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Friday Influneces Thread 02-11-11 get in here!


Lee Knight

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So...

 

What's been sparking your fire? Post a clip or just put in words what's been influencing your work.

 

For me? A couple of things. I'm not a huge poetry fan. But maybe that's changing. I read this in bed last night 4 or 5 times. Toy Story's inspiration? I love this.

 

Little Boy Blue - Eugene Field (1850-1895)

 

The little toy dog is covered with dust,

But sturdy and stanch he stands;

And the little toy soldier is red with rust,

And his musket moulds in his hands.

Time was when the little toy dog was new,

And the soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue

Kissed them and put them there.

 

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,

"And don't you make any noise!"

So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,

He dreamt of the pretty toys;

And, as he was dreaming, an angel song

Awakened our Little Boy Blue---

Oh! the years are many, the years are long,

But the little toy friends are true!

 

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,

Each in the same old place---

Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

The smile of a little face;

And they wonder, as waiting the long years through

In the dust of that little chair,

What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

Since he kissed them and put them there.

 

So there's that. And then this old song from the early 70's has been popping up in my head. Penned by Rick Derringer. He's not going to be confused with Eugene Field above. But... beside the fact that Winter's version melts your face and chops your legs off at the knees, well, Derringer does something kinda cool with these in your face lyrics. There's some pretty fresh imagery, just dripping in attitude. So , while Wadsworth, Emerson and Tennyson are safe on their thrones of poetic reign, sometimes simple, silly rock and roll can knee you in the nads in a pretty effective way as well. A rhyme about addiction and getting out. Then filling the void with love and sex. Not subtle, but it's always hit the mark for me. Hey, I'm still HERE!

 

[video=youtube;osvDo1lqBxQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osvDo1lqBxQ

 

Did you ever take a look to see who is left around?

Everyone I thought was cool is six feet underground

They tried to get me lots of times

But now they're coming after you

I got out and I'm here to say

Baby you can get out too

 

I'm still alive and well, still alive and well

Every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell

But I'm still alive and well

Still alive and well, still alive and well

every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell

Still alive and well

 

When I think about the past it only brings me down

Let's make love in the grass while the sun is shinin' down

It feels so good your long blond hair, baby

When you're way down low,

Make me shake, make the whole earth quake

So everyone will know I'm...

 

Still alive and well, still alive and well

Every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell

Still alive and well, still alive and well

Every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell

But I'm still alive and well

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I love this arrangement of "It's Only A Paper Moon" ...

[video=youtube;Qc5RMYvXOhA]

 

 

 

It's a Barnum & Bailey world

 

Just as phony as it can be

 

But it wouldn't be make believe

 

If you believed in me

 

 

Harold Alren & Yip Harburg would later collobarate on the Wizard of Oz. The lyrics have some unusual images ("paper moon", "cardboard sea", "canvas sky", "muslin tree") yet still sound so effortless. Tin Pan Alley poets like Harburg were masters at matching music to words. Without the music, many of their lyrics read like vers de soci

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Do you have any influences that you wish you didn't have, or are the very least conflicted about having? For me, that influence is Harry Chapin.

 

I VERY frequently fall into his footsteps for character presentation and plot development (which is something of his that I do admire) but I also fall into his footsteps for sentimentality and melodrama (which is something of his that I find irksome).

 

In addition, I have issues with the whole acoustic guitar singer-songwriter genre, which doesn't help.

 

Anyway, an undeniably powerful storyteller at his best:

[video=youtube;_YWGTMC3u5o]

[video=youtube;-s5r2spPJ8g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5r2spPJ8g

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Some funky, slow groove from vibist, Dave Pike...

 

[video=youtube;dFeGTwquME4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFeGTwquME4

 

And some jazzy, big band exotica from vibes man, Cal Tjader, himself no stranger to a pop groove but taking a way left turn here... hi fi and recording nuts should take note of the great drum and other sounds on this 1963 recording... [compare it to the distant and cardboard-y drum sounds on most rock and teen pop records of the era]...

 

[video=youtube;3BeAGTo21Hc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BeAGTo21Hc

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I've been (re)reading Jane Kenyon's poetry....

 

Notes from the Other Side

by Jane Kenyon

 

I divested myself of despair

and fear when I came here.

 

Now there is no more catching

one's own eye in the mirror,

 

there are no bad books, no plastic,

no insurance premiums, and of course

 

no illness. Contrition

does not exist, nor gnashing

 

of teeth. No one howls as the first

clod of earth hits the casket.

 

The poor we no longer have with us.

Our calm hearts strike only the hour,

 

and God, as promised, proves

to be mercy clothed in light.

 

 

 

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/160

 

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16898

 

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/361

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And this one by Yusef Komunyakaa

 

Facing It

 

 

My black face fades,

hiding inside the black granite.

I said I wouldn't,

dammit: No tears.

I'm stone. I'm flesh.

My clouded reflection eyes me

like a bird of prey, the profile of night

slanted against morning. I turn

this way--the stone lets me go.

I turn that way--I'm inside

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

again, depending on the light

to make a difference.

I go down the 58,022 names,

half-expecting to find

my own in letters like smoke.

I touch the name Andrew Johnson;

I see the booby trap's white flash.

Names shimmer on a woman's blouse

but when she walks away

the names stay on the wall.

Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's

wings cutting across my stare.

The sky. A plane in the sky.

A white vet's image floats

closer to me, then his pale eyes

look through mine. I'm a window.

He's lost his right arm

inside the stone. In the black mirror

a woman's trying to erase names:

No, she's brushing a boy's hair.

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[video=youtube;eICsQLPgI2k]

 

Farmer's Daughter lyrics:

 

Half way to crazy

Not far from sane

Oh, sick and tired for all of your games

and all I ever wanted was you to take care of me

Honor thy mother, oh and father too

But I know there ain't no way in hell that God mentioned you

and all I ever wanted was you to be there for me

oooooo, and all I ever never needed was you to be here for me

 

This time is the last time you're gonna see us, around

Oh this was your last chance to prove you wouldn't let me down

So go on get gone and get away from here A...lone

Oh alone is how your gonna spend the rest of your years

cause Im no Farmer daughters anymore, Mommy dear

 

I remember back in high school

my brothers and me, Willy put his head through the door to find clarity

and you'd come home with Burban breath

Jack in the air

and when you broke my bones I told the school I fell down the stairs

all I ever wanted was you to be there for me

and all I ever needed was you to be here for me

 

This time is the last time you're gonna see us, around

Oh this was your last chance to prove you wouldn't let me down

So go on get gone and get away from here A...lone

Oh alone is how your gonna spend the rest of your years

cause Im no Farmer daughters anymore,

I aint no farmers daughter any more

No farmers daughter anymore, mommy dear.....Mommy dear

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Cal Tjader
:love:

Cal was great. Of course, he's more associated with the Latin Jazz movement and actually had some crossover hits in the early/mid 60s with Latin stuff.

 

That track is from his Several Shades of Jade album, which is released on CD with Breeze from the East. No doubt the impulse for the album came from the exotica jazz of Arthur Lyman (and to some extent the exotica pop of Lyman's sometimes bandleader, Martin Denny) but it's much more adventurous and, well, exotic. No tropical bird calls, though. ;)

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Very pleased to hear some new Prince Rama of Ayodhya just recently:

 

[video=youtube;FUTehV7N3k0]

 

 

Been checking for this dude for a while. He's like my new hero now.

 

[video=youtube;pBXiZkvX2aY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBXiZkvX2aY&feature=related

 

 

Wow. Just. Wow. Essential for fans of Mulatu Astatke or Buda Music's Ethiopiques series.

 

[video=youtube;AsHbr5yIaVU]

 

 

Not so much a follow up to Illinois, but a new direction completely.

 

[video=youtube;aTsDcjHj54M]

 

 

One of my favorites 20th Century composers. Sad that he isn't performed much.

 

[video=youtube;Qgwlzo4oUsU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgwlzo4oUsU

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here are a few....

 

-----------

 

--

 

 

 

 

[video=youtube;SnRfgCkJrJ8]

 

[video=youtube;_VfIER91d_U]

 

 

[video=youtube;c9QNRvXH1HI]

 

 

[video=youtube;BEz8N8AT-yo]

 

[video=youtube;vnhDIGTldho]

 

[video=youtube;i0fw9sPxrik]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0fw9sPxrik&feature=related

 

[video=youtube;-SfuJFWyEwk]

 

[video=youtube;foR2KLWI75I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foR2KLWI75I&feature=related

 

[video=youtube;oa8zN4ElAFM]

[video=youtube;XEwHiJ2Cnsc]

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I posted a live version of this a while back. Here's a staged version of the studio recording. Howard Devoto, the singer, was one of the most electrifying front men I ever saw... despite his, shall we say, economy of expression...

 

[video=youtube;0J1sOQdvudc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J1sOQdvudc

 

 

Speaking of Gloomy Gus's... here's the king of 'em...

 

[video=youtube;xyKFfsuxCe0]

 

 

Another quite interesting performer and writer...

 

[video=youtube;9Z09CSDQN9M]

 

 

And finally, I found this pretty interesting live medley by Joe Jackson [music only]...

 

[video=youtube;7suIlXplyhg]

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I love KT Tunstall too.


Hey, HOW do you embed a youtube clip again??

 

go to youtube.

pick video.

below the video notice the SHARE tab.

highlight it and get that code..(copy)

 

come here..

 

notice the bar at the top of the reply or quick reply.....

see the one that is 2nd from the right that looks like FILM?..(video icon)

Click on that and it'll open a box.

Insert (paste) the youtube code in the space in the box..

Press the OK tab, and this will insert your video LINK into the reply box.,.(here)

click to the side of it coz it'll be blue and you want it to not disappear.

once you see it in the reply box you are done...

then press the "reply to thread".

you can insert up to 10 videos per reply ..

That would be a lot of KT all at once...

However, too much of a good thing is a good thing...:)

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