0. Doubled Over Happy. Michael Grey

A happy song for the end of the decade. I didn't think I could keep this up but somehow I managed it. Hope you found some music you like. Perhaps I will post every now and then if I find something good to share.
Wishing you all the best for 2010!

1. Pata Pata. Miriam Makeba

I thought that I had played my swan song on this blog but it seems that K thought otherwise. She picked this song, but it is one that we both love. K gave me this record for Christmas a number of years ago.

Miriam Makeba, Mama Africa, first performed in the 1950s, and died in November 2008 at the age of 76. She was a genius in combining traditional Xhosa folk songs (notably those using "clicking") with jazz rhythms, and attracted a lot of attention outside her native South Africa ... which she used to bring attention to the injustice of apartheid. Mama Africa's role in this musical revolution cost her her passport in 1960 and resulted in her losing her citizenship and being exiled from her homeland in 1963. She finally returned to South Africa in 1992, after the revolution succeeded.

I remember a small but (to me) important part of that musical revolution, when in 1986 or 87 a South African band called Amandla came to play at an anti-apartheid benefit at the Cornerstone pub in St. John's. There was a lot of enthusiastic dancing and, consequently, the need for refreshment. The bar specials that night were all Carling-O'Keefe, at that time still heavily invested in South Africa. Struck by the incongruity, several of us launched what I guess was my first ever campaign, convincing university students to buy more expensive beer!

Miriam Makeba wrote Pata Pata in her teens, and it was one of her biggest hits. As she sings, it's a song about "a dance we do down Johannesburg way...." The words "pata pata" apparently refer to touching, but other than that I have never been able find out the meaning of the Xhosa lyrics. I like to think that the song is about finding joy in the midst of struggle and oppression. And I suppose, as a call to dance, it is.

2. Pal-Yat-Chee. Spike Jones

Don't worry, there will be a song for the 31st. My math was a bit off when I started the blog.

I've tried to like opera, I really have. I've spent good money on a couple of opera cds that come in those huge cases with a big fat book. I intended to listen to them. I just can't get past all the shrieking when they could just say the stuff in a normal voice. I don't mind the choruses - that's just like a musical. So when I heard Pal-Yat-Chee for the first time, it really spoke to me.

3. Shestopsalmie: Slava v Vyshnikh Bogu from Rachmaninov's Vespers

The altos sing the melody in this one, and the sopranos and men are church bells. Apparently Rachmaninov was very taken with bells.

It means:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.



For Cousin GTTD and her sister T.

4. The Rebel Jesus. Jackson Browne and The Chieftains

This one's dedicated to Dr S, who does the work of the rebel Jesus.

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
While the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by 'the Prince of Peace'
And they call him by 'the Savior'
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

Well we guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

Now pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
There's a need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus

5. Good King Wenceslas. The Skydiggers

I love this carol; it's a nice little story. I remember one Christmas Eve when L and I went carolling by ourselves and sang this - we went up to Hunt Place to Mrs Burry's house (she was known locally as the Candy Lady because she would give kids candy at any time of the year, not just Halloween). Mel Torme has a good version of Good King Wenceslas for when you're drinking martinis instead of hot chocolate.

6. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Ella Fitzgerald

I like what the trumpets are doing on this one. Normally I can do without all this secular Christmas music (Rudolph, Jingle Bells, Frosty, Winter Wonderland, etc.), but when it's well done by a good singer, it can be worth listening to. The photo is from last year's traditional Christmas Day get-together at S & M's. We always have a merry Christmas when we're there!

7. O Magnum Mysterium. Cambridge Singers

Rutter and the Cambridge Singers are an integral part of Christmas. When I joined the choir at church and actually started singing some of this Rutter, I got a bit Ruttered out (it can be a bit rich), but as long as I don't indulge in too much I'm fine. I have four Rutter Christmas CDs. The best may be Christmas Night: Carols of the Nativity, which is very serene with lots of a capella stuff from the Oxford Book of Carols. The others have livelier stuff and the pure, over-the-top Rutter. There's a version of Joy to the World that's arranged like something from the Messiah (from Christmas with the Cambridge Singers). There's something that evokes the Caribbean in Jesus Child (from Music for Christmas). The best for over-the-top is his Go Tell it on the Mountain (from Christmas Day in the Morning), which is arranged like something from an old western. At the climax, you expect the magi to yell out "hee-yaw!" and spur their horses on to the end of the song.

O Magnum Mysterium is from Christmas with the Cambridge Singers. This version is by T.L. de Victoria, a Spanish composer who overlapped with Palestrina. Our choir has sung this one, one by Poulenc, and one by Morten Lauridsen. You just can't beat an O Magnum or a Hodie Christus Natus Est at this time of the year.

O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.

O great mystery and wondrous sacrament,
that the animals should witness the birth of the Lord in the manger.
Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, whose womb was deemed worthy to bear Christ the Lord.
Hallelujah.

8. Linus and Lucy. Vince Guaraldi Trio

How can it be that I never get sick of this music? The Charlie Brown Christmas special was a crucial part of every Christmas. I memorized the passage from Luke (King James version) because I heard Linus recite it every year. Speaking of when I was young, my favourite Christmas album was some kids' Christmas album - I don't even know what it was now - but I remember begging my parents to play Up on the Rooftop one more time before I had to go to bed. We also had Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano, and an album of carols by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and an album called A Music Box Christmas, my dad's favourite, which was all music box versions of carols. I managed to find this on CD years ago and it's our traditional tree-trimming music. During Christmas dinner we would listen to A Child's Christmas in Wales, another tradition we continue. However, I'm glad my tastes have progressed from Up on the Rooftop.

9. Quem Pastores. Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band

This CD and A Tapestry of Carols (also by Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band, who were featured at #66) are two of my favourites at Christmas. They include lots of the traditional English (and Latin) carols found in the Oxford Book of Carols, which is special to me because when I was young we used to go carolling with it. Quem Pastores is one of my favourite Christmas carols because we used to sing it every year when we went carolling, and because it's in Latin, and it has a nice tune and it's not too long. I haven't found anyone up here on the mainland who's into carolling or the Oxford Book of Carols, unfortunately, but the other night at our choir Christmas party a fellow alto (originally from England) and I forced everyone to sing the Boar's Head Carol and Quem Pastores.

Quem pastores laudavere,
Quibus angeli dixere,
Absit vobis iam timere,
Natus est rex gloriae.

Ad quem magi ambulabant,
Aurum, thus, myrrham portabant,
Immolabant haec sincere
Nato regi gloriae.

Christo regi, Deo nato,
Per Mariam nobis dato,
Merito resonet vere
Laus, honor et gloria.

My literal translation:
[Jesus] whom the shepherds praised,
[The shepherds] to whom the angels said,
"Let fear be gone from you now!
The king of glory is born!"

[Jesus] to whom the magi travelled
Carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh,
They offered these sincerely
To the king of glory born.

To Christ the king, born God,
Given to us by Mary,
To him deserving let resound truly
Praise, honor and glory!

Here's another carol Maddy Prior does. I love the words:
Ding dong merrily on high,
In heav'n the bells are ringing:
Ding dong! verily the sky
Is riv'n with angel singing.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

E'en so here below, below,
Let steeple bells be swungen,
And "Io, io, io!"
By priest and people sungen.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers;
May you beautifully rime
Your evetime song, ye singers.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

In the good traditional Christmas music category I include CDs like the Tavener Consort's The Christmas Album: Festive Music from Europe and America and The Tallis Scholars' Christmas Carols and Motets. I could include The Cambridge Singers too, but Rutter and his singers merit their own category!

An extra entry about Christmas carols!

Ok, so they're just lists. But I am almost blogged out!

Carols I love to sing: Quem Pastores, O Come All Ye Faithful, People Look East, The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy (Dr S HATES this one!), Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, In the Bleak Midwinter (the Holst tune), In Dulci Jubilo, Good King Wenceslas, Green Grow'th the Holly, Joy to the World, Coventry Carol, Angels from the Realms of Glory.

Other carols I love (don't mind singing these either): Carol of the Bells, Ding Dong Merrily on High, The Angel Gabriel, The Boar's Head Carol, The Holly and the Ivy, Noel Nouvelet, I Wonder as I Wander, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle.

Carols I really could do without: The First Nowell (I have to fight to stay awake when singing it), O Little Town of Bethlehem (ditto, except for one particular tune that you hardly ever hear but that I heard on a tape of a King's College music that L made me), What Child is This, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (except when sung in a round), We Wish You a Merry Christmas, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Oh, and O Holy Night is quite heinous; it brings out the warbler in people.

P.S. If anyone's out there I would be interested in your favourite and least favourite carols, too.

10. Star of Wonder. The Roches

The Roches can be very grating and a bit too heavy on the synthesizer, but I like this one because it's an original (written by Terre Roche) and it surprises you because the shepherd is a girl.

It seems I've divided up my Christmas music into categories (appetizer, pre-New Year's), and this CD I would put into the semi-pop category, along with Mary Chapin Carpenter's Twelve Songs of Christmas, Emmylou Harris's Light of the Stable, and Shawn Colvin's Holiday Songs and Lullabies. These can be played safely before Christmas, along with various eclectic mixes of Christmas music.

11. "Homecoming" Jingle Bells. Dave Brubeck

This is a relaxed, understated version of Jingle Bells. I usually reserve jazz Christmas CDs (Wynton Marsalis, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald) for the days closer to New Year's, but this "Homecoming" Jingle Bells can be played pre-Christmas. There's also a very laid-back version of Joy to the World on this album.

I am so going to have to do an extra blog to tell you all my favourite and least favourite Christmas songs!

12. Excerpt from The Messiah. Handel

I use the Messiah as sort of an appetizer to Christmas music. As soon as Advent starts at the end of November, I feel it's safe to listen to the Messiah; you can't start the full-on Christmas music too early or you'll get sick of it by Christmas. The next week or so I feel ok listening to the King's College Advent CD, and then gradually I get in to the heavy Christmas music. My Messiah of choice is this Neville Marriner and St Martin-in-the-Fields version, which good friend C taped for me from an album many many years ago and gave me as a Christmas present. I later bought the CD. A couple of years ago, C gave me a Tafelmusik Messiah CD which is also very good.

This year I found another CD that will serve as a Christmas music appetizer: Vaughan Williams' Hodie. Parts of it really remind me of his Dona Nobis Pacem (featured at #95 and #50). It's bits of the Christmas scriptures interspersed with poetry, and it includes, as a mezzo-soprano solo, this beautiful poem by John Milton:

It was the Winter wild,
While the Heaven-born child,
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature in awe to him
Had doffed her gaudy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
And waving wide her myrtle wand,
She strikes a universal Peace through Sea and Land.

No war or battle's sound
Was heard the world around,
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hookèd Chariot stood
Unstained with hostile blood,
The Trumpet spake not to the armèd throng,
And Kings sate still with aweful eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.

But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of light
His reign of peace upon the earth began:
The winds, with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kissed,
Whispering new joys to the mild Ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmèd wave.

13. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. J.S. Bach

Hey, Anonymous! Last Bach cantata! You have to love this one, though.

We sang this cantata about a year ago, I think. Until then it had never really registered with me; we had sung Mendelssohn's Sleepers, Wake before but it wasn't familiar to me. Then we did this and I heard it everywhere. Sleepers, Wake is on my King's College Advent CD. Wachet auf is on my Tallis Scholars Christmas CD. I heard a Respighi arrangement which interposes the tune of the tenor aria from this cantata with the Wachet auf tune.

I like the alto line of this chorus: we get to sing, "Wach auf! Wach AUF!" (Wake up! Wake UP!). To me this chorus has a particularly German sound - very imperative.

The text is from the parable of the ten virgins, which I first studied many years ago in my first-year Anglo-Saxon class. It was there that I learned how to say, "Lord, Lord, let us in!" in Anglo-Saxon: "Dryhten, dryhten, laet us inn." I use that line sometimes when I'm knocking at someone's door, but they never know what it means. Too bad for them.

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne,
Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem!
Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde;
Sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde:
Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen?
Wohl auf, der Bräutgam kömmt;
Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt! Alleluja!
Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit,
Ihr müsset ihm entgegen gehn!

Wake up, the voice calls us
of the watchmen high up on the battlements,
wake up, you city of Jerusalem!
This hour is called midnight;
they call us with a clear voice:
where are you, wise virgins ?
Get up, the bridegroom comes;
Stand up, take your lamps! Hallelujah!
Make yourselves ready for the wedding;
you must go to meet him!

14. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Jerry Douglas

Let the Christmas music begin! Jerry Douglas is one of the greatest dobro players in the world. The greatest, according to Alison Krauss, and who would doubt her? Jerry joined her band Union Station in 1998, and thus we have seen Jerry in concert several times with them (and once we saw him solo). In case you don't know what a dobro is, it's a resonator guitar that's held perpendicular to the player's body and played with a metal slidy thing on the frets. Jerry is another artist whose albums we collect faithfully, so this Christmas we rushed out to purchase his new Christmas album, Jerry Christmas (har har).

15. You Won't See Me. The Beatles

When I was young I thought this was an Anne Murray song (it was a big hit for her in 1974). Later, I was introduced to Rubber Soul, the Beatles album it's from. It's very catchy; I think Anne Murray was quite faithful to the original but I don't know if her version had the great harmonies.

16. I Love You, Porgy. Billie Holiday

Another of my dad's favourites.

17. Love at the Five and Dime. Nanci Griffith

Nanci Griffith (also featured at #65 with a livelier song) is a big favourite of ours. This one is from a live album - she talks about Woolworth's at the beginning. I remember Woolworth's on Water Street in St. John's; they had the most excellent chocolate-dipped doughnuts in the world. Plato's chocolate-dipped doughnuts. I will never taste their like again. Anyway, this is a great song. I thought it was especially poetic when she sings, "Eddy was a seed romancer" - what a nice way to describe a farmer! But then Dr S explained that Eddy is merely a "sweet romancer," not a farmer at all. Despite this setback, I still like the song.

18. The Birdland Story. Eddie Jefferson

This song was driving me crazy for quite a while. I guess I knew it from way back - perhaps it was on a mixed tape my dad made or maybe he used to play it a lot around the house. I could actually sing some of the song, but for the life of me I could not find it anywhere. I assumed it was King Pleasure, whom my dad played a lot. But King Pleasure, it seems, did not record a heck of a lot, and I couldn't find this song among his recordings (another wrinkle was that I didn't know the name of the song). Recently I wrote to my dad's great friend and fellow jazz afficionado, E, and asked him for help. He suggested another music site to try, but I had no luck there either. Finally I tried google again, typing in the lyrics I could remember, and that led me to an article with the name of the song, which led me to information about said song, which led me to Eddie Jefferson, and finally the song which had been rattling around in my head. Anyway, it's vocalese, which is words set to an instrumental passage, in this case a saxophone solo by Charlie Parker, I believe. I had a pseudo-vocalese at #87, which was words set to Mozart's horn concerto; however, jazz vocalese usually seems to be words set to improvisational solos, so they can be pretty interesting.

19. Where Are You, O Mother. Isabel Bayrakdarian

Around the demise of CBC2, I bought the DiscDrive 20th Anniversary CD, and this song was on it. I find it hauntingly beautiful.

20. Wings. Harlem Christian Tabernacle Church Choir

This absolutely fantastic gospel song was on one of the mixed tapes my dad made for us when we were in grad school hell in Hamilton. The sound quality isn't great because I had to do the mp3 off that tape, which is 20 years old; we looked for the CD or album it was from but weren't able to locate it in my dad's humungous collection, but I have hope that it will turn up eventually. At first you may not think much of it; it starts off kind of slow. But just wait until they get going at the end!

21. Proof of Love. Old Man Luedecke

Can it be - another song first heard on Weekender? Yes, it's true. This banjo guy is from Nova Scotia.

22. Happiness. Alison Krauss & Union Station

We all knew this day would come. Dr. S's last entry on 99 songs. I've really enjoyed my guest appearances here, but one thing in life is certain: you can't always trust happiness.



This is just about my favorite Alison Krauss song. She has a fondness for really, really sad songs. In an interview she once talked about listening to the demo of Gillian Welch's song New Favorite and thinking, "That's awful. That's devastating. We gotta have it." She did get it, and we're all the more miserable and all the better for it. Alison sings New Favorite in concert but in the 5 or 6 times we've seen her, she's not sung Happiness. She often says "We don't want anyone leaving our shows feelin' good!" so I think she should give it a try. We'd all be wrecked.

23. Aguas de Marco. Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina

Yet another song I first heard on Weekender. There's a part in it when Elis Regina actually seems to be trying not to laugh as she sings. Holly Cole also does a version (in English) which is kind of dark but good nonetheless. Finally, there's a funny take-off of this song about Trader Joe's (for Canadians who may not be familiar with Trader Joe's, it's a trendy American proprietory label store that carries affordable health-food, pseudo-health-food, and gourmet food for the the crunchie and pseudo-crunchie crowd).

24. I Cain't Say No. Oklahoma

It is strange that there is anyone who does not think this song is fantastic. I think the lyrics are very clever. This is one of my favourite songs to sing at social occasions when I've had just a bit too much to drink. My public premiere with this song was at the first annual Library Idol competition at the S. Walter Stewart Library on Christmas Eve, 2001.

P.S. The photo shows me in a nurse's uniform that my grandmother, a nurse and excellent seamstress, made for me one Christmas.

25. Ae Fond Kiss. Eddi Reader

Eddi Reader was first featured back at #93. This song is quite different and very lovely, from her album of Robbie Burns songs. The photo shows our good friends S and M, who are very fond of one another.

26. Christ for President. Billy Bragg & Wilco

Woody Guthrie wrote a lot of songs which were never recorded; I'm not sure if he had actually written the music or not. In the 90s, his daughter approached Billy Bragg and asked him to put these lyrics to music. Billy Bragg and the band Wilco put out two albums, Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue II, of these Woody Guthrie songs.

Let's have Christ for President.
Let us have him for our King.
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
that you call the Nazarene.

The only way we can ever beat
these crooked politician men
Is to run the money changers out of the temple
And put the Carpenter in

O It's Jesus Christ for president
God above our king
With a job and a pension for young and old
We will make hallelujah ring

Every year we waste enough
to feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
and we shoot it down with wars

But with the Carpenter on the seat
away up in the capital town
The USA would be on the way prosperity bound!

Funny story about a Very Close Friend: this Friend was on a whale-watching tour with another Friend (also Very Close) who was back home for a visit, and on the boat they met this nice bloke from England and his girlfriend and had a nice chat. Fast forward to the weekend, when the VCF had bought tickets for her and Dr S (also visiting home) to see Billy Bragg in concert. As they were waiting in the line to go into the concert, they bumped into the English bloke's girlfriend. Friend asked girlfriend if her boyfriend was coming to the concert. Girlfriend looked at Friend quizically and did not answer. The Aha moment came when the English bloke walked onto the stage: Billy Bragg.

27. Stardust. Ruby Braff

I was introduced to this album in my teens, I think. The music is great and I loved the album cover. The CD I bought of this in the 90s had the wrong cover but I found the right one on the internet.

28. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier. James Taylor

This traditional song from the American Revolution is actually a version of a Gaelic song from the late 1600s / early 1700s, when the Irish went to France to fight in the French army - the original song is called Siul a Ghra or Siul a Run. Pamela Morgan and Anita Best did a version of it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. One verse that seems to be common in all the versions (this one is from Siul a Ghra) is:

I'll sell my lock, I'll sell my reel
When my flax is spun I'll sell my wheel,
And buy for my love a sword and steel
Is go dti a mo mhuirnin, slainte.

Another guy who does Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier is Old Man Luedecke, a banjo player from Nova Scotia. You'll hear him in a few days.

29. Finlandia. Sibelius

I discovered Sibelius kind of late in life, because I never listened to side two of my Finlandia album (see post #38). This piece starts out sounding very menacing, and continues in a serious note until it gets about halfway through. Then things start to get kind of excited, and finally we get this very hopeful tune. We have a hymn to this tune in Voices United, the United Church hymn book, and the words (most of them) really fit the sound of the music, I think.

All praise to you, O God of all creation: you made the world, and it is yours alone.
The planet earth you spun in its location amid the stars adorning heaven's dome.
We lease the earth but for a life's duration, yet for this life it is our cherished home.

With wondrous grace you clothed the earth in splendour; with teeming life you filled the sea and land.
Instil in us a sense of awe and wonder when we behold the bounty of you hand.
Then when we hear the voice of bird or thunder, we hear the voice our faith can understand.

I don't approve of words like "lease" in a hymn, but I like the imagery of creation and nature.

30. You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive. Patty Loveless

I first heard Patti Loveless sing this at a Down from the Mountain concert in Toronto in 2002. This song has a lot of things going for it: the story, with its plot twists; the instruments, especially the fiddle and mandolin, and the great harmonies (in the chorus, you get the harmony line above the melody). I like the way the chorus starts out on kind of a hopeful note (at least it sounds like a hopeful key), but turns dark.