Category: Music
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Whittaker Chambers on Beethoven
Whittaker Chambers (Witness, p. 19) 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 vison of the creation.…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Marital Advice
Before you even think of getting married, make sure you have plenty of Money. Then Shop Around. Consider who will become your Mother-in-Law. If you want to be happy, don't worry too much about physical beauty. If she has a cheatin' heart, hit the road, Jack. But then again you might be better off without…
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Ron Radosh on the Woody Guthrie Tribute Concert
Good music, dreadful politics. Excerpt: Unfortunately, the entire event was marred by the hard Left narrative particularly voiced in the most offensive manner by two artists, Tom Morello and Ry Cooder. At least Cooder is a real musician, but that does not excuse his behavior and his leftist rants delivered both in asides and in…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Three Who Didn’t Survive the ’60s
1970 was the last year of the 'sixties, and these three died in September and October. Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson of Canned Heat. Date of death: 2 September 1970. Cause: "acute accidental barbituate intoxication." I saw him live with Canned Heat in 1968 in a club named Kaleidoscope on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Wilson's high-pitched voice…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Youth, Fast Cars, and Death
Tomorrow is the 57th anniversary of the death of James Dean. When the young Dean crashed his low slung silver Porsche Spyder on a lonely California highway on September 30, 1955, he catapulted a couple of unknowns into the national spotlight. One of them was Ernie Tripke, one of two California Highway Patrol officers who…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Forgotten Folkies
The Highwaymen were a 'collegiate folk ' outfit that had a big hit in 1961 with Michael Row the Boat Ashore. Listening to it now after many years, I had forgotten how beautiful it is. 1962 brought them their second hit, Cotton Fields. The tune is a Leadbelly cover and has been covered in its turn…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Torch Songs
"A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia) Sarah Vaughn, Broken-Hearted Melody. I loved this song when I was nine and I love…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: September Songs
September again. A lovely transitional month leading from hot August to glorious October. Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill, September Song. A Liberace-Jack Benny spoof. Dinah Washington, September in the Rain The Tempos, See You in September Carole King, It Might as Well Rain Until September Antonio Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons," Autumn. Newcomers to classical music —…
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Ron Radosh on Woody Guthrie at 100
A very good piece that ends like this: Poor Woody Guthrie. He never expected to see the day when the newsmen, the photographers, the media as a whole would proclaim singers like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, and Ry Cooder geniuses because they are leftists, and although like all good millionaires and billionaires, they use their…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Scott McKenzie, San Francisco, Summer of Love
Nostalgia time again. Scott McKenzie, famous for the 1967 anthem "San Francisco" penned by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, is dead at 73. Gen-Xer Mick LaSalle gets it right in his commentary: The thing about that song is that . . . however naive and even sanctimonious it might be, it is…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Midnight and Moonlight
Eric Clapton, After Midnight Thelonious Monk, 'Round Midnight Jack Kerouac, 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) Patsy Cline, Walkin' After Midnight Joey Powers, Midnight Mary. A one-hit wonder. Kenny Ball, Midnight in…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Time Signatures
4/4 is the most common time signature, and 3/4 is fairly common. James Ray's If You Gotta Make a Fool Of Somebody (1961) is a good example of 3/4 time. Another beautiful example is Dylan's "Farewell Angelina," here sung by Joan Baez. Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man is in 2/4 time — 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 —…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: James Burton, Master of the Telecaster
James Burton is the legendary sideman responsible for those deceptively simple but perfect guitar solos on such early Rick Nelson recordings as Hello Mary Lou and Travelin' Man and It's Up to You. Here Burton trades licks with Bruce Springsteen under the watchful eye of Roy Orbison. By the way, "Pretty Woman," blending as it does the Dionysian with the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Chips, Rubber Biscuit Ray Barretto, El Watusi Rivingtons, Papa Oom Mow Mow Shirley Ellis, The Name Game Lee Dorsey, Ya Ya
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Youth and Old Age
Let's get off to a rousing start with The Who's famous generational anthem, aptly entitled My Generation. "Things they say seem so cold, I hope I die before I get old." Rather on the sweeter side, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys wonder what it'll be like when I Grow Up to be a Man. …