Ruslan and Lyudmila (Overture) 1842 – Mikhail Glinka

Posted on June 12, 2025 by observationblogger — 12 Comments

Glinka composing *Ruslan and Lyudmila*, by Ilya Repin

The Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila bursts forth as a rousing, vibrant ensemble that lifted me into a jovial and animated headspace this morning. The frenetic shimmer of the violins evoked the image of a ballroom filled with dancers spinning wildly, yet somehow in perfect harmony. It’s a piece both exhilarating and electric.
Beyond its immediate energy, Ruslan and Lyudmila stands as a landmark in Russian musical history. This opera signaled the dawn of a new era in Russian composition – one that would eventually ripple through the West. By the 20th century, it had become one of the most frequently performed and admired Russian operas in Western opera houses, influencing the global perception of Russian classical music and paving the way for later giants like Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Most of the following was extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
Ruslan and Lyudmila (Russian: Руслан и Людмила) is an opera in five acts composed by Mikhail Glinka between 1837 and 1842. The libretto was written by Valerian Shirkov based on the 1820 narrative poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin had planned to write the libretto himself but died in a duel before he could do so. Today, the best-known music from the opera is its overture which is today’s featured piece.

The premiere took place in Saint Petersburg on 27 November 1842 at the Bolshoi Kamenniy Teatr. The opera has been a mainstay of the Bolshoi, having staged over 700 performances in 9 different productions over the past 165 years. The opera was first performed in the UK on 4 June 1931 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and in the US by Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston on 5 March 1977.

Synopsis:
The story begins with the beautiful Lyudmila, daughter of Prince Vladimir, being kidnapped by an evil wizard named Chernomor on her wedding night. Her brave fiancé, Ruslan, sets out on a dangerous journey to rescue her. Along the way, he faces magical challenges, strange lands, and rival suitors who also want to save (or win) Lyudmila. With the help of a good wizard and his own courage, Ruslan defeats Chernomor, rescues Lyudmila, and returns home to marry her. The opera is filled with fantasy, adventure, and Russian folk themes.

Ruslan employs some aspects of Russian folk music; it is also noted for imaginative use of dissonance, chromaticism, and Eastern elements. Of particular consequence is the use of the whole tone scale for the first time in Russian music. The rollicking overture below is one of the best known orchestral showpieces in the West and known for being a nightmare for bassists. Along with its counterpart A Life for the Tsar, this second opera by Glinka confirmed a Russian national operatic foundation that was to be built upon by the next generation of Russian composers. In particular, Ruslan served as the model for Russian operatic fairy tales.

References:
1. Ruslan and Lyudmila (opera) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: mikhail glinka, Overture, Ruslan and Lyudmila
Posted in Music

That’s Life (1966) – Frank Sinatra

Posted on June 10, 2025 by observationblogger — 15 Comments

I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I’ve been up and down and over and out, and I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race

I wondered how I didn’t recall this spectacular song when Nancy at The Elephant’s Trunk recently posted on it. I’m hardly a Frank fan or even the least bit cognisant of his discography apart from his mega hits including New York, New York and My Way, but when I heard today’s featured song That’s Life it knocked me for six. Put simply, I revelled in it and found it downright inspirational and the vocals: my God the vocals! – sung with such gusto and conviction which few other singers could ever hope to emulate.
It reinforced to me a quote from a movie (which title escapes me) when someone said about Frank: ‘No one has ever loved and lost like Frank has‘ (or words to that effect). Until hearing this song I never could appreciate the significance of that utterance, or more broadly all the fuss surrounding Frank’s music and legacy – but now I get it.

The other revelation to my musical senses upon listening to ‘That’s Life‘ was how much it refers to the implication of the Christian Wheel of Fortune symbol 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. This song encapsulates all of that from a secular perspective by illustrating the ups and downs of life as an entertainer.

The Christian folk might say: where you should live is at the centre (of the wheel), where Christ is. The secular interpretation might be finding a form of ‘Indifference‘ and detaching oneself from the rim of the wheel, ie: detached from success, failure, more success or less success.
Another famous song which also deals with the Wheel of Fortune is John Lennon’s – ‘Watching the Wheels‘. John Lennon acknowledges he rode this wheel like crazy, but near the end of his life he found a certain ‘indifference’ to it and relief and sense of bemusement by detachment:

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

For an entertaining and informative breakdown about this song and Frank’s life, I point readers to Nancy article – That’s Life!:

Every so often a performer comes along who takes the world by storm …. not for a day or a month or a year but for all time. We’ve seen it in varying degrees with personalities such as Elvis Presley and Tom Jones; when panties and hotel room keys get tossed on stage, that’s a pretty good indication of the entertainer’s impact on his audience. As a budding teenager, I was caught up in the phenomenon known as Beatlemania …. the most magical and exhilarating experience of my young lifetime…..

The following was extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:

That’s Life is a popular song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, and first recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery. The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra, released on his 1966 album That’s Life. Sinatra recorded the song after hearing an earlier recording of it in his car by O.C. Smith. He stopped the car, called his daughter Nancy and told her to find the publisher of the song because he wanted to record it; she did. Sinatra took two passes at the song. He ended the first take with, “Oh yeah.” Bowen asked him to perform it again, which annoyed ‘one take‘ Sinatra – resulting in the biting performance Bowen was looking for – which Sinatra tagged with the defiant, “My, My“.

Sinatra first performed the song on his television special A Man and His Music – Part II in 1966. The song proved successful and reached No. 4 on the Billboard. Following the success of Sinatra’s version, it was subsequently recorded by a plethora of artists including Aretha Franklin, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Van Morrison and Lady Gaga.

[Verse 1]
That’s life (That’s life), that’s what all the people say
You’re riding high in April, shot down in May
But I know I’m gonna change that tune
When I’m back on top, back on top in June

[Verse 2]
I said, that’s life (That’s life), and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks stompin’ on a dream
But I don’t let it, let it get me down
‘Cause this fine old world, it keeps spinning around

[Chorus]
I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I’ve been up and down and over and out, and I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race

[Verse 3]
That’s life (That’s life), I tell ya, I can’t deny it
I thought of quitting, baby
But my heart just ain’t gonna buy it
And if I didn’t think it was worth one single try
I’d jump right on a big bird and then I’d fly

[Outro]
That’s life (That’s life), that’s life and I can’t deny it
Many times I thought of cutting out but my heart won’t buy it
But if there’s nothing shaking come this here July
I’m gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die
My, my

References:
1. That’s Life (song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Frank Sinatra, that's life, the elephant's trunk
Posted in Music

Sueño Contigo – Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto

Posted on June 10, 2025 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

The group Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto (The Pipers from San Jacinto) captures the heart and soul of traditional Colombian folk music, staying true to the roots of Cumbia – a vibrant fusion of Indigenous and African influences that emerged along Colombia’s Caribbean coast which have been active since 1940 and remain active to this day. From the 1950s onwards, they began touring Colombia, managed by writer and researcher Manuel Zapata Olivella. The gaiteros meaning those who play the gaita (or Kuisi) flute and San Jacinto for the town the group originated from in the Colombian Department of Bolívar.

As decades passed, the group began incorporating a second generation of musicians, among whom can be found some of the sons of the original line-up. In 2007 the group won a Latin Grammy award in the category Folkloric Music.

Today’s featured music is called Sueño Contigo (Eng. Dream of You) which was authored by Rafael Castro Fernandez. It is the second song to feature here from the group after Candelaria.
Sueño Contigo is a lovely written, but as I found out – quite complex love song which tells of the writer’s longing for a girl named Maria whom in his dreams is his wife. It was difficult for me to translate the song below since it contains dual meanings and nuances in phrasing.
Upon assistance of a native Colombian speaker, I learnt for example when the author wrote – Oh! I don’t want to dream again so I don’t suffer more ‘hangovers’. The use of ‘hangover’ here isn’t a literal hangover (resulting from excessive drinking), rather ‘hangover’ (‘guayabo’ in Spanish) refers here in its dual-use as succumbed to longing for someone and feeling despondent.

A loose English translation of Sueño Contigo (Dream of You) follows:

Oh, last night I dreamed of you, my dear beautiful woman.
Oh, last night I dreamed of you, my dear beautiful woman.
Oh! I was your husband, and you were my spoilt one.
Oh! I was your husband and you were my spoilt one.

Oh! Mary, oh! Mary, listen, my darling Mary. Oh! Mary, oh! Mary, listen, my darling Mary.
Oh! I held you in my arms, and I couldn’t think of anything else to do with you.
Oh! I had you in my arms and couldn’t think of anything else to do with you.
Because I had already achieved what I had longed for.
Because I had already achieved what I had longed for.

Oh! Mary, oh! Mary, listen, my darling Mary. Oh! Mary, oh! Mary, listen, my darling Mary.

So great was my joy that I trembled with emotion.
So great was my joy that I trembled with emotion.
Because I already had Mary and was the owner of her love.
Because I already had Mary and was the owner of her love.

Oh! Mary, oh Mary, listen, my darling Mary. Oh! Mary, oh! Mary, listen, my darling Mary.
Oh! I don’t want to dream again so I don’t suffer more longing.
Oh! I don’t want to dream again so I don’t suffer more longing.
Because when I woke up, Maria wasn’t by my side.
Because when I woke up, Maria wasn’t by my side.

Oh! Mary, oh Mary, listen, my darling Mary. Oh! Mary, oh Mary, listen, my darling Mary.
Oh! Maria, oh Maria, listen Maria of my life.

References:
1. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Candelaria, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Rafael Castro Fernandez, Sueño Contigo
Posted in Music

Here With Me (1999) – Dido

Posted on June 9, 2025 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

I love the sparse sound of this alluring love song as it takes shape. Here With Me becomes like a meditative chant, and the emotional pull is strong here when Dido sings ‘I won’t go..I won’t leave…I can’t hide‘. The lyrics evoke that feeling of being completely absorbed in the presence of a loved one – relishing every moment, with no desire to change a thing. “The little things… there’s nothing bigger, is there?” – emphasising the quiet, often overlooked moments of love’s little idiosyncrasies which carry the most weight. Here With Me is an enchanting love ballad, that I too don’t want to wake up from.

Dido’s effortless talent is matched by her understated, girl-next-door looks and charm. I could’ve sworn I had already posted a song by Dido, but Here With Me marks her debut here. Rest assured, there will be more.

The following was extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:

The song was the first released on her debut album – No Angel in 1999 and was written about her then boyfriend Bob Page. Bizarrely the song was released in the US 2 years before its release in the UK in 2001. Here with Me peaked at No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Dido’s second consecutive top-five single, following Stan, a collaboration with Eminem that incorporated, in sample form, the first verse of Thank You. Here with Me also reached No 1 in Australia, after her live performance at the 2001 ARIA Awards. Her album sold 21 million copies. Her next album, Life for Rent (2003), continued her success with the hit singles White Flag and Life for Rent. Dido’s first two albums are among the best-selling albums in UK chart history, and both are in the top 10 best-selling albums of the 2000s in the UK.

Dido was born Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong in London, on Christmas Day in 1971. As she was born on Christmas Day, she also celebrates an “official birthday” on 25 June, following the example of Paddington Bear. Her older brother Rowland Constantine O’Malley Armstrong, is better known as record producer Rollo, part of the British electronica trio Faithless. Despite their birth names, the pair were known from childhood by the names Dido and Rollo. Dido considers this as her real name, not simply a stage name or nickname.

As a child, she had to deal with her birth name’s ambiguous and unusual nature, which led to her being bullied In a 2001 interview, she said “To be called one thing and christened another is actually very confusing and annoying. It’s one of the most irritating things that my parents did to me. … Florian is a German man’s name. That’s just mean. To give your child a whole lot of odd names. They were all so embarrassing. … I thought it was cruel to call me Dido and then expect me to just deal with it.” The name Dido derives from the legendary Queen of Carthage.

After Dido stole a recorder from school at the age of five, her parents enrolled her at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. At age nine she had toured Yugoslavia with a recorder orchestra. By the time she reached her teens, she had learned to play the piano, recorder, and the violin. She later studied law at Birkbeck, University of London, while working as a literary agent. She never completed the degree, deciding instead to take up music full-time. In 1995, Dido began recording 10 demo tracks which were put together on a collection entitled Odds & Ends. Nettwerk management signed her after she was brought to their attention by her collaborations with her brother Rollo’s band Faithless. The collection was released by Nettwerk on CD-R and acetate disc in 1995 and featured a mixture of finished productions and demo versions which she later considered for release on her 1999 debut album, No Angel. Odds & Ends brought her to the attention of A&R Peter Edge at Arista Records, who signed her in the US in late 1996.
You can read the remainder of her music biography in the reference below.

[Verse 1]
I didn’t hear you leave
I wonder, “How am I still here?”
And I don’t wanna move a thing
It might change my memory

[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, I am what I am
I’ll do what I want
But I can’t hide

[Chorus]
And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here with me

[Verse 2]
I don’t wanna call my friends
For they might wake me from this dream
And I can’t leave this bed
Risk forgetting all that’s been

Reference:
1. Here with Me (Dido song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: dido, here with me, no angel
Posted in Music

The Marriage of Figaro (Overture) 1786 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Posted on June 6, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

The Marriage of Figaro (Italian: Le nozze di Figaro), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Today’s featured piece the ‘Overture‘ is the third piece to be presented here (although it’s actually the commencement) from the Opera voted by 172 opera singers (BBC News Magazine) as No. 1 for the best opera ever written.

With the French Revolution looming Pierre Beaumarchais wrote the French comedy “The Barber of Seville” in 1773. The opera’s libretto is based on this play and Mozart was intrigued by the material and wrote an Italian Opera buffa ‘The Marriage of Figaro‘ although abstained from much of the political innuendo of the ‘commoners against nobility’ message since previous incarnations of the play had been banned by the authorities.

Interestingly in its premiere at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, the orchestra had difficulties coming to terms with Mozart’s complicated music. Also, the Viennese audience, was more attuned to the works of the popular Salieri, and were not overly thrilled. In Prague they raved and celebrated Mozart for three weeks.

The Overture being the introduction is a very well known piece from the Opera (often played independently as a concert piece) although two other pieces presented here, namely Act III – Ecco la Marcia (Here is the procession) and Act IV Ah Tutti Contenti (Ah, All Content) are also well known and featured prominently in the movie Amadeus. The Overture bursts forth with a regal fanfare of whirling strings and triumphant flourishes, evoking the romp and elegance of an 18th-century court. Below the Overture, I have presented a scene from Amadeus in which Mozart cleverly disguises the actual contents of the 20 minute Opera scene to the authorities in order to avoid censorship. Mozart is depicted during the movie as being sometimes naive and childish and who doesn’t understand the political situation around him. But he actually does and manipulates it to his advantage as seen below.

The Opera tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity. The opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas.

References:
1. The Marriage of Figaro – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Overture, The Marriage of Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Posted in Music

The Mangrove Song (2002) – My Friend the Chocolate Cake

Posted on June 5, 2025 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

The Mangrove Song comes from the Australian pop chamber group – My Friend the Chocolate Cake. Musically, it’s an uptempo track from what is mostly a sombre and introspective record – Curious (see image inset). The band reside from Melbourne, which by the way is unofficially known as the cultural capital of Australia. If I could point to just one song that epitomises the cosmopolitan nature and influence of European culture on the city it would be today’s featured song. Like how the kitsch 1964 song – The Girl from Ipanema encapsulates the sights and sounds of city cafe society in the 1960’s, The Mangrove Song to my senses represents the rich and diverse cultural life (including the vibrant arts, literature and sports aspects) of Melbourne.

The song is littered with clever string arrangements by cellist Helen Mountfort (middle above) and violinist Hope Csutoros (left in image above). The musicianship on display here is unlike anything I’ve ever heard – effortlessly hip and pure class to my ears. What has always captivated me about the group, and David Bridie as a solo artist, is how they fuse everything I love: chamber music, pop, and lyrical profundity, all woven into a sound that’s entirely their own.

Despite my coating the musicality of this song with a city-end and sophisticated allure, the lyrical significance couldn’t be anything further from the fabric of society and civilisation, hence its title The Mangrove Song. It’s directed at the farthest and most remote regiones where land meets sea and become inter-tangled with a mesh of ‘creatures that kill‘ and ‘The roots ‘neath the mangrove trees crawl through the sand‘. You can also hear the violin shriek, something akin to the plethora of things that can cut you including: ‘The ocean it will smash you it will cut up your skin let it in‘. But while the songwriter and vocalist David Bridie sings about the perils of these desolate and mostly inhabitable regions ‘where nothing is quiet‘ there exists this dual meaning where in places he’s speaking it up – There’s a place you may go and where the sun gets down so low. Remarkably in 2021 (nearly two decades later after the release of this song) Bridie moved to an off-grid property close to the Otway National Park on Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast.

The album Curious peaked at No. 14 on the ARIA chart. I received this album in the mail as a gift for having seen (founder) David Bridie and Archie Roach in concert and it remains one of my most cherished albums. I became a bit of a band groupie of the Cake and David Bridie’s solo work and watched them live all over the place and got the pleasure to talk to them on occasion. My Friend the Chocolate Cake and another quintessential Australian indie pop group – The Go-Betweens who have also featured here often are two of my favourite bands in the whole wide world, and yet remain hardly Australian household names, especially the Cake. But they are highly regarded in Australian music circles and recognised as influential, particularly among music enthusiasts and critics.

Inside the reef line the ocean is calm
The deaf one is a fisherman he’s working alone on his own
He’s working alone
Don’t you go out there when the tide’s coming in
The ocean it will smash you it will cut up your skin let it in
It’ll cut up your skin oh yeah

There’s a place you may go
When the tide is so low
There’s a place you may go

A blanket of insects the water is still
Down in the mangrove swamp there’s creatures that kill
if you will there’s creatures that kill
The mud crabs at moonrise crawl out in the night
Quiver with secrets and nothing is quiet in the night
Yeah nothing is quiet, oh yeah

There’s a place you may go
When the tide is so low
There’s a place you may go

I don’t know any ol’ place where the sun gets down so low
I don’t know any ol’ place at all

The roots ‘neath the mangrove trees crawl through the sand
Just like a hunting bird at all times prepared
they’re prepared at all times prepared
No don’t you go out there when the tides coming in
The ocean it will cut you it will cut up your skin
Let it in it’ll cut up your skin

There’s a place you may go
When the tide is so low there’s a place you may go
There’s creatures that kill

Tagged with: curious, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, the mangrove song
Posted in Music

The Man In Me (1970) – Bob Dylan

Posted on June 3, 2025 by observationblogger — 21 Comments

This wonderfully translucent song by Zimmy has become inseparable from The Big Lebowsky in the minds of modern audiences. Both the film and the track are standout works of art that complement each other so well, forever intertwined in the annals of movie-music history. Dylan’s bouncy and buoyant voice with the laid-back rhythm set the perfect tone for the film’s opening sequence, instantly immersing us in this offbeat world. The song also complements The Dude’s temperament for being capable of both vulnerable and happy.

Poor Donny’s strike at the end of the introduction credits scene (see below) in which today’s featured track appears goes unnoticed by both the Dude and Walter. But when Jesus makes a strike soon thereafter everyone takes note. Put simply – ‘Nobody f&/ks with the Jesus‘…That creep can roll, man.

His vocals in the early 70s especially on the New Morning record were so great; so raw and full of emotion. Also the instrumentals sound so crisp and clear. I think this era including the near universally panned Self Portrait (1970) record which proceeded New Morning’s release by 4 months and Colombia Records 1973 contractual release record Dylan (also known as Fool Such as I) are considered blips in Dylan’s cannon although they really shouldn’t be since there is some really good stuff here.
So you had Dylan’s mid 60’s cited ‘mercurial sound’ on Blonde on Blonde and then the mid-1970’s comeback to form records Blood on the Tracks and Desire also acclaimed amongst his best work. But between those crescendo periods especially the early 1970’s – there is a glaring omission of Dylan musical appreciation for the most part.

The following was extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference:

The Man in Me was released as the 10th track on his 1970 album New Morning. Rolling Stone placed the song 84th on a list of the “100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs of All Time“. An article accompanying the list noted that it possesses a “raggedly euphoric power” and that “Dylan has rarely sounded as joyful as he does during the ‘la la la’ intro” while “gospel-tinged backup vocals add to the lyrics’ sense of unguarded intimacy…’

The man in me will do nearly any task
And as for compensation, there’s little he would ask
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me

Storm clouds are raging all around my door
I think to myself I might not take it anymore
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me

But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Just to know that you are near
Sets my heart a-reeling
From my toes up to my ears

The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein’ seen
But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine
Took a woman like you
To get through to the man in me

References:
1. The Man in Me – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Bob Dylan, The Big Lebowsky, the coen brothers, the man in me
Posted in Music

The Man Comes Around (2002) – Johnny Cash

Posted on June 2, 2025 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

If there’s one artist I’ve shortchanged in my Music Library Project, it would have to be Johnny Cash. I’ll be doing some necessary backtracking in the coming years with respect to the alphabetical listing of songs, to include more of his music that I regrettably overlooked the first time. That said, today’s song isn’t one of those late additions – it comes to us as if predestined, right on schedule. Fittingly, it follows not too long after another modern classic from the same album, American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) – the brilliant Hurt. Today’s featured song is, in fact, the album’s title track from his 67th studio album (yes, you read that number correctly).

Other than his duet with Bob Dylan on Girl from the North Country from Dylan’s 1969 album Nashville Skyline, Johnny Cash wasn’t someone I grew up listening to. That might help explain the sparse presence of his music on this blog so far. Aside from dabbling in some Woody Guthrie and reading his semi-fictional autobiography Bound For Glory, I wasn’t exactly immersed in the rootsy country music tradition from which Cash and his wife, June Carter, emerged – a wellspring that also produced the likes of Hank Williams. My appreciation for Cash came to me gradually, through literature and film – especially his role in influencing and shaping Dylan’s career mid-to-late ’60s, through Cash: The Autobiography (1997), and later, the 2005 biopic Walk The Line. His music would also appear with some frequency in other colleagues’ music blogs here at WordPress.

Considering how scarce Cash’s music is represented here (so far), should tell you how highly I regard The Man Comes Around. The song is a sermon-like forewarning of religious apocalypse, laced with references from the Book of Revelation. And yet, what makes it remarkable is how non-preachy it feels – more illuminating and introspective than dogmatic. Though the song was originally penned years before the album’s release, Cash revisited and updated it, making it one of the last original compositions he completed before his death. Throughout his career, Cash made no secret of how deeply religion shaped his life.

According to Wikipedia: The Man Comes Around was inspired by a dream Cash had about Queen Elizabeth II in which the Queen compared Cash to “a thorn tree in a whirlwind.” Haunted by the dream, Cash became curious if the phrase was a biblical reference and eventually found a similar phrase in the Book of Job.
The song has become a staple in its use in popular culture with ten’s of instances mentioned in the reference below.

[Intro]
“And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and see’
And I saw, and behold a white horse”

[Verse 1]
There’s a man goin’ ’round takin’ names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won’t be treated all the same
There’ll be a golden ladder reachin’ down
When the man comes around

[Verse 2]
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup
Or disappear into the potter’s ground?
When the man comes around

[Chorus]
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin’
Multitudes are marchin’ to the big kettledrum
Voices callin’, voices cryin’
Some are born and some are dyin’
It’s Alpha and Omega’s kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks

[Verse 3]
Till Armageddon, no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise men will bow down before the throne
And at his feet, they’ll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around

[Verse 4]
Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the man comes around

[Outro]
“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts […]
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him”

References:
1. The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash

Tagged with: American IV: The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash, the man comes around
Posted in Music

The Look (1989) – Roxette

Posted on June 1, 2025 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

It’s uncanny that in yesterday’s article I mentioned seeing Billy Joel in Sydney on his Stormfront tour in 1991 – because, as it happens, I also saw the Swedish group Roxette at the same venue (the Sydney Entertainment Centre) that very same year. Looking back, today’s featured song, The Look, always struck me as similar in feel and sound to All That She Wants by another successful Swedish group, Ace of Base, who rose to prominence shortly after Roxette. That song was featured here last year.

The Look became an international hit, and was one of the most successful singles of 1989. It topped the charts in 25 countries, and was the first of their four number ones on the Billboard. You might remember some of their other mega-hit singles Dressed For Success, Listen To Your Heart and Joyride. Roxette is Sweden’s best-selling music act after ABBA and have sold between 75 and 80 million records worldwide. They have had nineteen top 40 hits.

The Look was written by Per Gessle one half of the rock duo, with the other being Marie Fredriksson (both pictured above). The two were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band’s formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, while Gessle had been the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider, a band which had three number one albums in Sweden. I was saddened to read that Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019 at the age of 61, having had cancer for 17 years since her 2002 brain tumour diagnosis. Roxette were reformed by Per Gessle in 2024 with Lena Philipsson taking over on lead vocals, and the band will tour Australia and South Africa in February 2025.

Per Gessle wrote The Look as an exercise while learning how to operate the Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizer he had recently purchased. The first two verses are composed of guide lyrics, with Gessle explaining he “scribbled [them] down instantly just to remember the rhythm. But they stuck in my head. ‘Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer…‘ He found it “impossible” to replace the lyrics when trying to rewrite them later, and said he sought to balance the lyrical content by making the “rest of the lyrics intelligent in some way.” The original title was “He’s Got the Look“, with the lyrics using male pronouns. Gessle said this was done because he initially wanted Marie Fredriksson to sing the track.

Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer
She’s a juvenile scam
Never was a quitter, tasted like a raindrop
She’s got the look

Heavenly bound, ’cause heaven’s got her number
When she’s spinnin’ me around
Kissin’ is a color, her lovin’ is a wild dog
She’s got the look

She’s got the look (She’s got the look!)
She’s got the look (She’s got the look!)
What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue?
When everything I’ll ever do, I’ll do for you
And I go la-la-la-la-la
She’s got the look!

Fire in the ice, naked to the T-bone
Is a lover’s disguise
Bangin’ on the head drum, shakin’ like a mad bull
She’s got the look

Swayin’ to the band, movin’ like a hammer
She’s a miracle man
Lovin’ is the ocean, and kissin’ is the wet sand
She’s got the look

References:
1. The Look – Roxette

Tagged with: look sharp, Roxette, the look
Posted in Music

The Longest Time (1984) – Billy Joel

Posted on May 31, 2025 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

Today’s featured song comes with the very recent news of Billy Joel’s brain condition diagnosis where he had to cancel tours. The 76 year-old singer-songwriter is said to be receiving ‘excellent care’ and is ‘fully committed to prioritising his health’. The Longest Time is the third song to appear here from Billy Joel, with his last entry – The Downeaster Alexa in April. Apart from his well-known early major classics, my listening appreciation of him was born out of songs like today’s entry from his 1983 ‘An Innocent Man’, ‘The Bridge’, and ‘Storm Front’.

I have recounted the personal story below on a few occasions, but it remains one of my favourites; so bare with me those already familiar with it:

I saw Billy Joel’s Stormfront tour in ’91 in Sydney with my schoolmate Gary. He’s actually the one who drew that caricature of my family – the one featured in the ‘Reflection’ menu. Anyway, Gary was a massive Billy Joel fan. We used to go back and forth over music because, while he was all about Billy, I leaned more towards Elton John.

I still remember when Elton’s Kiss the Bride came out – Gary would mock me by belting out, “I want to kiss the bride……groom!” Classic Gary with his injection of ‘Groom‘ in place of John’s ‘Yeh!’ A clever jab, just like his caricature work.

So yeah, I went to the concert mostly to appease him, though I did (and still do) dig a lot of Joel’s music – including today’s featured track: The Longest Time.

This all reminds me, I have had in my movie collection for years now, the DVD of Billy Joel and Elton John collaboration of the 1994 “Face to Face tours“. I’m dusting off that baby this morning and my daughter and I will enjoy it over breakfast and the rest of our lazy Saturday morning.

The following was extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:

The Longest Time is a doo-wop song released in 1984 as the fourth single from the 1983 album An Innocent Man. Following the theme of the album in paying tribute to Joel’s musical influences, the song is presented in the style of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song features Joel on lead vocals, all backing vocals, and percussive sounds such as finger snaps and hand claps. Joel had intended to feature a vocal group but Joel recorded each of the parts himself.

[Intro]
Dum dum dum

[Chorus]
Woah, oh, oh, oh (For the longest)
For the longest time
Woah, oh, oh (For the longest)
For the longest time

[Verse 1]
If you said goodbye to me tonight
There would still be music left to write
What else could I do?
I’m so inspired by you
That hasn’t happened for the longest time
Once I thought my innocence was gone
Now I know that happiness goes on
That’s where you found me
When you put your arms around me
I haven’t been there for the longest time

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
I’m that voice you’re hearing in the hall
And the greatest miracle of all
Is how I need you
And how you needed me too
That hasn’t happened for the longest time

[Bridge]
Maybe this won’t last very long
But you feel so right and I could be wrong
Maybe I’ve been hoping too hard
But I’ve gone this far, and it’s more than I hoped for

[Verse 3]
Who knows how much further we’ll go on?
Maybe I’ll be sorry when you’re gone
I’ll take my chances
I forgot how nice romance is
I haven’t been there for the longest time

[Bridge]
I had second thoughts at the start
I said to myself, “Hold on to your heart”
Now I know the woman that you are
You’re wonderful so far, and it’s more than I hoped for

[Verse 4]
I don’t care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things
I want you so bad
I think you ought to know that
I intend to hold you for the longest time

[Outro]
Woah, oh, oh, oh (For the longest)
For the longest time
(Repeat)

References:
1. The Longest Time – Wikipedia

Tagged with: an innocent man, billy joel, the longest time
Posted in Music

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