Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Wowbagger on 03 February, 2012, 10:24:22 am
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I have this very annoying and potentially embarrassing trait that certain pieces of music reduce me to tears. It attacks me unpredictably and I think it's getting worse as I get older.
A week or so ago I was driving along, listening to Radio 3, and Beethoven's Appassionata was broadcast. There I was, sitting in a queue at the lights, tears streaming down my face, hoping other drivers wouldn't notice. Just a few minutes ago, I was listening to David Attenborough on Desert Island Discs and the trio Soave sia il vento from Cosi fan Tutte started up just as I was shovelling porridge into dishes. I had to stop and cope with sobs.
Other music to do this to me: many bits of Bach, but probably none more than some of the choruses from the St. Matthew Passion; Myfanwy; the slow movement from Haydn's string quartet "The Lark"; occasionally bits from the Messiah; the quartet from Beethoven's Fidelio; the finale in Beethoven's Pastoral symphony; and quite a few bits from the 9th symphony.
Does anyone else suffer from this, and which piece of music induce lachrymosity in you?
Edit: here's a few of my greatest tear-jerkers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wi7UsXW1As
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxPulya1bSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo0K_n3VLG4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyq06eoPoqk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKyKNCiiuF8
This last has a bit of preamble and just before the singing starts there's an All-Deutschland Simpering Competition, but the recording's a good one.
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Oh gosh do!!!
The following popular tunes have all reduced me to tears in at a live gig at least once.
Girls can keep a secret. Carter USM (Any time they play it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8ju5DVmR8
Interstate 5. Wedding Present (Stoke Sugar Mill)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNeycs0IjI
Ocean Spray. Manic Street Preachers (Cardiff International Centre)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1wG4_imFNw
Friday I’m in love. The Cure (Royal Albert Hall)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa2nLEhUcZ0
Elizabeth on the bathroom floor: The Eels (Festival Hall)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2ipWNm9Fw
It’s a bit embarrassing but hey ho!
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Ambulance Blues - Neil Young
One- U2
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The Johnny Cash cover of Hurt.
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It's ok to cry at music, I do. Usually due to the piece itself having some significance to me, for instance:
You Only Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle, might seem like an odd one but it was my late Uncle's favourite song, I managed to keep things together at his memorial service until they played this.
Jerusalem, for similar reasons, but for my late MiL this time.
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This.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nkM33CorIw&feature=youtu.be
You need to listen to the whole 90 ish minutes though; it doen't really lend itself to a soundbite.
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Oh, yes! Some music reduces me to a pile of powder surrounded by a lake of salty water.
The Lark Ascending - Vaughan Williams
This Woman's Work - Kate Bush (but not when accompanied by a NSPCC ad)
And So Is Love - Kate Bush
Dear Friends - Elbow (though that may be purely novelty value, I expect the effect to wear off soon.)
Loads of others as well :-[
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PkkVACAB4o
Does it for me everytime too, which is ironic when you consider the very first line....
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUa-zUQaDU8
I first heard the version by Sparklehorse.
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Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, Llwyn Onn, Calon Lan a Cwm Rhondda.
And I'm neither Welsh nor reiligious!
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Bach BWV 82 "Ich habe genug"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZpwh8OasA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZpwh8OasA)
Mahler "Kindertotenlieder"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6pT1JrJ8B4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6pT1JrJ8B4&feature=related)
Little Feat "I've been the one"
Thin Lizzy "Still in love with you"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNoMSi1ztt0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNoMSi1ztt0)
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The Miles Davis version of Concierto de Aranjuez. Gets me every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSQVRTG0sQ
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The most recent song that has reduced me to tears Is 'Jar if Hearts' by Christina Perri.
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Between The Wars ~ Billy Bragg
The Ocean ~ Dar Williams
Another vote for the Johnny Cash version of Hurt
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The Miles Davis version of Concierto de Aranjuez. Gets me every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSQVRTG0sQ
Quite a lot of things involving Gil Evans or Duke Ellington, also Maria Callas in full flight
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The Christina Aguilera 'Hurt' - well, I'm wearing sunglasses all day after listening to that.
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Both funeral related, but now impossible to negotiate.
Lord of the Dance.
Safe in the Harbour (http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSAFEHRBR.html) as performed by my mate Nick and played at my ex-Merchant Marine father's funeral.
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Long Live the Queen - Frank Turner
The drugs don't work, by whoever did that
Abide with me
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Second Folk Song, on 80/81 by the Pat Metheny Group; there's an absolutely beautiful double bass solo by Charlie Haden.
On Call Me When You Get There by Barre Phillips, Amos Crown's Barn. A couple of minutes of (again!) absolute beauty.
And thanks to Kim for the Miles Davis tip. It sent shivers down my spine. It's too long since I last listened to Miles.
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Cerys Matthews, Open Roads:
They miss out these lyrics on the vid:
'Hold onto dreams and to memories, they are the only things that really exist, and in your eyes I remember, that we never said, never said goodbye'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JENap6P3XM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLK5OWU2YGw&feature=fvst
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Abide with me
Yes, that too
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I think, with hindsight, that the music that reduces you to blubbering wrecks fits into two categories: that which you associate with a sad event (funeral of a loved one, for example) and the qualities in the music itself. The examples I gave in the OP have intrinsic Blubbering Wreck ingredients and, for me at least, no outside connotations. "Cwm Rhondda", for example, I have sung many times as a very joyful piece of music. Now I associate it with my mother's funeral and perhaps there are sad connotations there. My family Can Sing Very Well and all the harmonies were there for my mum's send-off, fortissimo, which ultimately was a celebration of 93 years of wholly fulfilling life.
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I have songs that come under both categories-ie those that just plain reduce me to tears and those that have connotations that reduce me to tears. Unfortunately, I can only remember one at the moment and it comes under the connotations heading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHpQFF_Et4s
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How You've Grown, by 10,000 Maniacs.
http://youtu.be/AejaNIOYcNs
Another one that comes under the 'connotations' heading, I think.
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The Miles Davis version of Concierto de Aranjuez. Gets me every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSQVRTG0sQ
Good call, Kim.
Heart-stopping.
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Anything by Jedward.
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The Christina Aguilera 'Hurt' - well, I'm wearing sunglasses all day after listening to that.
I would always have chosen this song (a totally different song to the NIN/Cash "Hurt") because I heard a rumour that she wrote it to her dead father (died after an argument with her). If this was actually true then it would have been the saddest song ever written and sung (she has an epic voice).
However, it was written by someone else, the rumours were untrue, so it sort of lessened the impact.
However it's still a 9/10 for a tear-jerking song, sung by one of the great pop voices.
I would imagine it's almost impossible to listen to if you recently lost your father.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwCykGDEp7M&ob=av2e (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwCykGDEp7M&ob=av2e)
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The drugs don't work, by whoever did that
It's by The Verve, and I agree, it's a pretty sad song. Richard Ashcroft wrote it after the death of his father.
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Apologies for straying from the spirit of this thread...but bloody Hell Baggers you are ertainly into some quality stuff.
And yes, I did find it moving, even though I wasn't entirely familiar with all of it.
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No music has ever made me cry of itself, probably because of my unsatisfactory upbringing, but certain things bring a lump to my throat and I can get myself to be tearful if I think of certain things while listening to them. A prime example would be Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen* by Schubert, especially the version by Janet Baker. Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix (Saint-Saens) sung by Maria Callas (practically anything sung by Callas is devastating to me), whilst in another genre, Go Leave by Kate McGarrigle and Flowers and Wine by Pete Atkin (lyrics by Clive James) are very moving, if the last is a bit studenty.
*Try typing this into youtube to see a very moving montage about The Troubles.
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No music has ever made me cry of itself,
same here
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The clip of Myfannwy made me feel homesick. That's rare for me, it was more the pictures than the music.
I've always loved the final chorus of the Matthew Passion. I might have it at my funeral, not that I'm planning it or anything.
The Mendelsohn fiddle concerto reduced me to a blubbering wreck more than once, but I was a lad and was struggling to learn it. I still can't listen to it without very mixed feelings, but again, nothing to do with the music itself.
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The avatar is beginning to make sense!
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Deliberately without readin the thread...
Eric Bogle, Too many times. And the Band Played..., No Man's Land, Reason For It All. Singing the Spirit Home, all of them have left me wet and weeping.
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I could probably list loads - but that just may be me at the mo. Here's a few though:
Roy Harper - When a old cricketer leaves the crease
Alban Berg - Wozzeck
Judie Tzuke - Stay with me till dawn
Matching Mole - Oh Caroline
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Deliberately without readin the thread...
Eric Bogle, Too many times. And the Band Played..., No Man's Land, Reason For It All. Singing the Spirit Home, all of them have left me wet and weeping.
I'm sorry to hear that, Steph. I haven't seen Eric for a while but I always thought he was not such a bad singer!
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Deliberately without readin the thread...
Eric Bogle, Too many times. And the Band Played..., No Man's Land, Reason For It All. Singing the Spirit Home, all of them have left me wet and weeping.
I'm sorry to hear that, Steph. I haven't seen Eric for a while but I always thought he was not such a bad singer!
Sod! ;D ;D ;D
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A Radio 1 live version of the Cocteau Twins' "Blue Beard" did it for me, explosively, but only when listening on headphones to keep it a private experence, and with the volume turned up to 11 to make the singer's emotion and the guitarist's melody pummel into me, as Liz forces her heart out through her mouth, with uncontrolled gutteral noises between the lines. "Blubbering wreck" is no exaggeration of my state.
The lyrics are too embarrassing in their simpleness and frankness to play through loudspeakers that other people may hear - "Are you the right man for me? Are you safe? Are you my friend? Or are you toxic for me?" - yet are powerful when just taking them in directly from her to me. Liz sounds as if she's having an emotional breakdown herself.
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I'm sure Swindon: The Opera would reduce to me to tears. Especially if I'd ended up living there.
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It's rare that music stirs that kind of emotion in me, if I'm miserable I don't tend to listen to music, although, being a musician by trade I am likely to play it. I mainly listen to music if I'm feeling full of myself or, shall we say...lustful.
Some tunes that do make me a little more inward looking and melancholy are Finzi's Five Bagatelles and Clarinet Concerto, Irish traditional Siull a Ruin, most of Eliza Carthy's Angels & Cigarettes, some Darren Hayes/Savage Garden, Stereophonics -Maybe Tomorrow, all kinds of mainly rock stuff is likely to make me go a bit strange if I'm in a certain mood but I'm no great lover of ballads.
It's not down to melancholy or bad moods: it's sheer emotion. I don't think it's something I can conjour up, either. It's when the right piece of music catches me unawares.
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Yeah, merely sad music may moisten the eye, but that isn't the same as blubbering wreckage. It only rarely happens to me. The example I gave above is actually very upbeat in terms of melody and rhythm. It's basically just a catchy pop song, but with a load of power (when you're tuned into it).
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I'd agree with mant already mentioned, so I'd just like 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Wish you were here'.
But a song that never fails even to this day is ... 2 little boys by Rolf Harris.
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At least no ones mentioned Old Shep.
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Steve Earle, "Johnny come lately" for the sentiment in the final verse.
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Elgar's cello concerto.
<sniff>
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On the Concierto de Aranjuez front, I give my vote to the Brassed Off version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8uoY9e5YVY
But then Brass Bands do tend to have an effect on me, and anything played by the Sally Army will have me swallowing hard.
Otherwise, I don't think I reliably cry at many things, but Elgar's Cello, The Lark Ascending and Vaughn Williams' Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis all stand a chance. Actually, a lot of Vaughn Williams. It's something about the soaring high notes, that makes me think of being on top of an English hill, lying on close cropped grass, in the sun, but with that particular chill wind you often get.
Oh, I'm off now....
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Elgar's cello concerto.
<sniff>
Especially if played by Jacqueline du Pré.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7qT99zTEE&feature=related
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Oh yes... (reaches for hanky).
Edit: No roger, not for that reason.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6gpa8nUa70&feature=fvst
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... Actually, a lot of Vaughn Williams. It's something about the soaring high notes, that makes me think of being on top of an English hill, lying on close cropped grass, in the sun, but with that particular chill wind you often get.
Oh, I'm off now....
There's something about English music from the Edwardian Era that, to me, is the sound of an idyll that should have been.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8RlCZP0KQ
Can't do without this. Such a masterpiece. Of all the music I've ever listened to, I don't think any composer has succeeded with the concept of "implied melody" the way Ludwig has here. The bit where the soaring strings are doing there stuff, starting around 4'22" in this recording, no instrument is actually playing the tune. It's going on in the listener's head whilst the orchestra provides a backing.
Absolutely stunning in every way.
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^^^
Marvellous, of course, but it makes me want to jump for joy at what can be achieved!
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I think D minor is the saddest of all the keys, it makes people weep instantly.
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Sometimes it's just the way you play them!
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A lot of Genesis at the moment. Guide Vocal, Supper's Ready, Ripples, Undertow. . .
Some Floyd, too. Tigers, Fletcher Memorial, Comfortably Numb and On The Turning Away. Wow!
Stuff that reminds me of Dad. Sibelius, Elgar, the sort of stuff Henry Kelly plays
One of the best reasons for listening to Chris Evans. Generally commercial radio is unadulterated shite! Chris Evans has made a living out of having the attention span of a concussed amoeba but luckily knows fuck all about music so he's not likely to play anything that's going to unbalance me on the way to work or cause any potential embarassment in traffic.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7qT99zTEE&feature=related
That bass line still gives me nightmares. A couple of pints at least were required to get anywhere near it.
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There are two strands to my thinking about this thread.
One is the sonic quality of the music itself. It's a combination of beauty and effectiveness, which can happen in any musical genre. The key plays a part too.
The other one is about songs. Any song can have a deep meaning for us when we connect it with significant events. When a song is written about specific events or topics it can have very strong meaning for those who feel a connection. Two of my examples are A Place Called England (june Tabor) ad Los Gatos Canyon (Woody Guthrie), both political songs. The first moves me to anger, because it makes me realise that things could be better, the second to tears, because it deals with the outcome of casual disregard for migrant labourers.
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There's another stand as well. It's possible to construct a tearjerker from the right components, which is what professional songwriters and arrangers do. I'd put 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill' in that camp, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu-z8mJKzs4 everthing about it is designed to tug at the heart strings, it's got the musical and lyrical cues in the right order. It's difficult to succumb to those cues and not resent the blatant manipulation.
It's as Noel Coward wrote in 'Private Lives' ' Extraordinary how potent cheap music is'.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8RlCZP0KQ
Can't do without this. Such a masterpiece. Of all the music I've ever listened to, I don't think any composer has succeeded with the concept of "implied melody" the way Ludwig has here. The bit where the soaring strings are doing there stuff, starting around 4'22" in this recording, no instrument is actually playing the tune. It's going on in the listener's head whilst the orchestra provides a backing.
Absolutely stunning in every way.
That is an amazing piece of music indeed, but it's one that makes my heart soar rather than reducing me to a blubbering wreck! :)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7qT99zTEE&feature=related
That bass line still gives me nightmares. A couple of pints at least were required to get anywhere near it.
To be fair, the high soprano does the same to me...though I couldn't have done it on a couple of pints (burp)! :o
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I think D minor is the saddest of all the keys, it makes people weep instantly.
:-)
Especially when the melody is just simple lines intertwining (see: Mozart/Bach pieces)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuu-GACWPTE&feature=related
That a remarkable performance. I thought I detected a couple of pronunciation errors (the bass solo seemed to miss the 'n' out of "sanfte" at one point, and the tenor seemed to be singing "laufen" rather than "laufet" a couple of times. However, it's rare to hear a performance that's so clear.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8RlCZP0KQ
Can't do without this. Such a masterpiece. Of all the music I've ever listened to, I don't think any composer has succeeded with the concept of "implied melody" the way Ludwig has here. The bit where the soaring strings are doing there stuff, starting around 4'22" in this recording, no instrument is actually playing the tune. It's going on in the listener's head whilst the orchestra provides a backing.
Absolutely stunning in every way.
That is an amazing piece of music indeed, but it's one that makes my heart soar rather than reducing me to a blubbering wreck! :)
It makes my heart soar too. It doesn't stop me form being a blubbering wreck occasionally, at the same time!
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I think D minor is the saddest of all the keys, it makes people weep instantly.
Nah. C# minor's the one.
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Chopin's Funeral March (Sonata in B flat minor, 2nd movement) is a pretty miserable dirge, although there's a gorgeous section in a major key in the middle of it.
Beethoven wrote two symphonic funeral marches, C minor for the second movement of the Eroica and A minor for the 7th symphony. Mind you, I always think of that A minor piece as very light-hearted (it's the one that's all on one note).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgHxmAsINDk
The Eroica one is terribly solemn and at one point, towards the end of it, there's a single drum beat with no other instrument playing. I always think of that as the musical depiction of a sod of earth landing on a coffin. ;D I can't find a Youtube clip of it which includes the whole movement at the moment: everything I've found has been truncated.
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Im Abendrot (At Sunset) from Strauss's "Vier Letzte Lieder". Wriiten when he was 84 in 1948, he died the same year.
I particularly like the Gundula Janowitz / Herbert von Karajan version here. The glistening sound of the Berlin strings which sometimes I don't like are perfect for this piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4KTMzUL3W0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4KTMzUL3W0)
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"See The Farmer Sow His Seed" as featured in the closing credits of King Street Junior.
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Beethoven's Appasionata does it for me. But there's a couple of others:
Lee Aaron - barely holding on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6d5EzBA2pU
and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
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Bach BWV 82 "Ich habe genug"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZpwh8OasA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZpwh8OasA)
Andreas Scholl has just released a new album of "Ich habe genug" (so that's countertenor) but, vast Scholl fan that I am, I think I prefer the Peter Kooij version.
Saw Scholl singing it live at the Barbican last Friday.
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This brings a tear to the eye and snot to the nose:
http://youtu.be/89jPaJWLHTs
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Lost in the moment by Edie Bricknell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKxIMK8fFAk
A sad but all too common story, simply told. The images in the final verse always get me.
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Going back to the more situational/connotational songs that make me weep each time I hear them, because I remember...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EUifVn-TC4
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I was listening, as I tend to, R3's "Breakfast" broadcast with this morning's presenter, Clemency Burton-Hill. Every day for the past few weeks they have played a special request from a member of the public, with whom they have a chat just before playing it. This week, because it's been half-term, they have been trying to get school kids to phone in. This morning it was the turn of Emily, 9-year-old girl from London who has been learning the 'cello.
She requested this:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgdbqt2ON0
CBH asked Emily if she know who the conductor was, and Emily didn't.
Although I wasn't reduced to a blubbering wreck by this, it did lead, as it always does when I hear du Pré play, to a thoughtful moment. I was privileged enough to see her live at the Festival Hall in the early 1960s at one of the Robert Mayer children's concerts. She must have been about 16 at the time. I was about 7.
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Bach BWV 82 "Ich habe genug"
Andreas Scholl has just released a new album of "Ich habe genug" (so that's countertenor) but, vast Scholl fan that I am, I think I prefer the Peter Kooij version.
Saw Scholl singing it live at the Barbican last Friday.
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson is my favourite for this.
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She requested this:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgdbqt2ON0
CBH asked Emily if she know who the conductor was, and Emily didn't.
Daniel Barenboim's hair is a bit mad in that video. Definitely going for the eccentric conductor look.
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And the Band played Waltzing Matilda by June Tabor
Underneath the Stars by Kate Rusby
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Old Pendle, Old Pendle.
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I don't know that one, but I think I'd like to. I'll have to Google and see if it's available.
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Mary Chapin Carpenter singing '10,000 miles' from the film Fly Away Home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Tz3pVb9Dg&feature=related
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Several pieces by Sigur Ros really hit the mark. They do a good job of really building songs to a big conclusion. Glosoli and Ara Batur particularly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VvB_UmmIzk
From about 7:30 in this video when the choir and orchestra kick in...it hits me like Elgar's Nimrod from The Enigma Variations does on Remembrance day.
the lyrics for Ara Batur (in case you can't translate Icelandic/Hopelandic...)
You tried everything
Yes, a thousand times
Experienced enough
Been through enough
But you it was who let everything
Into my heart
And it was you who once again
Awoke my spirit
I parted, you parted
You stir up
Emotions
In a blender
Everything in disarray
But it was you who was always
There for me
It was you who never judged
My true friend
I parted, you parted
(hopelandic)
You sail on rivers
With an old oar
Leaking badly
You swim to shore
Pushed the waves away
But to no avail
You float on the sea
Sleep on the surface
Light through the fog
(hopelandic)
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The drugs don't work, by whoever did that
It's by The Verve, and I agree, it's a pretty sad song. Richard Ashcroft wrote it after the death of his father.
Thats the one that does it for me as well
http://youtu.be/ToQ0n3itoII
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Clint Mansell - Requiem for a dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-rD8vcY4U
The Morrighan - Requeim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q7uWTZHclE
Irina - Et huomaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x43QsP5WV6E
Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings
http://youtu.be/izQsgE0L450
Joolz Gianni - Silver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx0sdF67ldg
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin peaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXrjMaVoTy0
Libera - Sanctus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAiECJf5Ouo
Enya - Watermark
http://youtu.be/oiFTXckh0zU
Louie Armstrong - We have all the time in the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaHuzlPmrko
Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard - Now we are free
http://youtu.be/XdOY3yKPbFQ
Craig Armstrong - Escape
http://youtu.be/ZhP6F-vxeZI
Goldfrapp - White soft rope (isn't on youtube?)
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQ3Nzk4NTg4.html
Granted a lot of them are meant to be happy songs but they get me most of the time.
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I knew that the Messiah, and perhaps especially the Hallelujah Chorus, had a tendency to reduce me to a BW, but it's most inconvenient for it to do so half-way through the said chorus when I'm singing bass in the final rehearsal before tonight's performance.
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The local radio station was playing Starship's "We Built This City on Rock ' N' Roll" earlier. Now that is tragic.
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The local radio station was playing Starship's "We Built This City on Rock ' N' Roll" earlier. Now that is tragic.
It's a regular on Heart around here :'( :facepalm: one reason why tune elsewhere...
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The Heptones: Cool Rasta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LQaDlTxkBQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LQaDlTxkBQ)
It really does, I'm not taking the piss.
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6 pages and nobody has posted Roberta Flack - 'The first Time ever I kissed your face'. (At least I think it was her).
I was at a cremation recently for a friend and his widow had it played - I think everyone in the room was in shreds. Its 100% pure soaring yearning raw emotion from start to finish.
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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (the "kissed your lips" is the second verse) is wonderful. There is an excellent version by the early Gordon Lightfoot, too. Fascinating to realise that it was written by Jimmy Miller aka Ewan McColl, who also wrote Manchester Rambler and Dirty old Town. I can well imagine the effect it would have at a funeral.
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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (the "kissed your lips" is the second verse) is wonderful. There is an excellent version by the early Gordon Lightfoot, too. Fascinating to realise that it was written by Jimmy Miller aka Ewan McColl, who also wrote Manchester Rambler and Dirty old Town. I can well imagine the effect it would have at a funeral.
"Going Underground" by the Jam could be upsetting in that context.
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As could Arthur Brown's "Fire".
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I was not allowed to play 'Hey Big Spender' at my Stepmothers funeral - it would have been the most appropriate song though.
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I was surprised that the slow movement of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto made me so weepy last week (CBSO in Brum).
Recordings rarely produce the same effect. Oddly, live chamber music doesn't either (not yet..).
Elgar is a special case, deeply associated with my dad.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdwkc5MC6OI
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Mrs. Wow just introduced me to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_9WlUTR4Ys
It worked.
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Sorry, I'm a bit pissed, so just can't be bothered to read all the previous posts.
Has anyone mentioned Jacqueline du Pré's interpretation of Elgar's Cello Concerto?
Elgar's Nimrod variation?
*Buggers off for a blub*
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Ho yuss!
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The Dambusters March.
It always brought a lump to my throat, but then I heard it at the funeral of Bertie Fisher, the rally driver who died in a helicopter crash. Probably because his father was in the RAF, we sang "God is our Strength and Refuge" and as we sang his death seemed to become united with the film of the Lancasters going down.
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Just listened to Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.
Through the basic speakers I have it's wonderful. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be at a live performance (if it is ever performed these days). If ever there's a possibility I shall do my utmost to hear it. It's completely wonderful and out-of-this-world!
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OMG! I've not mentioned Au Fond du Temple Saint from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. (Excuse any spelling errors - I'm a bit pissed)
I've just been absolutely weeping. A rare example of a male duet that absolutely nails you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PYt2HlBuyI
And now for something completely different;
"Flowers of the Forest"
There is no decent version of this anywhere on youtube - Fact
Should be just a solo piper - none of the other crap.
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Just listened to Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.
Through the basic speakers I have it's wonderful. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be at a live performance (if it is ever performed these days). If ever there's a possibility I shall do my utmost to hear it. It's completely wonderful and out-of-this-world!
Spem in Alium is indeed a magnificent work. I would argue that Tallis and Byrd ought to occupy the same rarified air in people's minds that Bach, Beethoven and Mozart do, but of course their stuff is out of fashion.
I'm pretty sure that my brother's choir did a performance of Spem in Alium not that long ago - he live near Shrewsbury but I don't know which choir he belongs to.
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The Kyrie in Cherubini's Requiem. It's no wonder Beethoven had it at his funeral. Also Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aloswFXkZQ
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The final verse of Steve Earle's "Johhny Come Lately"
Now my granddaddy sang me this song
Told me about Londen when the Blitz was on
How he married Grandma and brought her back home
A hero throughout his land
Now I'm standing on a runway in San Diego
A couple Purple Hearts and I move a little slow
There's nobody here, maybe nobody knows
About a place called Vietnam
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Just listened to Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.
Through the basic speakers I have it's wonderful. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be at a live performance (if it is ever performed these days). If ever there's a possibility I shall do my utmost to hear it. It's completely wonderful and out-of-this-world!
Spem in Alium is indeed a magnificent work. I would argue that Tallis and Byrd ought to occupy the same rarified air in people's minds that Bach, Beethoven and Mozart do, but of course their stuff is out of fashion.
I'm pretty sure that my brother's choir did a performance of Spem in Alium not that long ago - he live near Shrewsbury but I don't know which choir he belongs to.
This is a lovely box set - Tallis: Complete Works - Chapelle du Roi (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant%2BClassics/94268) Regulator recommended it a couple of years ago.
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Чуєш, брате мій (https://youtu.be/ZRAUrKtu7ZM)
The title translates as "Do you hear, my brother?" The song is about cranes (read: people) flying off into the distance and across the sea, never to return.
This song is commonly sung at funerals of people who emigrated from Ukraine around the time of WW2, but died and were buried abroad. Usually sung at the graveside, and done spontaneously. You don't get perfect four-part harmony like in the clip, but as many people have sung in choirs at some point you do get harmonies.
I'm just about OK (usually) listening to it, but I always struggle when singing it. For performances I can manage to hold back emotions. When sung elsewhere I don't think I've ever finished with a dry eye. When we buried my grandparents I didn't even try to sing.
EDIT: Original clip no longer available; new one provided. Contrary to the opening of my last paragraph, the floodgates opened when listening.
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There are so many song that bring a tear to the eye...
Hine e Hine - a Maori song by Princess Te Rangi Pai. It was played at my father's funeral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcizehXVS4o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcizehXVS4o)
The Kyrie Eleison from the Laudario di Corona. It's fabulous 13th century Kyrie from the Lebanon that was played at a close friend's funeral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm6QTPyzMm0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm6QTPyzMm0)
The Salve Regina, sung in the 'Templar Style', by the Ensemble Organum. This just makes my heart soar... it's such a fabulous recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz--X5mvZpM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz--X5mvZpM)
Adam Brand's The ANZAC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q5sYsN7Mas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q5sYsN7Mas)
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I was thinking of songs that summed up my feelings about LEL. Seeing riders of so many nations put me in mind of Coney Island, by Van Morrison, which was informed by The Troubles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPfybDTJ-Bo
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I have been listening a lo to Arvo Part's Spiegel im Speigel a lot lately. It is not so much tearjerking as deeply serene.
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I love Arvo Pärt's stuff. The problem is that I like to listen to music as a I drive and I find his composition a little too relaxing...
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This just nailed me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTvccE7HPpI) completely.
Feeling altogether too fragile at the moment.
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Ride Into The Sun ~ The Velvet Underground. The original, not the shoddy 2024 remix which puts too much distortion on the lead guitar.
Odd that a three-and-a-half minute instrumental can do that, but I want it played at my funeral.
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Ride Into The Sun ~ The Velvet Underground. The original, not the shoddy 2024 remix which puts too much distortion on the lead guitar.
Odd that a three-and-a-half minute instrumental can do that, but I want it played at my funeral.
Send me £1,000 in unmarked bank notes or I'll make sure they play a Cheeky Girls medley instead.
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I've just remembered another. On Natasha Kaplinsky's "Who do you think you are" her guide in Poland sang Shiva in a ruined synagogue.
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The Message - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5
I know all the words, but when rapping along to it I can rarely make it through the last verse without cracking
This also applies when I try signing along to Grandma's Hands by Bill Withers, but I guess that's a little more understandable
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Portishead's 'Roads' has been known to make me a mess of me. I have to be a bit ale-ed though, and in the wrong mood.
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This also applies when I try signing along to Grandma's Hands by Bill Withers, but I guess that's a little more understandable
Is Grandma hard of hearing, then?
When You Come Back Down by Nickel Creek gets me every time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5-VUDcjJ8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5-VUDcjJ8)
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The other night we turned off the TV and had an evening of playing songs on YouTube to one another.
TLD said "I really like this one" as she cued up "Tea and Toast" by Lucy Spraggan. Tears flowed, I had forgotten just how much it gets me.
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I want it played at my funeral.
That can be arranged.
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The whole of Sibelius' fourth symphony, especially the final collapse at the end. The slow movement of Mahler's sixth.
Tori Amos (and the Blackdyke mills band): Putting the Damage On.
Linda Thompson: Go Home
Mabsant: Can y Bugail, with its chorus "Dydy'r bugail ddim ar y bryniau mwy; fe aeth e mas o Drawsfynydd. Wedi mynd y bard y gadair ddu, i ymladd yn y ffosydd."
The shepherd is no longer on the hills, he has gone from Trawsfynydd. Gone is the bard of the Black Chair, to fight in the trenches.
Also the line "Ac yn Nhrawsfynydd, ar lan y llyn, yr oen yn araf marw" And in Trawsfynydd, by the lake, the lambs slowly die.
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Not quite a blubbering wreck, but Veronica by Elvis Costello caused something to get in my eye this morning.
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Not quite a blubbering wreck, but Veronica by Elvis Costello caused something to get in my eye this morning.
I love that song.
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Another one... Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzUMfVpugq4
Our choir is singing this at our summer concert.
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Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold. I like Stings original but her version just has 'something'. Bruce Springsteen - 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'. Watched the re-recorded live version yesterday and 40 yrs on it has lost none of its power
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Thousand Dollar Wedding - Gram Parsons
https://youtu.be/QiaCZ3KgJe8
And he felt so bad when he saw the traces
Of old lies still on their faces
So why don't someone here just spike his drink
Why don't you do him in some old way
Supposed to be a funeral, it's been a bad, bad day
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Parts of the first movement of Kachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor get me, but only (so far) the 1965 Oistrakh/Kachaturian recording. They remind me of summers, rivers and girls long gone. The strange thing is that they gave me much the same feeling when I first heard them, when I was 20 or thereabouts, and the girls long gone were
all mostly in the future.
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I recently learned that REM's New Test Leper wasn't actually written about the AIDS crisis. But since Stipe has officially stated that his songs are about whatever you want them to be about, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, that.
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The first time I heard Janis Ian’s song ‘Jesse’, it was being sung by Eddi Reader in concert, and it reduced me to tears. Listening to the original now, it has the same effect: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Sg6kwpEfQ
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jliWPm6hoU
Another recording of the Fauré referred to above. Wonderful performance. There is something about a small choir that a big one loses.
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I will admit to getting something in my eye at the Hammy Odeon last month when Jack White was doing "We Are Going To Be Friends".
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Glancing through this thread, I notice that for almost every piece of music which makes someone cry, another person says the same music makes their heart soar. I don't think that's coincidental, in that music which is very moving, moves us but in different ways – or we have different ways of feeling the same emotion.
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“Johnny come lately” by Steve Earle, from his Copperhead Road album. It contrasts the experience of homecoming GI’s from WW2 - “Johnny come lately comes marching home, with a chestful of medals and a GI loan, they’ll be waiting at the station at San Antone” - with that of those returning from Vietnam - “Now I’m standing on a runway in San Diego, a couple Purple Hearts so I move a little slow, there’s nobody here, maybe nobody knows about a place called Vietnam”. Gets me every time.
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cf. Sam Stone by John Prine
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there are several, but two that spring to mind
Moody Blues, I'll be Level With You - with a disabled son and an extremely intelligent daughter (who shares some of my personality traits, not the best ones) this is particularly touching
John Denver's travel songs - Goodbye Again in particular, 15 years on the road!
John Denver - I Guess He'd Rather Be in California, situational
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John Denver - I Guess He'd Rather Be in California, situational
Are you sure it's not Colorado? At least, that's what You Tube is telling me!
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B.Gigli singing anything.
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October 20th 1977 I was at a Doctor Feelgood Concert, supported (IIRC) by the Max Hatcher Band
At the interval, both bands walked on stage and stood silently whilst Lee Brilleaux announced thatthey had just heard that there was breaking news that Lynnrd Skynnrd had been involved an air crash, and initial reports were that most (if not all) the band had been killed
Both bands stood in silence whilst Freebird was played ... there wasn't a dry eye in the house, and to this day the song takes me back to that night
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Slightly OT
Sometimes songs get a new meaning from exposure in a different setting that give them a greater meaning and emotion
I enjoyed the TV Series "Person of Interest" and two come to mind.
I DO NOT like Country and Western, or Johnny Cash. However this song in the context of teh programme changed that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD8qvpMw8Vw&frags=pl%2Cwn
Later in the series they also used "Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" with equal effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJ04xE5UQ8&frags=pl%2Cwn
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A rare bit of auto-blubberation yesterday.
I have a very good friend from our college days, Enid. She and I were about the two best pianists in our music group and her signature tune, as it were, was Claire de Lune, by Monsieur Debussy. Out of a mark of respect I never learned it, because it was "hers". Sadly, although Enid, in her B. Ed. year at college, passed her grade 7 with a distinction, she never did grade 8. Her hands are so small she can barely reach an octave, and since the grade 8 syllabus demands scales played in octaves she gave up playing the piano.
Enid and her husband will be coming to visit us in December. I am absolutely certain that she is going to fall in love with my Blüthner so I have decided to learn Claire de Lune in her honour. It's not that hard, but it starts off with a con sordini command (with mutes). That means apply the "soft" pedal. In a grand piano, the whole mechanism and the keyboard are shifted a few millimetres to the right so that the hammer hit only one string instead of all three per note.
Very few pieces demand the soft pedal so I have hardly ever used it in almost a year of owning the piano. The tenderness of the sound produced just blew me away. Utterly wonderful.
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Another piece for me - Träumerei, by Robert Schumann. It's number 7 from his "Kinderszenen".
I largely neglected Schumann when learning the piano. He wrote a great book for advancing youngsters, "Album for the Young", and I learned a few of those when I was at primary school, but although aware of Kinderzenen, I'd just not bothered with any of the pieces, which was a big mistake. Curiously, Enid, mentioned in the previous post, recently told me that the pianists in the music group were supposed to learn them when we were in our final year. I have no recollection whatever of that requirement. Possibly explains why Enid got a B. Ed. degree and I had to make do with a mere Cert. Ed.
However, I digress. Jan and I went to a local concert a few months ago in which the great John Lill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lill) visited Southend (he comes here pretty much yearly to perform, which is a great honour for the town) and he played all 15 of the Kinderzenen as part of his recital. I bought the sheet music and have been learning them. They are not overly difficult, but are the sort of thing that top virtuosos use as encores - well-known pieces which let the audience go home satisfied.
We have a very lovely friend named Ruth (well, we have two very lovely friends names Ruth, but the one I'm referring to at the moment is not OTP) who has a birthday coming up on Friday. Ruth, who played the clarinet, was in the same music group that Enid and I were. I thought I'd record Träumerei for her - I know it's right up her street. I did a pretty basic recording using my Iphone and was reasonably satisfied. Then I thought I'd find a few Youtube videos of it. Yesterday I found Valentina Lisitsa's encore from some concert or other. Jan came in part way through me listening to it and I had tears streaming down my face.
Needless to say, I've scrapped my original recording and done it again, this time with Dez's decent camera and my Tascam stereo recorder. I'm pleased with the result, which is a lot better than my first attempt. I'll post it on Friday after Ruth has heard it.
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OK, I don't think Ruth has seen it yet, but here's my rendition. I recorded it three or four times, and I think this was the best. Not perfect by any means, but I was very pleased with the closing bars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9nsVS6FBaQ
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing it:
https://youtu.be/fHlfNYY1YIY
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Stainsby girls - Chris Rea. I used to know a girl called Claire.......
Ravel's Bolero - I was on an intercity 125 heading inexorably towards London, a place I cannot deal with. I had my earphones on and was dripping with tears. When I opened my eyes the two little old ladies opposite me were staring at me as if I had two heads.
I'm in Pittsburgh and it's raining - no idea who it's by. I was on my way home from a training course in London (see above) and I was sitting in my ageing Volvo in a two mile stretch of stationary traffic. My heater switch had recently demised and I had got round the problem by bypassing it, without thinking "This is a Swedish car made for Swedish winters and I now have it on full in the hottest summer on record". By the time the Angel, Islington was in view I was deranged. Both windows down and sweltering. This came on my radio and I was screaming along at the top of my voice when I looked up and saw the gent in the car next to me. He was in the last stages of death by laughter. I simply smiled, hoped to die and tried to look straight ahead. I still cry laughing when I think about it.
Firestarter - Prodigy. I was sitting at the lights in the rusting remains of my Fiesta. My dog, Tess, was sitting on the passenger seat next to me. Two young chaps in a chavmobile pulled up next to me. In true young chaps fashion they had the windows down and the volume up. Way up. Firestarter was playing. Tess and I looked at them. They looked at me and Tess. As the "Whhheeee, Whhheeee" bit started I put my hands behind Tess's ears and raised them in time to the music. She obediently opened her mouth and waggled her tongue in time to the music. I raised my eyebrows in time to the music.
As we pulled away from the lights they were still rolling around laughing to much to drive.
I still cry laughing at the memory.
Blubbering can be about fun as well.#
Liz.
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Shaney Boy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioCo4moI6Fo) by Kevin Johnson.
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Stainsby girls - Chris Rea.
Funny that. Chris Rea reduces me to tears as well - just maybe not for the same reasons... ;)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiQjEqa8cGc&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=IL-TV
My son, he of the Finnish partner, sent me this. Blew me away.
Oh, and Happy Finnish Independence Day!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiQjEqa8cGc&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=IL-TV
My son, he of the Finnish partner, sent me this. Blew me away.
Oh, and Happy Finnish Independence Day!
That's rather good. My kind of airport, too...
For me, something rather different, Waves of Fear by Maximo Park; defiant / triumphant, the harmonies at the end, gets me every time.
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This, because it reminds me of my Dad. He passed away as a result of cancer a few years ago:
https://youtu.be/-Bf85eWoUCY
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I’ve known my friend Amanda since primary school. We’re in our 50s now, and she has metastatic ovarian cancer. She sent me this link the other day, and it broke me.
https://youtu.be/uTh4d4DFuVs
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Personal list is endless and so varied. But this blew me away and changed everything, aged 14. Now it 'reduces' me to flooded cheek ecstacy, with arms a flailing for good measure . . .
Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
https://youtu.be/TLV4_xaYynY
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Personal list is endless and so varied. But this blew me away and changed everything, aged 14. Now it 'reduces' me to flooded cheek ecstacy, with arms a flailing for good measure . . .
Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
https://youtu.be/TLV4_xaYynY
There's a regular busker in the Greenwich foot tunnel who delivers a more than half decent acoustic version of AATW.
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Personal list is endless and so varied. But this blew me away and changed everything, aged 14. Now it 'reduces' me to flooded cheek ecstacy, with arms a flailing for good measure . . .
Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
https://youtu.be/TLV4_xaYynY
There's a regular busker in the Greenwich foot tunnel who delivers a more than half decent acoustic version of AATW.
Better than Dylan? ;D
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Personal list is endless and so varied. But this blew me away and changed everything, aged 14. Now it 'reduces' me to flooded cheek ecstacy, with arms a flailing for good measure . . .
Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
https://youtu.be/TLV4_xaYynY
There's a regular busker in the Greenwich foot tunnel who delivers a more than half decent acoustic version of AATW.
Better than Dylan? ;D
Never been a fan of Dylan.
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He didn't win the Nobel for his singing talent!
He's a much better writer than singer IMHO
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He didn't win the Nobel for his singing talent!
He's a much better writer than singer IMHO
I've just listened to Dylan's version (well, about 20 seconds of it - as much as I could stand).
The guy in the pipe under the river is definitely better.
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Even His Bobness prefers the Hendrix version.
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I don''t speak Welsh but Myfanwy always strikes a chord, as does the odd operatic aria.
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Sam Baker - Waves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll5JQ5CdaeI)
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Nice.
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:thumbsup: :'(
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Black Dyke. Deep Harmony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXA5eu1QzLU&ab_channel=BlackDykeMillsBand-Topic
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Francoise Hardy. French singer from 60s. Cant say too much more otherwise ill melt
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj4ST5Dsmdc&ab_channel=2CELLOS
Normally played on 2 violins. Whether it was just that performance, I don't know, but this seems to lose much of what the original has to offer.
That's 3m 50s into this video.
https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-1043