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.
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:
Oh, 'twas lovely to read your answers! It's kind of funny, I feel like we came to opposite realizations in doing this tag - your musical tendencies were more depressing than you'd realized, and mine were more aggressively cheerful than I'd realized. xD
I'm quite familiar with Scarborough Fair, but I've never heard this specific version before. And I love All People That on Earth Do Dwell too! (I've heard other hymns which use the same melody but have different words, which I don't like as much. :P)
How fun that we both had Let's Call the Whole Thing Off! I love that clip. They're so cute. :D (This is a bit of a rabbit-trail, but I'm over-the-moon excited and must mention it - I've been sort of trying to teach myself tap dancing, and found some tap shoes on clearance - and they just arrived today! I'm ridiculously happy :D)
I've never heard of Flanders and Swann before, but I liked that song! The Paddington 2 song was fun too - I've never watched the Paddington movies (though I read a lot of the stories when I was younger) - do you recommend them?
Goodness, I'd better stop writing before this comment gets longer, but thank you for doing the tag! (:
I thought that too! It's funny, isn't it - but it's a fun chance to step back and see one's taste from a distance XD
It often seems to be the way with hymns - people heard one tune and fitted new words to it. I've heard/sung different versions of this specific hymn before, too; this one is my favourite.
Oh, how cool that you're teaching yourself tap dancing! That's such a fun, innovative idea! And wow, what a find! Good luck with it. (That is really the stuff of happiness - clearance and dance combined :D)
I loved the Paddington books! The films... I wouldn't recommend Paddington 1, but Paddington 2 is very fun. It's set in the modern day, but it's done extremely sympathetically, it's got a very Paddingtonian plot, and it's cohesive and well thought-out (none of that can be said for the first film). It's about the only film where the sequel's better than the original. I haven't seen Paddington 3, but I don't particularly want to, especially as they replaced my favourite actress from the first one. How very dare they.
Clearance and dance combined is indeed the stuff of happiness :D
Ah, got it - I had heard that this was one of those rare cases where the sequel was better than the first movie. Heh, that was most unkind of them...am I remembering right that Sally Hawkins was the actress that they replaced? (I know she was also Anne Elliot in the 2007 Persuasion, but I've yet to see that too.)
Yes, it was Sally Hawkins they replaced, who was perfect as Mrs Brown! (I haven't seen the 2007 Persuasion either, but I want to!) She's a great actress, judging by the Paddington films, though I haven't seen her in anything else... have you?
I saw her in a very small role in 'The Young Visiters'...which I didn't much like on the whole, unfortunately. (Though that certainly wasn't her fault!)
I have just realised that I didn't reply to this... I hadn't heard of that film, but on looking it up, it doesn't sound like it might be my cup of tea...
Ohhh, 2. is so lovely... I'm not getting the sad elements, myself, only the loveliness... Or maybe it's just that this is my cup of tea?😄
Also. The third one!! Okay, that is SUCH a fun song, and can you imagine dancing like that? With ROLLER BLADES on?? I'd fall flat on my nose long before I ever got to the grass XD
These are such beautiful songs... A solemn beauty, some of them, but I've been enjoying all of them! Perhaps sad and haunting simply suits my fancy, because I didn't find there to be a bit too much under that category, nor did I find them the least bit depressing, only lovely! Like Gnossienne No. 1...🤗
Yes. I KNOW! Imagine the balance you must need! Even normal roller blading is impressive enough, let alone dancing! I am very impressed by people who can roller blade/ice skate/anything like that, so I might just be in awe of these people XD
Gnossienne No. 1 is lovely. It's good you weren't too depressed... do you find other types of music depressing, or is it not something that tends to get you down? I was wondering, you see, whether certain types of music are objectively saddening, or whether it's more subjective (goodness, that sounds far more philosophical than my fleeting thoughts, sorry!) Haunting music is just what's needed sometimes, isn't it?
Right?? Just the dancing alone would be difficult enough for me😅 I think skating is probably one of those things that it's easiest to learn when you're little... You don't have as far to fall that way :P
You know, that's an excellent question... Maybe I just don't think of the same kind of music as depressing🤔 Which would make it objective? Because I know some types of 60's/early 70's country music is somewhat depressing to me, but other than that, I'm having trouble thinking of any!
Yes, same here! Oh, okay, that makes sense :D Can you skate? I have been to an ice rink once or twice, but I'm sorry to say I never got very far.
Hmm, maybe so... I find that sort of music depressing, too, but I also found the Chopin depressing, so maybe it's just a matter of taste🤔I'm certainly guessing so. What do you think?
I can, after a fashion! I kind of grew up on skates, (the whole Canadian bit, you know,) and while I'm certainly not the most accomplished or graceful skater on the rink, I can make my way around it with only minimal tumbles :P But it's definitely a thing that gets easier with practice, (and your own pair of skates... (thrift stores are the best thing ever when it comes to this :P) and finding out whether figure skates or hockey skates are a better fit for you also helps!) so the more often you can go, the more fun you'll have with it as time goes by :) At least after the tumbles, which do happen even AFTER you get comfortable on the ice😜😄
THAT was a long and skate filled ramble, sorry XD
I'm a little intrigued by this now, and I don't know quite😄 Taste must almost be most of it, along with what you've grown up around, I think you're right...
Oh, that makes sense... do you tend to skate at a rink, or do you get to go on lakes and the like? Sorry, lots of questions ;) I didn't know you could get different types of skates, actually! It's logical, though, when you stop to think about it, I suppose 😄
XD No, I liked reading it!
Yes, I guess it must be a mix of nature and nurture... You're right!
Lately it's been at the local rink, but in times gone by we'd shovel the snow off our dugout (like a manmade pond,) and skate there! Watching out for muskrat holes, of course, rascally things that they were...
Thanks for the tag, Cecilia! My family has been singing "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" for as long as I can remember so when I first saw the scene in the movie I was shocked that it wasn't just something in our house! And I'm always divided on how to say some of those words because my parents say "either" and "neither" the two different ways. XD
You're welcome! I know, same here! I, too, only realised the song was a real thing recently. Heh, it's the same in our house with a couple of the other words in the song.... I don't think I know anyone who pronounces all of them in the same way as I do XD
I am going to love hearing your selections! I can tell I will like them by the few I recognize. I love the mournful sounds especially with the voice. I love Bach, too. My new favorite song is Northwest Passage by Stan Rodgers.
Ooh. These are such fun! I love sad piano tracks! I use them when I'm writing sad scenes. (Which is often.)
ReplyDeleteSo do I love them! They're perfect for background to writing, aren't they?
DeleteOh, 'twas lovely to read your answers! It's kind of funny, I feel like we came to opposite realizations in doing this tag - your musical tendencies were more depressing than you'd realized, and mine were more aggressively cheerful than I'd realized. xD
ReplyDeleteI'm quite familiar with Scarborough Fair, but I've never heard this specific version before. And I love All People That on Earth Do Dwell too! (I've heard other hymns which use the same melody but have different words, which I don't like as much. :P)
How fun that we both had Let's Call the Whole Thing Off! I love that clip. They're so cute. :D (This is a bit of a rabbit-trail, but I'm over-the-moon excited and must mention it - I've been sort of trying to teach myself tap dancing, and found some tap shoes on clearance - and they just arrived today! I'm ridiculously happy :D)
I've never heard of Flanders and Swann before, but I liked that song! The Paddington 2 song was fun too - I've never watched the Paddington movies (though I read a lot of the stories when I was younger) - do you recommend them?
Goodness, I'd better stop writing before this comment gets longer, but thank you for doing the tag! (:
I thought that too! It's funny, isn't it - but it's a fun chance to step back and see one's taste from a distance XD
DeleteIt often seems to be the way with hymns - people heard one tune and fitted new words to it. I've heard/sung different versions of this specific hymn before, too; this one is my favourite.
Oh, how cool that you're teaching yourself tap dancing! That's such a fun, innovative idea! And wow, what a find! Good luck with it. (That is really the stuff of happiness - clearance and dance combined :D)
I loved the Paddington books! The films... I wouldn't recommend Paddington 1, but Paddington 2 is very fun. It's set in the modern day, but it's done extremely sympathetically, it's got a very Paddingtonian plot, and it's cohesive and well thought-out (none of that can be said for the first film). It's about the only film where the sequel's better than the original. I haven't seen Paddington 3, but I don't particularly want to, especially as they replaced my favourite actress from the first one. How very dare they.
I love long comments, and yours made my day!
Clearance and dance combined is indeed the stuff of happiness :D
DeleteAh, got it - I had heard that this was one of those rare cases where the sequel was better than the first movie. Heh, that was most unkind of them...am I remembering right that Sally Hawkins was the actress that they replaced? (I know she was also Anne Elliot in the 2007 Persuasion, but I've yet to see that too.)
Oh, I'm happy to hear that :D
Yes, it was Sally Hawkins they replaced, who was perfect as Mrs Brown! (I haven't seen the 2007 Persuasion either, but I want to!) She's a great actress, judging by the Paddington films, though I haven't seen her in anything else... have you?
DeleteI saw her in a very small role in 'The Young Visiters'...which I didn't much like on the whole, unfortunately. (Though that certainly wasn't her fault!)
DeleteI have just realised that I didn't reply to this... I hadn't heard of that film, but on looking it up, it doesn't sound like it might be my cup of tea...
DeleteOhhh, 2. is so lovely... I'm not getting the sad elements, myself, only the loveliness... Or maybe it's just that this is my cup of tea?😄
ReplyDeleteAlso. The third one!! Okay, that is SUCH a fun song, and can you imagine dancing like that? With ROLLER BLADES on?? I'd fall flat on my nose long before I ever got to the grass XD
These are such beautiful songs... A solemn beauty, some of them, but I've been enjoying all of them! Perhaps sad and haunting simply suits my fancy, because I didn't find there to be a bit too much under that category, nor did I find them the least bit depressing, only lovely! Like Gnossienne No. 1...🤗
Isn't it just?? I'm glad you like it :D
DeleteYes. I KNOW! Imagine the balance you must need! Even normal roller blading is impressive enough, let alone dancing! I am very impressed by people who can roller blade/ice skate/anything like that, so I might just be in awe of these people XD
Gnossienne No. 1 is lovely. It's good you weren't too depressed... do you find other types of music depressing, or is it not something that tends to get you down? I was wondering, you see, whether certain types of music are objectively saddening, or whether it's more subjective (goodness, that sounds far more philosophical than my fleeting thoughts, sorry!) Haunting music is just what's needed sometimes, isn't it?
Right?? Just the dancing alone would be difficult enough for me😅
DeleteI think skating is probably one of those things that it's easiest to learn when you're little... You don't have as far to fall that way :P
You know, that's an excellent question... Maybe I just don't think of the same kind of music as depressing🤔 Which would make it objective? Because I know some types of 60's/early 70's country music is somewhat depressing to me, but other than that, I'm having trouble thinking of any!
It rather is, I think :)
Yes, same here!
DeleteOh, okay, that makes sense :D Can you skate? I have been to an ice rink once or twice, but I'm sorry to say I never got very far.
Hmm, maybe so... I find that sort of music depressing, too, but I also found the Chopin depressing, so maybe it's just a matter of taste🤔I'm certainly guessing so. What do you think?
I can, after a fashion! I kind of grew up on skates, (the whole Canadian
Deletebit, you know,) and while I'm certainly not the most accomplished or graceful skater on the rink, I can make my way around it with only minimal tumbles :P But it's definitely a thing that gets easier with practice, (and your own pair of skates... (thrift stores are the best thing ever when it comes to this :P) and finding out whether figure skates or hockey skates are a better fit for you also helps!) so the more often you can go, the more fun you'll have with it as time goes by :) At least after the tumbles, which do happen even AFTER you get comfortable on the ice😜😄
THAT was a long and skate filled ramble, sorry XD
I'm a little intrigued by this now, and I don't know quite😄 Taste must almost be most of it, along with what you've grown up around, I think you're right...
Oh, that makes sense... do you tend to skate at a rink, or do you get to go on lakes and the like? Sorry, lots of questions ;) I didn't know you could get different types of skates, actually! It's logical, though, when you stop to think about it, I suppose 😄
DeleteXD No, I liked reading it!
Yes, I guess it must be a mix of nature and nurture... You're right!
Lately it's been at the local rink, but in times gone by we'd shovel the snow off our dugout (like a manmade pond,) and skate there! Watching out for muskrat holes, of course, rascally things that they were...
DeleteOh wow, that sounds very fun! Rather like Little Women, in fact... though I don't know if they'd have muskrats in LW🤔
DeleteHi Cecilia!
ReplyDeleteLovely post as always - I really enjoyed learning about your music taste. I especially liked your Chopin piece! :)
Thank you, Liz! I know, it's a lovely piece, isn't it?
DeleteThanks for the tag, Cecilia! My family has been singing "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" for as long as I can remember so when I first saw the scene in the movie I was shocked that it wasn't just something in our house! And I'm always divided on how to say some of those words because my parents say "either" and "neither" the two different ways. XD
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I know, same here! I, too, only realised the song was a real thing recently. Heh, it's the same in our house with a couple of the other words in the song.... I don't think I know anyone who pronounces all of them in the same way as I do XD
DeleteI am going to love hearing your selections! I can tell I will like them by the few I recognize. I love the mournful sounds especially with the voice. I love Bach, too.
ReplyDeleteMy new favorite song is Northwest Passage by Stan Rodgers.
Mournful music is lovely, isn't it? As is Bach... one of the hardest things about this tag was choosing out of all the music I listen to!
DeleteOoh, I'll have to check that one out!
Thanks for commenting, Sister!