This is the second song presented here from Cave’s Ghosteen. The first article Bright Horses continues to mount up the views. It’s by far the most viewed article here on Observation Blogger and I am very humbled by that given the subject-matter. This album was written in the wake of the death of Nick Cave’s son and is one of the highest critically acclaimed of 2019. Cave’s music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence:
If I could sail a galleon ship Long lonely rider cross the sky Seek out mysteries while you sleep And treasures money cannot buy
For you know I see you everywhere A servant girl, an empress My galleon ship would will fly and fall Fall and fly and fly and fall Deep into your loveliness
Cave’s more recent musical work features ambient and electronic elements, as well as increasingly abstract lyrics. The tones on this album Ghosteen really get beneath my skin. There are fabulous moments that work effectively on an emotional level, and despite the use of instrumental minimalism, the explosion of emotions that Ghosteen is capable of, is clear.
This little cyclical melody of Galleon Ship is powerful, almost gospel and Ghosteen Speaks. There are two main versions of the song. One, the original from the album and the other a deconstructed live piano version of Nick singing below. Cave said…’I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage...’
Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.
Unitarianism
First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake
Unitarianism is often associated with a non-trinitarian Christian theological movement that believes the God in Christianity is one singular entity. It is close to the monotheistic understandings of God in Judaism and the concept of the oneness of God in Islam. It might be considered as part of Protestantism today, although some exclude it due to its non-trinitarian nature.
Unitarianism is also associated with ‘Unitarianism Universalism’ which is a liberal religion characterized by a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning” and derive insight from all major world religions.
Megalomaniac
A Megalomaniac is a pathological egotist with delusions of grandeur and an obsession with power. The clinical definition is that of a narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissism is most simply defined as self-love, but when it is at the exclusion of all others it is no longer considered healthy or normal. An example of a Megalomaniac in modern history is Adolf Hitler. Being born into a “superior race” also wasn’t enough for the mentally ill Hitler. Instead, he wanted to wipe out all other races.
Antiquarian
An Antiquarian is a person stuck in the past or someone stuck with antiquities. It is also used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts. Its focus is on the empirical evidence of the past, and is perhaps best encapsulated in the motto adopted by the 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, “We speak from facts, not theory.”
Today the term “antiquarian” is often used in a pejorative sense, to refer to an excessively narrow focus on factual historical trivia, to the exclusion of a sense of historical context or process.
The piece was written in a Swiss resort on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Tchaikovsky had gone to recover from the depression brought on by his marriage to Antonina Miliukova. In June 1877, Tchaikovsky proposed marriage, in order (according to one theory) to please his family and put to rest any social rumors regarding his sexual orientation. He described Miliukova as “… a woman with whom I am not the least in love.” A permanent separation followed after only six weeks of them being together. But Antonina had been in a great period of happiness – She wrote, “I would look at him surreptitiously, so he didn’t notice, and admire him enormously, especially during morning tea. So handsome, with kindly eyes which melted my heart, he breathed such freshness into my life! I would just sit there looking at him, and think ‘Thank God he belongs to me and no-one else! Now he is my husband, no-one can take him away from me …‘” She later said, ‘We were separated by constant whispering to Pyotr Ilyich that family life would kill his talent. At first, he paid no attention to this talk, but then he began somewhat to listen to it more and more attentively…. To lose his talent was for him the most dreadful thing of all. He began to believe their slanders and became dull and gloomy.“
At the time of writing, Tchaikovsky was working on his Piano Sonata in G major but finding it heavy going. He was joined there by his composition pupil, the violinist Iosif Kotek (pictured left with Tchaikovsky). He too played works for violin and piano together, including a violin-and-piano arrangement of Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. This work may have been the catalyst for the composition of the concerto.
Tchaikovsky made swift, steady progress on the concerto, as by this point in his rest cure he had regained his inspiration, and the work was completed within a month despite the middle movement getting a complete rewrite (a version of the original movement was preserved as the first of the three pieces for violin and piano, Souvenir d’un lieu cher).Since Tchaikovsky was not a violinist, he sought the advice of Kotek on the completion of the solo part. Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Anatoly on the day he completed the new slow movement. “It goes without saying that I would have been able to do nothing without him. He plays it marvelously.“
Tchaikovsky wanted to dedicate the concerto to Losif Kotek, but felt constrained by the gossip this would undoubtedly cause about the true nature of his relationship with the younger man. (They were almost certainly lovers at one point, and Tchaikovsky was always at pains to disguise his homosexuality from the general public.)In 1881, he broke with Kotek after the latter refused to play the Violin Concerto, believing it was poorly received and would do damage to his budding career. However, he did dedicate to Kotek the Valse-Scherzo for violin and orchestra, written in 1877, on its publication in 1878.
Critical reactions were mixed on its first performance in Vienna. Taken as a whole, the work turned out to be one of Tchaikovsky’s most creative and least pretentious works, as well as a measure of how well he was able briefly to detach himself from his personal problems.
On March 6th, I presented a special edition of News on the March focusing on Stephen Kotkins thoughts about the Ukraine conflict and Russian history. In conjunction with that engrossing interview I wanted to highlight another exceptional interview by UnHerd with Samo Burja’s reflections on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Samo Burja poses a unique perspective of how this conflict has iniciated a new game outside of the global order.
It is an excellent podcast for anyone who cares about freedom and the impact geopolitics has on it. It appears all of a sudden Samo is absolutely everywhere… Understandably since his analyses are concise, informative, honest, and unbiased.
‘We no longer control the rules of the game. The game is now outside the global order; is now outside of the control of either United States, China and of course Russia. Their is an anarchic state at play.’ (Watch entire video podcast here)
My beloved Richmond Tigers began their 2022 Season last Thursday night (Australian time) against the Carlton Blues. These two teams have traditionally played in the first round every year. My Tigers had won every year since 2013 and it was expected with a healthy Richmond side they would remain undefeated this year as well. In October, 2019 I wrote an article about Richmond’s grand-final victory and my personal connection with the club. Richmond had won 3 premierships in 4 seasons between 2017 and 2020 after a lengthy spell of remaining largely uncompetitive since their 1980 premiership.
I was especially excited to view my Tigers begin their 2022 campaign since the games had been mainly unattended due to the Pandemic and now the general public was allowed back-in. To see a bustling supportership at the MCG really does it for me since I have such fond memories seeing my Tigers play there. The Tigers began the game very well breaking out to a 20 point lead at first-quarter time and it remained that way at 3-Quarter time, however the Carlton Blues launched a successful comeback after a remarkably undisciplined Tiger’s display in the last quarter. It does appear that our ageing star-studded group are slowing down and becoming remnants of their former selves. Still there remains 21 games left in the season, however we will have our work cut-out for us next week against the Great Western Sydney Giants who possess a highly talented midfield group. (Watch highlights here)
This is different territory, but this rap song from Brazil was sent to me in Australia to help me pronounce the ‘R’ in Latin Spanish even though this song is sung in Portuguese. The Latin pronunciation is with a palpitating tongue, which for years I couldn’t achieve and even now my ‘R”s sound sound like a Gringo ‘R’. When Latinos vocalise, their tongues are very fluid and soft unlike native English-speaking.
I came to reflect on this song Rap Das Armas more for nostalgic reasons and I do like listening to this version presented below in the article:
Rap Das Armas (Rap of Weapons) was used in the soundtrack of the Brasilian film Elite Squad – In 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits. The film soon became the highest-grossing film of 2007 in Brazil. The film version of the song as interpreted by Cidinho and Doca became very popular as a result.
This song made an international hit when I was first introduced to it in 2009. The duo who sing it are two prominent proibidão rappers in Brazil, proibidão which refers to songs prohibited airplay by order of the Brazilian courts due to alleged crime apology. The song is considered as part of the funk carioca movement that started with the release of the album Funk Brasil in 1989 produced by DJ Marlboro, a compilation which is considered the milestone of the funk movement.
The song started as a praise to Rio’s beauties, but eventually became a protest on urban violence. Although the text called for peace and was against violence, it was still prohibited for mentioning names of a great number of weapons. Leonardo said he picked the names of the weapons in his day job as a newsstand attendant. Despite its popularity, “Rap das Armas” was never played on the Brazilian radio due to its controversial nature and it was abruptly removed from the Elite Squad soundtrack album two weeks after its release, because it allegedly praises drug consumption, and defends the drug dealers and criminal factions side in Rio de Janeiro’s war on crime.
I don’t know which version appears below to defend or scrutinise, but it’s the version I received to help me roll my ‘Rrrrrs’ and that’s that. Please ignore the images in the video below.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is one of the greatest contemporary music records ever made. Funeral for a Friend introduces the record in no uncertain terms and blasts the ears with an organ like synthesizer tune (performed on an ARP synthesizer by Engineer David Hentschel) and it converts into a musical track, no words just a mini-opus. Then at 5:50 Elton starts to sing. Outside of critic and fan-base circles, this introductory record piece is scantily known, but it’s a keeper.
In the documentary, Classic Albums: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John said the two songs were not written as one piece, but fit together since “Funeral for a Friend” ends in the key of A, and “Love Lies Bleeding” opens in A, and the two were played as one elongated piece when recorded.
Rolling Stone readers picked this song as number three in a list of “deep cuts” by Elton John, songs that only a true fan would know, even though it has received significant exposure over the years. Interestingly the song had a strong influence on the Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusion albums and, in particular, the song “November Rain“.
The roses in the window box Have tilted to one side Everything about this house Was born to grow and die
Oh it doesn’t seem a year ago To this very day You said I’m sorry honey If I don’t change the pace I can’t face another day
And love lies bleeding in my hand Oh it kills me to think of you with another man I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan But my guitar couldn’t hold you So I split the band Love lies bleeding in my hands
Today’s Wednesday literature excerpt continues with Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules For Life book. For more information about the book and references to Jordan in my blog, you can read the first extract from his book here. In today’s piece Jordan makes a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky who has also featured prominently here in Wedenesday’s literature excerpt. Dostoevsky is one of Peterson’s most influential literature figures and one of the greatest writers of all time.
Today’s extract comes from Peterson’s rule No 3 – ‘Make Friends with people who want the best for you‘. In the section below – Rescuing the Damned – he hones in on those individuals who are unreachable and depraved in their attempts to rescue someone because they are fuelled by vanity and narcissism. He associates this with one story in Russian author’s Dostoevsky’s bitter classic, Notes From Underground. I can attest that I have done this all too often in my life, which is Choosing friends so I can rescue them. I was perhaps caught in this highest virtue of the desire to help, but was I truly desiring to help and did they truly desire to be helped? Perhaps it wasn’t a conscious effort on my part, but if I dive deep into the murky waters of my soul and reassess what drove me towards these people and to eventually abandon them, it wasn’t because I was a good person, that’s for certain.
As Peterson wrote in another section in 12 Rules and entirely relevant to the above discussion:
‘You must be receptive to that which you do not want to hear. When you decide to learn about your faults, so that they can rectified, you open a line of communication with the source of all revelatory thought. Maybe that’s the same thing as consulting your conscience. Maybe that’s the same thing, in some manner, as a discussion with God.’
I forewarn you the following excerpt is dark, but I found it one of the most challenging and timely-reads; at least for me. Writings from Dostoevsky and Peterson have forced me to hold a mirror up to my soul and see the shameful results of what truly lurks beneath. Here is one such example:
Excerpt from the Chapter – Rescuing the Damned:
Notes From Underground begins with the famous lines: ‘ I am a sick man…I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased.’ It is the confession of a miserable, arrogant sojourner in the underworld of chaos and despair. He analyses himself mercilessly, but only pays in the manner for a hundred sins, despite committing a thousand. Then imagining himself redeemed, the underground man commits the worst transgression of the lot. He offers aid to a genuinely unfortunate person. Liza, a woman on the desperate nineteenth- century road to prostitution. He invites her for a visit, promisng to set her life back on the proper course. While waiting for her to appear, his fantasies spin increasingly messianic:
One day passed, however, another and another; she did not come and I began to grow calmer. I felt particularly bold and cheerful after nine o’clock, I even sometimes began dreaming, and rather sweetly: I, for instance, became the salvation of Liza, simply through her coming to me, and my talking to her….I develop her, educate her. I notice that she loves me, loves me passionately. I pretend not to understand (I don’t know however, why I pretend, just for effect, perhaps). At last all the confusion, transfigured, trembling and sobbing, she flings herself at my feet and says that I am her saviour, and that she loves me better than anything in the world.
Nothing but the narcissism of the underground man is nourished by such fantasies. Liza herself is demolished by them. The salvation he offers to her demands far more in the way of commitment and maturity than the underground man is willing or able to offer. He simply does not have the character to see it through – something he quickly realizes, and equally quickly rationalizes. Liza eventually arrives at his shabby apartment, hoping desperately for a way out, staking everything she has on the visit. She tells the underground man that she wants to leave her current life. His response?
‘Why have you come to me, tell me that, please?’ I began, gasping for breath and regardless of logical connection in my words. I longed to have it all out at once, at one burst; I did not even trouble how to begin. ‘Why have you come? Answer, answer,’ I cried, hardly knowing what I was doing. ‘I’ll tell you, my good girl, why you have come. You’ve come because I talked sentimental stuff to you then. So now you are soft as butter and longing for fine sentiments again. So you may as well know that I was laughing at you then. And I am laughing at you now. Why are you shuddering? Yes, I was laughing at you! I had been insulted just before, at dinner, by the fellows who came that evening before me. I came to you, meaning to thrash one of them, an officer; but I didn’t succeed, I didn’t find him; I had to avenge the insult on someone to get back my own again; you turned up, I vented my spleen on you and laughed at you. I had been humiliated, so I wanted to humiliate; I had been treated like a rag, so I wanted to show my power…That’s what it was, and you imagined I had come there on purpose to save you. Yes? You imagined that? You imagined that?’ I knew that she would perhaps be muddled and not take it all in exactly, but I knew too, that she would grasp the gist of it, very well indeed. And so, indeed, she did. She turned white as a handkerchief, tried to say something, and her lips worked painfully; but she sank on a chair as though she had been felled by an axe. And all the time afterwards she listened to me with her lips parted and her eyes wide open, shuddering with awful terror. The cynicism, the cynicism of my words overwhelmed her…
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 14: David Gray performs on stage at The Roundhouse on September 14, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Andy Sheppard/Redferns)
Fugitive released in 2009, is the third song to appear here from British singer-songwriter David Gray. I was introduced to his music by a friend on a road trip to Hanging Rock in Victoria, Australia – not long before I came to Colombia. I like the repetitive – stompy piano chords in this, as well as Gray’s usual gritty voice. It is the first single of his eighth album Draw The Line.
Gray stated in an interview that the title and lyrics of the track were inspired by an image he had of Saddam Hussein being pulled out of his spider hole, but he also said the song was “about hiding from life, from yourself. It’s saying don’t forsake it all because there’s something keeping you upright and keeping you walking down the street.”
Is the answer none of the above Crouched in a whole like a mud-streaked fugitive And everyday a different version of Pourin’ it away like a water through a sieve
Hey better realize my friend Love in the end now you can’t take it well Gotta live
This single failed to crack the top 100 in the UK within 2 weeks after its release and only entered the Swiss charts at 84 charting for only one week. Gray recorded the album while unsigned to a record label in his own studio – The Church Studios since he had parted with long time collaborator Craig McClune. Gray told the Irish Times, “It’s the end of one thing and the start of another. Because there was a chapter and it’s ended and now there’s a new one. But also it’s like, ‘don’t cross this line!’ It’s confrontational, which is intentional. That’s how I feel.”
Gray was born in Cheshire, England, but his family moved to Wales where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business.“I had an amazing time growing up there … My imagination could run wild … It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living.” After hanging in folk-rock circles in the 1990’s, his first two albums achieved no commercial success. It wasn’t until his release of White Ladder in 2000 that brought him critical and commercial success.
Maajid Nawaz is a former Islamist turned counter-extremism activist, author of multiple books, and public speaker. I had seen Maajid on Sam Harris’ podcast before, but I was struck by his take on the current political-world climate in a recent Rogan podcast. I would recommend watching the entire presentation if you are unfamiliar with Maajid’s personal-history, but his comments about Chinese-Rule (watch from 2:49:00 in video) aligned so closely with my ‘Opinion Piece’ on December 26, 2021 – ‘We are now governed under Chinese-Rule‘ in particular how the World Economic Forum initiative The Great Reset has infiltrated leaders of Government and Multinationals. Below I will forward quote-excerpts from Maajid about this subject:
‘I believe our elite have come under the undue influence of Chinese Intelligence agencies….MI-5 (See BBC article 13th January, 2021) have warned about this…. (Regarding COVID policies) – Michael Singer who has written an extensive book on this tracing step by step..these influence operations; the way the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) have been encouraging a draconian response to COVID and all of the technocracy that will arise in the form of Check-point Charlie society and central banking digital currencies….with the agenda coming from other non-state actors such as the World Economic Forum and their teams penetrating cabinets across the world as Klaus Schwabb said…’
Their are some super interests here that exist above the nation-state working to define the future in a certain direction and that is to make sure that decentralisation doesn’t happen. The mother of centralisation is the CCP. So we at the crossroads; we can work towards decentralisation and people-power, local Governments, community, family and separation of powers or we move in the CCP direction…What we should be worried about is the idealogical country. Idealogies pedal soft-power and they influence minds with their agenda and they influence narratives. We in the West are not attuned with Idealogical warfare. ‘(Watch entire video podcast here)
I don’t have a Netflix account, but my dear friend left her account on my Smart TV. I was browsing a documentary to watch and I came across 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. This is the story of Nepalese mountaineer Nimsdai Purja who embarked on a seemingly impossible quest to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months. My kids and I were captivated by the cinematogrpahy, story and characters. I couldn’t recommend it more highly to those inspired by seemingly impossible human feats. Kudos to Netflix who produced Nims story when Hollywood and the big studios never had interest.
Coincidently, Nims was recently interviewed by Joe Rogan on his podcast which I also enjoyed seeing. He served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS). There are tough cookies in the world, but I have seen few if any, that are as animated, tenacious, fit and resilient as Nims Purja. (Watch trailer here)
I recently saw an interview with Jimmy Carr on The Jordan Peterson podcast called ‘Carr on Comedy‘. I’m afraid to admit I hadn’t heard of this comedian before, so I looked him up and saw his show – Making People Laugh performed in Glasgow. I was impressed to say the least despite having quite picky tastes about comedy. JBP podcast states: Jimmy Carr is an award-winning comedian, author, and TV host. Carr recently came under fire for the career-enders subsection in His Dark Material, a Netflix special that’s deemed “deeply offensive” or “faithful to its title,” depending on who you ask. Carr’s latest book, Before & Laughter, is part memoir, part life advice, and mostly funny. …..(Watch concert video here)
Who can forget when Jerry Maguire thought he’d secured the NFL’s biggest signing and he’s searching a channel with music matching his elation and he stumbles on today’s track by Tom Petty Free Fallin‘. See the scene here. I had heard Free Fallin‘ years before I saw it used in Jerry Maguire, but it’s masterclass how Cameron Crowe (director) fuses music with film.
She’s a good girl, loves her mama Loves Jesus and America, too She’s a good girl, crazy ’bout Elvis Loves horses and her boyfriend, too
And it’s a long day livin’ in Reseda There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard And I’m a bad boy, ’cause I don’t even miss her I’m a bad boy for breakin’ her heart
And I’m free, free fallin’ Yeah I’m free, free fallin’
I was a fan of Petty since listening to him in the Travelling Wilburys whose music has featured here plenty of times already. I was always impressed how Tom Petty music seems to get somewhere to the core of Americana-rock. There’s probably no better example of that than Free Fallin‘. Jeff Lyne also one of the Wilburys and former E.L.O. leadsinger was Petty’s co-writer for the record Full Moon Fever and backing vocal and played bass guitar.
Free Fallin is one of Petty’s most famous tracks as well as his highest- and longest-charting. Let’s not forget his other great Americana hits – Learning to Fly and I Won’t Back Down.
In a 2006 interview, Petty said he knew he wanted to be in a band the moment he saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. “The minute I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show—and it’s true of thousands of guys—there was the way out. There was the way to do it. You get your friends and you’re a self-contained unit. And you make the music. And it looked like so much fun. It was something I identified with. I had never been hugely into sports“ In 2017 Petty died of an accidental drug overdose one week after the end of the Heartbreakers’ 40th Anniversary Tour.
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