I have been nominated by Andy Rogers to list 10 songs that have meant something to me in my life (not necessarily my favourites). Here they are along with some links,,, 1) Now the day is over. A hymn, but one that my grandmother used to sing me to sleep with. Now I sing the boys to sleep with it almost every night. BTW--the version I know isnt the most popular one, evidently; had to find a 1925 recording to get the words and music right :) 2) Christ the Lord is Risen Today Ok--Im a preachers kid. And both my mom and my dad--despite otherwise totally different musical taste--loved hymns. So do I, and its hard to pick just one: many, many hymns still cause me emotional joy or move me to tears (like Morning has broken... which the kids know as their getting up song). But I picked this one because while the music isnt obscure in the slightest, the words I want to sing certainly are. You can find them in lots of 19th century hymnbooks and also in the 1925 United Church Hymnary--which is where I learned them. In my minds eye I can see my whole family singing this in church (and no-one more enthusiastically than Cate :)) In recent years these words have been cleaned up and modernized, but I love the metaphysical poetry of versions closer to Charles Wesleys original. It means even more to me because at the last Easter service my father ever preached, in 2006 at First United in Galt, he arranged for this to be sung, as a special favour to me.There is no sung version of this available on YouTube or elsewhere Google could find it. But if youve been to a Protestant or Catholic church in the last 20 years, youve heard the tune (we always used Easter Hymn though I know Dad liked LLanfair as well). I dont ever expect to hear this sung in a church with these words ever again. 3) Dvoraks Largo from the 9th / New World symphony . My mom loved classical music, and took me to my first concert at the Lyric theatre in Kitchener. I took her to see this--a mutual favourite--decades ago with my dear friend Paul Kekish. We used the hymn / folk song--Going Home--that was made from this piece at her funeral. 4) I am the very model of a modern major general and Hail poetry from the Pirates of Penzance. Dad was a huge Gilbert and Sullivan fan. He absolutely loved the topsy-turvy dramatic absurdity of Gilberts words coupled with Sullivans majestic classical music. So theres two pieces from Pirates of Penzance here: one a hymn to poetry that the pirates sing (they dont like poetry because it can move even brigands to sentimentality and softness!) and the other a nice proto-Monty Python show-stopper satiric word work... which Dad could sing and act upon demand (or often despite demand not to, please, from mom :)) 5) Blackbird by the Beatles but everyone knows its Pauls song :) When I heard this first, it was because my brother Laurie had gotten hold of the White Album (I think he might have stood in line to get it, but maybe not...) Anyway, when I first heard this, even as a little guy, I thought it was one of the most beautiful things Id ever heard and I knew whoever had written it had done something marvellous. I still think Pauls re-arrangement of Bach progressions and wonderful lyrics make a sublime song. 6) Faures Requiem. Ok, not a song but if I had to pick it would be the Pie Jesu section (you can hear that at 17:47 of the YouTube link). This is one of my favourites, but it also means something to me because I did a lot of more-or-less serious singing in a few different boys choirs before my voice broke from soprano into a deep bass. The boys choir arrangements of this always piece remind me of that time, and all the things I learned about music and performing that I couldnt have otherwise. This is also one of the most beautiful pieces of late 19th century classical music Ive ever heard. 7) The people who walked in darkness from Handels Messiah. This is one of the few things I could sing as a soloist in church, after my voice broke :) But Messiah is also one of those rare and utterly transcendent works of genius, and connects me back to my Mom and Dad through music and words again. Ive been lucky enough to hear it performed by Tafelmusik in Toronto a number of times, and they even have a (highly recommended) recording of this for sale (and on YouTube!). 8) David Bowies Rebel Rebel--but not by Bowie. This is by the Verticle Band--a band I started a very long time ago :) The song was played as an encore at St Clements tavern, just outside of Waterloo, many decades ago now, recorded live on a cassette deck I set up with a couple of AKG microphones. I started the band with Ron Watson--the original guitarist in Helix--and Roger Psutka (lead vocal). We all worked in different stores in Market Square in KW back then. I knew Jim Snyder (on drums) from a previous band, and we also had a sax player / keyboardist named Brad (but I cant for the life of me remember his last name!). Thats me playing bass guitar (like my big brother!) and singing backup in this most repetitive of Bowie rock and roll songs. We played live new wave and glam stuff at a time when disco was literally everywhere else and you couldnt find many live venues in KW. We actually had a lot of people at those gigs, and I ended up with a short career in sound re-enforcement and technical sales, working with AKG acoustics, just after this was recorded. I picked this song over others, even though it shows its age, a couple of errors on my part, and age and method of recording, (and over others that are certainly more interesting to play!), all because my son Jake loves this song now :) 9) Arvo Parts Fratres. I love the contemporary classical music that has emerged from the earlier 20th c explorations of atonality and mathematic recomposition (which was all Very Interesting, but not Very Nice to listen to, for the most part). Composers like Part and Gorecki make absolutely wonderful works--many of which are now used directly in movie making and other creative work (for example, this piece was used in There will be blood). But Fratres means something to me because I got this music just when my son Jake was born; Ill forever associate this music (which is not in the least a lullaby!) with Jake coming home! 10) Beautiful calm driving This song by Sia Furler hits an emotional chord with me, both lyrically and musically. I fell out of listening to a lot of music a few years back, for various personal reasons, and a very good friend kick-started my musical libido and encouragement to listen to new music back into place with this song. Long may it last! Ok. That took a long time! Links and nominations below :)
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 19:29:05 +0000
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