The Ugly Bug Ball

Sung by Burl Ives

This sing-along from a compilation video of Disney songs was my introduction to the multi-talented Burl Ives. Ives's voice was embedded in my mind at a young age and several years later when I was watching the film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" I instantly recognized his distinctive voice. While watching his powerful performance as "Big Daddy" in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" I saw a side of Burl Ives I never would have expected after only seeing him sing with a fuzzy caterpillar on his finger.

Fugue in g-minor (BWV 542)

composed by J.S. Bach and performed on the piano by Vladimir Viardo

I may have mentioned this already but in case I haven't on Sunday's I only listen to classical music and LDS hymns which is my little way of keeping the Sabbath holy and special and what better way to keep it "holy" than with Bach's heavenly music.

and here is the same piece played beautifully on the powerful and majestic organ. (Oh and careful with the sound in the beginning it's a tad on the loud side so you might want to have the volume down at first and then adjust it)

2. Lektion zum Mittwoch der Karwoche: 3. Lektion zum Gründon

composed by Johann Rosenmülle performed by Fritz Wunderlich

Once when I was visiting a synagogue the Rabbi said, "there are cemeteries everywhere full of people who thought that they were indispensable and that the world could not continue without them but in the end the world manages to keep on going and so do we". The World was robbed of a talented man when Fritz Wunderlich died at the age of 35 but as the rabbi said we move on with our lives and the world continues to turn, but luckily Wunderlich left us something beautiful to remember him by, his voice.

When did I first hear this voice? In the shower (yup you read correctly). Like a lot of people I like to sing (or hum or even whistle) in the shower but since I'm not any good at it I have music playing to drown out my "lovely" voice. On one particular occasion I felt like listening to classical music so I turned on my radio, "turned the dial" to KUSC (a classical music station broadcast from the University of Southern California), and hopped into the shower. The station happened to be broadcasting a program on tenors, I recognized a handful of the voices including that of Pavarotti and Domingo but suddenly I heard something completely new and absolutely breathtaking. I impatiently waited for the piece to end so I could find out who was singing and when I heard the name Fritz Wunderlich I began to chant it so I wouldn't forget. As soon as I was out of the shower and dry (with the exception of my hair) I rushed to my computer and looked Wunderlich up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Wunderlich) and I looked for his recordings and I was not disappointed with what I found. Here is a sampling of the musical treasure trove I uncovered:

Here is Part I of a documentary on Wunderlich:

purchased from: eMusic

Otterburn

by Tony Cuffe

Not surprisingly I found this Scottish Ballad because of a film. I was watching "The Man Who Never Was" (a great movie btw) and in the beginning and end the following quote is used: "Last night I dreamed a deadly dream, beyond the Isle of Skye, I saw a dead man win a fight, and I think that man was I". I looked up the quote and I found out that it was from a Scottish Ballad about the Battle of Otterburn. The Battle of Otterburn was a border skirmish between the English and Scottish in 1388 and the Scottish were the victors. Because I have a weak spot for ballads I looked around to see if I could find any songs based on the ballad and I came across this version.

lyrics:

It fell aboot the Lammas-tide when muir men win their hay
The doughty Douglas bound him ride tae England tae catch a prey
He's ta'en the Gordons and the Graemes and the Lindsays light and gay
The Jardines would not wi' him ride, they rue it tae this day

And he has burnt the dales o' Tyne and hairried Bambroughshire
The Otterdale he's burnt it hale and set it a' on fire
And he rade up tae Newcastle and rode it roond aboot
Sayin', Wha's the laird o' this castle, and wha's the lady o't

Then up spake proud Lord Percy then, and oh but he spak' high
I am the lord o' this castle, my wife's the lady gay
If thou'rt the lord o' this castle, sae weel it pleases me
For ere I cross the border fells the tane o' us shall dee (tane - one)

They lichted high on Otterburn upon the bent sae broon (lichted - set down, camped; bent - grass)
They lichted high on Otterburn and threw their broadswords doon
But up there spoke a bonnie boy before the break o' dawn
Sayin', Wake ye now, my good lords a', Lord Percy's near at han'

When Percy wi' the Douglas met I wat he was fu' fain (wat - know)
They swappit swords and sair they swat, the blood ran doon between
But Percy wi' his good broadsword that could sae sharply wound
Has wounded Douglas on the brow till he fell tae the ground

Oh, bury me 'neath the bracken bush that grows by yonder brier
Let never a living mortal ken that Douglas he lies here (ken - know)
They've lifted up that noble lord wi' the salt tear in their e'e
They've buried him 'neath the bracken bush that his merry men might not see

When Percy wi' Montgomery met that either of other were fain
They swappit swords and sair they swat, the blood ran doon like rain
This deed was done at Otterburn before the break of day

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

purchased from: eMusic

Film Score from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936)

composed by Max Steiner

This video took me FOREVER to put together! As you may have noticed I LOVE films from Hollywood's Golden Age and I especially love old Adventure films with dreamy heroes, beautiful damsels in distress, "exotic" (often California) locations, and powerful music. The '36 version of the Charge of the Light Brigade is more inaccurate than most films but because of the previously mentioned reasons I still love it ^_^

Love

sung by Nancy Adams

I loved watching Robin Hood when I was a kid and my cousins and I used to pretend we were the characters from the legend and of course being the ultimate tomboy I was always Robin. We were all under 8 and we reveled in the trees and twigs were our arrows, how we managed to keep our eyeballs I'll never know.

I heard this song again after several years in the film "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and I instantly recognized it and I was thrilled to find the song included in the F.M.F soundtrack.

music purchased from: iTunes

The Death of Aase from Peer Gynt

composed by Edvard Grieg

Like most people I was only familiar with "Morning" from Peer Gynt (I had heard more of Grieg's music before just nothing else from P.G.) until a wonderful episode from the Simpsons (Coming to Homerica) rectified the situation.

Here's the Simpsons episode with Grieg's piece (I believe it's in German but I'm not sure at all, skip to about 6:05 if you only want to listen to the music)

music purchased from: eMusic