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In my previous post I discussed the music of the year 1950. I then it would be fitting to give my choices for the best songs of that year and which song I thought was the best of all for 1950. Of course you will know my love and respect for the late great Les Paul. With Mary Ford on vocals he gives his own special take on classics like Tennessee Waltz and How High The Moon.
The Fat Man is terrific early rock and roll. Fats Domino rises above the pack to give the music world a sound so unique at the time.
Rollin' Stone is Muddy Waters at his cheeky best. Smart, self assured blues guitar that thumps like thunder and crawls like a hound dog as each story is told with realistic emotion.
But my choice for best single of 1950 is the beautiful and haunting Mona Lisa by the beautiful and talented Nat "King" Cole. I first heard this song as a seven year old boy. Even back then I was captivated. It is such a perfect tune. What more can be said than that? It deserves all it's accolades if only because of the spot on voice of it's late singer. Using the metaphor of Da Vinci's famous painting, the song tells of a mysterious woman, little of which is known due to the fact that she "hides" herself away.
Another "lovely work of art" by the great master. That's Nat, not Leonardo.
Good listening.
I'm not the person I want to be. I'm 25 and I feel a failure. I know my family would knock the sense into me if they heard me say that. My daughter is two this year; so despite any feelings of underachievement I may have I cannot deny that she was the best love to ever come into my life.
Since Madison was born I have spent moments alone thinking of the impact my own father had on me and what his abscence ultimately made of me. Because I believe that my life is now so unbalanced having lived so unorthodox a childhood.
My father left my mother when I was 3. She was pregnant with my brother at the time. I saw my dad regularly until I was 15. When I was 4 my mother met my stepfather, and he became like a real father to me. I called him dad, and bought fathers' day presents for him every year. He and my mum divorced when I was 14. Over the next 5 years I knew only come and go posers who made me appreciate my father and stepfather even more. While my mother was and still is loving, some of her judgements when it came to men were baffling. These losers weren't my father; they didn't know me and what made me the person I am. They were immature in some cases, a drug user in one case, and simply suspicious in another. Now mum has been with the same man for 7 years. He hates me, and that draws me deeper into my darkness. I know that if she had have been with my father still I would never have developed this doubt. I know that if they had have stuck together he wouldn't have let a policeman assault me when I was 19. He wouldn't have made me ashamed of my heritage, but instead would have told me to embrace my origins. My stepfather especially, encouraged my creativity, and would never have dismissed my dreams as unreachable. They would have both encouraged me as I will encourage and love my own daughter. Because children need someone who knows them and understands them. It's no surprise that most violent abuse towards children
is at the hands of de facto parents and one week stand losers. Men who arrive and leave, along with their dirty laundry and smutty minds. Men who have not a quarter the integrity and substance that comes with being a father.
Today I look back on the wonderful music of 1950. The early rock and roll songs are so intriguing. The "singing" guitar of Les Paul is something of a trademark of the times. It's distinctive sound is perfectly completed by the charm of Mary Ford's voice.
Charlie Parker's jazz instrumentals of this year are beautiful pieces; simple and captivating. The glide smoothly and faultlessly into the ear; each bar a work of art itself.
Also this year, the songs of Hank Williams, haunting and honest; The smooth sound of Nat "King" Cole, and the always entertaining Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. They duet on "Dream A Little Dream Of Me". It is one of the best collaborations of all time. Both sound as if they were having so much fun; it's virtually a jam session between two of the greats. Armstrong's improvisation proves, as always, to be miles ahead of some of the arranged music of his contemporaries. He was 52 years old when he recorded this song. He just kept getting better.
Is the world really that worse for the loss of Eugene Terre'blanche. The racist, divisive leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement or Afrikaner Weerdstandsbeweging (AWB) was killed by two black farm hands. Which comes as no surprise, Terre'blanche having incited numerous violent campaigns and riots against black South Africans. Ironically, it is a dispute over wages that is alleged as the motive behind the murder. Whether we believe that explaination or suspect a more fitting motive, you know, the sweet revenge kind, is for another blog. It does seem suspiciously like a cover to avoid racial tensions. However if that was the intention it has been in vain. Following the murder, general secretary of the AWB, Andre Visagie, said it was "a declaration of war by the black community". If there really was going to be a war surely it would have been after the violent armed riots, organised by AWB supporters, that claimed 100 lives in 1994.
Terre'blanche continually threatened civil war. It is his delusional followers who have declared war. It's nothing new for an ultra right wing, nationalist movement to accuse minorities of sparking the very war racist leaders had always intended. Hitler warned Germans that the Jews would cause a second world war as they had been responsible for the first. History shows us the sickening hate caused by such fear. The snuffing out of these evils is always a victory for humanity.
As a teenager, I often wondered why atheists bothered to celebrate Easter. How could people who dismissed religion as a fairy tale celebrate a day that holds such significance and brings out in believers the strongest, most liberating emotions. I considered how much non believers were missing out. If they only had a superficial grasp on such a complex concept, how could they share in the joy and happiness of those who considered Easter a day of salvation.
While I am not religious (I haven't been to church for ten years, other then devotion at an aged care place I used to work) I do have what one would consider a modern faith: it's the new age Christianity that has seen followers criticised for inconsistent beliefs. In short, we modern Christians have an each way bet when it comes to major moral issues. I believe in the crucifixion and the ressurection, but I am an evolutionist. I believe in the immaculate conception, but not that the earth is 10,000 years old. I feel it is long passed time that gay people be given the right to marry in all states and nations. Yet I still follow a religion that condemns the same gay people as spiritually "sick". So that's why I decided to broaden my understanding of what a Christian is. There came a time when we decided slavery was wrong; when we came to our senses and admitted that sexual behaviour as seen by the church, was not neccesarily viewed on the same negative light by otherwise law abiding, consenting adults. That is why Australia, the US and Britain barely blink at pre-marital sex or legal prostituition. For we who are lucky enough to live in these countries know that sin is only sin if a victim is born from it.
This same tolerance is the reason atheists celebrate Easter along side believers. And so after my naive teenage episodes, I finally learnt that it wasn't hypocritical to disregard religion but celebrate it's major holidays. No, it was the result of open-minded Christians in a secular society, showing the greatest tolerance by accepting the beliefs, or non-belief of atheists. Muslim and Jewish feasts and holidays don't have half the flexibility as Easter or Christmas. If you aren't Muslim you don't observe Ramadan. But more and more we see that even non-Christians are given the opportunity to reflect on Easter and Christmas in their own way
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As we near April I ask myself 'who will be the Animal Collective of 2010?' I know it's early days, but My Girls came out about this time last year. It's reception was deserved - although many independent music sites falsely had the song ahead of Mykonos by Fleet Foxes.
Yeasayer and Caribou have released worthy material. It's good, but nothing more. Odessa, Caribou's highly rated hit (number one on community music site rate your music) is five minutes of haunting vocals and chamber dance, with an intro that would make The Pet Shop Boys smile.
Despite it's positives, in reality it's probably just going to make my top 20. And that's good. But consider for a minute the bench mark that was raised last year. So far no record this year has given me that feeling of wonder and child-like joy that came over me on hearing Brother Sport. Nothing so far has compared to the biblical beauty of Fleet Foxes Mykonos. With it's intro so angelic (a hymn to follow White Winter Hymnal) and a fade out reminiscient of Crosby, Stills and Nash at their best and most haunting. Foxes are miles ahead of the pack. In my view sharing the title of best band in the world with Radiohead. The next few months will reveal if Yeasayer can lose the caution that sometimes surrounds their music. If Vampire Weekend can turn their "too indie" quirkiness into something with substance. Then we could be in for another terrific year in music.
How much do the stars of today owe to the pioneers of rock and roll? It's long been known that "The Beatles" were influenced by Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. That fact is evident in the Fab Fours early recordings, many of which were covers of late 50s, early 60s gems.
"The Rolling Stones" took their name from a Muddy Waters song. The blues legends influence can be heard in the works of Clapton, Jeff Beck and Kurt Cobain. The young Jagger and Richards certainly had a good listen to Waters edgy, risqué lyrics before writing their own chapter in boundary shifting music.
Yet later "musicians" and "stars", tend to name Michael Jackson as an influence, followed by Madonna and Prince. But should they be giving more credit to the men who pioneered and paved the way. You only have to listen to a Bo Diddley record or watch an old Chuck Berry performance to appreciate that without them there would be no Prince
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