Thursday, December 31, 2009

On the Dawning of a New Year's Day

Once upon a time, the welcoming of a new year was thus:


To Cara,

On the Dawning of a New Year's Day

When midnight came to close the year,
We sighed to think it thus should take
The hours it gave us--hours as dear
As sympathy and love could make
Their blessed moments,--every sun
Saw us, my love, more closely one.

But, Cara, when the dawn was nigh
Which came a new year's light to shed,
That smile we caught from eye to eye
Told us, those moments were not fled:
Oh, no,--we felt, some future sun
Should see us still more closely one.

Thus may we ever, side by side,
From happy years to happier glide;
And still thus may the passing sigh
We give to hours, that vanish o'er us,
Be followed by the smiling eye,
That Hope shall shed on scenes before us!

--Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas, One and All

This MP3 Selection Expired on 01-27-2010
Richard Stoltzman, clarinet (1996) - Dona Nobis Pacem

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

From An Old Christmas Song

To be a child of man
Down to the earth God came,
He came to make anew the life.
And death he came to conquer-
For this sang all creation
And earth and heaven rejoiced.

Then in all lands are loosened
The chains and bonds of evil,
Then breaketh every spell.
Light cometh into darkness,
The old rule then is shattered,
In glory comes His Kingdom.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

The Purpose of Advent

You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 
-- I John 3:5 (NASB)


Thursday, November 19, 2009

On Johnny Mercer's 100th Birthday Anniversary - "Seasons" Songs (Group 3 of 3)


Johnny Mercer
Composer, Singer, and Lyricst
Four Academy Awards Winner
(November 18, 1909 - June 25, 1976)

Eight "Seasons" Songs (Group 3 of 3) posted recipients.

Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman 1951- In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening
In The Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Hoagy Carmichael
Production:    
Here Comes The Groom (Movie)
Date: 1951
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award Winner, 1951


Dinah Shore, 1958 - When the World Was Young                      
When The World Was Young
Alternate Title:    
Ah, The Apple Trees
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer & Anfele Vannier
Composer: M. Philippe-Gerard
Date: 1950
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections


Frank Sinatra, 1966 - Summer Wind                                
Summer Wind
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Henry Mayer
Date: 1965
Citations:    
Kopp Index
Popular Music Collections

Janet Seidel, 2009 - Once Upon a Summertime                        
Once Upon A Summertime
Alternate Title:    
La Valse Des Lilas
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Eddie Barclay & Michel Legrand
Date: 1962
Citations:    
Popular Music Collections
Notes: French lyrics by Eddie Marnay.
The French-English lyrics is embedded in this MP3.


Jason Graee, 2003 - Spring, Spring, Spring
Spring, Spring, Spring
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Gene De Paul
Production:   
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Show)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Movie)
Date: 1954
Citations:   
ASCAP
  
June Christy, 1957 - Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer:  Sonny Burke & Lionel Hampton
Date: 1954
Citations:   
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections     
                             

Monica Mancini, 2002 - When October Goes
When October Goes
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Barry Manilow
Date: 1984
Citations:   
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Notes:  Barry Manilow wrote the music to Johnny Mercer's lyrics after the latter's death.  
                  

Yves Montand, 1948 - Les Feuilles Mortes                        
Autumn Leaves
Alternate Titles:    
Feuilles Mortes
Les Feuilles Mortes
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Joseph Kosma
Production:    
Autumn Leaves (Movie)
Date:1947 & 1950
Citations:
ASCAP
Notes:  French lyrics by Jacque Prevert.  Additional verse lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons.
The French lyrics is embedded in this MP3.  

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Johnny Sings His First Academy Award Song




This MP3 Selection Expired on 12-24-2009
Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers
with Jo Stafford and Paul Weston Orchestra (1945)
On the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe
(Mercer and Warren, 1945)

Academy Award for Best Song in 1946

On Johnny Mercer's 100th Birthday Anniversary - "Relationship" Songs (Group 2 of 3)

Johnny Mercer
Composer, Singer, and Lyricst
Multiple (4) Academy Awards Winner
(November 18, 1909 - June 25, 1976)

Eight "Relationship" Songs (Group 2 of 3) posted to recipients:

Banu Gibson, 2003 - This Time the Dream's on Me
This Time The Dream's On Me
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Harold Arlen
Production:
Blues In The Night (Movie)
Date: 1941
Citations:
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections

              
Ella Fitzgerald, 1964 - I Remember You                                         
I Remember You
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Victor Schertzinger
Production:    
Fleet's In, The (Movie)
Date: 1952
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections

Frank Chacksfield and Orchestra, 1964 - Moon River
Moon River
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Henry Mancini
Production:   
Breakfast At Tiffany's (Movie)
Date: 1961
Citations:   
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award Winner, 1961; Grammy Award, Song of the Year, 1961        
                                  

Martha Tilton (v) Benny Goodman (o), 1939 - And the Angels Sing                
And The Angels Sing
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Ziggie Elman
Production:    
Benny Goodman Story, The (Movie)
Date: 1939
Citations:    
ASCAP



Nancy Knorr, 1992 - Tangerine                                                   
Tangerine
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Victor Schertzinger
Production:    
Fleet's In, The (Movie)
Date: 1956
Citations:
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections


Nancy Lamott, 1995 - P.S. I Love You                                           
P.S. I Love You
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Gordon Jenkins
Date: 1934
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections


Skip Nelson (v) Glenn Miller (o), 1943 - That Old Black Magic (w The Modernaires)
That Old Black Magic
Alternate Title:    
Black Magic
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Harold Arlen
Production:    
Blues Opera (Free and Easy) (Show)
Blues, The (a version of Blues Opera) (Show)
Bus Stop (Movie)
Here Come The Waves (Movie)
Meet Danny Wilson (Movie)
Nutty Professor, The (Movie)
Senior Prom (Movie)
Star Spangled Rhythm (Movie)
Date: 1951 & 1952
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award nomination, 1943


Voices of Walter Schumann, 1951- Fools Rush In                                  
Fools Rush In
Alternate Title:    
Where Angels Fear To Tread
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Rube Bloom
Date: 1940
Citations:    
Popular Music Collections

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

On Johnny Mercer's 100th Birthday Anniversary - "Life" Songs (Group 1 of 3)

Johnny Mercer
Composer, Singer, and Lyricst
Multiple (4) Academy Awards Winner
(November 18, 1909 - June 25, 1976) 

Six "Life" Songs (Group 1 of 3) posted to recipients:

Andy Williams, 1963  - Days of Wine and Roses

Days Of Wine And Roses
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Henry Mancini
Production:    
Days Of Wine And Roses (Movie)
Date: 1962
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award Winner, 1962; Grammy Award for Song of the Year, 1963


                
Helen Forrest (v) Harry James (o), 1942 - Skylark                  
Skylark
Lyricist:Johnny Mercer
Composer: Hoagy Carmichael
Date: 1942
Citations:
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections



King Sisters, 1945 - Ac-cen-tchu-ate the Positive                
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive
Alternate Titles:    
Accentuate the Positive
Mister In-Between
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Harold Arlen
Production:    
Blues Opera (Free and Easy) (Show)
Blues, The (a version of Blues Opera) (Show)
Here Come The Waves (Movie)
Date: 1944
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award nomination, 1945



Mario Lanza, 1953 - Song of India                                  
Song of India
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: N. Rimsky-Korsakov
Date: 1953
Citations:
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections



Martha Raye (v) George Bassman (o), (recorded between 1937 and 1954) - Blues in the Night
Blues In The Night
Alternate Title:   
My Mama Done Tol' Me
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: Harold Arlen
Production:   
Blues In The Night (Movie)
Blues Opera (Free and Easy) (Show)
Blues, The (a version of Blues Opera) (Show)
Date: 1941
Citations:
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections
Awards: Academy Award nomination, 1941



Norman Luboff Choir, 1993 - Laura                                 
Laura
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer
Composer: David Raksin
Production:    
Laura (Movie)
Date: 1945
Citations:    
ASCAP
Popular Music Collections



Saturday, November 07, 2009

All We Need Is Love?

The 1970 Lennon-McCartney song, 'All You Need is Love', and love is all you need is a fail-safe, warm and fuzzy tune.  Even to this day, this is a song to which the throng could sway and sing in a stadium event such as saving the polar bear (but never one in the saving of an unborn child).

Sweet at least was the seed of the song, yet the dew of the lyrics evaporates as soon as one exits the queue leading out of the arena.  One is left to his own devices to commune and take cheer in what love is, however expanse, narrow, or contraditory.

The signet of love for a seal is ever the God defiant humanistic strife.

Reference link:   Is it Law or Gospel?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Looking Back at Summer 2009 One Last Time


First day of Autumn.

"And summer's lease hath all too short a date"
-- Shakespeare - Sonnet 18

This MP3 Selection Expired on 11-18-2009
Franck Pourcel (1996) - La Mer (Trenet, 1946)

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Remembering Erich Kunzel


And the Southern Cross rides high...
That blaze in the velvet blue.
They're all old friends on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
They're God's own guides on the Long Trail—the trail that is always new.
- Rudiyard Kipling, L'Envoi

Erich Kunzel
American-born founding conductor of
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
(21 March, 1935 - 1 September, 2009)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 09-22-2009>
Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops (1986)
Beneath the Southern Cross (Rodgers, 1951)

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Lest We Despair and Fear Obamacare

Contrary to President Obama's arrogant-speak, we, as God's creation and contigent beings, can never assumed and claimed to be in partnership with Him in matters of life and death.

Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to men of understanding.
It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.
To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise...

-- Daniel 2:20-23
New American Standard Bible

Monday, August 24, 2009

Jouissance vous donneray

Jouissance vous donneray
et vous méneray
Là où prétend
Votre espérance
Vivante ne vous laisseray
Encores quand morte seray
L'esprit en aura souvenance
L'esprit en aura souvenance

-- Clément Marot (1496 - 1544)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Caffeinated L'Envoi

My testing of Google's new beta Caffeine search engine on the word "L'Envoi" has percolated this blog to position number 8 out of the top 30 returned citations. Wow! By contrast, the current decaf search algorithm displayed this blog as number 33 on the search list.

I'll have another cup of joe. The new Google blend, please. Thank you.

Friday, August 14, 2009

How High the Moon

Les Paul
guitarist, inventor of the electric guitar
(9 June, 1915 – 13 August, 2009)

The sun descending in the west
The evening star does shine
The birds are silent in their nest
And I must seek for mine
The moon, like a flower
In heaven’s high bower
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night
and you, Les
--with apologies to William Blake

This MP3 Selection Expired on 09-02-2009
Les Paul, guitar(1968)
How High the Moon (Lewis,1940)

Saturday, August 08, 2009

For I Have Found My World in You

Victor Young
American-born violinist, composer,
arranger, and orchestra director
Posthumous Oscar for Best Music 'Around the World in Eighty Days'
(8 August, 1900 - 10 November, 1956)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 08-14-2009
The McGuire Sisters (1957)
Around the World in Eighty Days
(Young & Washington)


Around the World in Eighty Days
Music: Victor Young
Lyrics: Ned Washington
Vocals: The McGuire Sisters (1957)

Around the world I've searched for you
I traveled on when hope was gone to keep a rendezvous
I knew somewhere, sometime, somehow
You'd look at me and I would see that smile you're smiling now

It might have been in County Down
Or in New York, in gay Paris or even London town
No more will I go all around the world
For I have found my world in you

(Interlude)

It might have been in County Down
Or in New York, in gay Paris or even London town
No more will I go all around the world
For I have found (I found) my world in you

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Some Pics from Colorado and Utah











At Top of the Rocky Mt NP,CO (12,183 Feet)



On the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail, CO











Sunrise, Moab, UT

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Our group be heading up to Rockies of Colorado on Tuesday next. If there are no deviations from the itinerary, on place we will trek to is the headwaters of the Colorado River at the Rocky Mountain National Park.

On Father's Day and First Day of Summer, 2009


This MP3 Selection Expired on 08-08-2009
Norrie Paramor (v Patricia Clark) 1960
Theme from 'A Summer Place'


Summer Days
Wathen Marks Wilks Call (1817–90)

In summer, when the days were long,
We walk’d, two friends, in field and wood;
Our heart was light, our step was strong,
And life lay round us, fair as good,
In summer, when the days were long.

We stray’d from morn till evening came,
We gather’d flowers, and wove us crowns;
We walk’d mid poppies red as flame,
Or sat upon the yellow downs,
And always wish’d our life the same.

In summer, when the days were long,
We leap’d the hedgerow, cross’d the brook;
And still her voice flow’d forth in song,
Or else she read some graceful book,
In summer, when the days were long.

And then we sat beneath the trees,
With shadows lessening in the noon;
And in the sunlight and the breeze
We revell’d, many a glorious June,
While larks were singing o’er the leas.

In summer, when the days were long,
We pluck’d wild strawberries, ripe and red,
Or feasted, with no grace but song,
On golden nectar, snow-white bread,
In summer, when the days were long.

We lov’d, and yet we knew it not,
For loving seem’d like breathing then;
We found a heaven in every spot;
Saw angels, too, in all good men,
And dream’d of gods in grove and grot.

In summer, when the days are long,
Alone I wander, muse alone;
I see her not, but that old song
Under the fragrant wind is blown,
In summer, when the days are long.

Alone I wander in the wood,
But one fair spirit hears my sighs;
And half I see the crimson hood,
The radiant hair, the calm glad eyes,
That charm’d me in life’s summer mood.

In summer, when the days are long,
I love her as I lov’d of old;
My heart is light, my step is strong,
For love brings back those hours of gold,
In summer, when the days are long.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Nelson Riddle Birthday Anniversary


Nelson Riddle
American-born Oscar winning composer and arranger
(1 June, 1921 - 6 October, 1985)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 06-21-2009
Nelson Riddle and Orchestra (1960)
TV Theme 'Route 66' (Riddle)


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Fauré Birthday Remembered

Gabriel Fauré
French Neo-classical composer,
organist, pianist, and professor
(12 May 1845 - 4 November 1924)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 05-31-2009
Bill Evans, Piano Trio and Orchestra (1965)
Pavane, Op. 50 (Fauré)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

On This Last Day of April 2009


This MP3 Selection Expired on 05-12-2009
Beegie Adair, piano trio (2007)
I'll Remember April (de Paul, 1942)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Behold, the Best, the Greatest Gift

Behold, the Best, the Greatest Gift
Howard Helvey

Behold the best, the greatest gift of everlasting love!
Behold the pledge of peace below and perfect bliss above.
The savior died and rose again triumphant from the grave,
And pleads our cause at God's right hand forevermore to save.

Who then e're divide us more from Jesus and His love,
Or break the sacred chain that binds us the earth from heaven above?
Let troubles rise, and terros frown and days of darkness fall;
Through Him all dangers we'll defy, and more than conquer all.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Spring Song


Spring Song

Bliss Carman
(1861–1929)

Make me over, mother April,
When the sap begins to stir!
When thy flowery hand delivers
All the mountain-prisoned rivers,
And thy great heart beats and quivers
To revive the days that were,
Make me over, mother April,
When the sap begins to stir!

Take my dust and all my dreaming,
Count my heart-beats one by one,
Send them where the winters perish;
Then some golden noon recherish
And restore them in the sun,
Flower and scent and dust and dreaming,
With their heart-beats every one!

Set me in the urge and tide-drift
Of the streaming hosts a-wing!
Breast of scarlet, throat of yellow,
Raucous challenge, wooings mellow—
Every migrant is my fellow,
Making northward with the spring.
Loose me in the urge and tide-drift
Of the streaming hosts a-wing!

Shrilling pipe or fluting whistle,
In the valleys come again;
Fife of frog and call of tree-toad,
All my brothers, five or three-toed,
With their revel no more vetoed,
Making music in the rain;
Shrilling pipe or fluting whistle,
In the valleys come again.

Make me of thy seed to-morrow,
When the sap begins to stir!
Tawny light-foot, sleepy bruin,
Bright-eyes in the orchard ruin,
Gnarl the good life goes askew in,
Whiskey-jack, or tanager,—
Make me anything to-morrow,
When the sap begins to stir!

Make me even (How do I know?)
Like my friend the gargoyle there;
It may be the heart within him
Swells that doltish hands should pin him
Fixed forever in mid-air.
Make me even sport for swallows,
Like the soaring gargoyle there!

Give me the old clue to follow,
Through the labyrinth of night!
Clod of clay with heart of fire,
Things that burrow and aspire,
With the vanishing desire,
For the perishing delight,—
Only the old clue to follow,
Through the labyrinth of night!

Make me over, mother April,
When the sap begins to stir!
Fashion me from swamp or meadow,
Garden plot or ferny shadow,
Hyacinth or humble burr!
Make me over, mother April,
When the sap begins to stir!

Let me hear the far, low summons,
When the silver winds return;
Rills that run and streams that stammer,
Goldenwing with his loud hammer,
Icy brooks that brawl and clamor
Where the Indian willows burn;
Let me hearken to the calling,
When the silver winds return,

Till recurring and recurring,
Long since wandered and come back,
Like a whim of Grieg’s or Gounod’s,
This same self, bird, bud, or Bluenose,
Some day I may capture (Who knows?)
Just the one last joy I lack,
Waking to the far new summons,
When the old spring winds come back.

For I have no choice of being,
When the sap begins to climb,—
Strong insistence, sweet intrusion,
Vasts and verges of illusion,—
So I win, to time’s confusion,
The one perfect pearl of time,
Joy and joy and joy forever,
Till the sap forgets to climb!

Make me over in the morning
From the rag-bag of the world!
Scraps of dream and duds of daring,
Home-brought stuff from far sea-faring,
Faded colors once so flaring,
Shreds of banners long since furled!
Hues of ash and glints of glory,
In the rag-bag of the world!

Let me taste the old immortal
Indolence of life once more;
Not recalling nor foreseeing,
Let the great slow joys of being
Well my heart through as of yore!
Let me taste the old immortal
Indolence of life once more!

Give me the old drink for rapture,
The delirium to drain,
All my fellows drank in plenty
At the Three Score Inns and Twenty
From the mountains to the main!
Give me the old drink for rapture,
The delirium to drain!

Only make me over, April,
When the sap begins to stir!
Make me man or make me woman,
Make me oaf or ape or human,
Cup of flower or cone of fir;
Make me anything but neuter
When the sap begins to stir!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hurray for Anti-Tax Tea Parties!

American democracy in action! No to excessive tax and spend Obama administration. Anti-tax Tea Parties are being held and televised across the land on this tax day 15 April!

This MP3 Selection Expired on 04-30-2009
Lew Davies Orchestra with Twenty Voices (1960)
Tea for Two

Sunday, April 05, 2009

All in the April Evening

Sir Hugh Roberton (1874-1952) wrote a four-voice and piano accompaniment setting All in An April Evening to Irish poet-writer Katharine Tynan Hinkson's poem, Sheep and Lambs.

Today is Palm Sunday. The week leading up to Christ's crucifixion on Friday, and His Resurrection on Sunday next.

This MP3 Selection Expired on 04-15-2009
John Wilson and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
All in the April Evening


Sheep and Lambs
Katharine Tynan Hinkson (1861 - 1931)

All in the April evening
April airs were abroad;
The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road;
All in the April evening
I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary and crying
With a weak, human cry.
I thought on the Lamb of God
Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet;
Rest for the little bodies,
Rest for the little feet.

But for the Lamb of God,
Up on the hill-top green,
Only a cross of shame
Two stark crosses between.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad;
I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought on the Lamb of God.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Ruby, It's You

Richard Hayman
27 March 1920 -

Harmonica virtuoso, arranger, and conductor
Renown for his harmonica solo
in the 1953 movie theme song, "Ruby Gentry"

The MP3 below expired on 04-05-2009.
Click here to play the current selection.


Richard Hayman, harmonica (1953) - Ruby


Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Father of Music

Johann Sebastian Bach
21 March, 1685 - 28 July, 1750

This MP3 Selection Expired on 03-27-2009
James Galway, flute
Siciliano, 1st Movement - Largo
(JS Bach BWV 1017)


Friday, March 20, 2009

First Day of Spring, 2009


"I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind."

"To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

"Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 't is my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

"The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure."

--William Wordsworth

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Eyes of March Are Upon You



Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.

Caesar:
What man is that?

Brutus:
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19
-Shakespeare


From my 2005 post, on this Ides of March word play:

For what it is worth, Julius Caesar's cronies conspired and stabbed him to death on this day in 44 B.C.

There is a surgical procedure, an abdominal incision, for the delivery of a baby named after this Roman emperor's legendary birth; the Caesaren-Section.

One way or another, Julius Caesar was on the cutting edge of history.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Chopin and Miller Birthdays

Frederic Chopin
(1 March, 1810 - 17 October, 1849

Glenn Miller
(1 March, 1904 - December 15, 1944)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 03-15-2009
Margot Lefebvre, French vocal (1961) - Mon coeur vous dédie sa mélodie
and
Beegie Adair, jazz piano (2006) - At Last


Mon coeur vous dédie sa mélodie
Lied du film "La chanson de l'adieu" (1934)

Paroles de Albert Valentin
Musique de Frederic Chopin (Étude Op. 10, No. 3)
Interprète de Margot Lefebvre (1961)

Mon coeur vous dédie
Sa mélodie
Où mon amour vous parle à voix si tendre
Qu'il faut l'entendre
Les jours sont doux qu'on passe auprès de vous
De vous, mon chérie

Mon coeur vous dédie
Sa mélodie
Où mon amour vous parle à voix si tendre
Qu'il faut l'entendre
Les jours sont doux qu'on passe auprès de vous
De vous, mon chérie

Mon coeur vous dédie
Sa mélodie
Écoutez-le vous dire sa ferveur
Et son ardeur
Et lorsqu'il bat avec violence
C'est qu'il s'émeut de votre absence
C'est qu'il renonce à tout espoir
De vous revoir
Alors il vous chante
Cette mélodie
Que je vous dédie
Que je vous dédie

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Diamond Palladio

Karl Jenkins
Welsh-born neo-classical and jazz composer
(17 February, 1944)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 03-01-2009
The London Philharmonic (1996)
Palladio - First Movement, Allegretto (Jenkins, 1996)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

An Unforgettable Valentine

Irving Gordon
American-born composer and lyricist
(14 February, 1915 - 1 December, 1996)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 02-17-2009
Teddy Wilson (1952), jazz piano
Unforgettable (Gordon, 1931)


The Look

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,
Robin's lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.

Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)

Sunday, February 01, 2009

On Wings of Song for His 200th Birthday

Felix Mendelssohn
German-born Romantic composer, conductor, and pianist
(3 February, 1809 – 4 November, 1847)

This MP3 Selection Expired on 02-14-2009
Rudi Moosmeier, jazz piano, (2006)
Auf Flügeln Des Gesanges (Mendelssohn)


Rise up, my song! stretch forth thy wings and fly
With no delaying, over shore and deep!
Be with my lady when she wakes from sleep;
Touch her with kisses softly on each eye;
And say, before she puts her dreaming by:
“Within the palaces of slumber keep
One little niche wherein sometimes to weep
For one who vainly toils till he shall die!”
Yet say again, a sweeter thing than this:
“His life is wasted by his love for thee.”
Then, looking o’er the fields of memory,
She ’ll find perchance, o’ergrown with grief and bliss,
Some flower of recollection, pale and fair,
That she, through pity, for a day may wear.

A Greeting
Philip Bourke Marston (1850–87)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

On Her Birthday - A Sunday Kind of Love

Etta James
R&B Singer
25 January, 1938

This MP3 Selection Expired on 02-01-2009
Etta James (1961)
A Sunday Kind of Love
(Barbara Belle, et al, 1946)

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Wishing You A Psalm 51 New Year

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10 KJV)

In tandem with each winter solstice and Christmas celebration, the winter nights become shorter and the days longer. Yet, our Lord, the Sun of Righteousness, reigns in unconceivable splendor even as I write:

"Bright, like a sun, the Savior sits, And spreads eternal noon; No evenings there, nor gloomy nights, To want the feeble moon." – Isaac Watts

On this side of eternity, His advent made it possible to fill us-His elect-with the promised hope and the light of day. His grace and truth poured over us. Our being is filled with an immeasurable joy; His love uplifts and preserves us far beyond the holiday season and temporal tides.

May the Lord continue to make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you in the New Year.

Déjà vu All Over Again - New Year's Morn

New Year's Dawn - Broadway
Sara Teasdale (1884 -1933)

When the horns wear thin
And the noise, like a garment outworn,
Falls from the night,
The tattered and shivering night,
That thinks she is gay;
When the patient silence comes back,
And retires,
And returns,
Rebuffed by a ribald song,
Wounded by vehement cries,
Fleeing again to the stars--
Ashamed of her sister the night;
Oh, then they steal home,
The blinded, the pitiful ones
With their gew-gaws still in their hands,
Reeling with odorous breath
And thick, coarse words on their tongues.
They get them to bed, somehow,
And sleep the forgiving,
Comes thru the scattering tumult
And closes their eyes.
The stars sink down ashamed
And the dawn awakes,
Like a youth who steals from a brothel,
Dizzy and sick.