23 – Master Time, China & Lullabies

Posted on March 13, 2023 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Master time, I entreat you
give me more time
to steady my breath, to calm the beating of my heart
as you weave your way between heaven and earth
give me the time to admire the bright yellow brilliance
of yet another sunrise
and later, gaze at the orange globe as it descends upon a cooling earth.
Oh master time, slow down your hurry
grant me more time to admire the big bold moon in all its mystery
for my head is spinning
as you rock my world a little bit more.
Bestow me with your favour, as my feet have not touched the ground.
Calm down your pace, shower me with more moments
before I disappear without leaving
the faintest trace – I implore you!

(Read more poetry from Sharon at Sharon Writer’s Tidbits)

The Secret of China’s Cold War Strategy – Mao’s Cold War – Timeline
Video documentary at Timeline – World History

I wish teenagers and young adults learnt more of the history about Mao Dezong and Stalin. As despicable was Hitler’s genocide of the Jews and those opposed to him; it doesn’t compare in the slightest with what happened under Stalin and Mao. Where did the educators of 20th Century history go in our educational institutions?

Mao led as founder and chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) starting with the taking of Beijing in 1949. In 1958 he launched a program aimed to rapidly transform China’s economy from agrarian to industrial. It was called the ‘Great Leap forward‘. Agricultural land was distributed from private ownership to collective plots, and it caused violent class struggle and an unprecedented famine leading to the death of 45 million. (View video documentary here)

Christina Perri – You Mean the Whole Wide World to Me
Song at Christina Perri

It wouldn’t be a week in my blog-space without a Christina Perri song.

Studio video for “you mean the whole wide world to me” off the new album lullabies and sing-a-longs album, songs for Carmella.

Tagged with: China, Cold War, lullabies, Mao, Master Time, Sharon, you mean the whole wide world to me
Posted in Reading

Learning to Fly (1991) – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Posted on March 12, 2023 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

I remember in the weeks following Tom Petty’s sudden departure from this great play we call life; I heard Bob Dylan paying tribute to Petty singing today’s featured song Learning to Fly. This song follows the same basic 4 chord structure throughout, but it is deceptively meaningful. If Bob hadn’t covered it just this once on October 21, 2017 (setlist) in Broomfield, Colorado, this song most likely would have flown under my radar.
Petty and Bob were close companions since they toured together in the 80’s and were part of the wildly successful, but short-lived supergroup – The Traveling Wilburys.

Learning to Fly was written in 1991 by Tom Petty and his writing partner Jeff Lynne – another member of the Wilburys. The song was released on The Heartbreakers eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open. Learning to Fly became a top hit for Petty and the Heartbreakers, topping the US Album Rock Tracks chart and peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

[Verse 3]
Well, some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I’ve started out for God knows where
I guess I’ll know when I get there

[Chorus]
I’m learning to fly around the clouds
But what goes up (Learning to fly)
Must come down

This is the second Tom Petty song to feature here, after his Free Fallin‘ classic. It’s interesting to read in the comments below how people have reflected on Learning to Fly and / or applied it to their lives. Some pilots recalled how this song throws them back to when they literally learn’t to fly. Others have mentioned how the song’s meaning seems appropriate to learning to live life sober. Whatever the significance of the song, it is evident presents feelings of nostalgia or more directly to current circumstances people find themselves.

References:
1. Learning to Fly (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Bob Dylan, learning to fly, tom petty and the heartbreakers
Posted in Music

Leaps and Bounds (1987) – Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls

Posted on March 11, 2023 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

On October 1st, 2019 I wrote an article to celebrate my beloved Richmond Tigers win of the AFL Premiership 2019. I quoted today’s song ‘Leaps and Bounds‘ to express my exhilaration. Going to the footy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with my best friend John and other companions was my favourite pastime as a young adult. It was not just about seeing the footy, but also about the occasions surrounding the event – including the walk-through Melbourne to the game with the many thousands of supporters, all like me bouncing up and down in anticipation. The Paul Kelly song Leaps and Bounds seamlessly captures the fever felt by the average fan going to the footy.

[Verse 1]
I’m high on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG
And way up on high, the clock on the silo says eleven degrees

[Chorus]
I remember
I remember

[Verse 2]
I’m breathing today, the month of May, all the burning leaves
I’m not hearing a sound, my feet don’t even touch the ground

[Verse 3]
I’m high on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG
I’m stumbling around, my feet don’t even touch the ground

[Outro]
I remember, I remember
I remember, I remember
I go leaps and bounds, I go leaps and bounds

In 1997, Kelly was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame; at the ceremony Crowded House paid tribute to Kelly and performed Leaps and Bounds. The song originated in 1978 when Paul Kelly and Chris Langman “started an exuberant song about nothing in particular called ‘Leaps and Bounds’ but didn’t finish it“. By 1981 Langman had left to work as an assistant director for Crawford Productions and Kelly rediscovered a cassette tape of the song, he continued to work on it with Langman.

According to Kelly, Steve Connolly of the Coloured Girls “wrote the riff” and the group filmed a music video atop the Punt Road silos. The video as seen below observed “The grand themes of Paul Kelly’s work are all there – Melbourne, football, transcendence and memory… [he] is a detail man – the temperature, the location, foliage“.

Below the official music video is Paul Kelly performing Leaps and Bounds at the 2019 Australian Football Grand Final which I saw with my family here in Colombia live on TV.

I migrated to Colombia in 2009 and having watched all of this season’s games here in Colombia with the ‘watchafl’ subscription and the preliminary game and grand final live with my kids. I still feel over the moon about Richmond’s recent supremacy in the competition and that grandiose win we just all witnessed. To quote Paul Kelly ‘I go Leaps and Bounds’ and to share it with my kids who are relatively new to Tiger territory is something I won’t ever forget.

References:
1. Leaps and Bounds (song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Australian football, leaps and bounds, melbourne, Richmond tigers
Posted in Music

I Won’t Forget

Posted on March 10, 2023 by observationblogger — 14 Comments

I Won’t Forget

I won’t forget how it deceived me

I won’t forget that it’s poison

I won’t forget how bad I felt

I won’t forget how each day was excruciatingly the same

I won’t forget how I let it all slip

I won’t forget when people walk away they do so forever

I won’t forget how much better I am without it

I won’t forget the deeper sleep and new morning

I won’t forget to cherish the new path

I won’t forget how easy it is to deviate

I won’t forget to read this daily

I won’t forget how my children rescued me

I won’t forget the courage you instilled, and

I won’t forget your amazing grace.

Tagged with: Alcoholism, family, logos
Posted in Reflections

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (2004) – Iris DeMent

Posted on March 9, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

I first heard this entrancing song at the end credits of the Coen Brothers film True Grit. The True Grit soundtrack is magnificent and other compositions from the film will feature here.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was released on DeMent’s 4th album Lifeline; her first album in 8 years. It contains many traditional Protestant gospel songs DeMent describes as finding comfort in playing and singing.

In her liner notes, DeMent recounts how her mother sang these songs in times of stress looking straight at the sky, “as if she were talking to someone.” Her mother’s singing voice was an inspiration and great influence.

[Verse 1]
What a fellowship, what a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms

[Chorus]
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms

[Verse 2]
Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
Oh how bright the path grows from day to day
Leaning on the everlasting arms

This is the second song to feature here from Iris DeMent after Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day. I remarked how her sound reminds me in texture and voice of Australia’s country artist Kasey Chambers.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms is a hymn published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman. Showalter said that he received letters from two of his former pupils saying that their wives had died. When writing letters of consolation, Showalter was inspired by the phrase in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms“.

The Carter Family performed the hymn during their time on Mexican Radio Stations in the late 1930s and early 1940s. One version can be found on YouTube and it’s well worth a listen.

References:
1. Iris DeMent – Wikipedia
2. Leaning on Everlasting Arms – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Iris Dement, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, the carter family, true grit
Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 35) – Gilgamesh, Second World War & White Dwarf Stars

Posted on March 8, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

The World’s Oldest Poem / Text

Gilgamesh is a 2100 BC Babylonian poem written in Akkadian. It is from one of the most ancient civilisations, located in modern Iraq. The poem tells of Gilgamesh, the King in Uruk who sought immortality.

It was translated in 1912. Half a million clay tablets were excavated from Mesopotamia (including the flood story). They are still being interpreted by Assyriologists at the British museum.

Which 4 companies were turned to, to build US military technology, supplies and armament in World War II (in response to Pearl Habor)?

Kaiser-built Liberty ships being outfitted, 1942

General Motors – Armoury (also vehicles and aircraft) – GM ranked first among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
Chrysler – Tanks – Chrysler built M3 Grant tanks, used by the British to fight the Germans and Italians in North Africa, and later the superior Sherman tank as one of the primary military suppliers for the Allied war effort.
Ford Motors – Aviation – FM is best known for its production of 6,790 B-24 Bombers at the US government financed and owned plant at Willow Run, MI.
Henry Kaiser – Shipbuilding – Kaiser fought Hitler far more directly with what he is most famous for: the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California.

White Dwarf Stars

White Dwarf Stars are what stars like the sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.
The nuclear fusion in the core of the sun (atoms colliding) is the hydrogen nuclei combining together to cause helium.
It expels most of its outer material in a series of pulses throwing off much of their mass in the form of a giant shell of gas, creating a planetary nebula. Only the hot core remains.
The sun is mid-way through its life cycle. It will last another 5 billion years.
Ultimately, our sun swells to a huge size, its radius twice the distance between the Earth to the sun. This stage is called the red giant phase.

In 2013, the shattered remains of a water-rich minor planet were found orbiting the white dwarf star GD 61, about 170 light-years from Earth.

Tagged with: Chrysler, Ford Motors, General Motors, Gilgamesh, Henry Kaiser, Second World War, sun, white dwarf stars
Posted in Reading

Lay Me Down (2000) – Badfinger

Posted on March 7, 2023 by observationblogger — 10 Comments

I became familiar with this band from Max’s articles at Powerpop. I really like listening to this song and it should have been a big hit. It’s just a great pop-rock tune.
I am in wonderment at the part of the song between 0:45 – 1:15 and they repeat it at 2:04.
To me the vocals are strangely similar to Paul McCartney.
Max wrote a stellar article on this one, so I’ll turn it over to him:

Tagged with: Badfinger, lay me down, powerpop
Posted in Music

Lay Me Down (2001) – Glen Hansard (The Frames)

Posted on March 3, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Glen Hansard is no stranger to this blog. I saw him (The Frames) open for Bob Dylan in Melbourne August the 17th, 2007 (see set list) and on the February 24, 2008 Hansard and Markéta Irglová won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly which you can read about here. Today’s song Lay Me Down is by Irish band The Frames based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums.

Explain the way I’m thinking now
I, I will return to you
What I have taken long before
I, I will return again
When it gets dark and day is done

And lay me down
In the hollowed ground
Down by your side I will stay
So lay me down

The name The Frames arose from Hansard’s habit of fixing bicycles of his friends. The large number of bicycle frames lying around his house led neighbours to dub it the “house with the frames”. In a 2001 interview, Hansard said, “I worked in a bicycle shop for a little while, but the name came from … my back garden was so full of frames, my house became known as The Frames house, much to my mother’s distaste, she hated it‘.

Glen Hansard tells the darkly humorous story of Lay Me Down in the video below:

It turns out it’s actually cheaper to buy a grave…if you have a body and you are ready to go, it’s much cheaper. If you don’t have a body, it costs a lot more, because you’ve got to kind of book it….So I asked her to be buried beside me and she freaked out to be honest.

Reference:
1. The Frames – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Glen Hansard, lay me down, the frames
Posted in Music

Joe Biden AI Voice Speech

Posted on March 2, 2023 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

I found the following Audio manipulated video (political satire) while watching the latest Joe Rogan and Russell Brand podcast. Rogan warns how AI editing could convert narratives where the public might be unable to discern what is real from unreal. Rogan used an example of US President Biden at 40:00, but I couldn’t find his video. I did however find this one below.

Joe Rogan said:

I think they are also operating with very crude tools that will soon change with AI. I think AI will completely shift the narrative.. then you are going to be dealing with disinformation on a vast scale. Impossible to decipher.

Video description:

Joe Biden AI VOICE using ElevenLabs to make a funny State of the Union speech address. Joe Biden is called liar by Marjorie Taylor Greene but its changed to make it seem like she wants to go on a date with Joe Biden.

Tagged with: AI, Joe biden, Voice
Posted in Movies and TV, politics

Lawyers, Guns and Money (1978) – Warren Zevon

Posted on March 2, 2023 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

This is the second song to appear here from the underrated Warren Zevon. I doubt I have heard another song like Lawyers, Guns and Money. I hold it in such high regard, and I never grow tired of listening to it. It is a tongue-in-cheek tale of a young American man’s adventures in Cold War-era Latin America. Some of the lines are indelible like Send lawyers, guns, and money, The sh/t has hit the fan. It is the closing track on his 1978 album Excitable Boy. Bob Dylan’s son Jakob Dylan (The Wallflowers) did a version of this song on the Dave Letterman show.

[Intro]
(One, two, three, four)

[Verse 1]
I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians too?

[Verse 2]
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Dad, get me out of this
Ha!

I always mistook the line ‘Dad, get me out of this’ for ‘They’ll, get me out of this‘.
Excitable Boy includes the single Werewolves of London, which reached No. 21 and remained in the American Top 40 for six weeks. The album brought Zevon to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. It was considered macabrely humorous by some critics. More music will come from Warren Zevon.

Reference:
1. Lawyers, Guns and Money – Wikipedia
2. Excitable Boy – Wikipedia

Tagged with: excitable boy, Lawyers Guns and Money, warren Zevon
Posted in Music

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