I Still Pray (2002) – Kasey Chambers

Posted on September 8, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

I Still Pray is the 4th song to appear here from Kasey Chambers and the 3rd from her 2002 album Barricades & Brickwalls. This is a powerful religious ballad which closes the album and departs from the rest of this album’s themes and music-style. I always liked Christian music, but this country-music angle (akin to Johnny Cash worship songs) is distinct from the style I normally listen to. I find I Still Pray a very penetrative song and so touching.

I still cry for Baby Jesus
I still pray when I’m alone
And when I’m lost he’ll come to find me
Because he died to save my soul

When I can’t walk he’s there to carry
When I speak he hears my words
When I wake and I have nothing
He sends me Gold, Francencence and Mer

In the version below Kasey sings the song with Paul Kelly. He is somewhat of a legend in the realm of Australian Music – Folklore. He wrote a song called Leaps and Bounds which will feature here later. That nostalgic song is about the impact Australian football and the famous Melbourne stadium – MCG had on his formative years. This more than 30-year-old song-video was filmed on one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne and has magnificent panoramic shots of Melbourne’s central district.

Kasey said in the interview below: ‘Getting to have Paul Kelly sing on ‘I Still Pray’ is still one of the absolute highlights of my life. I’m still his biggest fan and still so grateful every time I get to work with Paul. But particularly that song, it was a song that I had written and meant a lot to me, and then getting to hear Paul sing with me on it was just one of my favourite moments of my whole career‘.

References:
1. Kasey Chambers reflects on the enormous Barricades & Brickwalls, 20 years on – ABC Double J

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Posted in Music

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine (1967) – Bob Dylan

Posted on September 8, 2022 by observationblogger — 12 Comments

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine is the second song to appear here from Dylan’s underrated 1967 record John Wesley Harding. It has been covered by many artists, including Joan Baez on her all-Dylan album Any Day Now, as well as Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix at one point intended to cover this song, but felt it was too personal to Dylan and instead covered a different song from the album, All Along the Watchtower which was reviewed here Sep 2019. The pensive tone of John Wesley Harding and today’s featured song was such a departure from Dylan’s punk-rocker ’66 phase. The album uses spare, unobtrusive musical accompaniment and reflective delivery.

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive as you or me
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery
With a blanket underneath his arm
And a coat of solid gold
Searching for the very souls
Whom already have been sold

“Arise, arise,” he cried so loud
With a voice without restraint
“Come out, ye gifted kings and queens
And hear my sad complaint
No martyr is among ye now
Whom you can call your own
But go on your way accordingly
But know you’re not alone”

It took me some time to appreciate the John Wesley Harding record. Like a lot of Dylan’s music, it can be an acquired taste. I really enjoy the soft-rollicking acoustics of I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine. The following is mainly taken from the Wikipedia article below:

The opening couplet of the song paraphrases the song Joe Hill, which begins with the lines “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night“. Joe Hill was a folk song written as a tribute to the union organizer Joe Hill, who was viewed by supporters as a martyr after he was convicted of a motiveless murder based on weak evidence. The reference is ironic, since the song seems to deny the existence of modern martyrs to lead humanity towards salvation.

The St. Augustine in the title has often been linked to St. Augustine of Hippo, although St. Augustine of Hippo was not martyred, but died shortly before the Vandal sack of Hippo. He was, however, a philosopher who wrote about evil and guilt, he defined the concept of original sin and therefore mankind’s ultimate guilt and could have viewed himself as being martyred in the sense of being killed by his own sins.

References:
1. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine – wikipedia

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I Need My Girl (2013) – The National

Posted on September 7, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

I Need My Girl is the first song to appear in the Music Library Project from the American alternative rock band The National. Someone wrote in the comments below, ‘I don’t have an ex-girlfriend but listening to this song makes me miss her‘. It’s a desolate modern ballad which I always enjoy listening to. The second verse below raises me a smile, but the song in general is wistful and meditative. Berninger the singer said, “It’s just a song about missing your wife, girlfriend, whoever.” I Need My Girl was originally recorded by the band in 2013 for their sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me, where it appears as the tenth track.

I am good, I am grounded
Davy says that I look taller
But I can’t get my head around it
I keep feeling smaller and smaller
I need my girl
I need my girl

Remember when you lost your shit and
Drove the car into the garden?
You got out and said “I’m sorry”
To the vines and no one saw it
I need my girl
I need my girl

The kicker in the song is the monotonous looping of the guitar. According to Songfacts: Aaron Dessner had to experiment with guitar sketches in his garage studio after the birth of his daughter. He told NME: “I almost didn’t send this to Matt (Berninger, vocals) as it was something I did quickly – it’s simple, but he loves that kind of thing. There’s something very heartfelt about it.
Berningar explained ‘I know I was the 45% of then‘: “It was, I think, about not totally being there for somebody. It’s probably about my wife, and I was gone so much‘.

The band, The National formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1999. Leaving behind their day jobs, the National signed with Beggars Banquet Records and released their third studio album, Alligator (2005), to widespread critical acclaim. More will come from the National.

References:
1. I Need My Girl – Wikipedia
2. The National – Wikipedia

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The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 25) – Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo, Turangawaewae & Nicolaus Copernicus

Posted on September 7, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

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

Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo

‘Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo‘ is a mantra / technique practiced at the commencement of sessions of Kundalini Yoga. I wrote about my yogi Nirvair Khaisa (pictured above) in two other articles here. The mantra begins seated as per above, but with the palms together pressed gently against the chest. The participant inhales deeply through the nose and then upon the exhale participant recites slowly ‘ONG NAMO GURU DEV NAMO’. This process is repeated two more times.

What does ONG NAMO GURU DEV NAMO mean? Ong Namo means to call on our highest consciousness (the Logos, if you like). Guru means teacher, literally one who brings us from darkness to light. Dev refers to subtle or divine. Guru Dev Namo calls on the the divine teacher to guide us.

As Nirvair explains in the video below, the first time the mantra is spoken the learner should feel as though they are a singular / small point in the Universe. The second time they should expand themselves out and be as big as they can and the third time, they should bring these two mental-images together – the outer and inner. You can watch Nirvair Khaisa explain the process in this video.

Turangawaewae

Tūrangawaewae Marae is located in the town of Ngāruawāhia in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the headquarters for the Māori King Movement and the official residence and reception centre of the head of the Kīngitanga – the current Māori King, Tuheitia Paki.

I learnt this Maori concept Tūrangawaewae from my friend Bruce Goodman who resides in New Zealand. Turanga represents ‘standing place’. Waewae is ‘feet’. Turangawaewae is often translated as a place to stand but symbolically represents places we feel especially empowered or connected to.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)

A mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the Universe that placed the Sun and not the Earth as the centre of the Universe. It was a major event in the history of science and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Interestingly, the Catholic opposition to it commenced seventy-three years later, when it was occasioned by Galileo.

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Posted in Reading, Reflections

Nasty Girl (2020) – Nathy Peluso

Posted on September 6, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

I cannot begin to tell you the heat this song brought on me from individual circles when I circulated it. The video below is one of the best produced I have seen. The song has over 350 million views since it was released in 2020. That’s for good reason since it’s pretty darn good. Ordinarily, I don’t like to listen Rap or Hip-hop, but Nathy’s bold delivery, unique expressions and the music-video production are exemplary. This is one of the best songs I have heard released in recent years. The lyrics can be perceived as very offensive because they are. This is street-music Latina style, and it is excellent.

Nathy was born as Natalia Beatriz Dora Peluso and is an Argentinian singer (of Italian Ancestry), songwriter, dancer. Peluso worked in Spain and is distinguished for her theatrical personality onstage, and her fusion of hip hop, soul, and world music. Peluso’s popularity expanded after collaborating with Bizarrap on “Nasty Girl” as seen below. At the age of 16, she began to perform at hotels and restaurants in Torrevieja, mainly performing classic songs by Frank Sinatra or Nina Simone.

Another single which will later feature here from her is Sana Sana. What I always find so appealing of this song are Nathy’s expression, individuality and delivery. Also, the song morphs into different styles and message. It’s also funny as hell. The ending part ‘Nasty Girl‘ is one for the ages:

I’m a-, I’m a-, I’m a nasty girl, fantastic
This ass is natural or not plastic
What I touch I do bombastic
All’ that’ gile’ I chewed it…
(Loose English Translation)

I regularly come back to this song….It doesn’t surprise me Nathy has a theatrical background. She is immense on the delivery of the song; like just about nobody I have ever seen. This song is ‘so good’, and I don’t even like the genre. I feel privileged to be able to see it.

Reference:
1. Nathy Peluso – wikipedia

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I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (Live 1966) – Bob Dylan

Posted on September 6, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

This song was originally released in 1964 on his fourth studio album Another Side of Bob Dylan, but the version below is from the legendary Manchester Free Trade Hall 1966 concert. This bootleg records one of the most momentous occasions in contemporary music history. Akin to the second half featuring the Band – I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) is chaotically spectacular. The concert culminates in the famous ‘Judas‘ accusation by a fan just prior to Dylan launching into Like a Rolling Stone. I wrote recently about Edward Norton’s comments of Dylan’s impact on the music scene in his youth in which he highlights the magnitude of this concert moment.

I can’t understand, she let go of my hand
And left me here facing the wall
I’d sure like to know why she’d go
But I can’t get close to her at all

Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime
She said she would never forget
But now morning’s clear, it’s like I ain’t here
She acts like we never met

This is the second song to appear here from the concert, but I imagine all the songs from the second half will feature here. This was Dylan simply redefining the music playing field as it were, but many folk purists and critics weren’t ready for it. After Bob went electric, he morphed his older numbers into this punk-rock sound, and it is why Edward Norton said words to the effect that ‘Dylan was the original punk-rocker‘. Dylan’s general demeanor, aggressive approach to rock and just the loudness of it is cognizant with a ‘punk-rock’ brand.

This music may be off-putting to some especially if they are not accustomed to it. Dylan repetitively wails his harmonica like a man possessed and howls in pain as Garth Hudson’s organ swirls. It’s just Dylan venting musically about being rejected. I think initially my ears found ‘I Don’t Believe You‘ a little bit jarring, but the more I hear it and inculcate its significance, the more I am fascinated. This is simply my favourite live record by anyone. Dylan played today’s song 363 times live between 1964 and 2013.

References:
1. I Don’t Believe You – Wikipedia

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Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 (1791) – Overture – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Posted on September 5, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments
Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of Die Zauberflöte, shown performing in the role of Papageno. The object on his back is a birdcage; see below.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) K.620 Overture is the second piece to appear hear from Mozart’s famous Opera. This is so good. It premiered just 2 months prior to the composer’s death. A synopsis of the Opera can be found in my previous post – Queen of the Night Aria. The Opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder’s theatrical troupe.

Schikaneder was a self-proclaimed singer-dancer-playwright-impresario-etcetera who had become the manager of the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, a venue for entertaining the common folks with less-than highbrow acts – a bit like Broadway shows mixed with vaudeville antics. This is depicted towards the end of the movie Amadeus. His Kinship with Mozart apart from their mutual feelings of being snubbed by the Viennese elite, was also owed to their Masonic brotherhood, a secret society of enlightenment that was viewed in Mozart’s day as hostile to the Roman Catholic Church and even the State.  It’s no surprise, then, to find that the plot of The Magic Flute, though clothed in fairy tales, is an allegorical story pitting the Masons against the Church, or perhaps against the late Austrian Empress Maria Theresa who condemned the secret society.

Mozart conducted the Opera when it premiered in 1791 and the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozart’s sister-in-law Josepha Hofer.

On the reception of the opera, Mozart scholar Maynard Solomon wrote: ‘It was immediately evident that Mozart and Schikaneder had achieved a great success, the opera drawing immense crowds and reaching hundreds of performances during the 1790s‘

Wolfgang wrote the following to his father as shown in the video below:

‘You know of my greatest longing – to write Operas. Do not forget my wish to write Operas! I am envious of every man who composes one‘

References:
1. The Magic Flute : Wikipedia
2. Mozart overture to the magic flute die zauberflote-k-620 – Music Program Notes

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I Can’t Break it to My Heart (2007) – Delta Goodrum

Posted on September 3, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

The Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrum has been mentioned here before in a song Affirmation by the Australian group Savage Garden. Today’s song I Can’t Break It to My Heart is the fourth single from Delta Goodrem’s third studio album Delta. The video below is from her special A Night with Delta Goodrem and you could be forgiven for thinking you are listening to Celine Dion from the start. Goodrem signed to Sony Music at the age of 15. Her debut album, Innocent Eyes (2003), topped the ARIA Albums Chart for 29 non-consecutive weeks. It is one of the highest-selling Australian albums.

If it’s okay
I’ll leave the bed light on
And place your water glass where it belongs
And if alright
I’ll lie awake at night
Pretending i’m curled up at your side

See i’m circling these patterns
Living out of memories
I’m still a long way from accepting it
That there’s just no you and me

But if I still believe you love me
Maybe i’ll survive
So i tell myself you’re coming home
Like you’ve done a million times
And if it’s alright
I’ll still be loving you
’cause i can’t break it to my heart

I Can’t Break It to My Heart is from her third number-one album Delta released in 2007 and the single peaked at number thirteen. I have no idea how I came across this song, but I liked it from the get-go. Delta was the Pop Diva of Australian music in the early 2000’s. When Delta was suffering from cancer making her second album in 2004 and seen during the ARIA awards when David Hayes sung her song; her plight was a national concern.

On 16 August 2020, Goodrem released a six-minute video detailing the back story behind her song Paralyzed. In the video, she revealed that after having her salivary gland removed, she faced serious complications that led to the paralysis of a nerve in her tongue, which left her having to re-learn to speak. In 2022, Goodrem was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to the not-for-profit sector, and to the performing arts“.

References:
1. Delta Goodrem – wikipedia

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Breaker Morant (1980) – Bruce Beresford (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on September 2, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

This Australian war drama film concerns the 1902 court martial of lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton—one of the first war crime prosecutions in British military history. Anyone who has seen this film won’t forget the closing lines and level of final defiance while facing death: ‘Shoot straight, you bastards – don’t make a mess of it‘. This quote is iconic in Australian film folklore. The film won ten Australian Film Institute awards and was nominated for the 1980 Academy Awards although it wan’t that successful commercially.

The movie in ‘feel’ and context is similar to another one of Australia’s most cherished movies Gallipoli released just after Breaker Morant, which was compared here with the recent effort – 1917.

IMDB Storyline:
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.

It is seemingly an overtly patriotic Australian film which denounces British tyranny and rule over Australia, but the director had words to say about that. In a 1999 interview Beresford explained that Breaker Morant “never pretended for a moment” that the defendants were not guilty as charged. He had intended the film to explore how wartime atrocities can be “committed by people who appear to be quite normal“.

In the film the British military is determined to kill the defendants. According to the Australian historians Margaret Carnegie and Frank Shields, Morant and Handcock rejected an offer of immunity from prosecution in return for turning king’s evidence. Military prosecutors allegedly hoped to use them as witnesses against BVC Major Robert Lenehan, who was believed to have issued orders to take no prisoners. But in my meagre estimation, that’s a harsh penalty when you have good reasons to know they were just following orders and not going to inform on a senior figure.

References:
1. Breaker Morant (film) – Wikipedia

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Posted in Movies and TV

I Believe in You (1979) – Bob Dylan

Posted on September 1, 2022 by observationblogger — 4 Comments
Bob Dylan San Francisco, Nov 16 1979

Today’s song I Believe in You and Precious Angel are my favourite songs from Dylan’s conversion to Christianity record Slow Train Coming. I remember in my second year on Exped at Sea listening to this song ad nauseam. You would think I had grown tired of it over the years after the hundreds of listens. I even tried Dylanholics Anonymous. Nope, didn’t work. Each new listen sounds like it’s been reborn.

I think what impressed back then and still does now was how such an artist with the world at his feet and millions and millions of dollars has the humility, openness to express himself as vulnerably as he does here and with such conviction. That reminds me of the story of Office Buble picking Dylan up for vagrancy in her police car in New Jersey.

They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I’ll make it through
And they, they look at me and frown
They’d like to drive me from this town
They don’t want me around
Because I believe in you

Slow Train Coming is the 19th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 20, 1979. I too became a born-again Christian at about the same age as Dylan and I can resonate with a lot of the material here and the proximate Christian albums which were scorned by nearly all and sundry. The Christian albums are now seen in a more favourable light because of the context and sheer quality of some of the songs. I think today’s song will be one of Dylan’s crowning outputs from this period. The single from the record Gotta Serve Somebody became his first hit in three years, winning Dylan the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. I remember Nick Cave professing he got into music because of that song.

Someone wrote about ‘I Believe in You‘ in the YT comments below: I’ll never forget Bob on Saturday Night Live singing this song. That was perfect evangelism in the music world. I began writing songs because of that performance.

References:
1. Slow Train Coming – wikipedia

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