Veinte Años (1956) – María Teresa Vera

Posted on May 6, 2026 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

I first heard “Veinte Años” (Eng: Twenty Years) in the 1999 documentary celebrating Cuban music, Buena Vista Social Club (image inset). It’s hard to know where to begin with this iconic Cuban song, since it has been performed by many artists, but let’s start with its composer and singer, María Teresa Vera (1895–1965).

When María Teresa began her career around 1916, she was part of the Cuban trova tradition, which dates back to the late 1800s. These musicians – known as trovadores – were essentially travelling singer-songwriters. With guitars over their shoulders, they moved from place to place, performing their own compositions or popular ballads, earning modest pay. The comparison to medieval troubadours isn’t far off.

It wasn’t an easy space for women, but María Teresa stood out and she earned respect among trovadores and soneros, and is widely considered one of the first women to record Cuban popular music.

Clave of Cuba – a rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Cuban music

Trova wasn’t just one style. It included a mix of Cuban forms and rhythms such as the guaracha, punto, habanera, son, and the Cuban bolero, along with melodic influence from European music. Performances were usually simple: guitar accompaniment, sometimes claves, and one or two voices.

Veinte Años is a sorrowful telling of a love that has faded after twenty years. One person has fallen out of love, and it feels as though everything is lost. The lyrics are beautiful, but deeply sad, as they reflect a love that is no longer returned after so much time – twenty years. I was once the dream you lived for,/ now just a distant day / today I represent the past, / I can’t accept it.
You can watch the video below, which includes the full translated lyrics.

The earliest known recording dates back to 1956, performed as a duet by María Teresa Vera and Lorenzo Hierrezuelo – a version that laid the groundwork for all those that came after.

Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez said of her:

Her voice was without vibrato, dry; hitting the notes, only prolonging a note so as to slide from one tone to another, which gave [her voice] a grace, or, much better, a singular character. Her production seemed nonchalant, natural, colloquial … Always there were variations on the original melody, [since] she was always interpreting [the piece] creatively.

Below, you can explore both that early recording and the later revival: the 1990s performance featuring Compay Segundo and Omara Portuondo, which helped bring the song to a global audience through Buena Vista Social Club.

Qué te importa que te ame / What does it matter that I love you
si tú no me quieres ya / if you don’t love me anymore?
El amor que ya ha pasado / Love that’s gone
no se debe recordar. / shouldn’t be remembered.

Fui la ilusión de tu vida / I was once the dream you lived for,
un día lejano ya, / now just a distant day
hoy represento el pasado / today I represent the past,
no me puedo conformar. / I can’t accept it.

Si las cosas que uno quiere / If the things one desires
se pudieran alcanzar / could be attained,
tú me quisieras lo mismo / you would love me the same
que veinte años atrás. / as twenty years ago.

Con qué tristeza miramos / With what sadness we watch
un amor que se nos va / a love slipping away
es un pedazo del alma / it’s a piece of the soul
que se arranca sin piedad. / torn out without mercy.

References:
1. María Teresa Vera: mucho más que “Veinte años” – OnCuban news
2. María Teresa Vera – Wikipedia

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Surrender (2022) – Christina Perri

Posted on May 5, 2026 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Christina’s music feels like the cleanest breath of air to me. Even this morning, when I heard this song again, I felt my eyes welling up after the first verse. Tears just came, and I found myself wondering, where did that come from? It almost always happens when I listen to her – something in me just softens. Christina Perri’s music feels like a car wash for the mind. It cleans things out.

This might sound a bit trippy, but I’ll try to keep it grounded. Last night, as I fell asleep listening to an audio What If Earths Magnetic Field Disappeared from the sleepy scientist, I had a series of dreams about meeting Christina and her family. Like most dreams, it all felt completely real at the time.

As frequent readers know here – I have more than a Perri crush. In the dream, though, it was simple and low-key – I was with my kids at what felt like a family gathering. When I saw her, I just told her I was a big fan, and she was warm and easy to talk to. There was a brief moment where our eyes met, and and she reflected back what I was feeling. Such an exquisite, yet quiet exchange I hadn’t event imagined except in my wildest dream – which indeed this was.

It wasn’t anything sexual – it was just an interchange of incomparable love and respect for the other in the most fleeting, but unforgettable way. Toward the end of the dream, I asked if she wanted to join us, but she seemed a little circumspect and emotional, so I left it at that.

There’s a stellar song by her called Fever which is what I felt she was expressing to that enchanted someone; beyond her reason of comprehension in knowing. I suppose it is part of her allure and draws us hopeless admirers under her spell:

I dream about you, but I’ve never even seen your face
I’m thinkin’ constantly about the way I feel to have you near

I have the beginning of that song on my ring dial, so when it comes up randomly in my music collection I try to answer the phone. Pretty mess’d up huh? But I always love whenever I hear the xylophone in the introduction. Now that’s a song.

Today’s featured track, Surrender, is a fairly simple, warts-and-all song by my favourite female artist, but at its heart it’s a search for meaning within the mind of someone dealing with depression. Her latest record – a masterpiece in my book – A Lighter Shade of Blue largely reflects her coming to terms with the loss of her first daughter, Rosie, who was stillborn.

[Intro]
Surrender, mm
Surrender, mm

[Verse 1]
I can make a list, a million things I need to fix
I make everyone crazy, is it somethin’ about me?
I keep tightenin’ my grip, but I aim so much I miss
And I’m fightin’ the river

[Pre-Chorus]
When I try to hold it all together
But it’s just not gettin’ better

[Chorus]
Surrender, mm
Surrender, mm (Ooh-ah)
It’s breakin’ my heart ’cause I don’t understand
Why so much is out of my hands
I have to remember
Surrender
Oh, I keep learnin’ the hard way
Oh, keep forgettin’ how to pray
Someone tell me I’m okay

[Verse 2]
I climbed a mountain, I could not rеsist
And I hit bottom at the top of it
I was broken wide opеn

[Pre-Chorus]
There’s a freedom in the freefall
Wanna scream, but I whisper

[Chorus]
Surrender, mm
Surrender, oh
Oh, surrender (‘Cause I don’t understand)
(I might just surrender instead)
I’ve got to remember (‘Cause I don’t understand)
(Why so much is out of my hands) Ooh
(I have to remember) Ooh
(Let me surrender, surrender)

[Outro]
Surrender, mm (Ah)

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More Than a Woman (1977) – Bee Gees

Posted on May 5, 2026 by observationblogger — 12 Comments

Barry certainly goes all out in his falsetto vocals here, but it never feels overdone. It’s strange how I didn’t like this light disco tune when I was young – perhaps dismissing it as cheesy, overly commercial pop that saturated the airwaves and filled my parents’ parties. But when my friend Ashley at The Gentle Chapter recently brought More Than a Woman back to my attention in a Bee Gees post, something clicked. I suddenly remembered it fondly and found a new attachment to it.

It’s remarkable how tastes can shift with age. Maybe it’s nostalgia, or just a mellowing that comes over time. I had a similar 180-degree turn with another Bee Gees song, How Deep is Your Love and even If You Leave Me Now by Chicago – interestingly, all from around the same era and all staples of radio playlists.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta, which features More Than a Woman, but our family did own the soundtrack. It became one of the best-selling albums of all time, and for good reason. I’ve mentioned other songs from that record before, along with the Bee Gees’ remarkable rise during the disco era.

Of course, good things don’t always last. The group’s sudden decline in popularity in the early ’80s came as disco itself faced a backlash. Second-rate imitators flooded the market, and critics turned sharply against the genre. The Bee Gees were unfairly caught in that wave – almost reduced to symbols of “disco music” itself – and became easy scapegoats.

They even faced bomb threats at one point and were forced to regroup and rebuild their image. For a time, they shifted focus to songwriting for other artists, with great success. Eventually, their own music saw a revival from the mid-’90s onward, bringing in new generations of listeners. It’s also hard not to feel the weight of their story – Barry Gibb now the last surviving brother after the loss of his siblings, with whom he shared decades of music and success.

When I hear More Than a Woman now, what really stands out – and what I find most curious – is the songwriting. It almost feels like the song is morphing as it moves between the verses, pre-chorus, and chorus. You start to think the pre-chorus is the chorus, and then the actual chorus arrives and feels like a completely different beast. Each pre-chorus builds into a strong, almost chorus-like crescendo – especially with the line “We can take forever, just a minute at a time” – and then the chorus drops into a lower register, something entirely new, but just as good.

Despite being one of the Bee Gees’ best-known songs, More Than a Woman wasn’t released as a single in the US or UK at the time, though it did see single releases in countries like Italy and Australia.

Thanks for reading.

[Verse 1]
Oh, girl, I’ve known you very well
I’ve seen you growing every day
I never really looked before
But now you take my breath away
Suddenly you’re in my life
Part of everything I do
You got me working day and night
Just trying to keep a hold on you

[Pre-Chorus]
Here in your arms, I found my paradise
My only chance for happiness
And if I lose you now, I think I would die
Oh, say you’ll always be my baby, we can make it shine
We can take forever, just a minute at a time

[Chorus]
More than a woman
More than a woman to me
More than a woman
More than a woman to me

[Verse 2]
Oh, now there are stories old and true
Of people so in love like you and me
And I can see myself
Let history repeat itself
Reflecting how I feel for you
Thinking ’bout those people then
I know that in a thousand years
I’d fall in love with you again

[Pre-Chorus]
This is the only way that we should fly
This is the only way to go
And if I lose your love, I know I would die
Oh, say you’ll always be my baby, we can make it shine
We can take forever, just a minute at a time

[Chorus]

References:
1. More Than a Woman (Bee Gees song) – Wikipedia

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Under The Red Sky (1990) – Bob Dylan

Posted on May 4, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Under the Red Sky is the title track of one of Bob Dylan’s most scorned albums. I admit it’s not high on my pecking order either, but it does contain some good songs, including today’s featured track. Dylan certainly raised the bar with the critically acclaimed Oh Mercy (1989), but this follow-up album was met with disappointment.

Dylan later echoed critics’ complaints, saying the recording felt rushed, due in part to his commitments with the Traveling Wilburys. Speaking of which – George Harrison contributes a sweet slide guitar part on today’s song, which you can hear at 2:09 in the studio version below.

Other notable contributors on the record included Jimmie Vaughan, Slash, Elton John, David Crosby, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Bruce Hornsby. It’s a star-studded line-up, though Dylan himself later suggested there may have been too many people involved.

Much of the criticism focused on the production, as well as songs that seem rooted in children’s nursery rhymes. The album is dedicated to “Gabby Goo Goo,” now widely believed to refer to Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan, his daughter with Carolyn Dennis born on January 31, 1986.

When I first heard the album in my mid-teens, apart from Born in Time, I didn’t care much for the other songs. But over time, my appreciation has grown for tracks like the title song, 2 x 2, Cat’s in the Well and Handy Dandy.

I enjoy the groove and texture of “Under the Red Sky” – it somehow matches the reddish, grainy feel of the album cover. It’s a pleasurable listen in its quaintness and charm, but don’t be fooled. It drifts through nursery rhyme themes into something more menacing – as if we’re now sitting under a warning sky. As the old mariner’s saying goes: “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

So it may sound like a simple children’s song, but it carries a quiet sense that the world isn’t always safe or clear. Its strange, almost nonsensical imagery gives it a timeless quality, like something older than when it was written.

Critic Clinton Heylin has called it an “important song,” noting that it has remained in Dylan’s live repertoire for years. I even caught a version of it online recently at last year’s Outlaw Music Festival, and it sounded good – driven by that jangly, saloon-style piano sound and a strong vocal delivery.

[Verse 1]
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky

[Verse 2]
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
One summer’s day he came passing by
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
And one day he came passing by

[Bridge]
Someday little girl, everything for you is gonna be new
Someday little girl, you’ll have a diamond as big as your shoe

[Verse 3]
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were baked in a pie

[Bridge]
This is the key to the kingdom and this is the town
This is the blind horse that leads you around

[Verse 4]
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
One day the man in the moon went home and the river went dry
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
The man in the moon went home and the river went dry

References:
1. Under The Red Sky – Wikipedia

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Van Diemen’s Land (1988) – U2

Posted on May 3, 2026 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

This short, meditative, hymn-like song from U2 never gets old. It sent chills down my spine when I first heard it, and it still does today. I also like how rare this kind of song is for U2 – a live-style performance led by the band’s guitarist, The Edge. It feels so distinct from anything else I had heard from them, and despite the group’s commercial fame, the piece sounds authentic and timeless. It’s great that they experimented with and explored traditional music in this way.

It’s a shame The Edge didn’t do more songs like this – his melancholic, mournful vocal delivery works beautifully here. The song is inspired by and loosely reflects the story of John Boyle O’Reilly, a Fenian poet connected to the Irish nationalist movement of the 19th century, which fought for Irish independence from Britain. The Edge reportedly got the idea after a trip to County Meath in Ireland, where he came across a monument to O’Reilly. U2 recorded the song during the Rattle and Hum sessions, and it appears in both the album and the film.

It tells of a O’Reilly, plight, being sent to the Australian island of Tasmania – once known as Van Diemen’s Land, named after Anthony van Diemen, a Dutch colonial governor. The name was later changed to Tasmania in 1856 in honor of the explorer Abel Tasman.

The convict claims he has been wrongly convicted and hopes that one day he will receive justice and earn an honest living. But for now, he is bound for a distant penal colony in the far southern reaches of the British Empire.

Port Arthur Tasmania was one of the most feared penal colonies in the entire British Empire. The system there relied heavily on strict discipline, and there is strong historical evidence that harsh physical punishment often hardened rather than reformed prisoners. Port Arthur was also considered extremely difficult to escape from, drawing later comparisons to places like Alcatraz.

The musical simplicity allows the story within the lyrics to take center stage, emphasizing the emotional weight of the narrative. U2’s willingness to step away from their standard rock sound and explore something more restrained and historical is admirable. My only criticism is how the song tapers off and ends with a brief, unrelated interview excerpt – it pulls you out of the mood the song so carefully builds.

For more background on the song and John Boyle O’Reilly, the Songfacts reference is a good place to start.

Hold me now, oh hold me now
‘Til this hour has gone around
And I’m gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen’s land
It’s a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice and not for gain
But the magistrate sent me away
Now kings will rule and the poor will toil
And tear their hands as they tear the soil
But a day will come in this dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest wage
Hold me now, oh hold me now
‘Til this hour has gone around
And I’m gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen’s land

References:
1. Van Diemen’s Land – Facebook
2. Van Diemen’s Land – Songfacts

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Cautious Man (1987) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on May 2, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

I’m always partial to a Bruce Springsteen love ballad, and Cautious Man is one I listened to a lot in my youth. Since undertaking this music library project, I’ve rediscovered many of his songs that had fallen through the cracks over the years – but really shouldn’t have. Cautious Man is one of them. In fact, as we enter the final stretch of the project, which began in 2019, there will be a lot of articles about recovered music from artists who have impacted me most – so I hope you’re a fan as well.

Bruce is known first and foremost as a rock ’n’ roll guy, and that makes sense, but it’s often his lesser-known, slower songs that get as much play from me as his bigger hits. My personal favourites – what I’d call his most underrated, quieter, and relistenable tracks – include Happy, Loose Change, County Fair, Beautiful Reward, With Every Wish & Nothing Man. Cautious Man nudges its way up there as well, so let’s take a look at it.

Cautious Man echoes the stripped-back storytelling and introspection of Nebraska, but unlike the stark tales of violence or bleak character studies on that record, this seems a quietly hopeful song about love and commitment. It contains some wonderful writing, such as:

On his right hand, Billy’d tattooed the word “love” and on his left hand was the word “fear”
And in which hand he held his fate was never clear

Cautious Man sounds like it’s going to be a sad song and reflecting the title itself – the song, teeters on a high wire and you wonder which way the performer will go. So like the man Billy – the song is also tentative and cautious in it’s approach and in how the story unfolds. It encapsulates the doubts and fears people can have, when it comes to the greatest conquest of all, love.

It’s tempting to think that, through patience and commitment, the hand marked “love” wins out in the end – that fear is finally pushed aside.

At their bedside, he brushed the hair from his wife’s face as the moon shone on her skin so white
Filling their room in the beauty of God’s fallen light

There are other interpretations of the song that see it as more unsettled and without clear resolution – as if the story simply stops midway (even mentioning a love affair?), rather than neatly tying itself together, as suggested in a reading from Houston Culture Map.

[Verse 1]
Bill Horton was a cautious man of the road
He walked lookin’ over his shoulder and remained faithful to its code
When something caught his eye, he’d measure his need
And then very carefully he’d proceed

[Verse 2]
Billy met a young girl in the early days of May
It was there in her arms, he let his cautiousness slip away
In their lovers’ twilight as the evening sky grew dim
He’d lay back in her arms and laugh at what had happened to him

[Verse 3]
On his right hand, Billy’d tattooed the word “love” and on his left hand was the word “fear”
And in which hand he held his fate was never clear
Come Indian summer, he took his young lover for his bride
And with his own hands built her a great house down by the riverside

[Verse 4]
Now Billy was an honest man, he wanted to do what was right
He worked hard to fill their lives with happy days and loving night
Alone on his knees in the darkness, for steadiness he’d pray
For he knew in a restless heart the seed of betrayal lay

[Verse 5]
One night Billy awoke from a terrible dream callin’ his wife’s name
She lay breathing beside him in a peaceful sleep a thousand miles away
He got dressed in the moonlight and down to the highway he strode
When he got there, he didn’t find nothing but road

[Verse 6]
Billy felt a coldness rise up inside him that he couldn’t name
Just as the words tattooed ‘cross his knuckles he knew would always remain
At their bedside, he brushed the hair from his wife’s face as the moon shone on her skin so white
Filling their room in the beauty of God’s fallen light

References:
1. Cautious Man – SongMeanings

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Til My Heart Stops (2025) – The Beths

Posted on May 1, 2026 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to presenting another song from this talented New Zealand indie rock band The Beths. I was just singing their praises the other day here. They’re proof there’s still plenty of good music coming out these days. A no-nonsense, quality band – much like the Canadian group Alvvays – they present themselves like regular people. In fact, they’ve cited Alvvays as one of their influences.

You can tell they love what they do. They simply make great music: relatable songs with sincere, unambiguous writing. By all accounts, they’re also a good live band and will be touring the U.S. over the next couple of months.

Today’s featured track, Til My Heart Stops, comes from their latest album Straight Line Was a Lie (2025). It’s a serene and gentle, yet bright song, and vocalist Elizabeth Stokes does a lovely job here – easing into it before letting it open up.

The music video is beautifully shot and reflects the song’s sense of longing – something as simple as riding endless circles around a basketball court, like a kid would do. I like the familiarity and homeliness of not just their music, but also their crafty videos, as you can see here and in another song I just love – Expert in a Dying Field.

Elizabeth had this to say about the song (via Apple Music):

‘It’s a very yearning song. I quite often feel like I push people away. It’s very easy to isolate yourself, especially if you’re feeling a bit weird and you can put walls up between you and other people: people that I love, people that I know well, people I wish I knew better. But there is this real desire to be a part of the world and be close with other people and to not have that. The euphoria I want to experience is there at the end of the song, but you have to fight to get to it‘.

The Beths formed at the University of Auckland in 2014, where the members studied jazz. Stokes has said she named the band after herself, inspired by the Gilmore Girls character Lorelai Gilmore naming her daughter after herself. They’ve since released four records. Recently, they performed the title track of Straight Line Was A Lie on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

I hope you enjoy Till My Heart Stops as much as I did. Thanks for reading.

[Verse 1]
I pull away like I’m used to, like I used to
Pointless game that we play, do we choose to? Yeah, we choose to
Built a wall to the sky made of glass I can see through
Are you dying to break it? ‘Cause I want you to
I want you to

[Chorus]
And I wanna ride my bike in the rain
I wanna fly my kite in a hurricane
I wanna float out the top
I wanna dance till I drop
I wanna love till my heart stops
Till my heart stops

[Verse 2]
High in a tower looking down at the whole view
Left my body behind, does it miss me? Doesn’t seem to
Should I stay where I am? Where it’s safe here without you
Woke up nose to the earth where I fell to
Had to see you

[Chorus]
I wanna ride my bike in the rain (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna fly my kite in a hurricane (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna float out the top (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna dance till I drop
I wanna love till my heart stops (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna ride my bike in the rain (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
Then I want you to take me back home again (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna scream your name (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
I wanna know what I’ve got
I wanna love till my heart stops (In the rain, in the rain, in the rain)
Till my heart stops

[Bridge]
(Stay, stay, stay)
Bright sun in your eyes
Beckoning outside
Hey

References:
1. The Beths – Wikipedia

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Valentine’s Day (2013) – David Bowie

Posted on April 30, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

If there was any one artist whose music catalogue I wish I had explored more deeply, it would be David Bowie. I was a latecomer to appreciating his music and recognising him as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He still features here quite prominently, and that continues today with this cool song – Valentine’s Day. This 2013 track comes from his penultimate album The Next Day (image inset), released just a few years before his death from liver cancer in 2016 at the age of 69.

I mentioned “cool,” but it surprised me to read (according to Wikipedia) that the lyrics are written from the perspective of someone with the mindset of a school shooter. Reading it again with that in mind, I can see it more clearly. Even so, the music still sounds “cool.” Bowie manages to approach the theme of gun violence without describing violence directly – instead focusing on uneasy, human emotions. That’s pretty clever. I also like how the music offsets the dark subject matter, with a boppy, almost Traveling Wilburys-like “Sha la la, Sha la la” thrown in for contrast.

I like the video too. Bowie plays that little guitar thing you’d expect to see in ‘Toys “R” Us’ – but, of course, it still sounds great. You could almost apply that John Lennon quote to Bowie as well: “I’m an artist. You give me a f***ing tuba, I’ll get you something out of it.” The instrument he uses is a Hohner G2T guitar, a compact headless model originally produced in the mid-to-late 1980s, mainly for international markets.

Wikipedia:

The Next Day is the twenty-fifth studio album by the English musician and was his first studio release in ten years, as he had retreated from public view after undergoing a procedure to treat a blocked heart artery in 2004.

The lead single Where Are We Now? and announcement of the album were posted online on 8 January 2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday, surprising fans and media who had assumed he had retired from music. 

The Next Day topped charts worldwide and debuted at number one and two on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200, respectively.

[Verse 1]
Valentine told me who’s to go
Feelings he’s treasured most of all
The teachers and the football star

[Chorus]
It’s in his tiny face
It’s in his scrawny hand
Valentine told me so
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day
The rhythm of the crowd
Teddy and Judy down
Valentine sees it all
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day

[Verse 2]
Valentine told me how it feels
If all the world were under his heels
Or stumbling through the mall

[Chorus]
It’s in his tiny face
It’s in his scrawny hand
Valentine knows it all
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day

[Outro]
(Yeah)
Valentine Valentine
(Yeah) (Woo) (Woo)
Valentine Valentine
It’s in his scrawny hand
It’s in his icy heart
It’s happening today
Valentine Valentine
It’s in his scrawny hands
It’s in his icy heart
It’s happening today
Valentine Valentine

References:
1. Valentine’s Day (song) – Wikipedia

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Vacation (1982) – The Go-Go’s

Posted on April 29, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Turn back the clock with a little bit of bubblegum 80s pop from the American all-female rock band The Go-Go’s. Vacation was one of their biggest hit singles, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard, and it was the lead single and title track from their 1982 album (inset). It contains that buoyant, untainted 80s charm I still like to listen to now and again.

It’s hard not to enjoy the irrepressibly 80s video below, with its summer and beach theme running throughout – complete with some very fake-looking waterskiing close-ups. They’re even seen blowing bubbles -who doesn’t enjoy that? But don’t let that sweet, cutesy innocence fool you. Around this time, several members of the band were struggling with drug use, and tensions were beginning to rise over creative differences.

During the one-day, $50,000 shoot for the video, Jane Wiedlin recalled, “After seven or eight hours we sent out someone to sneak in booze.” Kathy Valentine said they drank “lots of champagne.” Wiedlin later added that the effects are obvious in the final close-ups: “If you look at our eyes, we’re all so drunk. We didn’t even try to make it look like we were really waterskiing.” (Wikipedia)

The band broke up in 1985, but have reunited on several occasions since, including touring in recent years. On October 30, 2021, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by longtime fan Drew Barrymore.

You might also remember lead vocalist Belinda Carlisle, who went on to have a successful solo career with hits like “Leave a Light On,” “Summer Rain,” and “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.”

[Verse 1]
Can’t seem to get my mind off of you
Back here at home, there’s nothin’ to do, ooh
Now that I’m away, I wish I’d stayed
Tomorrow’s a day of mine that you won’t be in

[Verse 2]
When you looked at me, I should have run
But I thought it was just for fun
I see I was wrong, and I’m not so strong
I should have known, I know that time would tell

[Pre-Chorus]
A week without you
Thought I’d forget
Two weeks without you
And I still haven’t gotten over you yet

[Chorus]
Vacation, all I ever wanted
Vacation, had to get away
Vacation, meant to be spent alone
Vacation, all I ever wanted
Vacation, had to get away
Vacation, meant to be spent alone

References:
1. Vacation (The Go-Go’s song) – Wikipedia

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Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, K. 364 Mov. 1 (1779) – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Posted on April 28, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Returning again to the Maestro, this time at 23 years of age, with this light and airy concertante symphony written for both violin and viola. Many will recognise the passage at (4:08), even if they haven’t heard the whole movement. Despite its clarity and grace, there are many moments of regal delight and quiet fanfare. It comprises so many emotions, so many unexpected turns and surprises.

As you can see in the image, there are only small physical differences between the viola and violin, with the viola just a few inches longer. There are also differences in tuning, sound, and musical role within an ensemble. The viola is heavier, uses thicker strings, and requires a slightly heavier bow, which all contribute to its darker, warmer tone.

It is said that when this piece premiered, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart specifically wanted to play his favourite string instrument – the viola – while Leopold Mozart performed the violin part. You can see how fond he is of the viola giving it an equal voice rather than a supporting one. You can watch a live version here by the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra to see how the violin and viola interact in performance.

Listening to this again this morning lifted my spirits. I felt more relaxed, lighter somehow. It feels like a privilege to hear something made so long ago that still sounds so fresh, almost as if it’s in a constant state of renewal.

Portrait by Rosa Hagenauer [de], c. 1775 (Wikipedia)

By the time of its composition in 1779, Mozart had returned to Salzburg after his travels through Mannheim and Paris. He had recently experienced the loss of his mother, and although this movement is generally bright, there are moments – such as around (8:35) – that carry a sense of sadness and melancholy, as if something deeper lies just beneath the surface.

Her death occurred in June 1778 while she was accompanying her son Wolfgang on a job-hunting tour, and she was buried the following day in the cemetery of the Church of Saint-Eustache. Wolfgang was deeply shocked by his mother’s death. Several letters that Wolfgang wrote to his father from Paris, which are still extant, deal with this tragic event.

Comparing the portrait of Anna Maria Walburga Mozart with the portraits of Mozart I’ve seen, the resemblance is uncanny.

References:
1. Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (Mozart) – Wikipedia
2. The best recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola – Gramofone

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