Category: Music
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Whittaker Chambers on Beethoven
Whittaker Chambers on the Third Movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: . . . that music was the moment at which Beethoven finally passed beyond the suffering of his life on earth and reached for the hand of God, as God reaches for the hand of Adam in Michaelangelo's vision of the creation. (Witness, p. 19) Well,…
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New Year’s Eve at the Oldies: ‘Last’ Songs for the Last Night of the Year
Happy New Year, everybody. Last Night, 1961, The Mar-Keys. Last Date, 1960, Floyd Cramer. It was bliss while it lasted. You were so in love with her you couldn't see straight. But she didn't feel the same. You shuffle home, enter your lonely apartment, pour yourself a stiff one, and put Floyd Cramer on…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Leo Kottke, Embryonic Journey. As good as it is I still prefer Jefferson Airplane, Embryonic Journey Punch Brothers, Rye Whisky Lonely Heartstring Band, Ramblin' Gamblin' Willy Bonnie Owens, Philadelphia Lawyer Cowboy Jack Clement, A Girl I Used to Know Bobby Bare, Lullabies, Legends, and Lies Brewer and Shipley, One Toke Over the Line The Flying Burrito Brothers, To Ramona. A very…
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Christmas Eve at the Oldies: Tunes of the Season
Merry Christmas everybody. Pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. Me, I'm nursing a Boulevardier. It's a Negroni with cojones: swap out the gin for bourbon. One ounce bourbon, one ounce sweet vermouth, one ounce Campari, straight up or on the rocks, with a twist of orange. A serious libation. It'll melt a snowflake for sure. The…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies Guest Post: From Gospel to Rap, Part II
By X. Malcolm. Trigger Warning! Not for snowflakes. Second in a series on the degeneration of black music. Part I here. In part I, I summarised the elements of the rap genre as I see them, in particular how it seems to be influenced by Malcolm X’s brand of identity politics. In Part II I…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies Guest Post: From Gospel to Rap, Part I
By X. Malcolm Bill suggested I wrote a post on how we get from gospel music such as Richard Smallwood’s uplifting Total Praise, to the uncompromising lowness of this gem (lyrics) by West Coast rappers 2 Live Crew? What is the bridge, if any, between ‘I will lift mine eyes to the hills’ (Psalm 121)…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Nostalgia and Memory
Let's get things off to a rousing start with Bob Seger, Old Time Rock and Roll. But does it really soothe the soul, or rather stoke The Fire Down Below? This one goes out to Al 'Grope' Franken. I hereby proffer some friendly avuncular advice to my distaff readers, all three of them: never underestimate…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some ‘Song’ Songs
Mose Allison, The Song is Ended Punch Bros., Dink's Song Dave van Ronk, Dink's Song Arlo Guthrie, Percy's Song Fairport Convention, Percy's Song Doors, Alabama Song Roberta Flack, Killing Me Softly with his Song Bob Dylan, Song to Woody Chad and Jeremy, Summer Song Simon and Garfunkel, 59th Street Bridge Song Brook Benton, The Boll…
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Sages of the Ages Against Rap
Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul . . . when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form.i…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some ‘Night’ Songs
Them, Here Comes the Night. Still gives me shivers up and down the spine as it did in '65. A blend of the Dionysian and the tender. A similar blend in Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman. Bob Dylan, "Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you are trying to be so quiet?" Visions…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Blues Varia
Memphis Minnie, I'm a Bad Luck Woman, 1936. Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. [. . .] She presented herself to the public as being feminine and ladylike, wearing expensive dresses and jewelry, but she was…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Midnight and Moonlight
J. J. Cale, After Midnight Thelonious Monk, 'Round Midnight Jack Kerouac, Old Angel Midnight Brother Dege, Old Angel Midnight Allman Bros., Midnight Rider Rolling Stones, Midnight Rambler B. B. King, et al., Midnight Hour Maria Muldaur, Midnight at the Oasis (This one goes out to Mary Korzen and the Boston Spring of '74) Patsy Cline, Walkin' After Midnight Joey Powers, Midnight Mary. A…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Kerouac Goes Home in October
Jack Kerouac quit the mortal coil 48 years ago today, securing his release from the samsaric wheel of the quivering meat conception, and the granting of his wish: The wheel of the quivering meat conception . . . . . . I wish I was free of that slaving meat wheel and safe in heaven…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Tom Petty (1950-2017)
When the '60s ended my musical interests shifted to jazz and classical, so my acquaintance with rock from the '70s on is pretty spotty. But I sat up and took notice when, in the late '80s, Petty teamed up with his elders Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne to form the supergroup,…
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Charlie Parker
A tribute to Charlie Parker by Jack Kerouac and Steve Allen. Hyper-romanticism and cool jazz. Charlie Parker looked like Buddha. Charlie Parker . . . was called the perfect musician and his expression on his face was as calm beautiful and profound as the image of the Buddha represented in the East the lidded…