Here’s a little residual post-Valentine’s Day angst. I am struck by the similarity of the theme of both of these songs. I guess there are only a finite number of things you can say about heartbreak: Neil Young’s voice shouldn’t … Continue reading →
ADDENDUM: Here’s a description of the premiere of Beethoven’s 9th: …[T]he Ninth Symphony was premiered on 7 May 1824 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna…This was the composer’s first onstage appearance in 12 years; the hall was packed with … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Part I can be found here.] The Bee Gees came briefly onto my radar screen in the late 70s through the extraordinary popularity of their “Saturday Night Fever” score. Then for me they faded out of sight and hearing, … Continue reading →
Leonard Cohen songs keep coming to mind – and not just any Leonard Cohen songs, but the ones he wrote in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during an especially dark period in his musical oeuvre. Cohen had a lot … Continue reading →
And the best of all is sibling close harmony. That’s where nature and nurture can combine to make different-yet-somehow-similar voices blend in a special way that creates a full and resonant whole that is far more than the sum of … Continue reading →
This is about music. But I think it’s about a lot more, too: When the human element goes out of art, the art suffers greatly. We perceive it, even if we’re not necessarily conscious of why things sound different. I … Continue reading →
Seriously, how do these old guys do it? Russell Hitchcock (the high tenor) has the sort of voice that doesn’t usually last till the age of 65, which is how old he is in this video. The other singer – … Continue reading →
Some musical escape. The whole video is interesting, but I find this part especially so:
Continue reading →… in the future, it may be that you’re not to be mentioned on the floor of the House. It’ll be “parent” and “sibling” for us all: Proposed changes to the rules of the House of Representatives would “honor all … Continue reading →
The other day I was thinking how very many songs there are about loneliness. So I did a search, and the following video came up. Even though it’s supposedly about loneliness, the video made me smile. The lead singer’s 80s … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Yesterday in the comments to the Everly Brothers post, the name of Laura Nyro was brought up by commenter “Brio.” That reminded me that I had posted – at least, I thought I had posted – a piece on … Continue reading →