When I wrote this in March this year, it was prompted by finding I had a duplicate CD. But there's an interesting story of my months working there which remains vivid in my mind but never written up in any form. In the end it was humiliating, to the point where I pleaded ill-health, and… Continue reading Rumours—and Resignation
Category: music
My Hospital Bed at Home
Since I was delivered back home from three weeks in a hospital bed I've been getting daily visits from district nurses, healthcare visitors and physiotherapists. As soon as I arrived I found a bed installed in our front room. It barely fits - the mantelpiece had to be removed. Somebody pointed out that Vincent van… Continue reading My Hospital Bed at Home
Peter Gabriel: Us
Track 1: Come Talk to Me The wretched desert takes its formThe jackal proud and tightIn search of you I feel my wayThrough slowest heaving nightWhatever fear inventsI swear it makes no senseI reach out through the border fenceCome down, come talk to me In the swirling curling storm of desireUnuttered words hold fastWith reptile… Continue reading Peter Gabriel: Us
Mother’s Day
Here in England, and I guess throughout the British Commonwealth, yesterday was Mother's Day. It was a special and poignant event, Karleen having lost her beloved daughter to Covid in the prime of her life. I'd made a compilation album for our anniversary three years ago, but the CD was labelled with a Sharpie, the… Continue reading Mother’s Day
A World Split by the Same God …
. . . Un Mondo Separado Por El Mismo Dios in the original Spanish I put this compilation together about 12 years ago. 1. Weep No More My Baby - Brenda Lee I'd just left school and got a summer job washing dishes in a Shanklin hotel - heard it in the street and loved… Continue reading A World Split by the Same God …
World Music
I've got two copies of this CD. One is for sale to the first reader who comes along, at any price to be agreed. Drop me a note if you're interested. I'll post it to anywhere in the world, which is appropriate when you consider how many countries have contributed to the track list. Two… Continue reading World Music
Storms
The songs I like best in this album by singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith are "You Made This Love a Teardrop" and "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go". Each song is a dignified lament, as typified by the title "If Wishes Were Changes". Most sentimental songs in the world of Pop are about "me", my… Continue reading Storms
Live Dead
"Live Dead explains why the Dead are one of the best performing bands in America, why their music touches on ground that most other groups don’t even know exists. "A list of song titles would mean very little in terms of what actually goes on inside the album. Like the early Cream, the Dead in… Continue reading Live Dead
Origin of Symmetry
The critics over the years have relished the opportunity for ridicule and hate: https://audioxide.com/reviews/muse-origin-of-symmetry/ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/muse-origin-of-symmetry/ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/15/shopping.artsfeatures1 https://www.musewiki.org/Origin_of_Symmetry_media_use here is the nearest I can find to a positive review All I can say is, I've always loved it since I first bought a copy in an Oxfam shop in Gerrards Cross, brought it back minutes later… Continue reading Origin of Symmetry
An African Sampler
This was published in 2014 and then lost till yesterday, when I decided to put labels on my most treasured CDs. See this video (opens in a separate tab); also this post “Greater than the sum of the parts”. The guiding principle for the selection of tracks was to pick some personal favourites. I’ve made it unbalanced… Continue reading An African Sampler
Classical Music of Africa
This song by Sona Jobarteh is surely an Ode To Joy for our present age. The video shows a loving and idealized portrait of modern West Africa, steeped in traditional roots Up to the middle of the 19th century, classical music came from Central Europe. Sona has absorbed this tradition from early childhood, interwoven with… Continue reading Classical Music of Africa
Country boy down in New Orleans – Snooks Eaglin
Snooks Eaglin was blind, spent much of his childhood learning to play guitar. Allow me to share one of my favorite blues with you. It's illustrated throughout with some beautiful paintings
Eagle Flew Out Of the Night
Waking up at 3 am, I find a song playing endlessly in my head. Not just the tune, but some of the words too. It's one of the most extraordinary popular songs, more potent than anything by Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. Peter Gabriel has his own explanation for how it hatched in his mind… Continue reading Eagle Flew Out Of the Night
Don’t Give Up
Here's a track from Peter Gabriel’s album So; In this proud land we grew up strongWe were wanted all alongI was taught to fight, taught to winI never thought I could fail No fight left or so it seemsI am a man whose dreams have all desertedI’ve changed my face, I’ve changed my nameBut no… Continue reading Don’t Give Up
The Blues
Back in '65 I acquired a battered and rusty National guitar, gift of a friend who also gave me various cassettes copied from LPs, including Alabama Blues by JB Lenoir. The only thing I learned to play was Big Leg Blues. I never got beyond the first line, couldn't play the chords. https://youtu.be/4zeANzfesQU
How this blog got its URL
When this blog started in 2015, taking over from my former blogspot address, I used the name of singer Tabu Ley Rochereau, who often performed with Franco Luambo's TPOK Jazz Band. This had been a favourite of mine since I first discovered African music through some tracks copied on to a cassette by a local… Continue reading How this blog got its URL
Neighbours: live podcast
Turned on voice recorder as I left the house yesterday, on my way to town. Intended to comment upon things of interest as I passed them. Didn't expect this encounter with an African neighbour at no. 13, three doors down. We'd not spoken before, other than a friendly greeting. This is what I captured, unknown… Continue reading Neighbours: live podcast
Joy without a cause
I tell you naught for your comfort, Yea, naught for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher. Night shall be thrice night over you, And heaven an iron cope. Do you have joy without a cause, Yea, faith without a hopeInspired by G.K. Chesterton's Ballad of the White… Continue reading Joy without a cause
Where We Stand
Politics has never been more rotten, more destructive of the people’s wellbeing. From an impartial distance, this is surely unarguable. But who keeps this distance? From where I stand, democracy (reflecting the people’s choice), and freedom (of the powerful to enrich themselves and do what they like), have become especially poisonous. To the biosphere as… Continue reading Where We Stand
Strange Angels
Video is a clip from "The Doctor", a 1991 film starring William Hurt and Elizabeth Perkins. Background music is from a song by Laurie Anderson. Strange angels - / Singing just for me / Old stories - / They’re haunting me /This is nothing like I thought it would be ¶ Well I was out… Continue reading Strange Angels
The Fraud
(writing from Mumbai) As he sat in his armchair thinking about how useless his life had been, he couldn’t help contemplating his own mortality. Had he fallen from his motorbike a few inches further to the right, the van's tyre would have run over his head. Not that he was afraid of that possibility at… Continue reading The Fraud
Art as Generosity
Art is a way of giving to the world what one holds most precious John Sebastian Bach had good reason to be grumpy. There was scant appreciation for his enormous efforts. He didn't get paid for writing music. In those days there was a system of patronage. He'd be engaged by a city council or… Continue reading Art as Generosity
Carbon Footprint
From Bryan White In my last post, I gave a few examples of song lyrics that I claimed "created a piece of common ground." For the sake of giving a more complete picture, I figured that I should also try to give an example of poetry or lyrics that, in my opinion, fail in this… Continue reading Carbon Footprint
A Way with Words
From Bryan White My daughter writes poetry sometimes, and a few weeks ago, as I was drifting off to sleep, I was thinking about some advice that I gave her years back regarding poetry writing, and I was expanding on it in my head. I find that my thoughts are often addressed to someone I… Continue reading A Way with Words
Bless my soul
Bless My Soul I know why the blackbird sings his strange and mournful song on a summer’s night ’n’ I know why the spirit brings us back into this world until we get it right ’n’ I’m on a roll and I begin to see the light bless my soul I’ve been around so many… Continue reading Bless my soul
Sail Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCRGrnhdNQE I can’t remember the train of thought, or musical musing, which led me from Laurie Anderson to Randy Newman. It may have gone in the other direction. I ordered “Sail Away” on the 10th of Jan., then posted the piece about Laurie (O Superman) 2 days later. They patently have much in common, being… Continue reading Sail Away
O Superman
O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad. O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad. Hi. I'm not home right now. But if you want to leave a message, just start talking at the sound of the tone. Hello? This is your Mother. Are you there? Are you… Continue reading O Superman
An Air for Cello and Soprano
Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze Open up, my whole heart Click here to open the sound file in a new tab From J. S. Bach, Cantata for the first Sunday in Advent, Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV61). John Eliot Gardner with the English Baroque Soloists at St Maria im Kapital, Köln, December 3rd, 2000.… Continue reading An Air for Cello and Soprano
BWV 140, a Church Cantata of J.S. Bach
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, calls the voice to us) Ton Koopman’s version, with lovely trills and such expressive faces on the video. Koopman is a Dutch conductor, organist and harpsichordist. Like John Eliot Gardner, he completed a project to perform all the sacred cantatas, I can't remember how many there are. I… Continue reading BWV 140, a Church Cantata of J.S. Bach
Four Weddings and a Funeral
We managed to make it to his last show yesterday, but not to any of his weddings. That’s him on the left when he came to ours. We didn’t know him well but his acts of kindness were unforgettable. Often it’s the way of things that you don’t find out what a person is till… Continue reading Four Weddings and a Funeral
The Human Condition
To be alive is such a blessing that we rarely find ourselves able to grasp it. To feel this blessing in the moment is the most precious thing I know. Briefly I wondered if it makes grammatical sense to say “It’s a blessing to be alive,” for we are not in a position to compare… Continue reading The Human Condition
Bach and Blackbird
I was driving to the supermarket in the rain. The CD player had come on, and was at no. 14 of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, by the pianist Glenn Gould. It was the 1981 re-recording as opposed to his debut album in 1955 playing the same 31 pieces. This later version stands out for the dramatic… Continue reading Bach and Blackbird
Blessed by the sun
I step out of the house for the daily ritual of meeting Karleen from work. My route involves shortcuts through alleys. A perfect ritual has no practical purpose, no sense of obligation. It’s done for joy alone. Its sacredness within the rhythm of daily life increases on every repetition. Its tendency to sameness draws attention… Continue reading Blessed by the sun
By Bus and Canal
When I take a bus ride, I journey to the past. Subconsciously, this is my intended destination, for I could have taken the car instead, and “saved time”. I have no reason to save time any more. Now is my invitation to spend it freely; to use if I wish to sift my past, like… Continue reading By Bus and Canal
Liberation
In the last year I have been reminded, time and again, by smells and various other stimuli, of a period I spent in Holland when I was five. It was a young age for roaming alone in streets and woods, but that's what I did. I’d been dumped with an unwilling bogus “aunt” in a… Continue reading Liberation
Musical Delirium
I’ve come down with “man-flu”. In a woman it would be a simple cold but in a man it’s tantamount to dying and requires tender concern from all the females around. Yesterday morning I drove early to Babylon Town; conscientiously completed the vital tasks at the MaxiRam Corporation on which the team depends. Then I… Continue reading Musical Delirium
In the days of low sun
My town is centred on a narrow river valley running east and west and surrounded by hills whose ridges and valleys radiate like spokes of a wheel. This morning I drove down Hamilton Road, which offers the broadest vista of the town as you descend the hill. It was soon after dawn with a hard… Continue reading In the days of low sun
What Grandma told me…
In 1964 I became friends with my landlord’s son when he came to paint the window-frames. I was suffering from depression and he recommended a psychoanalyst by the name of Theodore Faithfull, a white-haired gentleman in his eighties, the grandfather of Marianne Faithfull, who had just recorded her first hit, "As Tears Go By". (These… Continue reading What Grandma told me…
a wayfarer’s notes 