 Hollywood Boulevard.

Joanne Woodward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward
Born February 27, 1930 (age 77)
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Spouse(s) Paul Newman (1958-present)
Notable roles Dr. Cornelia Wilbur in Sybil
Academy Awards

Best Actress
1957The Three Faces of Eve

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an Emmy Award and Academy Award-winning American actress. Woodward, who is married to Paul Newman, is also a television and theatrical producer.





Early life

Woodward was born in Thomasville, Georgia, where she remained until she was in the second grade. Her family relocated to Marietta, Georgia. They moved once again when she was a junior in high school. She graduated from Greenville High School in 1947, in Greenville, South Carolina. Woodward won many beauty contests as a teenager. She majored in drama at Louisiana State University, then headed to New York City to perform on the stage.

She was influenced to become an actress by her mother's love of movies. Her mother wanted to name her after Joan Crawford, but then her parents decided that "Joanne" was more Southern. Attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Joanne rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1979, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba.


Career

Early career

Woodward's first film was a post-Civil War western Count Three and Pray, in 1955. She continued to move between Hollywood and Broadway, eventually, understudying in the New York production of Picnic which featured Paul Newman. The two were married in 1958. By that time, Woodward had starred in The Three Faces of Eve, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.


Films with Paul Newman

She appeared with her husband, Paul Newman in the featured films:

The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
From the Terrace (1960)
Paris Blues (1961)
A New Kind of Love (1963) - a lightweight romantic comedy that she persuaded Newman to make.
Winning (1969)
WUSA (1970)
The Drowning Pool (1975)
Harry & Son (1984) - which Newman also directed
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
They both also appeared in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls but did not have any scenes together.

She starred in four films that Newman directed but did not star in:

Rachel, Rachel (1968)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds - which also starred their daughter, Nell Potts.
The Shadow Box (1980) - a television movie
The Glass Menagerie (1987)

Later career

Woodward has continued to act on stage, films, and television in such films as Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and Philadelphia (1993) in which she played the mother to Tom Hanks' character. She also appeared in the television films Sybil opposite Sally Field and Crisis at Central High. She was the narrator for Martin Scorsese's screen version of The Age of Innocence.

Woodward is currently artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse.


[edit] Academy Awards
1958 - Won Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Three Faces of Eve
1969 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - Rachel, Rachel
1974 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
1991 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - Mr. and Mrs. Bridge

Emmy Awards

She won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for See How She Runs (1978) as a divorced teacher who trains for a marathon, and in the same category again for Do You Remember Love? (1985) as a professor who begins to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. She has been nominated an additional five times for her acting roles on television.


Private life

Woodward married Paul Newman on January 29, 1958. They have three daughters: Elinor Teresa (1959), Melissa Steward (1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (1965). She and Newman live in Westport, Connecticut, but are extremely private about their personal lives. Newman will occasionally venture to California, but Woodward has refused to go west for many years.

In 1990, she was graduated from Sarah Lawrence College alongside her daughter, Clea.

Preceded by
Ingrid Bergman
for Anastasia Academy Award for Best Actress
1957
for The Three Faces of Eve Succeeded by
Susan Hayward
for I Want to Live!


Trivia

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. She was the first performer to receive a star on the Walk of Fame. It was laid on February 9, 1960.
The very briefly glimpsed portrait of the unseen character Marguerite Wyke in the 1972 film Sleuth (credited to the imaginary actress Eve Channing; see [1]) is actually of Woodward.
In Three Faces of Eve she portrays a character suffering from multiple personality disorder. In Sybil, she portrays a character treating a persona with multiple personality disorder. Both are among her most famous roles.

Elizabeth Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Born February 27, 1932 (age 75)
Hampstead, London, England
Other name(s) Liz Taylor
Years active 1941-present
Spouse(s) Conrad Hilton, Jr.
Michael Wilding
Michael Todd
Eddie Fisher
Richard Burton (twice)
John Warner
Larry Fortensky

Notable roles Maggie The Cat in
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cleopatra VII of Egypt in
Cleopatra
Academy Awards

Academy Award for Best Actress, 1960
Butterfield 8
Academy Award for Best Actress, 1966
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (born February 27, 1932) is an iconic two-time Academy Award-winning British-American actress.

Her trademark is her violet eyes framed by a double row of eyelashes.[1] Known for her acting skills and the depth of her personality along with her beauty, she is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity.

The American Film Institute named Taylor among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 7.





Biography

Life and career

She was born in Hampstead, London, England, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (December 28, 1897 - November 20, 1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (August 21, 1896 - September 11, 1994), who were Americans residing in England. Her older brother is Howard Taylor (born in 1929).

Though sometimes referred to as "Liz," she is not fond of that name and prefers her given name to be pronounced Eee-lizabeth. Her first names are in honor of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor, who was born Elizabeth Mary Rosemond. When she was born, Taylor was both a British and American citizen, having acquired British citizenship by being born on British soil (under the principle of Jus soli) and American citizenship through her parents (under the principle of Jus sanguinis).

Both of her American parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was Sara Sothern. Sara retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York. It was also reported that her father was a weak figure who always capitulated to her mother.


At the age of 3, Elizabeth began taking ballet lessons. After Great Britain entered World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business. They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara's family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.

Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of 9 for Universal. They let her contract drop, and she was signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first movie with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), which drew favorable attention. After a few more movies, the second on loan-out to 20th Century Fox, she appeared in her first leading role and achieved child star status playing Velvet Brown, a young girl who trains a horse to win the Grand National in Clarence Brown's movie National Velvet (1944) with Mickey Rooney. National Velvet was a big hit, grossing over $4,000,000 at the box-office, and she was signed to a long-term contract. Gene Tierney originally was offered the role in MGM's National Velvet but production was delayed so Tierney signed with Fox. The rest is Hollywood history.

She attended school on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot and received a diploma from University High School in Los Angeles on January 26, 1950, the same year she was first married at age 18.

Elizabeth Taylor won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performances in Butterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher, and again for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), which co-starred then-husband Richard Burton and the Supporting Actress Oscar-winner, Sandy Dennis.

Taylor was nominated for Raintree County (1957) with Montgomery Clift, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) with Paul Newman, and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Clift, Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge.

In 1963, she became the highest paid movie star up until that time when she accepted $1,000,000 to play the title role in the lavish production of Cleopatra for 20th Century Fox. It was during the filming of that movie that she worked for the first time with future husband Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony. Movie magazines, the forerunners of today's tabloids, had a field day when Taylor and Burton began an affair during filming; both stars were married to other people at the time. She was even accused by a Vatican newspaper of having descended into "erotic vagrancy." A lot of people thought of Elizabeth Taylor as a "Scarlet Woman". She and many others disagree with that strongly. Richard Burton was quoted as saying: "You'd be surprised at the morals of many women stars who are regarded by the public as goody-two-shoes. They leap into bed with any male in grabbing distance. That's what makes me mad when I read stuff hinting Liz is a scarlet woman because she's been married five times. She's only had five men in her life whereas those good-two-shoes have lost count".

She has also appeared a number of times on television, including the 1973 made-for-TV movie with then husband Richard Burton, titled Divorce His - Divorce Hers. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in Malice in Wonderland opposite Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper, and also appeared in the mini-series North and South. In 2001, she played an agent in These Old Broads. She has also appeared on a number of other TV shows, including the soap operas General Hospital and All My Children and the animated The Simpsons (once as herself, and once as the voice of Maggie).

Taylor has also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 with a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She was then in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband, Richard Burton. The student-run Burton-Taylor theatre in Oxford was named for the famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the OUDS (Oxford University Dramatic Society) production of the Marlowe play. Elizabeth Taylor played the ghostly, wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to 'make [him] immortal with a kiss'.


Marriages

Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:

Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (May 6, 1950 - January 29, 1951) (divorced)
Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 - January 26, 1957) (divorced)
Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 - March 22, 1958) (widowed)
Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 - March 6, 1964) (divorced)
Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 - June 26, 1974) (divorced) and a second time (October 10, 1975 - July 29, 1976) (divorced)
John Warner (December 4, 1976 - November 7, 1982) (divorced)
Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 - October 31, 1996) (divorced)

Relationship with parents

Taylor's mother Sara was a domineering figure who controlled Elizabeth's life from the outside with single-minded determination. She had similarly exerted her influence on her husband Francis, a shy and retiring man whom she attempted to mould into a confident, outgoing man. Taylor was never truly allowed to bond with her father, who was by and large a peripheral figure in a life dominated by her mother and her mother's obsession with public image. Even in 1968 when her father passed away and Taylor began crying at the funeral, her mother intervened. 'But I'm not crying dear. If a man's widow isn't crying it isn't good form for others to do so. It makes me seem unfeeling.'

Her mother also exerted influence on Taylor's life well into adulthood. After her marriage to Warner ended, with her weight ballooning she intervened at first with cruel prods and then by arranging a tea party. At this tea party her mother asked each of the elderly guests when they last felt they could've been described as gorgeous. Finally she turned to her daughter and enquired 'How about you dear?' There was an uncomfortable pause before Taylor replied 'My moment is yet to come, Mother.' Sara Taylor raised her glass and said 'I knew it! You'll be beautiful again! Prove them all fools.' She continued 'And if you avoid letting it slip in the first place you'll save us both a lot of trouble.'

Sara's pride in Taylor though, knew no bounds. Her house was covered with photos of Taylor in her prime and she used to demand of visitors 'Look at my daughter. Now if she is not the most beautiful woman in the world I don't know who is.'

Despite their often difficult relationship, Sara was always her daughter's biggest champion and when she died in 1994, Taylor was devastated. In 2000 when Taylor was made a Dame of the British Empire she raised a glass of sparkling cider and made a toast

There's a woman who deserves our deepest appreciation because if it weren't for her we'd all be somewhere else right now. Let's all drink to my mother Sara Taylor.

A guest shouted 'Hear, hear!' however Taylor then commanded

No! Let's drink to two things. To my mother and forgiveness.


Children

Taylor and Wilding had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding (born January 6, 1953), and Christopher Edward Wilding (born February 27, 1955). She and Todd had one daughter, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza," (born August 6, 1957). And in 1964, she and Fisher started adoption proceedings for a daughter, whom Burton later adopted, Maria Burton (born August 1, 1961).


Other interests

Taylor has a passion for jewelry. Over the years she has owned a number of well known pieces, two of the most talked about being the 33.19 carat (6.638 g) Krupp Diamond and the 69.42 carat (13.884 g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which were among many dazzling gifts from husband Richard Burton. Her enduring collection of jewelry has been eternalized with her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002).

In 2005, she partnered with Jack and Monty Abramov of Mirabelle Luxury Concepts in Los Angeles to introduce the House of Taylor Jewelry. In 2005, House of Taylor Jewelry formed a partnership with Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a design-and-marketing firm with more than $1 billion in annual sales. She has also launched three perfumes, "Passion," "White Diamonds," and "Black Pearls," that together earn an estimated $200,000,000 in annual sales. In the Fall of 2006, Dame Elizabeth Taylor celebrated the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, one of the top-10 best selling fragrances for more than the past decade.

Taylor has devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former co-star and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF) [2]. By 1999, she had helped to raise an estimated $50,000,000 (USD) to fight the disease.

Recently, in the year 2006, Taylor donated $40,000 to the AIDS New Orleans Aids task force, a charity designed for the New Orleans population with AIDS and HIV. The NO/AIDS task force estimated that about 7,400 residents were infected with HIV before Hurricane Katrina. Taylor and Macy's donated a 37 ft. Care Van to help with the task. The Care Van included two examination tables, an X-Ray, and flat screen TV's.

In the early 1980s she moved to Bel-Air, which is her current home. The fenced and gated property is on tour maps sold at street corners and is frequently passed by tour guides.

Taylor was also a fan of the soap opera General Hospital. In fact, she was cast as the first Helena Cassedine, matriarch of the Cassedine family.

Taylor is a supprter of Kabbalah and member of the Kabbalah Centre. She encouraged friend Michael Jackson to wear a red string as protection from the evil-eye during his 2005 trial for molestation.


Awards and honours

Dame Elizabeth Taylor has won two Academy Awards for Best Actress. She won the first in 1960 for BUtterfield 8 and the second in 1966 for Mike Nichols' drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Taylor received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1992 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year, 1993, she received the AFI Life Achievement Award. And in 2002, she was a Kennedy Center Honoree.

In 1999, she was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. Though she was thrilled with this honor, Taylor cracked, "I've always been a broad, now I'm a dame."

In 2001, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal in recognition of her commitment to philanthropy. It is the second-highest civilian honor in the United States, awarded to U.S. citizens "who have performed exemplary deeds or services" for their country or fellow citizens, despite the fact that Taylor had relinquished her U.S. citizenship and is only an LPR (lawful permanent resident) of the U.S.

Elizabeth Taylor's hand and foot prints are immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

On November 10, 2005, Taylor received the Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment.


Recent years

In November 2004, Taylor announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart pumps insufficient amounts of blood throughout the body. She has broken her back five times, has survived a benign brain tumor operation, skin cancer, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice. She is reclusive and sometimes fails to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She is now confined to a wheelchair to get around.

In 2005 she was a vocal supporter of her best friend, Michael Jackson, in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child. He was acquitted.

In recent years, Taylor reportedly became closely attached to her pet dog, saying that she went nowhere without her little Maltese named Sugar. In an interview with American magazine W, Taylor said she was happiest while with husbands Todd and Burton, but now has to be content with Sugar for company. She explains, "I've never loved a dog like this in my life. It's amazing. Sometimes I think there's a person in there. There's something to say for this kind of love - it's unconditional." In June 2005, Taylor's beloved dog Sugar died. However, several months later (in September) she purchased a descendant of Sugar which she named Daisy.

It was reported on April 27, 2006 that Taylor was close to death. This was quickly denied by Taylor's publicist, Dick Guttman. "Dick Guttman says that he can refute every allegation in these published reports. In fact, he says they didn't get anything right. Guttman says Taylor has a very busy life, with her successful perfume and jewelry lines and the work she does for the fight against AIDS." On May 30, 2006, she appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she has been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.

In late August of 2006 Taylor decided to take a boating trip where she would shark-see to help prove that she was not even close to death. She enjoyed the relaxing trip in Hawaii. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place where she will sell her jewelry, artwork, clothing, furniture, and memorabilia (September 2006). [3]

In October of 2006, news reports around the world reported that Taylor would be marrying her constant companion, artist Firooz Zahedi, who was 17 years younger than she. [4] Taylor responded to these allegations by asserting that she and Zahedi "never have been and will never be romantically involved." [5]

The February 2007 issue of Interview magazine devoted itself entirely to Elizabeth Taylor--a celebration of her life, career and her upcoming seventy-fifth birthday.

Josh Groban
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information
Birth name Joshua Winslow Groban
Born February 27, 1981 (age 26)
Los Angeles, California United States
Genre(s) Classical
Easy listening
Pop
Vocal
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Singing, piano, drums
Years active 1997 to present
Label(s) 143/Reprise
Website http://www.joshgroban.com

Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a Grammy-nominated American singer/songwriter known for his mature and lyrical baritone voice.



Early life

Josh Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish American father (a descendant of Polish and Russian immigrants) and a Norwegian American mother. His father converted to Christianity upon marriage, and Groban was raised an Anglican-Episcopalian. His younger brother Christopher shares a birthday with him four years later.[1]

Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade, but soon put it on hold for a few years. "I enjoyed the arts aspects, but my grades were slipping. I didn't feel that I was getting enough creative input. So I went to Bridges Academy to get my grades up to straight A's." While at Bridges Academy, Groban took normal classes from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and then afterwards attended theatre classes.[2] He also played the penny whistle in grade school.[citation needed]

In 1997 and 1998, Groban attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, majoring in musical theater, which is also when he began taking voice lessons outside of school. "I started taking music lessons on the side. I was very much into musical theater. I had a pretty good baritone voice, so I began acting and singing in school productions".[3]

In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the 1999 Grammy Awards -- where, as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli, he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Céline Dion -- and the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as governor of California. Josh auditioned with "All I Ask Of You" from Phantom of the Opera for the latter, which occurred only one month previous to the Grammy Awards.

Josh attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major and graduated in 1999. After graduation, he expected to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.


Career

After only one year in the drama department at Carnegie Mellon University, his choice school, Groban left when he was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's own 143 Records imprint. With regard to signing Groban, Foster said: "I love his natural ability in the pop and rock arena, but I love his sense of classics even more. He's a true musical force to be reckoned with."[4] Therefore, under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on the classics with songs such as "Gira Con Me" and "Alle Luce Del Sole," the first ones decided on by Foster and Groban.

Soon after being picked up by Foster, Groban went on to perform "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000-2001 La Luna Tour, featured on her "La Luna" Concert DVD, and made his recording debut by singing "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). He also became involved in many benefit shows, including the following: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children", singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001) which was co-hosted by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

Groban played the role of Malcolm Wyatt in the May 2001 season finale of the television series Ally McBeal, performing "You're Still You." The series creator, David E. Kelley, was impressed at Groban's performance at The Family Celebration event, and, based on the audience reaction to Groban's singing, Kelley created a character for Josh in this finale. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, with 8,000 emails from fans[4], that Groban was asked to come back the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are."

The singer's eponymous debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.[5]

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and by November, he had his own PBS special, Josh Groban In Concert (2002). In December he performed "To Where You Are" and then sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He then joined The Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie and others for a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy.

In 2003, Groban performed at the David Foster created concert for World Children's Day. He performed "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children" with artists like Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias and Celine Dion.

Groban's second album Closer, also produced by Foster, was released the following year, on November 11. Josh himself said that he believed that this second album was a better reflection of him and that his audience would be able to get a better idea of him personally from listening to it. "What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title." [4]

Two months after Closer was released, it rose on the Billboard charts from number 11 to number one.[6] His cover of Brian Kennedy's "You Raise Me Up" became very popular on the adult contemporary charts.

Josh also performed the song "Remember" (with Tanja Tzarovska) on the Troy soundtrack. He also performed on the soundtrack to the 2004 animated film The Polar Express, featured in the song "Believe."

During the summer of 2004, Josh returned to Interlochen, where he gave a performance to local residents, as well as campers ranging from elementary school to high school age. He additionally signed many autographs, and spoke about his experiences as a young performer.

On November 30 of the same year, his second live DVD, Live At The Greek, was released. It also ran as a Great Performances special on PBS. Also in 2004, Josh performed "Remember When It Rained," backed by a full orchestra, at the American Music Awards where he was up for Favorite Male Artist in the pop category. Josh and his recordings were nominated for more than a dozen awards in 2004, including the American Music Award, World Music Award, Academy Award, and a Grammy.

Other appearances include The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jay Leno, Larry King Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, 20/20, The Today Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the Rockefeller Tree Lighting.[7]

During the first week of September 2006, Groban's latest single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)", was exclusively released to AOL's First Listen. It was taken from his third studio album Awake, which was officially released on November 7, 2006. [8] He will be launching a world tour in early 2007.

A very talented multi-instrumentalist, Groban plays piano, drums, and has expressed an interest in learning to play uilleann pipes (similar to bagpipes but Irish).

He did a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and also in 2007 a duet with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). Groban has dreams of returning to his theatrical roots and performing on Broadway one day.


Charity

Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Adopt-A-Annual Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006), and Live 8 (2005) . Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts. [9] Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa.


Influences

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Björk.[7] He says he is able to look up to anyone, musically, who has pushed the boundaries and stepped outside of the box. As for vocal influences, "anyone who told a story with their songs," including: Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.[10]


Personal

Groban has never been married and does not have any children. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Why do tigers live in the jungle?
They hate city traffic.

Where do polar bears vote?
The North Poll.

What did the limestone say to the geologist?
Stop taking me for granite.

What should you do if you can't see at night?
Enroll in night school.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of shoes?
In case he got a hole in one.

What did one wall say to the other?
I'll meet you at the corner.

When is the moon the heaviest?
When it is full.

How do you keep a skunk from smelling?
Hold his nose.

What should you do every morning?
Wake up.

Why do spiders spin webs?
Because they can't knit.

What flowers are on your face?
Two lips.

What's yellow and always points north?
A magnetic banana.

What would you do if you smashed your toe?
Call a toe truck.

How do you make a vanilla shake?
Take it to a scary movie.

What's the difference between a bear and an ant?
About 2,000 pounds.

What's better than a talking dog?
A spelling bee.

What's the difference between a nickel and a dime?
Five cents.

What looks like a horse and flies?
A flying horse.

What kind of dog tells time?
A watch dog.

What do you give a seasick elephant?
Lots of room.

GROAN, love those definitions and puns, hawkman. Good bio's today, too, Boston. Read through all of them, and I notice the last one is a singer of songs. We'll await our Raggedy before searching out his material, but for now, by way of pending promises, here is one that I love. <smile>

You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can't you see

You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me

You are so beautiful
To me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're every, everything I need
You are so beautiful to me.

Simple but telling, no?

I'm groaning, Bob, but with a smile.

Faces to match:

Perfect timing today, Raggedy. Love the collage, PA., and I think that one black and white of Franchot is perfect against the color.

Josh did some wonderful songs, but this one seems appropriate for the waning month:

JOSH GROBAN LYRICS

"February Song"

Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won't be long
Til he opens his eyes, opens his eyes
Where is that simple day
Before colors broke into shades
And how did I ever fade
Into this life, into this life

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
When all that I've known is lost and found
I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day

Morning is waking up
And sometimes it's more than just enough
When all that you need to love
Is in front of your eyes
It's in front of your eyes

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
Sometimes it's hard to find the ground
Cause I keep on falling as I try to get away
From this crazy world

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
When all that I've known is lost and found
I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day

Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won't be long
Til he opens his eyes
Opens his eyes

JOSH GROBAN

"You Raise Me Up"

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up... To more than I can be.

www.azlyrics.com

Great song by Josh, Bob. "...you raise me up to more than I can be...." Love that line, Boston.

Well, folks. There is rising and then there is plummeting as in Wall Street:



A reminder?


Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
Gorney, Harburg

They used to tell me
I was building a dream.
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow
Or guns to bear
I was always there
Right on the job.
They used to tell me
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower,
Now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits
Gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum.
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits,
Ah, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum!
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Oh, say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime

"Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? "

that song brings back memories ! i worked for almost 30 years for a life-insurance company . the top-performing sales-manager had been a crooner in his younger years working in the catskills - with the likes of eddie fisher and others .
at the annual meetings of the company during the 1960's and 70's, the chairman of the board - a financial wizard wearing a three-piece suit and gold-rimmed glasses - would always call on "gil" to sing : "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? " .
i don't know if reminded him of his earlier years ?
and after the meeting the liquor would flow freely ... those were the days ... "of wine and roses" :wink: .
(and since the police-chief was always invited to attend the meetings , we didn't have to worry about being picked up by one of the city cops ;
"i told my boys ... " , he would say blinking an eye :wink: ).
hbg

speaking of songs ... here is one i never heard !
but i like it !
hbg

THE DAY BELL SYSTEM DIED !
-----------------------------------
Long, long, time ago,
I can still remember,
When the local calls were "free".
And I knew if I paid my bill,
And never wished them any ill,
That the phone company would let me be...

But Uncle Sam said he knew better,
Split 'em up, for all and ever!
We'll foster competition:
It's good capital-ism!

I can't remember if I cried,
When my phone bill first tripled in size.
But something touched me deep inside,
The day... Bell System... died.

And we were singing...

Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die?
We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI,
"Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry.
Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die?
Ma Bell why did you have to die?

Is your office Step by Step,
Or have you gotten some Crossbar yet?
Everybody used to ask...
Oh, is TSPS coming soon?
IDDD will be a boon!
And, I hope to get a Touch-Tone phone, real soon...

The color phones are really neat,
And direct dialing can't be beat!
My area code is "low":
The prestige way to go!

Oh, they just raised phone booths to a dime!
Well, I suppose it's about time.
I remember how the payphones chimed,
The day... Bell System... died.

And we were singing...

Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die?
We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI,
"Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry.
Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die?
Ma Bell why did you have to die?

Back then we were all at one rate,
Phone installs didn't cause debate,
About who'd put which wire where...
Installers came right out to you,
No "phone stores" with their ballyhoo,
And 411 was free, seemed very fair!

But FCC wanted it seems,
To let others skim long-distance creams,
No matter 'bout the locals,
They're mostly all just yokels!

And so one day it came to pass,
That the great Bell System did collapse,
In rubble now, we all do mass,
The day... Bell System... died.

So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die?
We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI,
"Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry.
Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die?
Ma Bell why did you have to die?

I drove on out to Murray Hill,
To see Bell Labs, some time to kill,
But the sign there said the Labs were gone.
I went back to my old CO,
Where I'd had my phone lines, years ago,
But it was empty, dark, and ever so forlorn...

No relays pulsed,
No data crooned,
No MF tones did play their tunes,
There wasn't a word spoken,
All carrier paths were broken...

And so that's how it all occurred,
Microwave horns just nests for birds,
Everything became so absurd,
The day... Bell System... died.

So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die?
We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI,
"Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry.
Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die?
Ma Bell why did you have to die?

We were singing:

Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die?
We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI,
"Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry.
Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die?

Great anecdote, hbg, and Miss Girl in the Red Dress is following in her father's footsteps. <smile>

Hey, Canada. I can't tell you how many themed gigs we played. That's where all the money came from. Incidentally, I love that song you just mentioned, so here it is for you and your singing Gil:

As usual, this song has been done by Bobby, Andy, Francis Albert, and our saxophone player who is one of the two left from our jazz quartet:

Days Of Wine and Roses


Music by Henry Mancini and Words by Johnny Mercer
title song from the movie starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick


The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play
Through a meadow land toward a closing door
A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before

The lonely night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you

The lonely night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you-oo-oo

No wonder the song is great. Just look at the writers of the words and music.

Oh, my God, hbg. I missed your bell song parody on American Pie. Fantastic. You are absolutely right, too. Now AT&T has bought 'em back.

Remember the bell bottom days, folks?

Once there was a little girl, who lived next to me
And she loved a sailor boy, he was only three
Now he's on a battleship, in his sailor suit
Just a great big sailor man, but he's just as cute

Chorus:
Bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue
She loves a sailor man and he loves her too

When they walk along the street, anyone can see
They are so much in love, happy as can be
Hand in hand they stroll along, they don't give a hoot
He won't let go of her hand, even to salute

Chorus

Everywhere her sailor went, she was sure to go
Till one day he sailed away, where she doesn't know
Now she's going to join the Waves, maybe go to sea
Try to find her sailor boy, where ever he may be

Chorus

If her sailor she can't find on the bounding main
She is hopeful he will soon come home safe again
So they can get married and raise a family
Dress up all the kids in sailor's dungares

Chorus

(Robbie J. Robertson)

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he go moving across the water
There he go turning my whole world around.

Do you feel what I feel
Can we make it so it's part of the deal
I gotta hold you in these arms of steel
Lay your heart on the line.

I wanna breathe when you breathe
When you whisper like that hot summer breeze
Count the beads of sweat that cover me
Didn't you show me a sign.

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he go moving across the water
There he go turning my whole world around.

--- Instrumental ---

Do you see what I see
Can you cut behind the mystery
I will meet you by the witness tree
Leave the whole world behind.

I wanna come when you call
I'll get to you if I have to crawl
They can't hold me with these iron walls
We've got mountains to climb.

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he go moving across the water
There he go turning my whole world around.

Turning my whole world around.
turning my whole world around...

My Life
By Phil Ochs

INTRO: G / C / D / C / G / C

D G D
My life was once a joy to me,
G / C / G
Never knowing, I was growing, everyday.
D G D
My life was once a toy to me,
Em
And I wound it and I found it ran away.
Am
So I raced through the night
G
with a face at my feet, like a god I would write,
F
All the melodies were sweet, and the women were white.
E D
It was easy to survive, my life was so alive.

My life was once a flag to me
And I waved it and behaved like I was told.
My life was once a drag to me
And I loudly, and I proudly, lost control
I was drawn by a dream
I was loved by a lie, every serf on the scene
Begged me to buy.
But I slipped through the scheme
So lucky to fail
My life was not for sale.

My life is now a myth to me
Like the drifter, with his laughter in the dawn.
My life is now a death to me
So I'll mold it and I'll hold it till I'm born
So I turned to the land
Where I'm so out of place
Throw a curse on the plan
In return for the grace
To know where I stand
Take everything I own
Take your tap from my phone
And leave my life alone
My life alone.