Category Archive: MUSIC
Common People
Peasants in a Tavern (by Adriaen van Ostade) c. 1635
Songs in Our Heart # 23 Common People (William Shatner version)(Written by Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey and Russell Senior; released October 2004) [Somehow, the witty, literal value of this song is accentuated by Shatner’s spoken, over-the-top, staccato delivery. They go to supermarkets…]
Continue Reading →Both Sides, Now
Songs in Our Heart # 22 Both Sides, Now (Joni Mitchell) (Written by Joni Mitchell; released May 1969) [“It’s life’s illusions I recall, I really don’t know life at all…]
Continue Reading →Fire and Rain
Songs in Our Heart # 21 Fire and Rain (James Taylor) (Written by James Taylor; released February 1970) [The great anthem of loss…”I always thought I would see you again…”]
Continue Reading →Roberto Devereux
(by Gaetano Donizetti) (Metropolitan Opera, screened July 5, 2016) We’re still not quite sure what to make of this Met rendering of Donizetti’s brilliant little bel canto sweetmeat. It seems to have been given the Heaven’s Gate treatment. But there is much to like – the static set by David McVicar (more Georgian/art nouveau fusion than Elizabethan) provided a sense of stability and economy, serving well as various rooms at Nonsuch Palace (looking a little Hampton Court), The Duke of Nottingham’s digs, the Tower, and as a gallery for the peripheral players. The Errol Flynn, Bette Davis…
Continue Reading →Edge of Seventeen
Songs in Our Heart # 20 Edge of Seventeen (Stevie Nicks) (Written by Stevie Nicks; released July 1981) [Incomprehensibly divine nostalgia.]
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