Blues Tuesday: Muddy Waters, "Rollin' Stone"

I really love Blues.  It's extraordinarily simple yet has a wide expressive range.  The form is clearly defined, and you have to be creative within it or especially virtuosic to engage the listener.  Muddy Waters is arguably the greatest.  All that's here in his classic "Rollin' Stone" is a guitar and Muddy's voice.  Amazing what he makes with it, especially the call and response between voice and guitar, and the range from bass to alto he squeezes out of the guitar nearly simultaneously. 

 

 



This song is also called "Catfish Blues" based on the first stanza.  Here's that first stanza.

Well, I wish I was a catfish,
swimmin in a oh, deep, blue sea
I would have all you good lookin women,
fishin, fishin after me
Sure 'nough, a-after me
Sure 'nough, a-after me
Oh 'nough, oh 'nough, sure 'nough


There's a sort of fatalistic sadness to the song.  The structure of the song is deceptively well crafted.  It starts with a wish, moves to a relationship that cannot blossom, roots his fate to his birth, as if he has no power to define himself, and we see the uprooted life sadly moving on at the end.  The guitar and voice just captures that melancholic feeling.


You can read the rest of the lyrics here, and the Wikipedia entry here.  The rock group The Rolling Stones took their name from this song. 

Matthew Monday: Pre Hurricane Beach

I think this photo was taken about a month before Hurricane Sandy hit, and I think the hurricane hit a day or two before Halloween. When I went back to the spot after the hurricane to check out the damage, it was blocked off and denied access.

Les Misérables,The Movie

We just saw it this evening, so here’s a review.  Don’t read this now if you want to go into the theater to see it without someone else’s opinion.

First off, take my wife’s assessment as probably being closer to your own.  A big fan of the stage musical (we first saw it in the early 1990’s), she says she liked the movie but not loved it.  On a rating scale that probably translates to a three and a half to four out of five.

My one line assessment: it sucked.  Ok, maybe a little better than that, say a two out of five.
Other than Ann Hathaway as Fantine—who was not just good but awesome—no other actor could sing even moderately well.  If a musical is to entertain, it should have as a minimum people who can sing.  On that level it failed to entertain.

Second, the acting was either mediocre at best or downright poor at worst.  Hugh Jackman very much looked the part of Valjean, but his acting was stiff and awkward.  Russell Crow, who I love as an actor, was terrible, cartoonish and graceless, and wow could he not sing.  Those who played the landlord and his wife were horrible.  Those that played Marius and the rebels were pathetic.  The only standouts were Ann Hathaway again, and Samantha Barks as Eponine. 

But as I see it, the failure went beyond singing and acting.  It was a failure to understand the genre.  This is going to be a little complicated.  One has to start with the novel, and let me be up front I have not read this tome of a novel.  But as I understand it the novel is a 1500 page work about Romanticized ideals, about love, faith, generosity, mercy, and goodness.  Romanticized ideals are truths.  They are not falsities; they are universal truths and because they are universal they are all around us and so easily become clichés.  To avoid the triteness of a cliché, one has to bolster it with detail and elaboration, and therefore you get 1500 pages to justify those ideals. 

Yes, the stage musical compressed the story, removing the bolstering of those ideals.  But with music, the sound arrangement and more specifically the recurring melodies carry and justify the ideals.  Take a pop song.  Notice how typically the lyrics are just snippets, hardly enough to convince a listener of a theme if the song was just read out loud with no accompaniment.  What happens is that the music fills in what is left out, and carries the theme to a logical and complete expression.  And so the beautiful melodies of the stage drama make credible the themes of love, faith, generosity, mercy, and goodness.  In effect, the novel and the stage musical are two different works of the same story.
Where the film goes wrong is that the addition of a visual eye—the camera—undermines the idealism of the music.  It emphasizes the gritty realism perhaps in an effort to be congruent with the stylistic features of the novel, while still keeping the compression of the musical.  Yes, the music is still there, but it works at counter ends to the realism instead of complementing it.  On stage gritty details are either absent or not discernible, and so the music, as the melodies are linked to the ideals, carries the themes.  In the novel, the expanded gritty details carry the themes.  In the film, the gritty details—now compressed and closer to clichés—clash with the ideals expressed musically.  The film had to make a decision in which genre—a realistic story or a musical—to get it right, and it chose both.  I don’t know if that makes sense to my dear readers, but that’s how I see it.

So does that mean you shouldn’t see the movie, even if you buy into my argument?  No!  Go see the movie.  It’s still a great story and if you spend enough money making the movie, it’ll always be appealing.  Ignore the bad acting and bad singing. 

Here’s what I really liked about it.  I don’t recall the stage musical being so overtly Christian.  The film is demonstrably Christian in its imagery, complementing its core Christian themes.  It warmed my Christian heart.  It even used Victor Hugo’s quote as a summation, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”  And he’s not talking about sex or even romantic love.  This movie embodies what Christianity is all about.  Second, the movie got the Fantine part of the story perfectly, and Ann Hathaway nailed it with her singing and acting.  Her death scene just crushes the heart.  For that alone the movie is worth it.  Finally, despite the mediocre acting and really poor singing, over time one grows fond of Hugh Jackman as Valjean.  His final scene is also very moving. 
And the music is still the music of the stage.  The melodies are heaven sent.

Here’s a audio of Hathaway singing “I Dreamed a Dream.”  Unfortunately they don’t provide the corresponding video.

If you see the movie, stop back and let me know what you think.

Faith Filled Friday: "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman"

This past Tuesday was the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.  Our pastor gave a wonderful homily on Mary's eternal yes to God, and then shortly after at the Offertory Hymn they played "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman."  It was touching.  I love this hymn, and Sarah Hart sings it beautifully. 

Gentle woman, quiet light, morning star
so strong and bright
gentle mother peaceful dove
teach us wisdom; teach us love

Dean Martin Appreciation

Jan at Runs With Angels…Lives With Saints asks if you like Dean Martin.

 

Raise your hand if you love Dean Martin… I knew it! Everyone loves Dean Martin except College Girl – she thinks Frank Sinatra is better. But even she likes Dean Martin.

 Well, I most decidedly love Dean Martin, but I do have to say that Frank Sinatra is the greatest singer of what I guess is called American Popular Song.  Besides the better voice, Sinatra’s articulation has a much wider expressive range.  But Dean Martin I think is vastly underrated, and that’s what this blog is about, appreciating Dino.

 What strikes me about Dean Martin is that he projects a nice guy in his voice.  He’s not the star quarterback type say like Elvis where girls just throw themselves toward him.  He’s the type whom girls feel comfortable with, and are most definitely attracted to, but fathers would prefer their daughters marry someone else.  Why?  Well, I can’t help feeling this, but he projects someone who doesn’t work very hard and ultimately will be a failure in life.  He’s so laid back, so relaxed in his tone, that the pleasure of a glass of wine or two or three are more important than getting to work.  There’s a passivity to his voice—he doesn’t sound like he’s out to grab the world by the throat—and the songs where he excels are those where the lyrics accentuate the passivity in his tone.  Take “That’s Amore.”

When the moon hits your eye

Like a big pizza pie, that's amore

That's amore

When the world seems to shine

Like you've had too much wine, that's amore

That's amore

“When the moon hits your eye” is a passive event, an outside object effecting the person.  It’s not like the singer went out to find love, it found him, possibly while crossing a restaurant with a glass of wine and some pretty girl stumbles into you and spills the wine across your jacket.   It’s like low and behold, what just happened?  Here’s this marvelous song.

 
Also notice how the humor and, even more so, the lack of seriousness adds to the sense of a lack of ambition.  Love is compared to a big pizza pie hitting you in the eye!  LOL!  That’s not very deep.  There have been great philosophers who have pondered love, but Dino aint going anywhere near them.  But that’s Dean.  I love the way there’s a sort of chuckle in his articulation on those silly lines.  He knows he’s not serious, but why should it be serious?  And notice how he embellishes “Vita bella” at the 45 second mark as if that is all that’s important in life.

 Now I have no idea whether Dean Martin's personal life was so laid back, unserious, and sensualist, but that's the singing persona I pick up.  He certainly was no personal failure.  Here’s another great song, perhaps his best in the way phrases lines. 

 

Again, the passivity—luck just found him and love kicked him—but I think what he does so great here is that split note of pause between most of the phrases leading up to his life going to be “Beee-uuu-ti-fuuul.”  He really sells that beautiful life in the sun-shine.

 And then nothing projects failure as “Little Old Wine Drinker Me.”  While the song doesn’t actually say it, but one can’t help feel that the drinking was part of the problem.  After all, he’s the wine drinker fool in the corner.  But it’s a sophisticating drinking.  He’s not sucking down beers or whiskey but wine, someone who just likes to enjoy life a bit too much and probably drove his girl to the brink. 

 

 

Well, there are other great songs.  I particularly like “Volare,” “Mambo Italiano,” “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You,” “In the Chapel in the Moonlight,” and “Sway.”  Which ones do you like?

Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns

We all know the song sung every New Year’s Eve, but here’s a bit of information.  It was written by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.  RobertBurns Country web site, a sort of encyclopedia devoted to Burns, cites a Burns’ letter on how the poem came about.

On 17^th December 1788, Burns said in a letter to Mrs Dunlop: 'Your meeting which you so well describe with your old schoolfellow and friend was truly interesting. Out upon the ways of the world! They spoil these 'social offsprings of the hear'. Two veterans of the 'men of the world' would have met with little more heart-workings than two old hacks worn out on the road. Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase Auld lang syne exceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul. You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs. I shall give you the verses on the other sheet... Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment! There is more of the fire of native genius in it than in half a dozen of modern English Bacchanalians.' The song 'on the other sheet' was Burns's first version of 'Auld Lang Syne'.

 It appears he didn’t come up with that most “exceedingly expressive” phrase, “auld lang syne” but came from a traditional Scots ballad.  I love some of those old Scots ballads, and someday I’ll post a few of my favorites.  Burns’ song is an amazing construct, mixing English with Celtic Scot and a Creole that was formed over the centuries.  I think the song really does pin most of its strength on the mystery of that phrase.  Wikipedia says a literal translation would be “old long since,” but idiomatically “long long ago” or “days gone by.”  That the song has a great mixture of archaic, esoteric words with common placed words generates that perfect long ago feeling.  It’s almost like a rock song where you don’t quite make out all the lyrics but you get the general feeling. 

 

You can read about the song and the translation on the Wikipedia entry.  Here are the lyrics and a translation:

 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne* ? CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne, we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp ! and surely I’ll be mine ! And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. CHORUS We twa hae run about the braes, and pu’d the gowans fine ; But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit, sin auld lang syne. CHORUS We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn, frae morning sun till dine ; But seas between us braid hae roar’d sin auld lang syne. CHORUS And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere ! and gie's a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught, for auld lang syne. CHORUS

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne ? CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. And surely you’ll buy your pint cup ! and surely I’ll buy mine ! And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. CHORUS We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine ; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne. CHORUS We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine† ; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne. CHORUS And there’s a hand my trusty friend ! And give us a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne. CHORUS

 

Now here’s a nice song version.  However, from what I’ve read Burns intended it to be played a bit faster than we’re used to today.  Enjoy the images from lovely Scotland.  I was there once and it really is lovely.

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

Matthew Monday: Matthew's Drawing

On Mondays I intend to post a story or picture of my little son, Matthew.  Here's a short conversation that just happened a few minutes ago before I put him to bed.

Matthew is standing against his children's drawing board with a piece of blank paper clipped in for him to draw on.  I'm sitting on the floor beside him.  He puts his hand under my chin and holds my head steady.

"Stay still Daddy, I'm going to draw you."

Alright, that had me laughing.  He had never attempted to draw a person before, at least that I'm aware, and him putting his hand under my chin kind of reverses the roll of father and son.

"OK, draw me."

"Can I use green Daddy?  Can I?"

"You sure can.  Let's see you draw me."  Now I was curious.  His drawings have been mostly scribbled lines so far.  So he draws two vertical lines down the page, roughly what would be the margins of a page.  That's different, I'm thinking.  That could be a sort of tall person.

"Here are your eyes Daddy."  And he draws roughly round two circles, offset from the center, but still it wasn't scribble and they were passable eyes.

"Not bad Matthew."

"Here's your mouth Daddy."  And he draws a jagged line underneath the eyes in a sort of smile shape.

"Hey, that's pretty good."  I'm getting impressed.  How did he just learn how to do that?  He stands back and looks at his work.  "Now how about a nose," I say.  Well he draws a straight vertical line where the chin would be, and I giggle.  "That's not where it goes."

"Yes, it does," he says, sort of contemplating his artwork.  "Now I'm going to draw your boobie."

"WHAT!  What did you say?"

"I'm going to draw your boobie."  And he scribbles a sequence of short lines, nothing resembling anything recognizable, but about the place a chest would be.

"Where did you learn that?"  I say, laughing hysterically.

"And here's your other boobie."  And he draws similar scribble on the other side of the chest.  I'm now laughing so that tears are forming, completely shocked, and he's laughing pretty hard himself.  It was a moment to remember.

Here's what might be my favorite picture.  It was taken on our first full Father's Day together back in June 2011.