The Police were a highly unusual band. Their songs, the majority of which were written by bassist / vocalist Gordon Sumner (a.k.a. Sting), ranged from moody to black as night. Yet despite that dark and often cutting edge, they were immensely popular during the Seventies and early Eighties. They seemed to have tapped into …
Category: music
Jan 02 2025
Some Music For Your Early Evening
Way, way back when, when I was much younger than I am today, I was greatly enamored of the old PlayStation game Tomb Raider. One of the reasons that game got into my blood was the associated music. At that time, video-game music wasn’t a highly advanced art form, though in recent years it’s …
Dec 14 2024
Some Seasonal Music
…but not the of the usual sort. Here’s a winter classic from a European superstar Americans should know better: my new heartthrob, the beautiful and supremely talented Beatrice Egli: (Yes, she sings it in German. So what?)
Nov 19 2024
Some of the music that helped form me.
I don’t know why I can’t embed it. I blame my lake of skill, as well as the fact that I tend to loathe modern technology, which probably explains my lack of skill. But… Go have a listen. I grew up with classical music, big band, and jazz from my father. When we moved to …
Nov 14 2024
It’s Time For Music!
Let’s see, what haven’t we heard any of lately? Perhaps a little prog-metal: That’s The Gleam of Sword and Spear, the first track from Wyzards’ album The Final Catastrophe.
Nov 01 2024
Some Music For The Lonely And Cynical
One of the best of the previous century’s songwriters was the late Stan Rogers. Like the great Al Stewart, Rogers could take any subject and weave it into a song. His lyrics are poetry of an increasingly rare sort, though if called a poet, he probably would have demurred. This one is for …
Sep 29 2024
Things Have Been Getting Heavy Around Here
…so let us return to those halcyon days of yore, when the men were men and the… ghosts were ghosts? Let never a man a wooing wend That lacketh thinges three A store of gold, an oaken heart And full of charity And this was seen of King Henry And he likewise alone For …
Sep 22 2024
Change Of Seasons
Today, at 8:44 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time, the plane of Earth’s equator passed through the center of the Sun. That’s the sidereal definition of an equinox. As the days are growing shorter, it was the autumnal equinox. We are now in the season of autumn. (Yes, yes, our friends in the Southern …
Sep 01 2024
Acquired Tastes
On occasion, I’ve heard people refer to various things they indulge in – foods and beverages, mainly – as acquired tastes. Also on occasion, I’ve tried whatever it was they were rhapsodizing about and said, whether to myself or out loud, “Why on earth did you want to acquire it?” This has caused me …
Aug 23 2024
Pie In The Sky By And By
Given how many of us Baby Boomers there are, there’s always someone whose 50th anniversary of something has come around. And there are quite a few old rockers and folkies available to reminisce about their golden years. The combination can be cloying, if not worse. For example, not everyone’s memory of certain musical …
Aug 21 2024
That Lucky Old Sun
Way back when I had long hair and things didn’t hurt, I was actually a pretty good musician. I played drums and saxophone, and I sang. That fell by the wayside as my military career started taking bigger and bigger chunks out of my life. There were other considerations as well, some valid and some …
Aug 14 2024
Some Music For Our Times… And All Others
Have a little music on your Curmudgeon: one of the most heart-wrenching songs in the Child Catalogue, from British folk greats Maddy Prior and Tim Hart: It’s fifty long springtimes Since she was a bride But still, you may see her At each Whitsuntide In a dress of white linen And ribbons …
Aug 04 2024
Some Time Ago…
…four musicians got together to make a little music. It’s not like they hadn’t done so already. Indeed, each of the four was a member of a rather successful group. Nevertheless, they wanted to stretch their wings in new ways, and they felt a certain commonality of purpose. So they recorded a couple of …
Jun 27 2024
Upbeat… Cynicism?
I don’t know what became of Juice Newton. Her first album did well, with the song below as its “hit.” But I haven’t heard anything about her since that first disc. Anyway, have a little remembrance, followed by one from the “other side” – of the sex wars, that is: Now, a man …
Jun 23 2024
A Hymn From Across The Pond
If you’re unfamiliar with British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, you can surely be forgiven. He never achieved much popularity outside his homeland. Yet his choral works are among the most beautiful things to come out of the Sceptered Isle. Here’s my favorite: May you have a blessed Sunday and a glorious summer.
Apr 28 2024
Some Sixties Music
Not many will recall the Sons of Champlin: Every now and then I need to spend a little time in the Sixties. No, not for the “Summer of Love” BS. (Dear God, what an unhygienic concept!) Just for the music. Oh, here’s a little more, from Procol Harum’s glorious second album, Shine On …
Apr 16 2024
Once Upon A Time…
There was a band made up of session musicians who got together for a few drinks. Some of them were very well known for their studio work. Others were “invisible” despite their many contributions to the oeuvre of better-known artists. To make a long story short, they decided that they had something to contribute …
Apr 04 2024
For The “Post-Humorists”
The Left is rabidly opposed to a huge fraction of our cultural heritage. Possibly all of it, really. Historical totalitarians have usually striven to destroy their subjects’ cultural memory. The contemporary Left is as totalitarian as any of its ideological predecessors. Why let it happen? Preserve what you can. Make sure your children …
Feb 16 2024
Beautiful Music About Something Horrible
Have a little: He was just a social drinker but social every night He enjoyed a pint or two or three or four She was just a silent thinker, silent every night He’d enjoyed the thought of killing her before Well he was very rarely drunk but very rarely sober And he didn’t think …
Feb 12 2024
They say that innocence is bliss
It’s not Lent yet. But still, in my life I find myself recognizing that I’m not the person that God wants me to be. Some of the most beautiful music is when we fallen sinners acknowledge that we are imperfect, and we ask God for forgiveness. I guess I’m not as ignorant as I want …
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Margaret’s Recent Novels
