Status-Q

This is rather nicely done - a fun two minutes.

(If your browser or email program doesn't show the clip above, here's a direct link.)

The oral tradition has long been an important part of preserving human culture, and it is perhaps especially at this time of year that we're conscious of works of music and literature that have been handed down through the ages.

While I was showering this morning, for example, I found myself singing a cheerful seasonal song which my brain had kindly preserved for me, almost intact, for more than half a century, but I just couldn't remember the first line. It was only as I was towelling myself down, that it came back to me.

"Christmas, Christmas, in Smurfing Land"

Anyone else grow up in the 70s?

I hadn't come across the singer 'Madelline' before, but I've been somewhat entranced by her track 'Dopamine', not just because it's a pleasant song, but because of this particular version.

To the same backing track, you hear her singing it in both French and English at the same time.

If you listen through a single phone speaker, it just sounds like a bit of a jumble, but if you have headphones or anything else with decent stereo separation, then the effect of hearing the same person, singing the same song, at the same time, to the same backing, but in your left ear in French and your right ear in English, is quite bizarre, especially if you have reasonable fluency in both.

It does slightly weird things to my brain, but it's also interesting to see the flexibility in translation needed to get roughly the same concepts into the same lines.

YouTube, at its best, can be a wonderful way to discover real talent. A little while ago, I came across some songs by the Cotton Pickin Kids - a very talented family from Alabama - and I shared one or two favourites, like this one, with friends and family.

Well, after that, the YouTube algorithm decided I must like groups of talented siblings, and offered me so many of them that I expected I would suddenly be presented with the Von Trapp family's previously undiscovered channel...

Just as I was thinking that all of this might be a bit too much of a good thing, today I spotted a girl and her two brothers who call themselves 'Life in 3D'... for the simple reason that their names are Devon, Daylon and Daura.

Oh well, I thought, let's give them a try.. and I've since been browsing through their songs, and been seriously impressed. To inject a little positivity into your day, I offer, somewhat at random, the one I discovered first:

(Direct link)

The story they tell on their website is that they used to sing while doing the dishes and other household chores, and when they finished, their parents said, "Hey, don't stop!". So a couple of years ago, they bought a proper microphone, recorded themselves, and posted their first video to YouTube.

Man, what a start!

(Direct link)

Not only can they sing, but there are some pretty impressive production values here. It was listening to them with the volume turned up that made my realise how good the speakers are on my MacBook Pro. Treat yourself, and don't just listen to this on a tinny little phone speaker.

If you like what you hear, you might enjoy their fabulous rendition of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', or watch them having fun with U2's 'With or without you'.

But I've enjoyed lots of them, and I hope they improve your day in the same way they did mine!

I know some of my readers will have seen this on John's blog, but for others...

A wonderful thing has happened. There is a new and marvellous recording of one of my all-time favourite tracks, Mark Knopfler's Going Home, the theme music from the also-wonderful movie Local Hero.

As if that weren't enough, it includes contributions by, well, basically everybody famous who ever picked up a guitar... from Sting to Joe Satriani, from Sheryl Crow to Eric Clapton, from Peter Frampton to Joan Armatrading... the list goes on... with Ringo Starr on the drums. I wish there were a video or some sort of annotation so you could see who was playing when.

And then it gets even better... this is a production in aid of cancer charities. You can listen to it, buy it, download it, and the proceeds go to a good cause.

Tilly and I are currently touring the Netherlands in our campervan, and this makes for fabulous road-trip music. I wonder how big a donation I'd need to make in order to be allowed to use it in my upcoming YouTube videos...

Our parking spot last night on the north Netherlands coast. This is very close to 'Riddle of the Sands' country: a rather different coastline from the beaches near Arisaig used for "Local Hero" (but we did visit those on a previous campervan trip).

Taylor Swift sells more music than the entire categories of jazz or classical.

FT - 5/2/24

I know that many popular lyrics have been inspired by the use of drugs, so I thought I'd try my hand at it.  This was written recently while packing for a journey.  Or, perhaps, a trip.  My brother, a highly-qualified medic, was on hand to help. With the lyrics, at least.

John and Yoko are busy composing the melody, but in the meantime you can sing it to the tune of It's a long way to Tipperary.

I need one more Atorvastatin
  I've got one more to go.
I need one more Atorvastatin
  It's the neatest pill I know.
Goodbye to cholesterol
  Farewell, LDL!
I need just one more Atorvastatin
  And all will be well!

I expect it to become a hit amongst other middle-aged music afficionados.

(direct link to video)

Friends this side of the Atlantic may not be familar with the story of John Henry, but you can read about him on Wikipedia.  John Henry, the story goes, was a 'steel-driving man' whose prowess with the hammer was formidable.  

At one point, he took on a steam hammer, side-by-side, and won... but the effort also killed him.

It's not quite clear whether John Henry was ever anything more than a legend, but he has inspired statues, books, animations, compositions by Aaron Copland... and almost everybody seems to have recorded musical versions of the story, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Lonnie Denegan, Harry Belafonte, Woodie Guthrie... to name but a few.  For a brief version, here's Tennessee Ernie Ford, or I rather like the slightly longer story as recorded by Johnny Cash.

My friend Keshav, of course, asked ChatGPT to write a version, which also covers the threat posed to traditional skills by the coming of machines.

... then here's a little Vivaldi for you.

Thanks to John for the link.