Monday Music: Sunny Days Ahead

 Advent is a time of waiting and hope. Christmas is a season of light. Throughout December, I'll be posting non-Christmas music that reflects a sense of hope and light. This rendition of George Harrisons' Beatles song, "Here Comes the Sun" was sent to me by a friend on my birthday last month, and it was such a delight to hear!

 

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Friday Funnies: Neil Innes and Rutland Weekend Television

English writer, comedian, and musician Neil Innes died earlier this week (December 29).  He collaborated with Monty Python from their early days as a sketch writer and musician (he was often referred to as "The Seventh Python." He also took part in the film, "The Rutles," a film spoof of The Beatles.

Here he is on the British comedy, Rutland Weekend Television, with George Harrison as a guest. 

And here is Neil Innes in a classic spoof of the folk music scene ("I've suffered for my music, now it's your turn"):

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Monday Music: Bob Dylan with George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh

I was happy to find this footage of Bob Dylan at the Concert for Bangladesh singing "Love Minus Zero/No Limit." Then he is joined by George Harrison with "If not for You." Great quality video, and great fun looking back to those days.

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Dylan Covers: If Not for You (George Harrison)

In honor of Bob Dylan's birthday this week, I'm sharing some of his songs performed by other singers. George Harrison included Dylan's "If Not for You" on his first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must Pass, released in 1970.The song was on Bob Dylan's New Morning album, released in 1970.

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Monday Music: Here Comes the Sun

Here Comes the Sun

A beautiful tribute to George Harrison by Paul Simon, David Crosby and Graham Nash.

"Here Comes The Sun"
by George Harrison

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
It's all right, it's all right

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Keep Trying to Say it

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

― Arundhati Roy, War Talk

It is never comfortable to be living in between the times as we are right now. The old is passing and the new in still on the horizon. We have no way to fully know how long or how hazardous the transition will be from here to there. The writer Arundhati Roy gives hope to all who are currently trying to make a stand for a better way to live. As she admonishes, whether you tell our story in words, in music, in art, in drama or in dance, keep on telling it. Continue to be a voice for our time.

Below is a video clip of George Harrison encouraging the Smothers Brothers during a time of political censorship to keep on trying. "Whether you say it or not, to keep trying to say it." ("That's what's important.")

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Monday Music: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

From Live for Music (9/03/15):
More than a decade ago, a bevy of musical legends joined forces on stage to help honor George Harrison's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In what could be considered one of the most remarkable Rock Hall induction ceremony performances of all time, Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and George's son Dhani Harrison took the stage in 2004 to perform an incredibly powerful rendition of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Prince's solo is just out of this world, concluding with him mysteriously tossing his guitar into the air.

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Sacred Harp and the Sound of Eternal Essence

Note: What follows is another installment in anticipation of The Thirty-sixth Annual National Sacred Harp Convention which will convene this week in Birmingham, Alabama at the First Christian Church (at 4954 Valleydale Road) June 18, 19, and 20. This is a re-post of my essay that appeared in 2013.

In Martin Scorsese’s documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Ravi Shankar is heard to say that sound is God. Today I made a connection with that concept as I attended the opening sessions of the National Sacred Harp Convention.  Sacred Harp is an old acapella style of singing that came to this country by way of the English settlers. It was taught to people by using shaped notes to designate  and a "fa-sol-la" method for vocalizing each note. It was kept alive in this country primarily by the Primitive Baptists in Appalachia. Back in 2011, I wrote an essay about my first experience with sacred harp singing. 

When I described that initial encounter, I wrote, “I was captivated, stirred on the inside, tears threatening to well up – and no words had been sung yet. It was that bracing harmony of pure notes filling the sunlit space. The sound reminded me of the Bulgarian women’s folk singing that has attracted many listeners  since the 1990 recording, Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares. There was a similar directness and exuberance, a hearty primitive and uplifting – even startling – vocal effect.”

Not Your Ordinary Words

As I attended the Sacred Harp Convention this year, I was fascinated by the turn of phrase used in many of the lyrics and song titles. For example, Hymn 112 is titled, “The Last Words of Copernicus.” It speaks of the day when this life is over and the light from the heavenly orbs, the sun and moon, will no longer be needed.

In Hymn 450 (Elder) the lyrics include:

Life’s an ever varied flood,

Always rolling to its sea:

Slow or quick, or mild or rude,

Tending to eternity.

Hymn 504 (Woodstreet) is an account of Psalm 137 in which the psalmist mourns the Babylonian captivity saying, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”  Poems and songs have been written about “The waters of Babylon,” but this hymn phrases it:

When we our wearied limbs to rest

Sat down by proud Euphrates’ stream

We wept with doleful thoughts oppressed,

And Zion was our mournful theme.”

I don’t think I have seen references to the Euphrates or to Copernicus in other Christian hymnals.  The lyrics to Hymn 450, in spite of the typically conservative orientation of sacred harp, are beautifully reminiscent of the Buddhist or Hindu concept of all of life returning to its source.

Experiencing the Sound

Yet in spite of the fascinating words in the text of those sacred harp hymns, it is the sound that is the most impressive thing.  The singers are arranged in a square with sopranos, altos, tenors and basses each seated on the sides of the square. The one leading the song stands in the open space in the middle of that square. Sacred harp singers call this space “The holy of holies” because they say it is the absolute best spot to be in to get the full effect of the music.  At this point, I can only imagine what the sound must be like in that holy of holies, because simply sitting in the congregation hearing the music is enough to lift me into a divine presence. The effect of that powerful sound brings me back to the words of Ravi Shankar, that sound is God.

I found a fuller quote from Ravi Shankar that elaborates upon the concept of sound and God:

“Our tradition teaches us that sound is God- Nada Brahma. That is, musical sound and the musical experience are steps to the realisation of the self. We view music as a kind of spiritual discipline that raises one’s inner being to divine peacefulness and bliss. We are taught that one of the fundamental goals a Hindu works towards in his lifetime is a knowledge of the true meaning of the universe - its unchanging, eternal essence….The highest aim of our music is to reveal the essence of the universe it reflects, and the ragas are among the means by which this essence can be apprehended.”

                         [From David Murphy Conducts at http://www.davidmurphyconducts.org/?page_id=7 ]

Of the hymns I heard today, there were many glorious moments. One of those hymns whose lyrics and musical sound converged quite beautifully was Hymn 178 (tune: Africa)

Now shall my inward joys arise,

And burst into a Song;

Almighty Love inspires my Heart,

And Pleasure tunes my Tongue.

God on his thirsty Zion-Hill

Some Mercy-Drops has thrown,

And solemn Oaths have bound his Love

To shower Salvation down.

Why do we then indulge our Fears,

Suspicions and Complaints?

Is he a God, and shall his Grace

Grow weary of his saints?

The words are by the English hymnist Isaac Watts. The tune is by the American choral composer, William Billings. To hear sacred harp singers render this beautiful hymn, go here.

[To hear 504 (Woodstreet) about mourning by the proud Euphrates, go here]

For our sacred harp finale, here is a recording of “The Last Words of Copernicus.” The recording was made my Alan Lomax, the ethnomusicologist who recorded and preserved so much of American folk music.

Monday Music: Photograph

"But all I've got is a photograph..."

George Harrison died on November 29, 2001. One year later, on November 29, 2002, his friends gathered together at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the Concert for George. It was a wonderful concert and I highly recommend it. I checked it out at our local library a few years ago and liked it so much, I bought my own copy. It is not shown in the clip below, but as Ringo introduced the number, he said, "What a band, what a night! I loved George, George loved me. This song is one George and I wrote together, it's called 'Photograph.' The meaning is changed now, of course."

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Monday Music: Beware of Darkness

Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone claims that "Beware of Darkness" may be the best song on George Harrison's  All Things Must Pass, commenting on its "enigmatic" music and the combination of "warning" and "affirmation" in its lyrics.(from Wikipedia). Here is a stellar performance by Eric Clapton from the Concert for George.

Sacred Harp and the Sound of Eternal Essence

In Martin Scorsese’s documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Ravi Shankar is heard to say that sound is God. Today I made a connection with that concept as I attended the opening sessions of the National Sacred Harp Convention.  Sacred Harp is an old acapella style of singing that came to this country by way of the English settlers. It was taught to people by using shaped notes to designate  and a "fa-sol-la" method for vocalizing each note. It was kept alive in this country primarily by the Primitive Baptists in Appalachia. Back in 2011, I wrote an essay about my first experience with sacred harp singing. 

When I described that initial encounter, I wrote, “I was captivated, stirred on the inside, tears threatening to well up – and no words had been sung yet. It was that bracing harmony of pure notes filling the sunlit space. The sound reminded me of the Bulgarian women’s folk singing that has attracted many listeners since the 1990 recording, Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares. There was a similar directness and exuberance, a hearty primitive and uplifting – even startling – vocal effect.”

Not Your Ordinary Words

As I attended the Sacred Harp Convention this year, I was fascinated by the turn of phrase used in many of the lyrics and song titles. For example, Hymn 112 is titled, “The Last Words of Copernicus.” It speaks of the day when this life is over and the light from the heavenly orbs, the sun and moon, will no longer be needed.

In Hymn 450 (Elder) the lyrics include:

Life’s an ever varied flood,

Always rolling to its sea:

Slow or quick, or mild or rude,

Tending to eternity.

Hymn 504 (Woodstreet) is an account of Psalm 137 in which the psalmist mourns the Babylonian captivity saying, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”  Poems and songs have been written about “The waters of Babylon,” but this hymn phrases it:

When we our wearied limbs to rest

Sat down by proud Euphrates’ stream

We wept with doleful thoughts oppressed,

And Zion was our mournful theme.”

I don’t think I have seen references to the Euphrates or to Copernicus in other Christian hymnals.  The lyrics to Hymn 450, in spite of the typically conservative orientation of sacred harp, are beautifully reminiscent of the Buddhist or Hindu concept of all of life returning to its source.

Experiencing the Sound

Yet in spite of the fascinating words in the text of those sacred harp hymns, it is the sound that is the most impressive thing.  The singers are arranged in a square with sopranos, altos, tenors and basses each seated on the sides of the square. The one leading the song stands in the open space in the middle of that square. Sacred harp singers call this space “The holy of holies” because they say it is the absolute best spot to be in to get the full effect of the music.  At this point, I can only imagine what the sound must be like in that holy of holies because simply sitting in the congregation hearing the music is enough to lift me into a divine presence. The effect of that powerful sound brings me back to the words of Ravi Shankar, that sound is God.

I found a fuller quote from Ravi Shankar that elaborates upon the concept of sound and God:

“Our tradition teaches us that sound is God- Nada Brahma. That is, musical sound and the musical experience are steps to the realisation of the self. We view music as a kind of spiritual discipline that raises one’s inner being to divine peacefulness and bliss. We are taught that one of the fundamental goals a Hindu works towards in his lifetime is a knowledge of the true meaning of the universe - its unchanging, eternal essence….The highest aim of our music is to reveal the essence of the universe it reflects, and the ragas are among the means by which this essence can be apprehended.”

                         [From David Murphy Conducts at http://www.davidmurphyconducts.org/?page_id=7 ]

Of the hymns I heard today, there were many glorious moments. One of those hymns whose lyrics and musical sound converged quite beautifully was Hymn 178 (tune: Africa)

Now shall my inward joys arise,

And burst into a Song;

Almighty Love inspires my Heart,

And Pleasure tunes my Tongue.

God on his thirsty Zion-Hill

Some Mercy-Drops has thrown,

And solemn Oaths have bound his Love

To shower Salvation down.

Why do we then indulge our Fears,

Suspicions and Complaints?

Is he a God, and shall his Grace

Grow weary of his saints?

The words are by the English hymnist Isaac Watts. The tune is by the American choral composer, William Billings. To hear sacred harp singers render this beautiful hymn, go here.

[To hear 504 (Woodstreet) about mourning by the proud Euphrates, go here]

For our sacred harp finale, here is a recording of “The Last Words of Copernicus.” The recording was made my Alan Lomax, the ethnomusicologist who recorded and preserved so much of American folk music.

Monday Music: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

In a radio interview in 1963 on The Studs Terkel Program, Dylan tells Terkel that “A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall” is not about atomic fallout, even though he wrote the song in a state of anxiety during the Cuban missile crisis. “No, it’s not atomic rain,” Dylan says, “it’s just a hard rain. It isn’t the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that’s just gotta happen…. In the last verse, when I say, ‘the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,’ that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers.”

Here is a 1971 live performance from The Concert for Bangladesh. That concert, organized by George Harrison, marked the first benefit of its kind where celebrity performers came together to raise money for a cause. It was also Bob Dylan's first public appearance since the fabled motorcycle accident that allowed Dylan, as he stated in his autobiography, opportunity to "get out of the rat race" of rock-and-roll performance and touring.

Monday Music: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Here's a great performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Concert for George (held on November 29, 2002, "a year from the day" that George Harrison died). And what a great concert it was! You should get the DVD and watch the whole thing. Doing a little research, I learned that Eric Clapton did the guitar solo for the original recording on the Beatles eponymous double album ("The White Album"). According to biographer Mark Lewisohn, George Harrison later said of that recording session that in addition to providing them with an excellent guitar solo, Clapton also had a positive effect on the band. His presence "made them all try a bit harder, they were all on their best behaviour." (The Beatles Recording Sessions, Harmony Books, 1988).

In addition to Ringo Star and Paul McCartney, watch for George's son, Dhani, playing with the band.