OK, Tune-Up fans, some of you purists might get a little shirty with me, but go with me on this – I promise it’s worth it. Parov Stelar, aka Marcus Füreder, is a fantastic Austrian musician and DJ who creates seriously cool new jazz tunes through sampling portions of old ones. The beginning of this song reminds me of “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which inevitably steers the old brain-box towards Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, both staples of American culture and big figures in your Yankette’s childhood. You will understand my unquenchable delight, therefore, when I found out that apparently someone had the exact same thought I did – and executed it brilliantly. So, this Tuesday, you get a double-dose of fun by watching Fred and Ginger in the excellent movie, “Swing Time,” dance to a modern jazz track. I know, right?!?
Month: January 2014
Modernism Monday: “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” John Rosamond Johnson, with words by James Weldon Johnson
Standardhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEe1baLdMxI
Today we mark the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I thought it appropriate to focus on this piece. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has come to be known as the Black National Anthem. The words come from a poem written by James Weldon Johnson in 1899, a pioneer in the civil rights movement and an early leader in the NAACP. Johnson wrote the poem as an introduction to Booker T. Washington at an event celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Johnson’s brother, John, set the poem to music in 1905. The words are monumentally powerful and the melody is gorgeous, which is why I include two versions here. The first one, above, is sung by Leontyne Price (music starts at 3:32) and adheres to the written melody and time signature. The second one, below, is sung by Ray Charles, and, well, doesn’t adhere to much, but is just so joyous.
Today is a good day to remember that our great Republic is an ever-evolving project which it is our duty, to each other and to those who came before us, to continually perfect. In the words of Dr. King, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
Lyrics at the bottom, as per usual.
—
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed.
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
Sacred Sunday: “Go Down, Moses,” Louis Armstrong
Standardhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvEmq-cX0G4
A bit of a curveball today. It’s not the type of weekend for a serious choral work. It’s the type of weekend for a zippy, jazzy spiritual piece, and I for one have no qualms about calling anything Louis Armstrong did “sacred.” And you gotta love it when it gets all New Orleans at 2:42. So groovy. Happy Sunday!
Salubrious Saturday: “Mo Ghruagach Dhonn,” Julie Fowlis
StandardThis is such a lovely song. Julie Fowlis is from the tippity-top of Scotland, a place called North Uist in the outer Hebrides (look for it on Google Images – it’s just gorgeous). Her music always makes me happy and homesick at the same time, and as it’s cold and windy in D.C. today, it puts me a Scottish frame of mind. A good day for bundling up and venturing outside with a hot beverage and some good tunes.
—
Hi ho ro, mo ghruagach dhonn,
S ann ort fhèin a dhfhàs an loinn:
Dhfhàg siud acaid na mo chom,
An gaol cho trom s a ghabh mi ort.
Fhuair mi do litir Dimàirt,
Dhinnseadh dhòmhsa mar a bha:
Gu robh thu a tighinn gun dàil
A-mach air bàta Ghlaschu.
Nuair a leugh mi mar a bha,
Ghabh mi sìos am Brumalà:
Chunnaic mi a tighinn am bàt
S an t-àilleagan, an ainnir, innt.
Nuair a shìn mi mach mo làmh,
Thionndaidh thu le fiamh a ghàir
S labhair thu facal no dhà
Dhfhàg iomadh tràth gun chadal mi.
S ann ort fhèin tha ghruag a fàs –
Cha dubh s cha ruadh is cha bhàn,
Ach mar an t-òr as àille snuadh,
Gu buidhe, dualach, camalagach.
Dhèanainn sgrìobhadh dhut le peannt,
Dhèanainn treabhadh dhut le crann,
Dhèanainn sgiobair dhut air luing,
Air nighean donn nam meall-shùilean.
Meòir is grinn thu air an t-snàth
No cur peannt air pàipear bàn,
Ach ma chaidh thu null thar sàil
DhAstràilia, mo bheannachd leat.
Cha bhi mi tuilleadh fo leòn,
Glacaidh mi tè ùr air spòig –
Solamh bu ghlice bha beò,
Bha aige mòran leannanan
Hi ho ro, my brown-haired lass,
whose beauty becomes more beguiling.
The deep love I have for you
has left me sorely wounded.
Your letter arrived on Tuesday
Telling of what was to be.
It told that your ship would arrive
in Glasgow without delay.
When I read this,
I immediately headed for the Broomielaw.
I saw the ship carrying the jewel,
the maiden, approach.
When I held out my hand
you turned with a slight smile and
uttered a couple of words
which left me sleepless many nights
You have the lovliest hair,
neither black, nor red nor fair,
but the colour of the most beautiful gold,
yellow, braided and curled.
I would write for you with a pen.
I would cultivate for you with a plough.
I would captain a ship for you,
brown haired lass of the deceiving eyes.
You are skilled at working wool
and at writing on blank paper.
But if you have gone overseas, to Australia,
goodbye to you.
I will no longer be in despair.
Ill grab a new one by the hand.
Solomon, the wisest man who lived,
had many sweethearts.
Funk Friday: “Stranger to my Happiness,” Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
StandardThere are a few songs that you can honestly say are perfectly constructed. This is one of them. The interplay between the sax and the guitar is so incredibly fun I laughed out loud when I first heard it; the trumpet punctuates the melody at exactly the right time; and the tempo is just spot-on. (Also – the visual difference between the ebullient back-up singers and the staid bass guitarist is pretty hilarious.) And finally, there is the force of nature that is Sharon Jones singing the lyrics – Sharon Jones who is, by the way, battling cancer and winning. What a boss.
The Yankette would like to dedicate this song to one of her best friends, Deputy Tar Heel, and owes her lovely friend Mr. Bloomingtonian a bourbon for sending this song her way in the first place. Keep your ears open and happy Friday, y’all!
Throwback Thursday: “Four Last Songs: Beim Schlafengehen,” Richard Strauss
StandardThis piece. This. Piece. This piece is a prime example of how an organized collection of sounds can produce profound feelings on both ends of the emotional spectrum at the same time. For me, it has always elicited great peace and happiness, and also great sadness – even without knowing the words. The construction of the song is such that the first half, which begins in a minor key, primes the listener that something is afoot – not all is entirely correct for the singer (who in this recording is the incomparable Dame Kiri Te Kanawa). The way the melody oscillates back and forth between major and minor suggests turbulence, and a strong sense of longing for something that might never be attained. The singer is clearly unsettled. Te Kanawa shows us how tired she is of her lot by her slurring the melody in the first few words of the phrase – appropriate, given the meaning of the words she is singing.
The second half of the song begins at 1:39. A solo violin leads the listener into the singer’s own daydream of whatever is so strongly hoped for. When Te Kanawa comes back in at 2:43, the piece unhesitatingly builds to an ecstatic conclusion, at the end of which I am entirely spent. This is a piece I can only listen to once in a while since it has a power to move me bodily from emotion to emotion, as one would move a doll between rooms in a doll house. But what a glorious ride.
Words below.
—
| Nun der Tag mich müd gemacht, soll mein sehnliches Verlangen freundlich die gestirnte Nacht wie ein müdes Kind empfangen. Hände, laßt von allem Tun Stirn, vergiß du alles Denken, Alle meine Sinne nun wollen sich in Schlummer senken. Und die Seele unbewacht |
Now that I am wearied of the day, my ardent desire shall happily receive the starry night like a sleepy child. Hands, stop all your work. Brow, forget all your thinking. All my senses now yearn to sink into slumber. And my unfettered soul |
Worldly Wednesday: “Elevator Love Letter,” Stars
StandardWell, I attacked Tuesday…and it attacked back. I anticipate many long nights at the office this week. Every time I’m at the office late, especially during the winter months when it gets dark early, I think of this song. Stay late at work too many times in a row, and yeah, you do begin to wonder whether you have a special relationship with that elevator that comes before all the others to take you home, or at least to street level. Evidently, others have had this thought, too. Here is a song about it from the band Stars, a wonderful group from Montreal, Canada. (None of those “but Canada is America’s hat – it’s not world music” comments.)
Termagant Tuesday: “Mumbles,” Clark Terry
Standardhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Z6OJBYuDI
Oh wow, yesterday sucked. It sucked. Your plucky heroine got totally hosed, hoisted by her own damn petard. I made a judgment call that, while totally correct in spirit, was…well…a bit lacking in execution. Or planning. Or, really, on some level, logic. Then I got reamed out by my boss, and in the process of trying to explain why I chose the course of action that ultimately saw me plonked me down in the interrogation jet stream, I, obviously, stumbled just a tad over my words. Eventually, the great ship of state was righted, the rudder was realigned, and we all sailed off as happy as the little analyst clams we are. (If clams sailed. Or, for that matter, had analytical capabilities. …Leave that aside for now.) Still, I was left with a lingering “Oh the hell with this” hangover accompanied by flashbacks of cotton-mouthed, inarticulate gooberism. So, what’s a girl to do? Have a drink, take a shower, go to sleep, and in the morning, ask my equally mumbly friend Clark Terry if he’d accompany me to work. Lick ’em tomorrow, right? Right. Tuesday, à l’attaque!
Modernism Monday: “Get It Up,” Santigiold + M.I.A. (feat. Gorilla Zoe)
StandardPSA: Before you press play, be alerted that this song contains some mild to medium swearing and vaguely salacious themes.
After a certain period of time, you realize that, man, life doesn’t get easier – if you’re lucky, skillful, and have the energy, you just get better at managing. 2014 is already going gangbusters for your Yankette, so Monday mornings are always better with a little extra something to go with my coffee. Santigold and M.I.A definitely deliver on this track, and it puts a little extra swagger in my step when I need it. “Always standing in the door, always the same reason you’re stuck: no guts. No guts. What will you get it up for? What will make you want it more?”
Sacred Sunday: “Jauchzet, frohlocket,” J.S. Bach
StandardOh this is just the grooviest thing ever. Before I open up the fangirl floodgates: this is the opening chorus of the first cantata in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. (I know, I know, it’s past Christmas.) This piece is just. So. Happy. The Monteverdi Choir is obviously of the very finest class, and the orchestra is superlative. But even more than that – holy crap, Gardiner. His direction is inspired. I will brook no dissent on the point that Sir John Eliot Gardiner is the finest conductor of this piece that ever lived. Watch his direction of the choir especially from 6:37 onwards. He sculpts the melody into a gorgeous arc of a phrase (which it already is but some choirs get a little too bogged down somehow) and then cues the basses – then the tenors! – then the altos! – then the sopranos! – until the choir is one unified, harmonious expression of joy. Even better than that is that you can tell the singers are responding to him and are having an absolute blast. I must have watched this thirty times and it never fails to make me laugh out loud with delight. I hope it has the same effect on you.
—
Jauchzet, frohlocket! auf, preiset die Tage,
Shout for joy, exult, rise up, glorify the day,
Rühmet, was heute der Höchste getan!
praise what today the highest has done!
Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage,
Abandon hesitation, banish lamentation,
Stimmet voll Jauchzen und Fröhlichkeit an!
begin to sing with rejoicing and exaltation!
Dienet dem Höchsten mit herrlichen Chören,
Serve the highest with glorious choirs,
Laßt uns den Namen des Herrschers verehren!
let us honour the name of our ruler!
The Daily Tune-Up 