All of These Things
(photo - Mandy Hall)
Songs in Our Heart # 63 All of These Things (Ed Kuepper) (written by Ed Kuepper; released September 1996) [Our choice for Best Song You Never Heard. Brilliant Production, masterful delivery, a careworn classic.] “Playwrights will churn out great tragedies cause the times that we fought brings people to their knees, Students of romance study everything we said, in schools you’ll hear the children sing All of these things will last long after I’ve long since forgotten you… All of these things will last long after You’ve long since forgotten me…”
Continue Reading →Knight of Cups
(Written and directed by Terrence Malick) (2015) Once upon a time, Mr. Malick produced a virtual masterpiece (Badlands). Since then, his work has unfortunately meandered from the sunlit uplands of integrity and hard work, to the marshes of wan, flatulent and overblown products redolent of the later work of Michael Cimino. Knight of Cups, a series of impressive montages of town and country interspersed with kinetic moments of glamour, following the “life-changing journey of discovery” of handsome, soulful, tortured screenwriter Rick (Christian Bale), has, sadly, the empty vibe of a music video and the emotional resonance of a fragrance commercial (Bale should hawk…
Continue Reading →Unfinished
Franz Schubert ‘s Symphony 8, the unfinished one, debuted 17 December 1865 in Vienna. The composer was not able to hear it, having been decomposing since 1828. Yet it is a marvellous piece of work, and all the more intriguing as we don’t know why Franz didn’t get around to finishing, apart from a hatred of paperwork, a love of booze and a touch of syphilis. This because he was actually a real grind, with an astonishing output considering his short life. Our review of a recent work is here covering Die Winterreise. When he sat down to sketch out…
Continue Reading →Prohibition Ends
The Twenty-first Amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933 and became became officially effective on December 15. The (1920) 18th Amendment (that “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited”) was thereby repealed and such activities (albeit subject to regulation) became legalised. This wowser-inspired law conclusively demonstrated that when you wish to ban a well-established vice, be careful what you wish for… Repeal was enough to justify reaching for the nearest bottle of really good…
Continue Reading →Cat’s in the Cradle
(photo by Cindy Funk)
Songs in Our Heart # 62 Cat’s in the Cradle (Harry Chapin) (written by Harry Chapin and Sandy Gaston; released October 1974) [Harry’s right – no one makes time anymore. This chilling fable is perfectly simple, perfectly true and resonates even on the 100th spin.]
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