A Music Thread

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'Kaddish' the album, by Towering Inferno- is not easy listening, by any means. This is 'The Rose' :

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Muzsikas dedicated a whole album to the lost Jewish music of Hungary/Transylvania. This one had particular poignancy for survivors of Auschwitz:
'Ane Maamin'-

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Song by Victor Jara, performance by Robert Wyatt, 'Te Recuerdo Amanda' :

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Another June Tabor rendition- 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda':

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I know the version by Roy Harris on an acoustic folk collection, but this version is new to me. Known as 'I Would That The Wars Were All Done/I Wish That The Wars Were All Over', something we can all hope for, however vainly... Eliza Carthy:

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Not quite as old. '18th Day Of June/Plains Of Waterloo'- by Shirley & Dolly Collins:

Shirley Collins sings Plains of Waterloo

As I was a-walking one midsummer's morning
Down by the gay banks of a clear pearling stream,
There I met a fair maid making sad lamentations,
So I threw myself in ambush to hear her sad refrain.

Through the woods she marched along, caused the valleys to ring-o,
And the fine feathered songsters around her they flew,
Saying, “The war it is now over and peace it is returned again,
Yet my William's not returning from the plains of Waterloo.”

Oh, I stepped up to this fair maid and said, “My fond creature,
Oh, dare I make enquire as to what's your true love's name?
For it's I have been in battle where the cannons loud do rattle
And by your description I might have known the same.”

“Willie Smith me true love's name is, a hero of great fame,
And he's gone and he's left me in sorrow, it's true.
Now no-one shall me enjoy but me own darling boy,
And yet he's not returning from the plains of Waterloo.”

“If Willie Smith's your true love's name, then he's a hero of great fame,
He and I have fought in battle through many's the long campaign.
Through Italy and Russia, through Germany and Prussia,
He was my loyal comrade through France and through Spain.”

“Till at length by the French, oh then we were surrounded,
And like heroes of old then we did them subdue.
We fought for three days till at length we did defeat him,
That bold Napoleon Boney on the plains of Waterloo.”

“And on this sixteenth day of June, it is end of the battle,
Leaving many's the bold hero in sorrow to mourn.
There the war drums they do beat and the cannons loud do rattle,
It was by a French soldier your William was slain.”

“And as I passed by oh to where he lay a-bleeding,
I scarcely had time for to bid him adieu.
With a faint, faltering voice these words he kept repeating:
Fare the well, me lovely Annie, you are far from Waterloo.“

And when that this fair maid heard this sad acclamation
Her two rosy cheeks they turned pale into wan.
And when that his young man saw her sad lamentation,
He cried, “Me lovely Annie, oh I am your very one.”

“And here is the ring that between us was broken,
In the depth of all dangers, love, to remind me of you.”
And when she saw the token, she fell into his arms, saying,
“You're welcome, lovely William, from the plains of Waterloo.”

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/shirley.collins/songs/plainsofwaterloo.html

[molly bloom]

An old, old song but worth the listen, in this version by Maddy Prior :

and the lyrics:

As I was walking all alane
I heard twa corbies making a main
And tane untae the tither did say O
Where shall we gang and dine the day O
Where shall we gang and dine the day

In behint yon auld fell ****
I wat there lies a new slain knight
And naebody kens that he lies there O
But his hawk and his hound and his lady fair O
His hawk and his hound and his lady fair

His hound is tae the hunting gane
His hound tae fetch the wild fowl hame
His lady's taen anither mate O
So we maun make our dinner sweet O
We maun make our dinner sweet

Ye'll sit on his white hause bane
And I'll pike out his bonny blue een
Wi mony a lock o' his gowden hair O
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare O
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare

Mony a one for him makes main
But nane shall ken where he is gane
O'er his white bones when they are bare O
The wind shall blow forever mair O
The wind shall blow forever mair

[molly bloom]

MB has soooo much music it would be impossible for anyone else not to have something different

all hail MB

True confessions: I don't possess any Led Zeppelin or Bob Marley or Beatles. I do like a lot of songs by the Beatles, but usually performed by other people. I prefer ska/bluebeat/dub to Marley, and I've never really enjoyed Sabbath/Zep/Deep Purple et cetera.

Not madly keen on what is ludicrously called r'n'b today either- give me old school r'n'b' any day.

Anyways, on a more sombre note:


June Tabor and a song from the Civil War in the U.S. which to my mind hasn't lost any of its resonance :

[SlowwHand]

[Addled Platypus]

MB has soooo much music it would be impossible for anyone else not to have something different

all hail MB

[SlowwHand]

[SlowwHand]

You and I share a lot of the same music preferences, Molly.

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Et enfin... Telex, 'Twist A St Tropez' :

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And the delightful B-Side by Ms. Loren:

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Peter Sellers channels his inner jellied eel, Sophia Loren urges he take up a Mediterranean diet: