Meanderings

1001 Songs (Posting Number 4)

God Bless The Child - Billie Holiday (1941)

This song was recorded in early May of 1941. The world was at war, but we hadn't entered it yet.
The country was still struggling through the twin economic disasters caused by the Great Depression
and the Dust Bowl. FDR's socialist workers' programs put some people to work, but not enough and
not in the private sector.

It was in this social and economic morass that Billie Holiday sang, "Them that's got shall get, them that's not shall lose." It was a cynicism borne of the events of the day.  Though her lyric continues, "But God Bless the child that's got his own, got his own," I can't help but think that this is more rage against the machine. As though she's saying, God bless those that have their own because there are so darn few of them. 

Stormy Weather - Lena Horne (1943)

A classic torch song. This version was released in 1943 as the title song of the movie with the same name. By the time of the movie's release in the summer of 1943, we had been involved in World War II for a year and a half. It seems reasonable to me that the pining lyrics and melody of this song captured the feelings of women with husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. 

Rum and Coca-Cola - Lord Invader (1943)

This song is a scathing critique of the American troops who were stationed in Trinidad and the local girls who provided them companionship. Until today, I had heard only the Andrews Sisters version of it, which was Americanized and sanitized for domestic broadcast. Though their version still spoke of Trinidadian girls working for the Yankee dollar, the ethos of the day was so innocent that no one connected that with prostitution; particularly not the Andrews Sisters. 

The original Lord Invader does not mask its anger with cute subtleties. The lyrics say in part, "Since the Yankees came to Trinidad, they have the young girls going mad. The young girls say they treat them nice, and they give them a better price." The song could be about selling papayas at roadside stands, but somehow I don't think that would have provoked the same level of contempt.

This Land Is Your Land - Woody Guthrie (1943)

Woody Guthrie's socialist folk anthem - how I hate it.

Lili Marleen - Marlene Dietrich (1945)

The boys' version of 'Stormy Weather'. Marlene Dietrich's husky voice croons nostalgically for her absent love, Lili Marleen. I remember this song most clearly as background music for many World War II movies that I watched as a kid. Interestingly, it was popular with both German and Allied troops during the war. The German national radio station began broadcasting it to their Afrika Korps and the song caught on with both sides. Actress Marlene Dietrich, who performs this version, though German, was an ardent anti-Nazi and performed more than 500 concerts for Allied troops during World War II. 

 

1001 Songs (Posting Number 3)

Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday (1939)

The sadness of this song is overwhelming.

There's nothing that I can add that the lyrics don't already say. 

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop. 

The Gallis Pole - Leadbelly (1939)

Listeners are met with a rapid fire 12 string guitar riff. The urgency of the singer's request is evident
as he asks everyone he knows to bring gold and silver to prevent him from going to the gallis (gallows) pole and being hung. Midway through, you can hear the call and response that is common to much African American music. As he asks his friends what they brought to save him from the gallis pole, they tell him nothing, they just came to watch him hang from it. Nice friends.  

Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland (1939)

In searing contrast to the woeful conditions faced by Leadbelly and Billie Holiday, we have sugary sweet Judy Garland singing dreamily about "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". How much more removed from the 1930's South can you get than the Yellow Brick Road? Wow. I'm in culture shock just sitting here. Ironically, the lyricist for this song is Yip Harburg, the same man who wrote "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?". 

Mbube - Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds (1939)

I can hardly contain my smile as I listen to this one. It's like discovering a Christmas present that was hidden for years in the back of the closet. This is the original song that, through many adaptations and commercializations, became "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Unfortunately, the beauty of the music is tarnished by the exploitation of the Zulu artists who originally recorded it. If there's an upshot to this all too common story, it's that Solomon Linda's heirs received a financial settlement from the publishing company after threatening legal action. Sadly, Mr. Linda himself died a pauper in 1962.

Java Jive - The Ink Spots (1940)

Smooth like the cuppa cuppa cuppa cup that they sing about, the Ink Spots harmonize beautifully about "The Java Jive" that brings them so much pleasure. I can't help but wonder if this is an escapist diversion from the racism and tragedy documented by other African American artists of their era.  

Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday (1941)

Do goth kids listen to Billie Holiday? If they don't, they should. Holy crap, after listening to a day of her music I want to slit my wrists. Gloomy Sunday is a smoky dirge where she laments a lover's death and as she contemplates suicide. She sings to him: 

Let them know that I'm glad to go 
Death is no dream
For in death I'm caressin' you
With the last breath of my soul
I'll be blessin' you.

In yet another instance of life imitating art, the composer who wrote this song in its original Hungarian, Rezso Seress, committed suicide in 1968.   

Guantanamera - Joseito Fernandez (1941)

Sometimes it's hard to separate the cultural indoctrination that accompanies the song from the song itself. For me, this song is synonymous with Mexican Restaurants. I now know that it is the most recognized Cuban song of all time and was based upon a poem by nationalist Jose Marti'. I have also learned that the song didn't gain popularity in the US until it was recorded by folk artist Pete Seeger in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

That aside, when I hear the lyrics, "Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera," it puts me in a specific place and time. Pass the chips and salsa, please.  

1001 Songs (Posting Number 2)

Mal Hombre - Lydia Mendoza (1934)

Ms. Mendoza has the vocal quality of Edith Piaf. A high pitched vibrato which she accompanies with a 12 string guitar. The song tells the tale of Mal Hombre, the 'Bad Man' who is an unrepentant womanizer. I wonder if this song would have been sung with admiration rather than warning if the artist had been male.

Hula Girl - Sol Hoopii (1934)

For some reason this song reminds me of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck dancing across a stage wearing striped blazers, carrying canes, and waving their flat-topped straw hats in small circles. Perhaps my lack of historical context causes me to take this song less seriously than I should, but the plinky ukelele, steel guitar, and staccato lyrics simply create a lightheartedness that I can't avoid. 

Can The Circle Be Unbroken - The Carter Family (1935)

This is a song that I've known as long as I can remember. Southern Gospel was one of my mom's favorite musical genres so I listened to it a lot growing up. It is a farewell song to a deceased family member. It expresses their deep faith in God and belief in a better place in the world to come. The Carter Family wrote and recorded this song first, but I prefer the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's cover of it. 

Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson (1936)

While I listen to this song I close my eyes and see a man sitting on the porch of a sharecropper's shack. Just a generation or two from slavery, hardship and lack are woven all through the notes he plays and the words he sings. 

Interesting notes from the text, "Central to the story, Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of highways 49 and 61 in exchange for mastery of the blues. Two years after the song was recorded, and as his career looked to be taking off, the legend began to take root. Poisoned by the jealous husband of a girl he had added to his list of affairs, his life ended at the age of twenty-seven."

Hmmm..... 

Hellhound On My Trail - Robert Johnson (1937)

Given what I've just learned about the previous song, I don't know if this song is literal or metaphorical. What I do know is what I can hear - an emphatic twanging blues guitar and a straining tenor voice that sings of a life on the road and on the run. Whether the hellhound that is chasing him is real or imagined, I'll never know, but Robert Johnson sings of it with striking believability. 

Text Note: This song was recorded in Dallas in Johnson's second and final recording session.

Eerie. 

1001 Songs (Posting Number 1)

Pokarekare Ana - Ana Hato with Deane Waretini (1929)

It has a distinctly Polynesian sound. The lyrics are in a language that I do not understand. The melody is slow and lilting. The tone of the singer's voice expresses longing or something like it. About 30 seconds into the song the soloist is joined by a chorus and the mood segues to pride/love. The song is concluded by the soloist and the tone reverts to its original longing. This is one of those songs where you don't need to understand it to understand it. I'm glad that it was selected for the list. It's not a song I'm likely to have heard otherwise. 

The book's notes tell me that the song is New Zealand's unofficial National Anthem and is of Maori origin. Regrettably, it has been overused for commercial purposes and the original sentimentality lost upon those who have been exposed to it thousands of times. --That's a shame. A novice listener hears the underlying emotion of the song even though the specific meaning is unknown. 

St. James Infirmary Blues - Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (1929)

Wow, this is BLUESY. It could be the poster child for all blues songs. A loopy trumpet, trombone, and single cymbal draw you right in to this painful lament. After a few measures, depth is added by a soft honky tonk piano playing in the background. Armstrong's distinctive voice tells the story of his lost love lying cold and dead in St. James Infirmary. After the lyrics, the musical interlude could be the soundtrack for every film noir movie ever made. "Make that a double, Mac. Whiskey, no ice."

El Manisero - Don Azpiazu and His Havana Casino Orchestra (1929)

Talk about a change of scenery! Going from mourning dead girlfriends on a slab to dancing the rumba in a Cuban cabaret is quite a leap. I visualize Carmen Miranda shaking her maracas across the dance floor to this upbeat tune. A bouncy high pitched trumpet and Cuban orchestra accompany the vocalist as he sings about a Peanut vendor on the streets of Havana. Music can't be more fun than this. 

Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway and His Orchestra (1931)

"Hidey Hidey Hidey High, Hodey Hodey Hodey Ho, Hee Dee Heedey Hee," croons Cab Calloway as he sings of Minnie the Moochah in this jazz classic. My mind is drawn to an Al Capone owned nightclub filled with wiseguys and gun molls. I can't listen to this enough times. 

Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl - Bessie Smith (1931)

I don't think that Bessie Smith is talking about groceries when she sings to her lost love, "I need a little sugar in my bowl, I need a little hotdog between my rolls." I can only imagine the self-righteous moral outrage that must have confronted her undisguised sensuality. On the other hand, I can also imagine the lighthearted snickering of teen boys as they listened and learned. 

The supporting text tells me that this song is exemplary of a subgenre called 'dirty blues' and it was clear during the era that this was music performed by adults for adults. Interesting. The text also reads, "It's worth remembering that the dirty blues also gave us the euphemism "rock and roll" - a phrase that resurfaced to world changing effect , as the name for the illegitimate child of the blues." 

Brother Can You Spare A Dime? - Bing Crosby (1932)

The quintessential Depression Era song. Bing Crosby, as the song's narrator, revisits the many contributions he has made to build the country as he is now reduced to panhandling on the street. For me, this is a song that puts the current financial and economic situation in historical context. Everyman, who is represented in this song, didn't go home to his flat screen TV, surround sound system, and high speed internet. He went home to bare cupboards, hungry children, and the shame of not being able to provide for their basic needs. It is a much sadder song than one might take away from a single listening.

 

Frogtime Serenade

Sent from my iPhone

I picked up the book SoulPancake by Rainn Wilson late last week at Island Books. It is a collection of philosophical thoughts, quotes, questions, and exercise designed to promote contemplation of meaty issues.

From this book I adapted the following query for my class' blog question this week:

Name three things that drain your soul THEN three things that recharge your soul.

Drain:
* Cruelty to kids and animals (innocents)
* Disloyalty/Betrayal
* Unappreciative people

Recharge
* Acts of Valor
* Music
* The smell of the Northwest woods
* Time with my family

I found this photo on a random CD down at the beach. It was the summer of 2002, just a few weeks before Maria was born.

Today, March 25th, is National Medal of Honor Day. In recognition of this important occasion I am posting the link to SFC Leroy Petry's MOH citation. It should be read by all Americans so that they may be reminded that heroism has nothing to do with catching a ball or singing a song; it is about valor, honor, and sacrifice. RLTW SFC Petry, a proud nation salutes you on this day.

http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/petry/citation.html

If an Afghan warlord is accusing Harry of being one of Satan's jackals it must mean that he's making a difference. Tally Ho!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9774538/Prince-Harry-is-a-jackal-killing-innocents-says-feared-Afghanistan-warlord.html

The Ultimate Sandwich Recipe: Feast your eyes on this!

The Ultimate Sandwich Recipe: Feast your eyes on this!.

Looks like lunch tomorrow!

Someone I know avoided deploying to Iraq in the heat of the conflict by overstating and then milking a back injury. This is not someone I see often, but when I do see him the situation is such that I need to be.....diplomatic. It's been several years since the event, but I still seethe when I see him or even think about it because he sent someone else into harm's way because he lacked the courage to go himself. The civilian voice in my head tells me, "Let it go, nothing you can do will change it and it was some time ago anyway." My Ranger voice tells me that the guy is, "......Expletives Deleted.....," and there is no getting over an act like that. I may see him soon and need to think through my response ahead of time.

The Fifth Stanza

Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is NOT a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.

I will stand in public and recite this stanza, Mr. President.

Will you?

J'Accuse

I just finished reading a short book of poetry written by Israeli author Ahron Shabtai and translated by Peter Cole called, "J'Accuse". It was a challenging read for me, not because the material was unfamiliar or complex, but because the point of view as so very different from my own. Shabtai is a man who deeply loves his country and is harshly critical of his government's policies. He is an idealist who sincerely believes that Israel's best course of action would be to demilitarize, throw open the borders of the Territories, and to embrace those who shout for Jewish blood.

While I can empathize with his revulsion at the violence (he mentions only violence against Arabs, but it obviously goes both ways), I cannot comprehend the thinking that would assume a positive outcome for Israel if his way were made national policy. To me this is analogous to the United States inviting Al Qaeda and Taliban members to reside here so that they can see that American's aren't so bad.

No, some relationships are not reconcilable and romanticizing about a Disney ending to the Israeli-Palestinian tensions is, just like Disney, the stuff of fantasy.

MSFT CES Swan Song

What message is being sent by Microsoft's final act at the Consumer Electronics Show? Does it mean that they've given up on innovation? Will they be satisfied from here on out with incremental updates and tweaks to their software and services rather than continuing to push for world changing innovation? I guess time will tell.

I wonder....what will your footprints look like when your walk on Earth is over?

More thinking on Lamentations.... As I read more about the background of this book, the overwhelming sadness of its events consume me. Though the author is not explicitly identified, scholars believe that the book's author is the prophet Jeremiah. How desolate must he have felt to have watched his enemies destroy his beloved Jerusalem, desecrating all that was holy, enslaving his people, and rejoicing in their suffering. Though he knew that this was a fulfillment of God's promise to punish the idolators, witnessing the destruction was clearly heart wrenching. Also noteworthy is Jeremiah's uncertainty in his plea to God to restore his people to him, "unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure." Clearly he doesn't know if his people will ever be forgiven or if this is God's final condemnation. How alone must he have felt to have contemplated the notion of Divine abandonment? Particularly as a prophet who had previously had such a close relationship with God - the growing reality that God has turned away must have been overwhelming. I cannot imagine the loss he must have felt.

We received the MISD annual report over the weekend. Looking at he statistics I saw something that I hadn't noticed before. Across the board, about 90 percent of our students passed the state standardized test (The MSP) in 2011. If you consider that 10 percent of our students qualify for special education support, which typically requires a 1 year or more differential between the student's assessed performance and their grade level expectations, this implies that MISD has very nearly a 100 percent effective pass rate on the MSP. Not bad for a little suburban school district.

One of my mom's favorite Bible study activities was to simply close her eyes and open her Bible and begin reading. This evening I did that and landed on Lamentations, Chapter 5 verses 20-22. These are not popular, feel good Sunday school verses that smiling teachers send home with Kindergarteners, but they are instructive nonetheless. They read, "Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us."

This is the punishing, Calvinist God of the Old Testament who would smite his own followers for generations because they didn't toe the line. The sorrow in the verses that precede these is palpable. Verse 15 says, "The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned to mourning." Though this was written thousands of years ago, couldn't these same words have been written in modern day Darfur? Mogadishu? Or Calcutta? How many generations of people in these tragic places have seen little but sorrow and pestilence? Do they feel as if God has punished and then abandoned them? How does one have faith in places like those?

The Fall of Life

People I know are dying. Like the first leaves that catch a late summer breeze and float away, they are departing this life for whatever follows. It began in late 2009 when my mom passed away. Her death was timely. She had been sick for a long time and her body finally gave in to her many maladies. Last year marked the deaths of two guys who should have lived forever, Vince Lopez and Mark Jansen. This fall we lost two amazing women, Carrie Budd Naas and Suzanne Pierson Dunbar, both in their 40's, both to cancer, and both with two pre-high school aged children.

As I've tried to reconcile these deaths, I've grasped for a metaphor that would help me to understand the question, why now? This evening it came to me. I've reached the fall of my life. By fall, I mean autumn, not fall as in "The Fall of Rome".

In the fall, some of the things that were once vibrant with color begin to dim. Other things reach their full potential in the fall and only then are they able to share the full measure of their gifts with the world. And, unfortunately, some things die in the fall - especially some of the flowers that bloomed most brightly in the spring and summer their lives. This is the natural order of things and it helps me to understand, why now.

When someone reports a crime, particularly a violent crime, it is assumed that they are telling the truth. If that is the case, how is it possible for us to provide the accused the presumption of innocence?