Music, You’re My Constant Companion.

There are aspects of music I hadn’t thought of before this semester. One thing I do know is that I enjoy music.. It has its own way of making people learn, grow, and enjoy themselves as the sound hits their ears. I feel like music has played a supportive role in my life and has always been there for me when I’ve gone through ups and downs. It can take a frown and turn it upside down. One song can evoke many different feelings when you hear it. It has a way of coming into your life from any direction and planting itself in a spot next to you, always growing and changing as you move forward in life. It has a way of being there and making its presence known when you find yourself alone. Music takes the role of a life-long, constant companion.

Who is with you as your drive around doing errands during the day? Who is echoing through the store as you grab your milk and eggs? Who is on the other line when you are put on hold? Who comes around during every single show? Who is always there when you are feeling down? Who gets you pumped for a workout? Music! Music is my companion. At 7am, while I was making breakfast, my five year old was practicing the “Imperial March” on the piano. We hopped into the truck to get to the bus stop and Christmas music filled our ears. We got home and now my three year old is singing along with Peg + Cat. I can’t think of many moments where music isn’t there for me.

Even at work, the music played can have a great effect on mood and quality of life. At my work, we work with residents and their families to create playlists of their favorite music since we started using the Music and Memory program. The comfort and quality of life given by good music is clear. For elders, having music is like having a close friend with you while you receive care. Music is the old friend by your side while you are going through rough times, a love and light in life, and the friend that is there holding your hand into the afterlife. Music is a good, old friend.

Here we are, back to square one. I am using the song I chose for my first blog that told of my relationship with music. It is a song being sung to music. The lyrics tell you the role music has in society. “Hey you, you’re my constant companion. You always let me explain just what I’m saying and we’ve just begun.” “Hey you, you never turned your back on me, when I gave up on myself.” The song is “Hey You” by 311. It was released on the radio on April 7, 2009 and released for online download by Volcano Entertainment on April 10, 2009. It is a very upbeat song. The band plays in common time. The two guitars, bass guitar, and drums create a nice beat and an upbeat melody, and somehow flow smoothly with the lyrics. The singers start off singing somewhat loud and harsh, but when the song hits the bridge it becomes smooth and mellow. Then it winds back up to repeat the chorus, sing the last verse, and end the song. The chorus is repeated three times throughout the song which makes it catchy for me. Here it is:

Music has been here for me my whole life. I can’t remember not enjoying it. It has been my friend for a long time. This made me reflect on past life experiences, hanging out with my friends, and music was always there. I remember riding around with my boyfriend, listening to the Beatles with the volume cranked up, and singing “With a Little Help From my Friends.” I’m sure you’ve heard it before. “With A Little Help From my Friends” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and sung by Ringo Starr as “Billy Shears.” It was released on the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” by Parlophone, on May 26, 1967. The lyrics talk about being alone, getting by with help from friends, and needing someone to love, which are all basic human feelings. Everyone needs a friend and the lyrics remind me that I can “get by with a little help from my friends.” I love the combination of electric guitars, tambourine, cowbells, and drums making a playful melody. The combination of Ringo Starr’s deep echoing vocals with the rest of the Beatles singing backup gives the song a conversation like depth. The timbre makes it sound as if all of the song is played on stage at a giant concert hall. It is a good song to enjoy with friends, or on your own. It is also really hard to find a video with ACTUAL BEATLES MUSIC instead of covers online, so here is a link to a weird video with the song… https://vimeo.com/3635464

While I have always enjoyed music, I now understand it a little more. It brings that bond a little closer when I can understand elements like timbre, beats, melodies, range, vocal classifications, and how music is made. I’ve learned about musicians, composers, lyricists, and producers that I never would have known. I never knew so much about Soca, Calypso, or other cultural music genres. I thought music producers were just lucky people with good taste in music that got to choose what was produced. I also learned why certain music is so catchy to people. I have found more music to occupy free time. Woo hoo!

“Hey You (311 Song),” Wikipedia, updated November 3, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_You_(311_song) Accessed December 2017.

“With A Little Help from My Friends,” Wikipedia, updated November 19, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_a_Little_Help_from_My_Friends. Accessed December 2017.

Music and The Fictive Dream #2

On November 21, 1997, the movie Anastasia was released by Twentieth Century Fox. Anastasia is an animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman that is very loosely based on the story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Songs for Anastasia were written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and the score is written by David Newman.  Many famous actors voiced characters in Anastasia including Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Hank Azaria, Christopher Lloyd and Angela Lansbury. Worldwide, the film grossed $139,804,348.

The movie begins with a party in the palace of Tsar Nicolas II. The Tsar’s mother, Dowager Empress Marie, gives her granddaughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia, a music box with a locket to unlock it.. The “bad guy” Rasputin interrupts the party to place a curse on the Romanov family and chaos ensues. Marie and Anastasia escape the palace through a hidden passageway with a servant boy, but are met by Rasputin. Rasputin ends up drowning, Marie hops onto a moving train, and Anastasia falls off the train and is knocked out.

Next we see Anya, an 18 year old being kicked out of an orphanage. She doesn’t know who she was, where she came from, or what to do next. Her only possession is a locket that says, “Together in Paris.” She asks for a sign and a little dog, Pooka, shows up and travels to St. Petersburg with her.  In St. Petersburg, she meets up with a couple of con-artists, Dimitri and Vladimir. They are searching for the perfect woman to impersonate the Grand Duchess Anastasia, so they can get the 10 million ruble reward for her return. They see Anya and decide to transform her into the character. The three hop on a train to travel to Paris and Rasputin unsuccessfully attempts to kill Anastasia. They get to Paris and the Dowager Empress will not see them. Dimitri realizes Anya is Anastasia. Anastasia and Dimitri get into an argument, she goes to the hotel. Dimitri finds out Marie will be at the ballet, shows up there, and gives her back her music box. He gets her to go see Anya. They talk, and the Dowager Empress realizes she has her granddaughter back, and Anastasia finally figures out who she is. Everyone starts celebrating that Anastasia is found. Then Anastasia runs away with Dimitri. The End.

My little sister and I watched Anastasia so many times as children, that we both still remember the lyrics to all of the songs to this day, 20 years later. We just watched it on VHS the other day and we still enjoy the songs from the movie. There are a lot of great songs like “Once Upon a December,” “Learn to Do it,” and the somewhat comedic bad guy song, “In the Dark of the Night.” But, the song I will be focusing on is “Journey to the Past.”

“Journey to the Past” is sung by Liz Callaway during the movie. The lyrics were written by Lynn Ahrens and the melody was written by Stephen Flaherty. In 1998, the song was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, but Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On” won instead. The song appears after Anastasia leaves the orphanage and starts off to St. Petersburg. She wants to discover who she is and where she belongs and thus comes the song.

There is a feeling of motion written into the moderately paced melody which makes it feel like you are travelling along with Anastasia. The lyrics of “Journey to the Past” let us know how Anastasia is feeling, “Heart don’t fail me now, courage don’t desert me” as she sets off on her journey to discover who she was before she lost her memory. There is so much anticipation and excitement within the lyrics and the sound of Liz Callaway’s beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. There is a bridge in the song composed almost entirely of whole notes with the lyrics “Home, Love, Family.” The song is just shimmering and beautiful like quick little footsteps through fresh winter snow.

The majority of reviews for Anastasia are positive. Even the toughest critics have mostly good things to say. The one negative part of a review I could find was from Roger Ebert and it was specifically about the music. He said, “The film was produced and directed by former Disney artists Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, whose credits include “The Land Before Time” and “An American Tail.” Here they consciously include the three key ingredients in the big Disney hits: action, romance and music. Only the songs disappoint. (Why didn’t they do the obvious, and license the title song from the 1956 film?)”

Rotten Tomatoes gave Anastasia an 86% grade. The site says, “Critics Consensus: Beautiful animation, an affable take on Russian history, and strong voice performances make Anastasia a winning first film from Fox animation studios.”

If you like “Journey to the Past,” then you may enjoy the rest of the soundtrack. I think it’s pretty good. Check it out!

References Cited

“Anastasia,” Wikipedia, November 28, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_(1997_film) accessed November 29, 2017.

“Anastasia,” RogerEbert.com, 2017. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anastasia-1997  accessed November 29, 2017.

“Anastasia Reviews,” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1079818_anastasia?  accessed November 29, 2017.

“Get Back Up Again”

Due to the fact that I have a happy-go-lucky, music-loving three year old, I decided to write about a song that comes from a movie we watch as often as possible and sometimes on repeat. Trolls.

From DreamWorks website

The Trolls movie was released in the United States on November 4, 2016. It is a 3-D computer-animated motion picture produced by DreamWorks Animation, and it has a really fun soundtrack. Mike Mitchell directed the film while Walt Dorhn was the co-director. Gina Shay produced the film and the soundtrack was produced by Justin Timberlake. It gives a story to the Troll dolls created in 1959 by a Danish man named Thomas Dam. The Trolls movie features the eternally happy, dancing, singing, hugging Trolls as the protagonists. The antagonists are the Bergens, which are miserable, unhappy creatures with the belief that the only way to be happy is to eat trolls. Everything starts out hunky-dory and happy in the troll town, but soon an evil Bergen comes and captures a handful of trolls to be eaten by the Bergens. The main character, Princess Poppy, sets off on an adventure with an unhappy, paranoid, pessimist troll named Branch, to find and return her friends back to their troll community. The majority of the songs from the film are covers or medleys of previously written songs, but there are five songs written specifically for the movie. One of which is “Get Back up Again.”

     “Get Back up Again” is a song written by two American song writers, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It was produced by Justin Timberlake and The Outfit, and sung by the singer actress, Anna Kendrick, who voices Princess Poppy in the Trolls movie. The song depicts Princess Poppy’s optimism, determination and growing apprehension in relation to her dangerous journey as she begins on the trek to Bergen town to rescue her friends. The lyrics allow Poppy to show us that she is going to maintain her composure and the happy, positive Troll personality despite the obstacles she faces while going to rescue her friends. Poppy is highly-motivated and has decided that she is in control of her life and her journey and opts to take on her task while maintaining her positive, can-do attitude and that outlook makes this song my favorite from the movie. Also, Poppy just sings about everything, so it makes sense to begin her journey with song.

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“Get Back up Again” is written in 4/4 time. The tempo is an energetic and free rubato. The tempo rubato gives the song the flexibility by allowing some phrases to be lengthened and some shortened. I like the way the rubato gives the song more emotional expression when combined with Anna Kendrick’s inflection, which changes with the lyrics. I enjoy the way the Anna Kendrick’s tone changes when Princess Poppy seemingly begins to realize the dangers of the task she has at hand. I love Anna Kendrick’s voice. Her vocal timbre varies from a well-projected, almost forceful tone, to a wavering, timid tone. She really does an excellent job not being down-played by the energetic background music.

I love the song and movie, but not everyone enjoys it like I do. I read critic Alfonso Durande’s critique of the Trolls movie and the entire post is dripping with disgust for the movie and the music. At one point in his review he states, “Even if you plug your ears during the endless Kidz Bop numbers, you’re still stuck with the eye-assaulting visual palette from director Mike Mitchell(“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked”) and co-director Walt Dohm (“SpongeBob SquarePants”) — the troll scenes offer a mix of neon pastels that suggest someone ate a Lisa Frank store and promptly regurgitated it, while Bergentown features the vast spectrum of tones you might find in a baby’s full diaper.”

I found a fitness blog post titled Monday Motivation: Get Back Up Again, and Melissa Matherson shares the lyrics and her interpretation of the song: “We all need to remind ourselves on a daily basis that we are not perfect and we are all going to fail at something.  No matter what you might think, no one can do it all, have it all, or be it all.  We all are flawed and will fail in life at something. Whether it is slipping up from your diet for a day, a week, or a few months or failing at a tryout for a sports team, or not hitting your monthly goals in your fitness programs. The difference is, will you let it get you down?” She and I seem to share a similar view when it comes to the song.

All in all, I think Trolls is a fun movie and I like that my kiddos get up and dance to the music. It is also just adorable to hear my three year old sing “Get Back Up Again.”

 

References Cited

Durande, Alfonso, “‘Trolls’ Review: Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick Are Floppin’ to the Oldies,” The Wrap, https://www.thewrap.com/trolls-review-justin-timberlake/. accessed November 18, 2017.

Matherson, Melissa, “Monday Motivation: Get Back Up Again,” Cassa Health, Fitness and Wellness, March 20, 2017, http://www.cassahealth.com/blog/2017/03/20/MONDAY-MOTIVATION-Get-Back-Up-Again.aspx, accessed November 17, 2017.

“Trolls (film),” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolls_(film). accessed November 17, 2017.

“Trolls Movie: About.” DreamWorks, DreamWorks Animation LLC., 2017, http://www.dreamworks.com/trolls/movie. accessed November 17, 2017.

 

 

They’ve Got it Covered…

When debating what performer or performers to use for this blog, I didn’t want to go with a more traditional cover band. How many times do we want to hear about PTX or some sort of orchestra? No offense, but for me it’s not many. I almost gave up and then my husband said, “What about Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?” And thus my blog begins…

Cover for their last compilation album.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are an epic cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. Their name is the name of a children’s book written by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione, which was published in 1991.  The band consists of members from several other bands. They have Lagwagon front man, Joey Cape, on one guitar. Chris Shiflett, from the Foo Fighters, plays the other guitar. Their drummer is the drummer from Lagwagon, Dave Raun.  Fat Mike of NOFX is the bass player and backup vocals. Spike Slawson is their vocalist. They cover many artists’ songs and do it a fun, punk rock, sometimes almost ska-ish style. If I wasn’t into punk rock and always on the hunt for exciting song covers, this band would not be for me.   Me First and The Gimme Gimmes have covered older songs, show tunes, song from the 60’s and 70’s, R&B songs, country songs, diva songs and many more. For these albums, they dressed according to the genre they covered.  They always dress up in matching or themed outfits, which makes watching them a little bit more exciting for the eyes. They use their musical style to make so many fun songs. I love how they can take any song, sprinkle it with punk, and turn it into an exciting and upbeat cover.

They have released seven albums and loads of singles of their fun cover music. On their album “Have A Ball” released in 1997, they cover old school classics. On their album “Are a Drag” released in 1999, they cover show tunes. These first two albums were released by Fat Wreck Chords. “Turn Japanese” was an EP (extended play record) released on February 21, 2001, by Pizza of Death Records. This EP featured five songs from the 1960’s and 1970’s. My favorite of these five is their cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Boxer.” In March 2001, via Fat Wreck Chords, The Gimmes released “Blowin’ in The Wind” which is full of 1960’s hits. Rhythm and blues songs fill up “Take A Break” which they released via Fat Wreck Chord on July 1, 2003. “Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah” was recorded at an actual bar mitzvah and then released in October 2004, by Fat Wreck Chords. This album feature mostly songs they hadn’t previously released except the two hidden tracks at the end of the album. One of the hidden tracks features Jonny, whose bar mitzvah they played at, on the drums. Country and western songs filled “Love Their Country” which was released by Fat Wreck Chords, on October 17, 2006. “Have Another Ball” was a compilation album that they released on July 8, 2008 with Fat Wreck Chords. “Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!” covers songs by divas. This was put out on May 13, 2014, by Fat Wreck Chords. The last, but not the least, album released by Me First and The Gimme Gimmes is “Rake It In: The Greatest Hits.” This album was also released by Fat Wreck Chords and was put out on April 7, 2017.

“Over the Rainbow” was the first cover I heard from Me First and The Gimme Gimmes. I really love the song when Judy Garland sang it in The Wizard of Oz in 1939, and I love the way The Gimmes made it so upbeat. It starts off hard and fast with the bass guitar and some rapid drumming. Very soon, the rest of the band joins in and punks it up a little more. Spike Slawson nails the lyrics and keeps it perfectly timed with Judy’s singing of the song, which makes for an excellent voice over for this particular video. Spike practically yells into the microphone which gives his voice a somewhat hoarse, slightly strained sound, but I love it. He has pretty great range considering how intensely he uses his voice to belt out lyrics.

Another good one is their cover of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” If you enjoy punk rock and the old “Uptown Girl,” you might just love their twist on this song. Vocals start as soon as the song does and the drums start just as hard and fast with the rest of the band following closely behind but the vocals aren’t downplayed one bit. The timbre of the vocals is bright and almost echoes as the lyrics are sung in excellent harmony. At about 1:09 minutes in, the song shifts to a slightly different texture, but when the verse ends, the song resumes as it had throughout the beginning of the song.

Look them up, you might just like them.

 

References

Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_First_and_the_Gimme_Gimmes

Me First and The Gimme Gimmes Bio, http://www.fatwreck.com/band/index/16

Go “like” them on Facebook  and read their “About” section. It is hilarious.

Caribbean Sound

The sounds of Calypso originated with slaves from Africa that were brought to Trinidad and Tobago. The songs were used to by the slaves to communicate with one another and mock the slave owners that did not allow them to speak. The music brought camaraderie and also angered the slave owners. The music gained bits of French, Spanish, and British influences when the slave owners changed throughout the years. When the French came to the Caribbean they brought Carnival with them, which became a time for Calypso competitions. Calypso music was influenced by Canboulay drumming and music masquerades, calinda stick-fighting chantwell, bele dance, and various other cultural traditions. The songs were originally sung in French-creole, and eventually moved into English.

The first Calypso song recorded was in 1912, in New York City by Columbia records. It was played by Lovey’s String Band that travelled from Trinidad. The band was actually formed in the 1890’s and was made up of 12 members with various instruments. The leader was George Bailey, also known as Lovey, who played the violin. There was also a violinist named L. Betancourt, Walter Edwards playing the clarinet, and P. Branche on the flute. C. Eugene Bernier and F.A. Harte were the cuatro players. Donald Black and L. Demile were the guitar players. Cleto Chacha was a machete de braga player. Louis Schneider was the tiple player, Patrick Johnson was a bass player, and Egbert Bertie Butcher played the piano. This song was called “Mango Vert” and it was entirely instrumental. This song has a very energetic, carnival calypso sound to it. It is funny that the band is Lovey’s String Band, but the music is very much percussion based and sounds of the percussion rapidly flow through the music. The quality of the recording takes away some of the emphasis of the repetitive, speedy percussion sounds. The hollow, old-school recording sound doesn’t do this song justice.

The second recorded Calypso song was recorded in 1914, in Trinidad by Julian Whiterose, who was also known as Iron Duke. There was multiple songs recorded at that time by the Victor label, a U.S. based company, which was sent to record two Calypso artists at that time. Sadly, the only recording that still exists from this trip is “Iron Duke in the Land” which was one of the songs sung in English.

Many other artists started making music and evolving the sounds of Calypso after World War I. There was a lot of Calypso that was politically charged or documented the history and issues of the region. Calypso was used as a way to express frustrations about the authoritarian colonial culture in the early 1900s. Songs were somewhat controversial in the content they included at the time. The British even censored music and monitored for certain topics in the Calypso music during their time in the Caribbean. I learned from Wikipedia that it was common to hear of the local news, scandals, sex, innuendos, politics, bravado, and insults towards other Calypso artists of the time. The distinctly Caribbean voices of the singers really have a way to emphasizing the songs they sung, and the lyrics always flowed well with the energetic way the instruments are played. I enjoy the voices and learning about the things going on in the Caribbean from the different songs.

One famous Calypso song was made by the artist Lord Invader, and it spoke of the prostitution and other issues going on in the islands when the military came. This song was “Rum and Coca-Cola.” It was actually covered and really popularized in America by the Andrews Sisters and the way they sung it actually deemphasized the subject matter of the song.

There are so many Calypso artists and the music they make has definitely evolved and changed. Some Calypso just makes you want to get up and dance. If you feel like listening to Calypso, just Google it and a plethora of music will be at your finger tips.

 

“Calypso History.” http://www.tucott.com/calypso-history/

“Calypso Music.” New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Calypso_music
“Calypso Music” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_music

The image of Trinidad and Tobago came from the World Atlas website. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/tt.htm

Innovations and Evolutions

Compact discs were first created by Phillips and Sony 35 years ago! They have long been an innovation I have embraced. When I was a kid I loved buying or getting hand-me-down compact discs from my older brothers. I still enjoy listening to music on compact discs when I drive or clean.

CDs were based on a failed technology Phillips had released called video discs. Video discs used laser technology that allowed information to be read without touching the actual disc. Phillips originally wanted to make the discs 11.5 centimeters, but Sony insisted that they be able to fit Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, so they were extended to 12 centimeters.  When Phillips held a press conference about cds in March of 1979, Japan wanted to get in on the action and a week later they made a deal with Sony to make compact discs an industry standard. Compact discs were standardized at 12centimeters and 16 bits, and they had excellent stereo quality.

One year after the first two compact discs were released, over 1000 albums had been released via cd. In 1985, Dire Straights’ album, Brothers in Arms, was released and sold over one million copies. Following the advent of the CD many evolutions took place bringing forth CD-ROM, CD-R,  CD-RW, DVD, and Blu-Ray discs. I can’t imagine not having all of these. They have seemed to get better and better creating new CD technology over time.

BBC News, How the CD was developed, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6950933.stm

Philips Research, The History of the CD, https://www.philips.com/a-w/research/technologies/cd/beginning.html

 

“Put Your Lights On”

Carlos Santana is an epic guitar player. I think everybody knows who Santana is and if they don’t there is a chance they have been living under a rock. So, when he collaborated with Everlast for the song “Put Your Lights On” it is no surprise that they won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 2000 Grammy Awards. “Put Your Lights On” was released on Carlos Santana’s album, Supernatural, on June 15, 1999. Supernatural was released by Arista in the United States. This song was written by Erik Schrody, also known as Everlast, and produced by Dante Ross and John Gamble.

The lyrics of “Put Your Lights On” really capture my attention. They are intense and feel like a warning to people that they need to wake up and look at what they are doing in their lives. “Hey now, all you sinners, put your lights on, put your lights on.” The song was written after Everlast had a heart-attack, recovered, and ended up converting to Islam. The lyrics are powerful and give a little hope that despite the dark place you may be in, you can change your ways.

I love Everlast’s vocal timbre. I can really appreciate his booming baritone voice. It is deep, gravelly, and powerful combined with the lyrics of the song. His voice is so deep; I could fall into it. The timbre of Santana’s guitar can be credited to his playing ability and the tone of his custom made Paul Reed Smith Santana II guitar. Santana likes his guitars to have just the right tone to play so he doesn’t use much effects pedal to change the quality of the sound. His sound mostly depends on how he plays; which is excellent in my opinion. He definitely makes use of vibrato and some reverb to give a different sound to the music.

The music is written in common time. It is also written in AB or binary form which means the song goes verse-chorus-verse-chorus. There is a bridge between the first chorus and the second verse that is filled with a nice little guitar solo from Santana. It is a nice song.

Di Perna, Alan, Carlos Santana’s Supernatural Guitar Collection, http://www.guitaraficionado.com/carlos-santanas-supernatural-guitar-collection.html/2, September 16, 2016.

Put Your Lights On, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_Your_Lights_On

59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)

I have to admit, I am a sucker for older music. I couldn’t decide what song to write about for my first musical analysis until I was listening to music in my truck and decided it was time for Simon and Garfunkel. I got to “The 59^th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” and my mind was made up. This song is so simple, cheerful, and relaxing that I can’t help but appreciate it.

The actual 59th Street Bridge is called the Ed Koch Queensboro bridge and it spans between Queens and the area between 59th and 60th street in Manhattan, New York. “The 59^th Street Bridge Song” was released, in America, on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, by Columbia Records, on October 24, 1966. The album was written by Paul Simon, produced by Bob Johnston, and sung by Art Garfunkel.  According to the Rolling Stone’s biography of Simon and Garfunkel, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was the first album Columbia Records recorded on eight tracks.

According to James Bennighof, writer of The Words and Music of Paul Simon, the song is “made up of variations on a two-bar ostinato figure.”  Basically repeating two-bars over and over throughout the song for a light and airy feel when accompanied by the soft and soothing voice of Art Garfunkel. The guitar, the vocals and sounds dubbed over give a nice polyphonic texture.

Garfunkel’s vocal timbre is a beautiful tenor and when accompanied by the acoustic guitar there is such a mellow, simple feeling to the song. I love the dynamics he makes with his voice, going loud to soft. The way he articulates and emphasizes some of the lyrics and parts of words really gives the song so much of the groovy, happy feeling I think they were aiming for.

The lyrics Simon wrote encourage you to quit rushing. He gives you permission to just move at a leisurely pace, taking your time to enjoy where you are and what you are doing right then and there. “Slow down, you’re moving too fast, got to make the moment last.” He sings about having no obligations made and that alone just sounds ideal. Once I finish this post, I will feel precisely this way for the rest of my day.

The song is written in 4/4 time. This time combined with the rhythmic repetition makes me feel like I am also “kickin’ down the cobblestone, lookin’ for fun and feelin’ groovy.” You really could just skip along with the beat.

I really love this song and listening to it so many times to analyze different components hasn’t worn it out for me. In fact, it put me in a great mood for the day. Thanks, Simon and Garfunkel!

Bennighof, James. The Words and Music of Paul Simon. Westport, CT, Praeger, 2007

Greene, Andy. “Simon & Garfunkel Biography.” Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/simon-garfunkel/biography. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

A Lil’ Bit of Lil

Hey there! Let me tell you a bit about myself. First thing, I am Lillian. Friends call me Lil. I am a student, a wife, a mother, a crazy chicken lady, and a Nurses Assistant. I have a strange sense of humor and I’m a fan of some dad jokes. At my home in Two Rivers, we have 15 chickens, one duck, and a Saint Bernard. Well, when I started writing this post we had 15 chickens. Now I have 26 chickens. Since I love chickens, I guess I better include some chicken art.

I just returned to school after a seven year hiatus. Life happened, and I let it. So, I am returning to school with hopes of getting into a career that will better support my family and my chicken habit. I had never written a blog, posted on YouTube, or taken any real online classes before this semester. So many new things for me lately!

As long as I can remember, I have loved music. When I was really small I enjoyed listening to my dad sing and play the guitar with his band. As I got older, I listened to the radio and hand-me-down c.d.s from my five older brothers. My first two favorite songs that I can remember were “Under the Bridge,” by Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Achey Breaky Heart,” by Billy Ray Cyrus. I have listened to all sorts of music for a long time, and sites/apps like Pandora make it possible to listen to and find more musical variety.

When I was in the fourth grade, I learned to read music in orchestra at University Park Elementary school. I played the violin and occasionally the viola in orchestra for five years and I also took piano lessons with a private teacher after school as well. I no longer own a violin, but I still have my old Kimball piano that I got as a child. My whole family enjoys playing music as well. My husband plays the guitar and piano quite well, despite not knowing how to read music. He plays by ear and even writes songs of his own. He can pick up and play just about any instrument and that is one of the many reasons I love him. It also makes it fun to shop for special occasions since I know he likes new instruments and will play them if he has them.

We have a piano, a Korg synthesizer, a keyboard, drums, two ukuleles (one is a cheapo kids Uke,) a harmonica, a Rainsong guitar, an electric guitar, a flute, a fretless bass guitar, and a kids recorder. I haven’t decided what to get next…

I love listening to music, watching musical movies, and going to concerts when I have the chance. My relationship with music has been lasting. Lately, I watch a lot of musical kids shows and movies with my two kiddos. I haven’t been to any concerts since Jane’s Addiction came to the Blue Loon. I think my favorite band to watch has been The Presidents of the United States of America. They were the most fun and enthusiastic band to watch both times I got to see them. Sadly, I won’t get to see them again since they disbanded and Chris Ballew started Caspar Babypants.

I’m not sure how to end this, so I’ll conclude with a song that does a good job explaining my relationship with music. It is really upbeat, and puts me in a great mood.