Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 23, 2012 What would we do without friends, and kindred musical spiriits . . . A friend in California (who doesn't play guitar) just watched a very young George Harrison's (deceptively simple) solo on TILL THERE WAS YOU -- just as I was wondering what particular chord Harrison had chosen at the end of the descending phrase, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted June 24, 2012 Members Share Posted June 24, 2012 Wow, this thread has nearly doubled in size since I last posted! Well, in the vein of the original topic, here are a couple more recent songs where I (again) did the following:1) had an idea for a "story" to tell (including song title)2) wrote lyrics3) arranged a song with chord progressions and rhythmic feel to fit4) wrote a vocal melody to tie it all together If nothing else, these were fun to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 24, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2012 First a note of thanks to Eightstring. Good to see you again! Thanks for posting. Raise your hand if you know who Jimmy Van Heusen is (that includes all 8-string guitarists present). I thought so. When asked by his friend and fellow song-writer Gene Lees (authorized biographer of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 24, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2012 LIFE & TIMES Although not a handsome man by conventional standards, he was known as a ladies man. Kaplan wrote, "He played piano beautifully, wrote gorgeously poignant songs about romance...he had a fat wallet, he flew his own plane; he never went home alone." Van Heusen was once described by Angie Dickinson, "You would not pick him over Clark Gable any day, but his magnetism was irresistible." In his 20's he began to shave his head when he started losing his hair, a practice ahead of its time. He once said "I would rather write songs than do anything else -- even fly." Kaplan also reported that he was a "hypochondriac of the first order" who kept a Merck manual at his bedside, injected himself with vitamins and painkillers, and had surgical procedures for ailments real and imagined." It was Van Heusen who rushed Sinatra to the hospital after Sinatra, in despair over the breakup of his marriage to Ava Gardner, slashed one of his wrists in a failed suicide attempt in November 1953. However, this event was never mentioned by Van Heusen in any radio or print interviews given by him. Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s, and died in Rancho Mirage, California in 1990 from complications following a stroke, at the age of 77.[2] He is buried in the Sinatra family burial plot in Desert Memorial Park,[1] in Cathedral City, California. His grave marker reads Swinging On A Star. AWARDS Van Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won 4 times: in 1944, 1957, 1959, and 1963. Academy Award Wins "Swinging on a Star" (1944) (lyrics by Johnny Burke) for Going My Way "All the Way" (1957) (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for The Joker Is Wild "High Hopes" (1959) (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for A Hole in the Head "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for Papa's Delicate Condition Academy Award nominees 1945 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 24, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2012 We've come this far . . . you really deserve my friends to hear the 'version of record' -- the one included on Sinatra's 3-CD THE CAPITOL YEARS compilation: This is still my all-time favorite 'up-tempo' Sinatra song (I've been singing my grand daughter Emily to sleep with this one since she was two; we alternate lines, and when we get to the words, "and what did I do?" Emily ALWAYS says: What?) This arrangement is what gave me the emotional nudge to write my letter to "Mr. Sinatra." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 I think my favorite Sinatra anecdote is one from Tita Cahn, widow of Sammy -- my favorite humorous/romantic lyricist: Tita shared the story on her (third) "Playing [sinatra] Favorites" show -- her favorite anecdote about her late hubby's life-long friendship with The Voice. After playing a trio of her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Satellite radio is playing my favorite version of George Gershwin's last song, (Our) LOVE IS HERE TO STAY. Hard to believe George didn't live to see the 1940s, when Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 The very next offering at YouTube this day (just for me -- you too, I hope?) my favorite 'live' performance of Johnny Mercer's most magical song. We've celebrated it before I know -- one of Johnny's "I was driving in the car and listening to the radio and had to pull over and call the radio station to find out who wrote that song?" The earliest 'vibes' virtuoso Lionel Hampton wrote the music and was delighted when Johnny phoned to ask if it had a lyric. "No. Would you??" [uploaded with an informed note to 50,000 "views"] Uploaded by facebeater on Sep 18, 2009Natalie Cole sings "Midnight Sun" as part of a tribute to the great Ella Fitzgerald called "We Love Ella". The show was taped on April 29th, 2007 at the University of Southern California's Galen Center and was co-hosted by Natalie and Quincy Jones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 26, 2012 Funny man Seth MacFarlane (creator of The Family Guy) is singing on satellite radio right now [my favorite track from his recent (2010) album of standards] TWO SLEEPY PEOPLE. When I was little I thought this was one more song my father wrote (Dad composed 400 songs including several really good ones!) Turns out the memorable tune was from my latter-day hero, Hoagy ( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted June 26, 2012 Moderators Share Posted June 26, 2012 Every time I hear something from that McFarlane show I revel at how good that band is. And the arrangements are just great. But really, how often do you hear woodwinds so in tune? Great band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 "Nora Ephron died," said my wife. Around our house we're recovering from recent deaths of friends and loved ones, people not much older than ourselves, including last Friday a good friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shortchord Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 Originally Posted by Mark Blackburn My wife handed me the death notice of someone I loved to call Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 She's been mistakenly credited for directing When Harry Met Sally... She was a great director (IMO), but Rob Reiner directed that film. Ephron wrote the screenplay. My favorite film of hers? Michael, starting John Travolta, William Hurt & Andie MacDowell. LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 Great movie dialog (especially between men and women) is the high art of novels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bee3 Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 You know what I've learned from When Harry Met Sally? The 80's were a terrible time for sweaters. I learned that from Bill Cosby as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 My favorite line from a Nora Ephron film comes several times in Michael, when the human beings ask the archangel Michael (played by John Travolta) if he can do certain things, usually as a favor for them. "That's not my area..." he says, sort of matter-of-factly. I love that line. LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 My friend "Drewe" who died last Friday in Vegas (his memorial service is tomorrow here in Winnipeg) was a really good cook. Made home-made wine too -- quite good, by home-made standards! I was just recalling one of his recipes when a friend who loves Norah Ephron sent me this. Let's try it -- and toast her memory. Pinot Grigio I think would go nicely with this.Nora's Famous Chicken From Nora: Recipe: Oven at 450 4 legs & 4 thighs, salted and peppered 3 nice sized yukon gold potatoes, cut into big chunks, diced but not peeled 3/4 lb. ripe tomatoes. I used baby tomatoes but anything will work. If you use larger tomatoes, cut in 1-inch chunks 1 large onion, sliced 4 garlic cloves cut in half 2 hot cherry peppers seeded and cut into tiny pieces (optional) 1 hot Italian sausage in tiny pieces (optional) 1 red pepper from a jar of sweet red peppers in vinegar, cut into strips and some vinegar juice (optional) 1/3 cup olive oil 2 TB oregano cayenne Put all the ingredients except cayenne into a large baking dish, and toss to coat with oil and oregano. Remake by putting the chicken on top, skin side up. Put a little cayenne to taste on the chicken. Bake 30-45 minutes and turn the chicken over. Bake 20 minutes more. Then remove from oven and turn the broiler on high. Turn the chicken skin side up again, and broil for about five minutes.N [my friend added a p.s.]Nora was a great cook, you know. She made the beef burgundy in Julie and Julia. Literally the one you see in the movie. Sent from my iPad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 My musical father didn't live to see and hear his favorite singer, Margaret Whiting sing his favorite version (not Sinatra's for whom it was written) of TIME AFTER TIME. Wish I could find the scene and post it here. In my Amazon review at the time "Julie & Julia" was released in theatres, I'd tried to paint a word picture my Dad would have appreciated: ----- It's a good film (I say) that knows how to employ silences; what the director leaves out can be as important as what she has left in: If you watched this in a movie theatre (as I did this evening) you may sense in the darkness around you, an audience that is warm with unspoken appreciation for a closing scene exquisite in its simplicity. Julia, who a scene earlier has celebrated a "special delivery" letter from Knopf Publishing House ("We love your cook book and would be proud to publish it") enters her kitchen (later replicated at the Smithsonian Institute). She's there to taste what's cooking on the stove but is wearing (then) fashionable high heels and -- as always -- a string of pearls, as she did on all her cooking shows. The kitchen is silent . . . apart from a radio-in-the-background, softly playing a great old `standard' -- singer Margaret Whiting's orchestral rendition of a great old Sinatra song - [Jule Styne's masterpiece, TIME AFTER TIME - whose lyric by Sammy Cahn, includes the words:] Time after time, I tell myself that I'm so lucky to be loving you . . .so lucky to be, the one you run to see, in the evening, when the day is through . . . " Almost without looking up from reading some papers, Paul casually passes Julia a package that's arrived in the mail. She opens it, and finds the first printed edition of her new (1961) cookbook. Words can't convey (better than the joyful woops of two fine actors) the sweet taste of this moment in time. Whether or not this one wins an Oscar, Nora Ephron has delivered a solid "winner" -- straight to the hearts of film-goers everywhere -- of a simply-told, and simply wonderful, "true story." Mark Blackburn Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 Our friend Bee3 elevated proceedings (again) over at Lee Knight's latest Friday Influences posting the most recent rendition of most everyone's all-time favorite 'Disney Song.' It has its own considerable Wiki entry. Not all Disney songs do! We've celebrated the lyricist here as Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peanutroad Posted June 28, 2012 Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 I'd have to admit that I don't know any of the songs from 'B&B' or 'Lion King.' Guess my old-fogeyism is showing. But I do recall some other faves from old Disney movies, such as 'Zippedy-Do-Dah' (yeah, I know that movie isn't PC now) or 'Bella Note'. Lots of good music from 'Lady and the Tramp' -- I remember singing along to the Siamese Cat song as a tyke. Or speaking of songs I sang along to at age 5 or 6, how about this one from Disney's '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'? Kirk Douglas sings!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXRWdySrjDc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thanks, PeanutRoad. To coin a phrase, a man after my own heart. Google Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 Almost immediately after I posted that, "Siriusly Sinatra" followed with the title track from that out-of-print Sinatra album. It opens with my single-favorite "orchestral flourish" of all time. Wish I could describe it in words better than merely 'celestial' and 'heavenly.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted June 28, 2012 Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 That's a lovely album. It's available on iTunes; I should know I downloaded it a few months ago. This is my favorite track, though the sound quality isn't the best on this video... Either way, you can get a real feeling for the rough sweetness and heartache in Frank's voice. Interestingly to me, Sinatra's early Capitol LPs were all about his break up with Ava Gardner. A Man Alone was recorded not long after his divorce from Mia Farrow.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM52fJXnEvA LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 My favorite composer Richard Rodgers wrote both words and music for just one of the songs in the movie version of "The Sound of Music" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 29, 2012 Over at today's Friday Influences a new friend kindly posted an ancient, live television performance by Anthony Newley, of one of his most famous songs, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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