Alan Williams: A true Liverpudlian remembers the Beatles

I "met" Alan (online, that is) in March 2011, on the 17th to be precise, which means, yes, St Patrick's day and, I'm not exaggerating, I can honestly say I had "the luck of the Irish". I remember the exact date  because to this day I still store (and treasure) each and every message (dozens of them) we've exchanged ever since since that first one. I wrote to him asking if he would give us (I mean, the group of students visiting Liverpool, my dear colleague Gregorio and myself in April that year) a walking tour of the wonderful city of Liverpool. 

Quite by chance, I'd found his name (actually something called "Redjack Tours" - which sadly, as you will find if you click on the link, is closed now) somewhere on the city's official tourist website and decided to email Alan to see if he could help us. And that's what he did, every step of the way before, during and, as far as I'm concerned, after the trip. Rather than just another tour guide, he truly became our guardian angel. I could write pages about Alan's endless, selfless generosity, his warmth and thoughtfulness for all of us, as well as his wonderful British sense of humour. Gregorio and the rest of the Armada, as he fondly calls us, can confirm every word I'm saying.

The Fab ... Three! Alan with the "Dúo Dinámico"

I wouldn't like to make this emotional, heartfelt introduction way too long. He knows how fond of him and his family (especially his lovely wife, Janet, and his gorgeous 9-month old grandson, Harrison) I have become, and how much I value his friendship even if it has been only by mail since we returned from Liverpool, though I'm sure one day soon we'll meet again, either here in Spain or back in England. 

I cannot think of a better way to end our blog for this (academic) year than by posting an entry he's sent me about the Beatles to commemorate their 50th anniversary, after I asked him if he would contribute something for our blog. Thank you so much, Alan, for doing it, but above all for being such a great human being. All of us who are lucky to know you think of you dearly.

So, without more ado, this is what Alan wants to say about the Fab Four:

Being born in Liverpool in 1956, I was only 4 years old when the Beatles started their musical career. In 1970, when they broke up, I was just 14 years old, and so I never had the opportunity to see them at the famous Cavern Club. However, having played guitar in bands from when I was 17 years old, I can truly say that their legacy in Liverpool was a vibrant music scene totally influenced by their genius, with talented people that would otherwise never have surfaced if the Beatles influence had never impacted on their lives. I am proud to be from the city of Liverpool, and it never ceases to amaze me that when I meet people in other parts of the world, and they ask me where I come from, their response is always the same. They always mention the Beatles. Such is the power of their music 50 years on. 

A few years ago I was on holiday in Samos, Greece.  Each morning I went to the local bakery to get our breakfast. On the last day, I told the lady that she needed to open a bakery in my home town, because the bread and cakes were so wonderful. She asked me where I came from, and I said “Liverpool”. Just as I said it, I heard a noise behind me, and it was the baker. He looked at me, and then started to sing …”She loves you yeah yeah yeah”. I just laughed and joined in. It seems it does not matter where you are, everybody knows Liverpool - and the Beatles.

20 years ago, my best friend was working in Latvia, and married a Latvian girl in Riga. As well as the church wedding, there was also an “official ceremony” at the town hall. When they went in to sign the papers, there was a string quartet playing. They must have known my friend was from Liverpool, and in honour of that, they started to play a Beatles' song. The funny thing was that they played “Yesterday”. The words did not quite fit the occasion – “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, but now it looks as though they’re here to stay ...” My friend and all his family were very amused by the choice of song.

So thank you John, Paul, George and Ringo, for putting my city on the world stage, and for giving me and many people like me the idea that we too could play music, the result of that being many years of enjoyment. And for the gift of your music, which has helped us all along our own “Long and Winding Roads”.

Hey, it just dawned on me that I videotaped Alan "at work" during his walking tour with us last year in Liverpool and I found just the right bit. Here he was talking to us about a famous statue celebrating one of the most famous Beatles songs, "Eleanor Rigby", which can be found in Stanley Street:

So my dear students, however much I hate saying goodbye, I guess this is the end of the 4th edition of jantigue.blogspot.com. I mean, hopefully I'll start a new one soon! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for participating, in whichever way, with me on this modest blog and indeed I wish you all the best for this next year.

Juanjo Diego: The Beatles by other artists

First of all, I must admit that I’m a very fond of The Beatles. I have played and sung their songs since I was a child, even when I didn’t have any English, as the sole sentences I was able to speak were “yesterday” “All you need is love”, “Yellow Submarine” and similar expressions. I don’t know what a rare confluence of time and people happened in that moment, but four young musicians, not specially gifted to play an instrument, changed the evolution of pop music and left us some of the best songs ever written. Actually, I strongly believe that the "Fab Four" are rigthfully into the history of modern music.  

However, in this entry for our blog I don’t want to talk about the Beatles themselves, but the deserved tribute that other artists have dedicated to them, including their best songs in their albums and concerts. The Beatles’ songs have lingered beyond the band, because (incidentally the title of an incredible less known song!) of the unsurpassable quality of their melodies, the beauty of the chord progressions, the lovely and sometimes naive arrangements, and the capacity of being accepted by any kind of listeners, so much so that their music has become the first multigenerational musical deal. To sum up, this is a little entry about Beatles songs covered by others. 

Let’s start! The Beatles’ songs are the most covered of all (led by “Yesterday”, with thousands of new versions) and it is indeed the band with the most “tribute bands” all over the short history of modern music (a tribute band is one that only performs songs by just one famous group, trying to imitate its sound, style, even clothing or movements on stage. Pink Floyd, Genesis, Queen or Aerosmith, among others, have tribute bands you can find frequently on tour):

Needless to say, I prefer the original act, of course. Nevertheless, there are other performers, great well-known artists in many cases, who have sung the Beatles’ songs in their own style, achieving excellent results, and showing that these unforgettable tunes are good by themselves and probably  going to be sung for years. I’ll try to show you here some highly personal recordings which connect the song to each singer’s style, giving them something special and distinctive. Some examples I particularly love (surely you can add more) are: 

1) The Beatles by the queen and the king of soul, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles no less. They are superb because they were singing as they used to do - no attempt to imitate the original at all - but simply to transform the songs into their own. The way they internalize and personalize the lyrics and melodies is incredible and perfectly matches song and singer. In fact, some people prefer these covers to the Beatles’ originals. Listen, enjoy and judge by yourselves. I just think each of them is a different performance but still one incredible song!

 

2) Ray Charles recorded other Beatles songs like Eleanor Rigby or Imagine, always with an accomplished approach. Another great multi-instrumentalist and singer, Stevie Wonder, recorded in his own funky way We can work it out, even changing the internal rhythm and musical accents of the song, in order to make it his own. Listen carefully to the singular chorus rhythm, which is awesome, isn’t it? Years later, he dared to perform it live in front of Sir Paul McCartney. Unbeatable! I can assure you that this blind musician is almost perfect, both as a singer and as a keyboard and harmonica player.

 

3) An American soul singer and a lively Welsh youngster got together to cover Hey Jude in an inviting manner. The "original version" of this cover was recorded only by Tom Jones and succeeded almost immediately. It’s full of energy and brightness and retains the strength of the original, specially the long end. Jones’s ease with any style suits Wilson Pickett’s phrasing perfectly. They are enjoying themselves and proving yet again, like in the other examples, that what is really important is the quality of the composition:

   

 Maybe you prefer Tom Jones’s solo recording (a bit longer) ...

4) I could cite many more examples, but I’ll be content with two more. First, a well-known country singer (also appreciated as an actress, though not by me!). In this case I like the traditional sound of country guitars and voices, with this special percussion, so characteristic of this kind of bluegrass music. I don’t usually enjoy this excessively dyed blonde, but I have to admit that she has many recordings that deserve recognition: Coat of many colors, Trio (with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstandt) etc. as well as at least another two (or “two other”) cover versions that I know: Peace train, originally sung by Cat Stevens, and Stairway to heaven (can you believe it?), by the one-off Led Zeppelin. Anyway, this is Dolly Parton’s rendition of Help:

 

Finally, the only cover version of a Beatles song that is probably better known than the original: With a little help from my friends, by Joe Cocker. It was first performed in the famous Woodstock festival in 1969 and quickly became #1. From then on, this fantastic artist was forced to sing this song in almost every concert, and even it was the only “original" cover version included in a musical named after The Beatles called Across the Universe. Again, this is a totally different way to sing this song, both rhythmically and stylistically, from The Beatles’. It’s for this reason that I love it:

 

Enough from me for the moment, but if you want more Beatles covers try to search for and listen to these songs: Something, by Tony Bennet, Come Together by Michael Jackson, Ticket to ride by The Carpenters, Can’t buy me love by Ella Fitzgerald, A hard day’s night by Diana Ross and The Supremes, or even Michelle by Will Downing.

The Beatles, one feeling

Elena Herrero says:

Love, love me do 

You know I love you 

I'll always be true 

So please 

Love me do 

Yes, it was 1962 and this is the way a group of four Liverpudlians sounded for the first time in the British radio stations; at that time, they were trying to get into the world of music while people were already starting to think: where the heck did these long-haired boys come from with that sound that had never been listened to before? But what people did not know yet was that those four youngsters were going to change their lives, their state of mind, their way of thinking and dressing, or even the way of combing themselves. After the hardships of the Second World War, The Beatles were going to change everything, to raise a great smile on each face of every inhabitant of the world through their wonderful songs, by penning some excellent lyrics. They were the band who wrote sad love lyrics, like in “For No One”, which doesn't end up sounding completely sappy.

 

I can almost say that they conquered the world without realizing, and the following generations were - and still are - marked by them, since they wrote the new "laws" of music, by revolutionizing it and creating their own style while shaping people’s way of thinking in every corner of our planet. But how? By changing their styles, always experimenting on new things ... other singers and bands went mad whenever The Beatles produced something new. My parents got me into their music, so I daresay that I have loved the famous group since I was three. You may say I´m a dreamer, but I would give anything to travel back in time, just to see and listen to the greatest band live! Songs like Hey Jude, Let It Be, All you need is love or Something mean something very special to me.

I am so pleased to know that this feeling will last a lot longer, I mean, being a fan of the “Fab Four”, transmitting a message of peace and love. All you need is love, this is the best influence they left in our hearts.

No doubt, The Beatles are one of the greatest rock groups in history *; I really believe they are. No music band will manage to reach them … EVER. What they represent only happens once ..., and it already happened.

This is my "Beatles' 50th anniversary" small tribute. I hope you folks enjoy it!

Rosa Cuesta says:

My first memories of The Beatles go back to the late sixties, when I was only a little girl aged five or six. At the time I loved going to the facilities of the telephone company, where some operators sitting in a row answered whoever picked up a phone. I really enjoyed listening to those ladies say “What number, please?” while they played with the telephone wires. At the same time the operators used a radio with The Beatles’ songs and I learned to hum some of them, like “A hard day’s night” or “Yellow submarine”. 

I was fifteen or sixteen when some Beatles’ records were revived. I remember listening to them for most of the day so I became a big enthusiast of the Fab Four. I greatly enjoyed singing the lyrics, even if I did not understand them. I was a teenager, the time of my first love and my romantic feelings arose thanks to their music. My favorite songs were “And I love her”, “Yesterday”,” Michelle” “In my life”…, which, even if you did not understand, made you feel a lot of emotions. 

The Beatles wanted to change the world, firstly by fighting against the conventions of the time, showing a great joie de vivre, and later by declaring themselves against war and for freedom.

Eventually, I lost the habit of listening to their music, but maybe this Beatles’ anniversary and these wonderful memories have made me recover the pleasure of listening to the amazing band again. Not only were The Beatles incredible but also an icon of a generation that wanted to change everything.

Rosa sent this pic: The Beatles in Spain back in '65 ... Ole!

Great stuff, girls! I cannot think of a better way to kind of say goodbye to summer on our blog. Now, I'd just like to add one more thing, a 15-minute excerpt (subtitled in Spanish) of a fantastic DVD collection which I recommend if you're a lifelong Beatlemaniac, called "The Beatles Anthology". This is part 1, how it all began 50 years ago. You know, to me it's just "moving" to listen to their voices (those lovely mild Scouse accents!) reminiscing the early years, especially when you realise that John and George are not around any longer ...

Deep Purple's Made in Japan: 40 years on

Almost 40 years ago, in December 1971, American rock guitarist Frank Zappa was in the middle of playing with his backing band, The Mothers of Invention, a gig at the Casino in the Swiss city of Montreux. That infamous night, “some stupid with a flare gun, burned the place to the ground” … well, I think some of you may have heard the story before!

To my mind, one of the all-time classic live hard rock recordings. That’s the simplest, perfect way I can think of to describe one of my cult hard rock albums ever, Deep Purple’s legendary “Made in Japan”. And the reason why I’m writing these lines on the blog is that today DP’s fans across the world, including myself of course, commemorate its 40th anniversary.

The classic album cover

The oddity of Made in Japan is that the album wasn’t even supposed to happen.  Let me explain: legend has it that Deep Purple had released a fantastic, commercially successful album, Machine Head, a few months earlier, in March 1972 to be precise, and the promotional tour for the record had brought the English rock band to Japan. The Japanese branch of their music label in those days, Warner Brothers, had been urging Deep Purple to come up with a solid live album, but apparently this did not interest the band much. As the unbearable pressure increased, they eventually decided, yet quiet hurriedly - and unwillingly - it seems, to mix some tracks from the material they had recorded live during their sold-out Japanese gigs in Osaka and Tokyo on three consecutive dates, 15, 16 & 17 August 1972. So, in December that year, the band - at long last, thank God! – agreed to release Made in Japan, yet only in the namesake country initially. DP made a demand to own all the album’s master tapes to ensure that it would not be released anywhere else but in the land of the rising sun. 

Luckily enough, the album became a huge success in Japan overnight, so Warner Bros approached the band in an attempt to get their permission to sell the album worldwide.  This probably would have never happened had it not been for the insistence of the band’s keyboard player, Jon Lord, who loved what he heard on the record. Incidentally, Jon died barely a month ago, so he’ll be sorely missed in this celebration, being one of the founding members of the band.

Anyway, as DP decided to finally release the album, there was a small drawback.  They had another record ready for the market, titled “Who Do You Think We Are”, so Warner Bros quickly released it in February and Made in Japan in April. 

As some of you might know, Made in Japan features the classic Deep Purple (famously known as “Mark II”) line-up: along with the afore-mentioned Jon Lord, the rest of the band then consisted of guitar wizard Ritchie Blackmore, the amazing Ian Gillian on vocals, super-fast drummer Ian Paice and, last but not least, the dark but always efficient Roger Glover on bass.

Deep Purple's classic line-up. Left to right: Lord, Blackmore, Glover, Gillan & Paice.

It contains, arguably, some of the best music the band ever did: instantly recognisable rock classics such as ”Smoke on the Water,” ” Lazy,” ” Space Truckin’,” ” Highway Star” etc. are all found in this legendary album.

Needless to say I’ve got many of DP’s records, including of course Made In Japan (in fact on cassette, vinyl and CD!) and have been lucky enough to see the band live, actually twice here in Salamanca, the second alongside my son, who is now a keen guitarist himself and a diehard fan of the band too. And though sadly Ritchie Blackmore, one of my guitar heroes, wasn’t in the line-up, I absolutely loved those gigs. Both occasions were pretty special to me since I was brought up on rock music, and no doubt Made in Japan will always find a fond place in my heart.

Unfortunately, Made in Japan was never videotaped – such was the lack of interest by the band in what they were about to produce, unaware of the piece of music history they were actually playing – so I’ve only been able to find some alternative clips which are closely reminiscent of what they performed during those glorious Japanese gigs.

Though surely not as famous as "Smoke on the Water" or "Highway Star", the raw, emotional intensity of "Child in Time and the rhythm-and bluesy feel of Lazy have always made them two of my fave tracks. Besides, these two YouTube videos feature the songs live and were recorded in Denmark, if I'm not wrong, during their Machine Head Tour, roughly at about the same time as Made In Japan.

Boy, do I love Ian Gillan's manly voice - and those high-pitched screams pierce my heart, ha ha!

And scream Mr Gillan does too in his powerful rendition of "Child in Time". I know that many people are usually put off by the often scruffy aesthetics and pounding sound of hard rock bands, but this is , still today, heavenly music to my ears, sheer energy. 

You know folks, I'll turn 50 soon so these fond memories of my long-gone teenage years really feel so nice!

LONG LIVE DEEP PURPLE AND MADE IN JAPAN!!

Sir Paul McCartney's latest album (a BBC Interview)

Hi folks!
Jamie Cullum, one of the modern jazz icons - who I was fortunate enough to watch live in Valladolid about a year ago - has a fantastic weekly radio programme on the BBC. Last Tuesday 7th February Jamie met Sir Paul McCartney for a special, in-depth interview about the tireless, unwearying Beatle's love of jazz. I must admit I've never been that fond of Sir Paul's solo career except for a couple of albums, especially the glorious "Band on the Run" when he formed Wings, but I felt a natural curiosity and thought it might be a good idea to hear one of the greatest rock icons play some jazz.

Anyway, the two artists discussed the role this genre has played in Sir Paul's life, from the days he grew up listening to his own father's band to their mutual love of legendary American jazz pianist Fats Waller. Sir Paul reflected on his early glory days with The Beatles, and how jazz, rather subtly it seems, influenced the way the Fab Four approached their compositions.

Of course, he also talked at length about his latest album, Kisses On The Bottom, consisting of cover versions of his favourite jazz classics as well as two original compositions penned by The Beatle, and explained the way the record came together, from the initial inspiration to the inevitable collaborations with the likes of Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.

It was only coincidence that while I was enjoying (and recording) the programme Juanjo was kind enough to email me and say hello, and, since he's a keen pianist and a jazz lover himself, I wrote back telling him about the BBC programme and indeed recommended the feature to him. So I thought you would also like to listen to at least part of it, even if you don't like Sir Paul or jazz music, if only for the sake of English. You know, such different accents, Sir Paul's distinctive Scouse and Jamie's "estuary" English.

OK guys, if you're interested, this is a 20-minute sample of the interview.

Juanjo Diego: Bernard Herrmann, my favourite film score composer

Last week we were talking in our English class about cinema and plot devices, and we mentioned several times one of my favourite directors, Alfred Hitchcock. Then, I thought that in class we hadn’t had enough time to talk about one important issue in some of his best-known thrillers: their soundtracks. In fact, even before films became “talkies”, music was the main instrument to move the spectators’ emotions. Some films are remembered because of their music rather than the story which they tell us (The Bridge over the River Kwai, Zorba the Greek, Flashdance). Others are perfectly and inseparably associated with their music (Doctor Zhivago, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Psycho, Jaws, etc.) 

The art of writing scores for films has given the history of the great music some of the best composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Probably, the most famous soundtrack composer nowadays is John Williams (remember his fantastic collaborations with another genius, Steven Spielberg) but we could name many others with master works in this special and difficult genre, who are already in the history of modern western music: Danny Elfman, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schiffrin, Maurice Jarre, André Previn, Jerry Goldsmith, etc. (or, in Europe Morricone, Alberto Iglesias or Nino Rota). For me, the “Holy trinity” in this business is formed, together with Williams, by Henry Mancini and Bernard Herrmann.

Williams is more commercial, more “pop” if you want, but very adequate to accomplish his purpose.  He has a recognizable language (Are you able to distinguish by heart between the melodies of Superman, Stars War or The Adventures of Indiana Jones?) and his music has the capacity of being easily remembered. It is very “cantabile”, as musicians say, and absolutely tonal (the more traditional language in music composition). Nowadays, more than a composer is hardly ever like a company.

Mancini was a jazz master and he had an incredible creativity to write unforgettable melodic lines. The main theme of The Pink Panter is still performed by the best big-bands all over the world, and some of his best songs are included in “The Real Book” for jazz musicians and have been recorded hundreds of times, like Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) Charade, Peter Gunn (The Blues Brothers) etc.

But if I had to choose one of them, I would pick, without any doubt, Bernard Herrmann. His style is more classical and he used an elaborate musical language, closer to the academic norm than both Williams and Mancini, but he was able to create for films a particular and inimitable atmosphere that, in most cases, transforms films making them better. You could imagine in “Taxi Driver” the yellow cab moving slowly through the streets of New York, and watch the freak night of the Big Apple, but it is not the same night or the same city if an alto sax is being played along.

Perhaps the most perfect example of this is the murder scene in “Psycho”. Hitchcock originally conceived it without any music, but Herrmann persuaded him to watch it once to the sound of his astonishing score. The British director changed his mind immediately. Herrmann had managed, only with a masterfully conducted string orchestra, to improve the horror and anguish of this disturbing scene to unimaginable limits.

Herrmann (1911-1975) started his career working for radio programmes with Orson Wells and finished it on December 23rd 1975 with the recording of his music for Taxi Driver. The next day, on the midnight of Christmas Eve, Herrmann died and Scorsese dedicated his film to the maestro.

His first film was Orson Well’s “Citizen Kane”. Besides Wells, he wrote music for the films of many great directors such as Joseph Mankiewicz, Robert Stevenson, Nicholas Ray, Robert Wise, Henry Hathaway, Michael Curtiz,  Burt Lancaster, Fred Zinnemann, Francois Truffaut, Brian de Palma or Martin Scorsese; but of course his most fertile and best known collaboration was in Hitchcock’s "golden age" films. 

The truth was that Bernard Herrmann seemed the perfect musical expression of Hitchcock’s “benign malevolence”. He composed the soundtrack for The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie and Torn Curtain. This last music score was rejected by the director and this decision meant the end of their fruitful relationship.   

Because of his training (Herrmann had studied at the prestigious Juilliard School with Aaron Copland, an excellent American composer) he knew and handled the possibilities of an orchestra like any of his colleagues. However, he was practically the first to use effects and electronic sounds in order to get his purposes. For instance, the soundtrack of “The Birds” is apparently nonexistent, but all the flappings of the birds’ wings and the ghostly cries we can listen to, are made artificially with the help of synthesizers and recording effects. He also used electronic musical instruments in his fantastic music for The Day the earth Stood Still (Ultimatum a la tierra, in Spanish translation) and in It’s Alive.

Bernard Herrmann was nominated four times for the Academy Awards, but he won just one in 1941 for The Devil and Daniel Webster. In my opinion, together with Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho, his best scores are Citizen Kane (Wells), The ghost and Mr. Muir (Mankiewicz), Herrmann’s favourite score, Jane Eyre (Stevenson) Cape Fear (Thompson), Fahrenheit 451 (Truffaut), Sister (De Palma), Obsessions (De Palma) and Taxi Driver (Scorsese) 

Bernard Herrmann was not only a soundtrack composer, but, above all, a whole musician, as well as a gifted conductor, and he wrote and recorded many concert works of excellent quality. Sadly, his scores for films may have overshadowed his magnificent pieces in this field, and his works aren’t performed frequently.

I could write pages and pages about Herrmann’s music, but you’d better listen to his scores. Finally let me tell a curiosity. Do you remember the “whistling theme” from Kill Bill? It was composed by Bernard Herrmann for Twisted Nerve (1968) and reused by Tarantino in his gory film.

Fantastic post, Juanjo, beautifully documented and so enlightening. Congrats! 

I've really enjoyed reading the stories behind Herrmann's music and, above all, listening to his awesome music. Thanks a lot for the hard work.

David Bowie turns 65 today

Nearly 50 years after he started his career, an aura of mystery still hovers around the man who, as the title of one of his songs reads, sold the world: David Bowie. A true musical chameleon, who's adapted all these years to fashion and trends by continuously reinventing himself, Bowie is undoubtedly one of rock's most enduring icons. There are so many legends attached to his sexual life (Is he bisexual? Was he really found in bed with Mick Jagger?), his enigmatic left eye (apparently he had an accident in his youth during a fight over a girl with his best friend), his self-destructive addiction to cocaine, and, above all, his complete immersion within the characters he created for his music (most famously Ziggy Stardust)

Today he turns 65, and his public persona is still as appealing as ever. I mean, to me he’s got such a mesmerizing personality when I hear him talk. He oozes charisma and with the years he’s become so classy, so incredibly elegant, in every sense of the word. The first stuff by the “White Duke” I recall listening to, as a teenager back in the late seventies, is Space Oddity, which still today remains one of my favourite Bowie songs. 

One of the things that immediately attracted me of Oddity, being a secondary school student at the time who would devour lots of music in English, was that I could understand pretty much of the lyrics. I loved the story, poor astronaut Major Tom finally lost in space. It seems Bowie found the inspiration after watching Kubrick’s famous sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (it all sounds like a play on words, thought the song’s title is never mentioned in the lyrics). This is the original 1969 video:

If you are familiar with the song, I’m sure you think it sounds rather different from the usual version, which I embed here with its lyrics:

I was never really fond of the aesthetics of glam rock and David Bowie epitomized the looks of a glamorous rock star. When I saw him in the guise of the extremely extravagant, androgynous Ziggy Stardust (his alter ego and stage persona for both the namesake album and concert movie) I thought he was a freak, yuk! But I loved his elaborate music, if not the whole album, some of the songs, especially Starman and Suffragette City, as well as, of course, the one that gives the album its title. And he looked to me a pretty remarkable vocalist, a modern crooner, so to speak, endowed with a classy voice.

Now that I think of it, I don’t have any CDs or vinyl albums by David Bowie, except for a couple of Greatest Hits. I admit I sort of like the singles better than his complete records. I can instantly remember dozens of fantastic songs which I’ve heard so many times: Aladdin Sane, Jean Genie, Heroes, Ashes to Ashes, Loving the Alien, Rebel Rebel, Young American, Life on Mars, … the list would be too long. 

But if there is one that I really enjoy listening to that is Changes, suitably a word that summarizes David Bowie's whole career. This is again a clip of the song with the lyrics so that you can sing along. I love the way the great Rick Wakeman (who soon after became Yes keyboardist) plays the piano. As a curiosity, David does the saxo parts himself, which is hardly surprising since he had received lessons as a young kid.

Well, I don't want to extend this entry much further, even if some of you might like Bowie a lot (Marisol?) But I cannot help embedding a couple of TV interviews, with a 30-year gap between them, to show Bowie’s transformation as a person / artist:

From a shy glam rock star in the making ... 

... to a confident, happily married, successful music legend with an illustrious career behind (he’s sold an estimated 150 million records, no less!)

Let me just end up saying that, oddly enough, another music genius was born on the same day, mind you, 46 years later: David … Antigüedad, yes, my own son (ha ha, isn’t it coincidence!).

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY the pair of you!

James Taylor: the quintessential American singer-songwriter

Out of habit I was looking for DGratis weekly English feature by Michael Richman when I came across a familiar face (James Taylor with his inseparable acoustic guitar) and a familiar song: You've got a Friend. The thing is that it wasn't James, no doubt one of the most popular American singer-songwriters, who actually composed this famous song, but his good friend, another accomplished female colleague, the great Carole King. But it was indeed James who turned "Friend" into a worldwide hit. 

Needless to say, the article's title reflects Michael's love for James Taylor's music, who I'm glad to say we both share as he has also been one of my all-time favourite musicians across the Atlantic. His velvety voice grabs your soul and can move you to tears. 

I became acquainted with James's music in the early 80s when an old friend borrowed me a cassette (those were the days!) of his 1971 album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (which I shortly after bought myself and still have to this day), containing, among others, the above mentioned JT classic "You've got a Friend" and another song I do love, "Close your eyes". But it wasn't until I purchased another tape, curiously enough an earlier work, the 1970 album Sweet Baby James, that I fell head over heels for his music. Two songs caught my attention right away: the opening one, which gave the album its title and, above all, the gloriously moving Fire and Rain. Even though in those days I couldn't fully understand the lyrics, I immediately loved James's melodic guitar playing and the deep warmth of his voice. Apparently James had written the song in the late 60s to come to terms with the high (fire?) and low (rain?) moments of his life. He was only in his 20s but already struggling against depression and drug addiction. 

There are so many other songs I could recommend if you've never listened to James Taylor. But indeed the one that always comes to mind is, which else, Carolina in my mind, featured in his 1968 self-titled debut album. Legend has it that James recorded it for the Beatles's label, Apple, while staying in London. James sings about his longing to return to the state of North Carolina, the land he would call home in his childhood days (actually he was born in Boston but moved further south at a very young age). The lyrics are so heartfelt that you can feel James's homesickness. In this old clip below he tells the small audience it's a song he "wrote in Spain" and he was "homesick at the time", and goes on to say that though he "didn't have a home that doesn't keep you from being homesick sometimes".




The quality of both the sound and picture is not great, is it, so I'm embedding this other YouTube clip with the full lyrics. I never seem to get tired of listening to the song!

There has been a legendary speculation as regards the identity of Karen, the woman he mentions in the famous line "Karen, she's a silver sun." Until very recently, James was reluctant to reveal the girl's identity, which resulted in lots of odd theories: some people argued that Karen might be a poetic name for Carolina, while others believed that Karen was actually a beautiful young girl that James met in our country. Many have even interpreted that the song could be about drugs, since, when it was written, Taylor was battling a severe addiction to heroin, as I said above. Not until he gave a concert on the BBC in 2009 did he disclose the real identity of "Karen". Apparently, his afore-mentioned "James Taylor" debut LP was recorded at around the same time the Beatles were producing their famous Double White album; it seems that Taylor flew to Formentera, where he bumped into a young Scandinavian woman by the name of Karen in what seemed a fleeting relationship, just a casual meeting, because he never saw her again. 

Whatever the story, Carolina is one of the most beautiful, delicate songs I've ever heard. Wouldn't you agree? As  Michael says in his DGratis feature, James was awarded this year the National medal of Arts by President Obama for "his remarkable contribution to American music". As the voiceover reads, "his distinctive voice and masterful guitar playing are among the most recognized in popular music and his expensive catalogue of songs has had a profound influence on songwriters and music lovers from all walks of life". I wouldn't be able to put it in a better way. This is a short CBS video of the ceremony.

As this entry is becoming way too long, let me end up saying that James was famously married to another notable fellow singer-songwriter (birds of a feather ...), the ever so popular Carly Simon. In this last video they sing a duet (they divorced years later), namely a delightful love song I mentioned earlier, "Close your eyes". So please guys, do as the song says and let James and Carly's voices fill your ears: "I don't know no love songs and I can't sing the blues any more. But I can sing this song and you can sing this song when I'm gone ..." A beautiful duet, no doubt.

Thank you so much, dear Michael, for the inspiration you've given me by writing your fantastic article in DGratis. I wonder if we might go to see JT live in Madrid together ...

JOSE SANTIAGO: Twenty years without Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury, still today, is one of the most famous singers around the world. Who cannot remember his spectacular voice or his stage presence? He was known as the vocalist, pianist and frontman of the legendary British rock band called Queen, whose members were Brian May (guitar), Roger Taylor (drums) and John Deacon (bass guitar).

He was born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) on September 5th 1946 and his real name was Farookh Bulsara, the oldest child of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, who sent him to India with his uncles. There, he attended St. Peter’s boarding school, where he began to show interest in music and started taking piano lessons at the age of seven.

In 1964, Farookh moved to Middlesex in England with his family and he immediately joined up with a blues band called Wreckage. At the same time he started graphic design at Ealing College of Art, where a fellow student introduced Freddie to Brian May and Roger Taylor. They were the founders of Smile, a new band that were looking for a vocalist. Freddie became the lead singer and the band eventually changed into Queen in 1971 when bassist John Deacon joined the band.

From then till his death, Freddie’s life was linked to the history of Queen; although he never abandoned the band, he also achieved remarkable success as a solo artist. In 1985, he started his own career recording “Mr Bad Guy” and two years later he made a parody of himself with the cover version of The Platters’ song “The Great Pretender”. In that year Freddie made one of his dreams come true, as he sang with Montserrat Caballé the well-known song for Barcelona’s Olympic Games.

Later, Freddie collaborated with Dave Clarke in the recording of the West End musical “Time” and he participated and supported other Clarke’s projects, too. He was also interested in opera, ballet and theatre. He surprised Wayne Eagling (The Royal Ballet’s principal dancer) during a charity gala at the London Coliseum in 1977, performing a choreography Eagling had designed for him.

Sadly, Freddie Mercury died on 24th November 1991, twenty-four hours after he had announced he was suffering from AIDS.

Here I attach two songs by Queen: the first one the worldwide famous “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which Freddie wrote himself and was included in the 1974 album “a Night at the Opera”. A year later Queen released the single because, contrary to what the rest of the band believed, Freddie thought it was going to be a hit. Actually it stayed for 9 weeks at the top of the UK charts. So I hope you will enjoy the inimitable opera-rock style of Queen.

The second one is “Made in Heaven”, which belongs to the posthumous namesake 1995 album. This song may be less well-known than “Bohemian Rhapsody” but was also written by Freddie in the years prior to his death, when he was struggling with AIDS, and it shows his feelings near the end of his life. Unfortunately, Freddie died before Queen had finished recording the album “Made in Heaven” and the rest of the band concluded and published it in 1995.

If you are curious enough, you can find more information on Queen’s official website by clicking on this link.

Part Two: Twenty years now ...


I was a child when a friend of mine introduced Queen to me. I hardly knew a thing about this English rock band in that moment, but soon I became an unconditional fan. As I was listening to more and more music by Queen, Freddie Mercury’s voice seemed to have no limits; he was able to sing any kind of music, even opera with Montserrat Caballé!


Apart from Freddie’s voice, which many people believe was the only reason for Queen’s success, the rest of the members of the band were - and luckily still are - very good musicians. It was their combined hard work that made this band so successful. They transformed any music style in their own so you can identify a song is theirs from the very beginning. Besides, their videos were full of irony and imagination as well as revolutionary and controversial.


Finally, I don’t think not only did Queen change the way music videos were filmed, they also became a band the newer groups took into acount.


When the life of Freddie Mercury came to an end on 24th November 1991, the whole world was shocked. Who could imagine that only 24 hours after he had announced he suffered from AIDS he would be dead? I remember the next day we did not have to attend lessons at school because there was a teachers’ strike, so I was able to spend that morning with some friends; we all agreed that we would have liked to enjoy further albums by Queen.


In addition to yesterday’s post, I’d like to enclose one of the best songs Queen has ever written from my point of view, The Miracle, because it was one of the very first by Queen that I ever heard, so you may understand why I became fond on the band. I hope you will like it as much as I do. 


Sadly, the message of the song is suitable nowadays, but “one day you’ll see when we can all be friends”.

Steve Dalmas: A fun English lesson through music

As you know, this Wednesday our American colleague in Peñaranda's satellite school, Steve, came to our class to play a small gig on his acoustic guitar. He explained that he's involved in a project on teaching English through music, which sounds terribly interesting.

We were all amazed at his single-handed guitar playing technique, which he started developing years ago after he suffered an unfortunate accident which paralysed his right arm.

Steve performed both his own material and well-known songs (well, some of them probably more than others), which we really enjoyed and sang along to. It was good fun indeed!

As he was singing, I thought I could write a post on our blog about the songs he chose for the recital. (except for Let it Be, which of course you know perfectly well). Starting with one of the most famous folk songs ever about America (the USA, that is), legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthri's "This land is your land". Legen has it that he wrote it in the late 40s when he got sick and tired of endlessly listening on the radio to "God Bless America", which he found excessively patriotic and complacent. Often deemed a communist in his native America, Woody altered the verses over the years and gradually made the song into a political statement, as he firmly believed workers had the same rights as the rich and powerful.

There's a famous live cover I love by "The Boss", which is the clip I embed here. The lyrics scroller does not faithfully reflect Bruce's actual delivery but it'll give you an idea of the song's true meaning. By the way, listen carefully to his moving opening speech ...

Next Steve sang "Proud Mary", by the awesome Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of my favourite American bands of the 60s. Front-man John Fogerty wrote the tune about the namesake "paddle-wheel", one of the many picturesque river boats rolling on the Mississippi River. I love the energy of John's powerful voice and the pounding of the guitar riffs!

Sadly, Steve ran out of time before he could deliver his last song, Bob Marley's "No Woman, no Cry", a politically-charged reggae classic ("the hypocrites mingle with the good people we meet"), whose lyrics depict the "government yard in Trenchtown", the slums where Bob himself used to live as a young man. He reassures a woman (his mother?) as he's leaving the place that the slum won't get her down and everything will be alright, so she should "shed no tear". Down below I embed his famous live rendition. Enjoy!

Thank you so much, Steve, for your spirit and a great lesson!

Sergio Merino: Savor-y nights

One of my students from the intermediate group this year, Sergio, is a versatile, multi-faceted young man from Valladolid, whose many interests range from music to film-making. He writes and directs his own shorts, plays in a rock band and even has a home recording studio. 

I first met Sergio some three years ago through a local poet, Gloria de Castro, who in turn I had met thanks to a former student of mine at the time - and a good friend now -, Ana. To cut a long story short, Gloria once invited me to one of her recitals at a lively salsa dancing pub you may know, El Savor, where she usually reads her heart-felt poems to the accompaniment of Sergio's guitar playing. On Tuesday Gloria read her latest stuff with the help of her inseparable Sergio and there I was with a few students (not many, sadly!) to watch them live.

The thing is that he had told us in class that he runs his own blog - which you should visit here to find out what an accomplished artist he is - and I was overjoyed to see that he had written - in Spanish, though! - a short but lovely post about the recital. I liked it so much that the idea dawned on me right away: I had taken a few pics of Sergio and Gloria on stage and recorded bits and pieces on my i-pod, so why not publish the whole thing on this blog? So I put pen to paper (or to my Mac, to be precise) and translated his words as accurately as I possibly was able to. 

Today, I’ve just arrived home from one of those “Savor-y” nights that are celebrated in the namesake pub every evening. The only difference being that I myself was on the stage and not just listening in the audience. Tonight I accompanied local poet Gloria de Castro on my guitar. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t played in this temple of Salamanca’s nightlife for a long while, or because the sound was particularly good, or simply because I take great pleasure in breaking the total silence that fills the bar by playing my guitar while we perform.

Cover versions of Gary Moore, Dire Straits, The Eagles, Elvis Presley, as well as songs from soundtracks, or even my own songs, are enough to accompany a poet’s voice. I love the freedom of being all alone in the face of music so as to complement the poetry, and of feeling free to come and go, change the tonality, move from one song to another, or join them together … in a nutshell, of trying to contact and relate to the audience. Indeed poetry played the leading role tonight but I feel that there is a part of me on the stage for which I am responsible and I try to rise to the occasion.

As if that were not enough, I have a whale of a time with what I do. The subtle light, the silence of the pub, a finely-served drink of rum and the perfect sound coming out of the audio mixer make these nights special. On other occasions I also have great fun accompanying singer-songwriter Juanjo Dominguez, Amanda G. Monge or even my own voice.

Being a "pucelano" who lives in Salamanca, I must say that it is a gift for me to relish a spot in these music-filled midweek evenings that once in a while us the performers delight ourselves with, as do my friends and the public that drop by.

Once again I'm heading back home with a good “Savor” (taste, that is) in my mouth ...

Needless to say I earnestly recommend you guys to go to El Savor on a future occasion and enjoy a lovely evening of poetry and music courtesy of two relatively unknown but really talented artists, Gloria de Castro and Sergio Merino. By the way, she's having her debut novel published shortly. A noir mystery, I hear.

Susanne: The safety of travelling

Yesterday I read in a digital newspaper the horrible news of a German tourist who had died in French Polynesia in mysterious circumstances. It was said that he may have been eaten by cannibals, isn't that scary and ... hard to believe?

So much for tourist destinations - we saw a short piece of a video from the e-workbook - and their dangers ... That German tourist was surely aware of the probability of unexpected events, because he was on an adventurous world tour, but he would never have thought of his own tragic death.

I know, this is a macabre contribution to our blog, but it made me reflect on the safety of traveling: What is considered a safe destination?

Anyway, you can read the full news here. 

The following video is much more pleasant and fits our topic about cities. It's the official video clip of Alicia Keys' song "New York" which I really like (Juanjo, what do you think about the piano?). That city must be wonderful and really exciting, so I'd love to visit it (... after Glasgow?). Everyone I know who has been there is fascinated by New York.

Thanks a lot, Susanne, for both the macabre news (ha ha, only joking!) and the lovely song, whose full title is "New York Empire State of mind (part 2)" . As you can see, I've even found the scroller online so that you can all read the beautiful lyrics as you listen to Alicia. Just one thing: I've found out that the song was originally penned by Brooklyn natives Angela Hunte and Janet Sewell-Ulepic, who were pretty homesick during a trip overseas.