High (2004) – James Blunt

High is the third song from James to feature here at the Music Library Project, but the first from his mega-huge hit album Back to Bedlam. What entails the ‘Music Library Project’?
Amazingly this song received a mixed reception from music critics and failed to make an impact upon release in the UK. It was re-released a year later after the release of his second single You’re Beautiful and killed it becoming a top 20 hit worldwide. Suffer in your jocks critics!

Beautiful dawn
Lights up the shore for me
There is nothing else in the world
I’d rather wake up and see with you

Beautiful dawn
I’m just chasing time again
Thought I would die a lonely man
In endless night

But now I’m high
Running wild among all the stars above
Sometimes it’s hard to believe you remember me


James Blunt was an ex military office like yours truly, only successful. Not only could he lead an Army unit, but sing a wicked ballad and attain international stardom. He’s only sold over 20 million albums. I’m not envious in the little bit. I am still his senior by 37 days so naturally he would have to look up to me, despite his having enough money to feed a small country.

During Blunt’s Kosovo assignment, he had brought along his guitar strapped to the outside of his tank and would sometimes perform for locals and troops. It was while on duty there that he wrote the song No Bravery. Blunt extended his military service in November 2000, and was posted to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London, as a member of the Queen’s Guard.

During the recording of Back to Bedlam he lodged with Carrie Fisher, (Luke Skywalker’s sister and ‘your Highness‘). Fisher contributed in naming the album, and Blunt recorded the song Goodbye My Lover in her bathroom.

References:
1. High (James Blunt song) – wikipedia
2. James Blunt – wikipedia

Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 21) – The Christianity Edition

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

The following three Ankidroid additions were added last night while I was listening to this intriguing discussion between Lex Fridmen and Catholic Bishop Robert Barron.

Prosperity Gospel

The Prosperity Gospel (Theology) is the belief by some Protestant Christians that financial blessing and physical well being are always the will of God for them. That faith, positive speech and donations to religious causes will increase one’s material health and is a sign of divine favour.

The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune Christian symbolic meaning and the John Lennon song related to it:

Bishop Robert Barron remonstrated the Prosperity Gospel, and he used the Wheel of Fortune symbol to represent his contention.

The Wheel is a device seen in a lot of Gothic Cathedrals. At the top is a King, the bottom a Pauper, at one side is a king who has lost his crown and the other a man climbing a ladder. In the middle is a picture of Christ. The Wheel represents Life.

Sometime’s you’re up and sometimes you’re down. But try to detach yourself from the rim of the wheel. Where you should live is at the centre, where Christ is. Christ is Love and the eternity of it.

The Bishop remarks that John Lennon rode this wheel like crazy, but at the end of his life he recorded the song ‘Watching the Wheels‘..

I’m just sitting here
Watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll

No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Watching the wheels go round and round – This is straight out of the medieval mystics. The Latin word for it is ‘Indifference‘. Detached from success, failure, more success or less success.

The Holy Trinity

What does The Holy Trinity in Christianity represent?

God the Father (The Lover), the Son (The Beloved) and The Holy Spirit (The Love Between Them).

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Posted in Reflections

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye (1967) – Leonard Cohen

I’ve lost count how many songs by Leonard have appeared here and I don’t see that abating, but this is one of the few early ones presented so far. I do not consider it a top-tier output like the accompanying So Long, Marianne seen above, but Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye is a soothing meditative piece containing gorgeous poetry. It seems to be about the imperfect goodbye that’s common with broken relationships.
This song comes from his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen.  It was first released in November 1967, in a version by Judy Collins on her album Wildflowers and was covered in 1969 by Roberta Flack on her debut album First Take

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But now it’s come to distances and both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

Cohen wrote the song when staying at the Penn Terminal Hotel on 34th Street in New York City in 1966. He wrote: ‘The room is too hot. I can’t open the windows. I am in the midst of a bitter quarrel with a blonde woman. The song is half-written in pencil but it protects us as we manoeuvre, each of us, for unconditional victory. I am in the wrong room. I am with the wrong woman‘.

Less successful in the US than in Europe, Songs of Leonard Cohen peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, spending nearly a year and a half on it. It was more of a sleeper hit in the US where it achieved gold status in 1969. Originally Coen was admired as a Poet and novelist, but always had an inclination for music. His intention was to become a Country songwriter in Nashville, but he got caught up in NYC’s folk-scene. He came to the attention of record producer John Hammond who signed Cohen to Columbia Records.

References:
1. Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye – wikipedia
2. Songs of Leonard Cohen – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

18/07 – 24/07/22 – Lynyrd Skynyrd, Supernova Explosion & How Black Lives Truly Matter

news on the march

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

Turn It Up! My years with Lynyrd Skynyrd…by Ron Eckerman
Blog article by Max at PowerPop

Good Blogger friend Max recently informed me he is taking a well deserved month long break from his blog to tend to work and home projects after posting 1,112 straight days! Regarding today’s featured article I commented it was one of the best I’ve read by a professional or amateur aficionado of music. It had everything. I feel fortunate to have read it.

This is not an autobiography of the band… it is an account of their mid to late-70s tours. The book was written by an insider (the road manager) book from 1974 to the 1977 plane crash. Lynyrd Skynyrd was a wild bunch who was ruled by lead singer Ronnie Van Zant with an iron fist. It was partly about babysitting a bunch of up-and-coming rock stars and yes…very entertaining. These guys learned from the best… they had opened for The Who on the Quadrophenia tour in 1973. Keith Moon showed them the path to destruction in hotels across the globe. They took it to a new level though…not only fighting with people who annoyed them…they fought each other. Contrary to popular belief…most of them were well-read and intelligent men but with a wild side. (Read entire blog article here)

What Causes A Supernova Explosion?
Video presentation at Dr Brian Keating

A supernova is the second biggest bang in the universe, after the Big Bang. These objects are visible across billions of light-years and have been observed by humans for hundreds of years. This video explains the different types of supernovas and how they’re used to measure everything from the origin of iron in your blood, to the age, expansion rate, and acceleration of the universe.

Along the way, I explain the different types of supernovas and how we use them to determine the relationship between an object’s distance and its redshift, and eventually to measure the Hubble constant and the acceleration of the Universe, resulting in the Nobel Prize to past guests Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt (and hopefully to Saul Perlmutter someday too!) (View video presentation here)

How Black Lives Truly Matter – Magatte Wade and Dr Jordan B Peterson
Video interview at Jordan P Peterson

I had originally dedicated a Stop the Press article to this magnificent interview, but decided to move it here to News on the March. I couldn’t recommend this more highly.

Magatte Wade is a serial entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and visionary business leader with a passion for creating positive change in Africa. She is the founder and CEO of SkinIsSkin.com, “the lip balm with a mission,” and is dedicated to reducing racial discrimination while creating jobs and prosperity in her home country of Senegal.

Magatte joins Dr Peterson to discuss her emigration from the third world, and how this influenced her unmitigated belief in capitalism and the free market. (View video interview here)

news on the march the end

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Posted in Music, News, politics, Reading, Science

Hey Louise (1980) – Neil Diamond

I was going to feature his ending song America from the movie The Jazz Singer which I reviewed here, but since it already appeared in that article I will skip right on to another grandiose song from the movie soundtrack – Hey Louise. Neil Diamond is certainly a glitzy entertainer who also took part in The Band’s send off concert – The Last Waltz singing Dry Your Eyes.

His songs are still immensely popular in particular Sweet Caroline which gets played often at large sporting events to cajole the crowd. We listened to his music frequently in my youth. I haven’t heard much from him besides his greatest hits and The Jazz Singer soundtrack.
This soundtrack was an enormous success unlike the movie with the critics. It was Neil Diamond’s biggest selling album in the United States, selling over 5 million copies reaching #3 on the pop albums chart.
Interesting, Hey Louise didn’t comprise one of the three songs from the album which became top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Love on the Rocks, Hello Again and America reaching attained Nos. 2, 6, and 8 respectively.

Hey, my Louise
If I take you home
Will you make me plead?
My sweet amour
If I come to close, will you close the door?

Oh ma cherie, do you know my name?
I remember yours
And I know what you need
What you need my Louise

Sadly, I read here that 81 year old Diamond announced in 2021 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease which is affecting his speech and movement- the disease is currently incurable.
Diamond has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.

Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family. All four of his grandparents were immigrants, from Poland on his father’s side and Russia on his mother’s. He was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, along with classmate Barbra Streisand. Diamond recalled they were not close friends at the time: “We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes.” Later on in this music library project a song duet by Barbra and Neil will feature called You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.

What entails the ‘Music Library Project’?

References:
1. The Jazz Singer soundtrack – wikipedia
2. Neil Diamond – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) (1979) – Neil Young

Neil Young songs have been coming here thick and fast, but I’m reluctant to admit I haven’t got that many in my collection. Like David Bowie (the previous artist to feature here), I wish I had delved more into Young’s discography. Today’s song Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) is from Young’s 1979 live album Live Rust. Yeh, you know the tour; where his roadies dressed as Jawas (see image inset). Trippy huh?

Combined with its acoustic counterpart My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue), the song bookends Young’s 1979 album. The song was influenced by the punk rock zeitgeist of the late 1970s, in particular by Young’s collaborations with the American art punk band Devo, and what he viewed as his own growing irrelevance. The lyrics, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” were widely quoted by his peers and by critics. The song later appeared on Young’s Greatest Hits in 2004.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.


Out of the blue
and into the black
You pay for this,
but they give you that

Young used the phrase “rust never sleeps” as a concept for his tour with Crazy Horse to avoid artistic complacency and try more progressive, theatrical approaches to performing live. The album won Rolling Stone magazine’s 1979 critics poll for Album of the Year and peaked at Number 8 on the US and Australian Billboard charts. I really like this heavier rock sound from Neil and how his strained voice interfaces with it.

References:
1. Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Heroes (1977) – David Bowie

‘Heroes’ Tour 1978

This is my favourite song by Bowie although I am an admirer of many including Ziggy Stardust which features currently in the music audio on my page. I am by no means a connoisseur of his music, but this song was the first that I loved from him. I think I first heard it in an old music documentary in the early 90’s and it floored me.
Heroes co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno is the title track from his twelfth album released in 1977. Interestingly, the backing track was recorded before the lyrics were written, and in recording the vocal; three microphones were placed at different distances from Bowie and would open when he sang loud enough.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes, just for one day
We can be us just for one day


I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the wall (By the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads (Over our heads)
And we kissed as though nothing could fall (Nothing could fall)

Over time the song has grown substantially in reputation and remained a staple throughout Bowie’s concert tours and live performances also being widely used in television and films. The majority of the tracks on his Heroes album were composed on the spot, but the the lyrics had not been written. John Lennon commented in 1980 that when making his album Double Fantasy, his ambition was to “do something as good as “Heroes”.

References:
1. Heroes (David Bowie song) – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

11/07 – 17/07/22 – James Webb Telescope, Human Intelligence & Museum of Almora

news on the march

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

How Far Back is the James Webb able to See? with Dr Klaus Pontopiddan
Audio interview at Event Horizon

Project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope Dr. Klaus Pontoppidan explains the science revealed in the first full-color images released from the JWST. (Listen to audio interview here)

Richard Haiier: IQ Tests, Human Intelligence, and Group Differences – Lex Fridmen podcast 302
Video podcast at Lex Fridmen

Richard Haier is a psychologist specializing in the science of human intelligence. (View video interview here)

A Short Visit to the Museum of Almora; An Introduction to the Life and Struggle of Govind Ballabh Pant
Blog article by Narayan Kaudinya at Road to Nara

Even though I wanted to make this city trip very short, an intention kept growing in me to visit something old. I started asking whomsoever I could If there is any museum in Almora? Or at least a gallery, any old building dedicated to the region, on rich history and crafts that this blessed state carried. But strangely I met no one who seemed to have any idea about it.
The Taxi guy wanted to extort 3x money from me for the tariff when I took a stern stance like I was one of the locals. He dropped me three Kilometres outside the city. I decided to walk.  (Read entire artcle here)

news on the march the end

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Posted in News, Reading, Science

Great Sporting Moments 5 – Cameron Smith wins The Open at St Andrews

“What a week. I’m going to fall apart here I know,” a tearful Smith said after lifting the trophy…
“I had a lot of support out there, especially the Aussie guys. You kept me going out there. This one’s for Aus.”

Cameron wasn’t the only one going to fall apart. I have been watching Cameron compete at the highest level of golf for years now and I was always floored by his golfing prowess, but he hadn’t won a Major tournament until about an hour ago. Cameron Smith produced a final round for the ages at St Andrews. For a fellow Australian to win at St Andrews (where my Great-Grandfather worked before he migrated to Australia) and hold the most cherished trophy in all of golf – The Claret Jug after being 4 shots back at the start of the round – well, I’m besotted with felicity.

It is the best round of golf I have seen and by a consummate professional. How Cameron withstood that pressure as he was about to drive on the 17th hole – arguably one of the hardest par 4 holes in the Mayors and then manufactured a putt of pure finesse to curve around the most infamous bunker of all golf was the stuff of sporting legend. It really was. I am so elated that my Colombo-Australiano kids bore witness to that amongst other stupendous plays in the final holes.

Regarding who Cameron Smith is personally..well there is so little information about him apart from what I could find on the PGA tour web site: He is a Brisbane native and has aspirations to open a coffee shop when he retires and he is passionate about tinkering with his cars when he is at home.
(Edited: 14/4/2025) Below is the 150th Open Official Film. I like how someone commented in a previous video:
The scraggly stache (and sometimes chin hair) + the mullet makes him look like he should be on the groundskeeping staff and not hoisting PGA trophies. And that made me root for him all the more, especially since he’s gotten so close to winning other majors before.

It was very timely that Mariah Carey’s classic Hero preludes this one.

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Posted in Sport and Adventure

Hero (1993) – Mariah Carey

I have strong memories of this song. In 1994, I was in Sydney on rest with friends at the Coogee Bay Hotel. At the time, fires were burning along the coastal areas of New South Wales and I remember being in contact with my family about their plight in Western Sydney.


The same day I recall hearing this song, I met by chance a fellow Navy employee Tania while playing pool. After us having a few under the belt I saw ten’s of local firefighters entering the Hotel with this song playing on the loud speakers. It was a sight to behold although perhaps a little blurry. After the event Tania and I roamed Coogee Beach.

Whenever I hear this song it propels me to this event cheering on the firefighters; their faces smudged with charcoal entering the Hotel. The scene couldn’t have been written better or to more rapturous fan-fare. At the time I had a celebrity crush on Maria until I saw her in a documentary; and if memory serves me correct; throwing food in her house and laughing like a hyena. Despite that I can’t help but adore this song.

There’s a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don’t have to be afraid
Of what you are
There’s an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away


And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on

This song has an interesting backstory. Carey wrote the song, but gave it to Gloria Estefan who sang it for a film of the same name. Carey was encouraged to keep the song and she wrote more personal lyrics thereafter. It is regarded as one of her more personal and inspirational ballads.
Carey’s vocal performance on this always blew me away and it was around the same time I heard that both Maria and Roy Orbison had the biggest vocal ranges of all contemporary singers; although this story could be apocryphal.

In an interview with Fred Bronson he discussed the process in which they had completed the rough version of the song:

I went to New York and we were in the studio and came to a break. I was sitting at the piano and told Mariah about this movie. Within two hours, we had this incredible seed for this song, ‘Hero’. It was never meant for Mariah to sing. In her mind, we were writing a song for Gloria Estefan for this movie. And we went into an area that Mariah didn’t really go into-in her words, it was a little bit too schmaltzy or too ballady or too old-fashioned as far as melody and lyrics.

If you are interested for more information about the song I point you to the reference below because I have read few which have more content about them including lawsuits and what-have-you.

Reference:
1. Hero (Mariah Carey Song) – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

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