The Music Tag

 Lizzie Hexam at Starlight and Saucepans has tagged me for the Music Tag! Many thanks, Lizzie! (Also, I saw this one and didn't steal it! What a reformation!) 

The rules:

1. Write ten songs that come on shuffle (no skipping)

2. Write your favourite lyric from each song

3. Tag some people

Now, about rules 1 and 2... yes, I ignored the no-skipping, and also many of these pieces of music don't have lyrics. However, I have provided a video of each, as they're well worth listening to, so that counts, doesn't it?

1. Scarborough Fair (Trad. Eng.) sung by the King's Singers

Tell her to plough me an acre of land,

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Between the sea and the salt-sea strand,

And she shall be a true love of mine.

I love the King's Singers, and I love folk songs, so this is a felicitous combination! The harmonies in this recording are lovely, too.

2. Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 9. No. 1 (Frederic Chopin)

This comes on a lot, but only if I'm feeling fairly upbeat. Don't listen to it if you're feeling the least bit sad, as it's haunting and overwhelmingly depressing.

3. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", George and Ira Gershwin 

You say eether and I say eyether
You say neether, I say nyther
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther
Let's call the whole thing off

You like potato and I like po-tah-to
You like tomato and I like to-mah-to
Potato, po-tah-to, tomato, to-mah-to
Oh, let's call the whole thing off

This is so much fun! The question is... whose pronunciation do you favour (or should that be favor?)?

4. All People that on Earth Do Dwell, arr. Vaughan Williams

3. O enter then his gates with praise,
Approach with joy his courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless his name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

4. For why? The Lord our God is good;
His mercy is forever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

I love this hymn, and this arrangement of it - perfect for Sundays! (Also, it has an incredible organ fanfare.)

5. The Crucifixion: The Agony - And they laid their hands on Him (John Stainer)

Jesu, Lord Jesu, bowed in bitter anguish,
And bearing all the evil we have done,
Oh, teach us how to love Thee for Thy love;
Help us to pray, and watch, and mourn with Thee

The whole of The Crucifixion is worth a listen, but this movement is probably my favourite. My family listens to it on the way to the Liturgy on Good Friday, and it always reminds me of that.

6. Gnossienne No. 1 (Erik Satie)

I listen to too much sad piano music, I know. This is just especially sad and haunting and beautiful. 

7. "Rub and Scrub" from the Paddington 2 soundtrack (Tobago and d'Lime)

Something totally different... this is a great soundtrack to any cleaning!

8. "O Nata Lux" (Thomas Tallis)

O nata lux de lumine
Jesu redemptor saeculi
Dignare clemens supplicum
Laudes preces que sumere

[O Light born of Light,
Jesus, redeemer of the world,
with loving-kindness deign to receive
suppliant praise and prayer.]

 

Anything by Tallis goes, but this is one of my favourites! 

9. Toccata and fugue in D minor BWV 538 (J.S. Bach)

This is is a newly-discovered favourite of mine... yes, it's long, but it's worth it. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to play it?

10. "Slow Train", Flanders and Swann

The Sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate. No passenger waits on Chittening platform or Cheslyn Hay. No one departs, no one arrives, From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives. They’ve all passed out of our lives, On the slow train.

My family listens to Flanders and Swann a lot in the car and so on. I have a few tracks I listen to myself... this is probably the one I listen to most. 

And that's it! On looking back at all these selections, I realise that my taste for music is rather more depressing than I thought! 

As for tagging... well. Many of the blogs I read have already done this tag/are going to do it. I'll tag:

Caroline Bingley at Truths Universally Acknowledged
Sarah Seele at Sixty-Something Trees

Chloe at Movies Meet Their Match

Lynne at House Mouse

And I'll leave it there!