Mathematical Institute Bulletin: Song of the Week

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner revolutionised opera which he saw as a total work of art with music part of a wider visual, poetic and, especially, dramatic experience. 'Das Rheingold' is the first of the four operas in his 'Ring Cycle'. This prelude describes the River Rhine, calm and majestic.

When Paul McCartney released his first post-Beatles solo album it didn't do well, at least with the critics. Compared to his radical bandmate John Lennon, he just seemed twee and lo-fi.

Many years later the album is seen as hugely influential. In fact the pendulum has swung on so much of his solo work. Even so, it is hard to believe no-one at the time thought 'Every Night' a great song.

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (aka Eminem) has announced that he is finishing off his alter ego, Slim Shady. A highly controversial and comic creation he gave vent to what Eminem saw in everyone, though, as is perhaps inevitable, the artist gradually turned in to a grumpy old dad, moaning at what rap had become. Marshall also had his addictions and became close friends with Elton John who helped him through them.

Fanny Mendelssohn was a prolific composer of over 400 works, mainly piano pieces and songs, most of which were never published in her lifetime (the first half of the nineteenth century). She was also a very talented pianist herself.

Dance away the heartache

Dance away fears

'The Harder They Come' is a 1972 Jamaican crime film that achieved international success and played a major role in bringing reggae to a wider audience. Ska and reggae artist Jimmy Cliff was its star and this is the title track.

Beyoncé's country album (she cannily calls it a 'Beyoncé' album not a 'Country' album) is inevitably causing much debate, not least about the origins of country music itself. In fact one of the key moments in the emergence of Country was the 1927 Bristol session, recorded in Bristol, Tennessee. The Carter Family were one of the artists at the session and they became one of the first big Country recording stars. This song is from that 1927 session.

Single girl, single girl
She goes to store & buys
Oh, she goes to store & buys
Married girl, married girl
She rocks the cradle & cries
Oh, she rocks the cradle & cries

David Bowie wrote this song for Mott the Hoople who at the time were about to break up after limited commercial success. Drummer Dale Griffin said that when they heard the song they thought: "He wants to give us that? He must be crazy! We broke our necks to say yes!" Some vintage socks on view as well.

The Pandemic was tough on many artists as they were unable to perform. But some thrived, such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor with her live weekly "Kitchen Disco" concerts featuring herself and her family, streamed live from their kitchen on Instagram. All of which helped revive Sophie's career culminating  in the appearance of this track in the movie 'Saltburn' and a spot at the 2024 BAFTAs.

It's Murder on the Dancefloor, but it's worth the wait (DJ).

Brahms only wrote four symphonies and the first one took him 21 years, but he had hit his stride by the time of the third which he composed in 1883. This is the famous third movement.

Grime music emerged in East London in the early 2000s out of UK jungle and hip-hop with a signature sound of speed to the tune of 140 beats per minute.

Lady Leshurr is one of its female stars.

Mr Pitiful at his best with the band smashing it. From the 'Otis Blue' album.

'Night Mail' is an iconic 1936 film made by the Post Office about the night mail train collecting and taking post to Scotland. The words in this last three minutes of the film are by poet W. H. Auden, then still in his twenties, and the music by composer Benjamin Britten, then only 22. The dog is not credited.

It's a chilly night in Stockholm in 1966 and the Small Faces are in town. Check out the young girl dancing at 1.39.

Madonna Ciccone is in trouble. Two fans are suing her for coming on stage two hours late. They should count themselves lucky. For those of us old enough to have been to gigs in the last Millennium, two hours is positively early. 

There is much Madonna from which to chose, but your Song of the Week editor, being old, has a soft post for 'Borderline'. Mainly because it is fab.

When Mark E Smith, founder  of the Fall, heard Coldcut's track 'My Telephone' he thought the guitar, bass and drums fine, but the words, vocals and all the rest of it, rubbish. So he rewrote it (and made it about phone tapping). Smith could be awkward to say the least, and his vocal style (you'd hesitate to call it singing) singular, but he could also be compelling.

This is a traditional English folk song arranged by English 20th century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. In it a young man's grief over the death of his true love is so deep that it disturbs her eternal sleep and she tells him to live his life.

When his record company told avant-garde musician Anthony Moore that his work was not commercial enough he wasn't happy. Or rather he was Slapp Happy, the name he gave to his new band with their deliberately commercial sound.  The band became less commercial subsequently but not before songs such as 'Blue Flower' bloomed. Dagmar Krause provides the distinctive voice.

Shane McGowan of the Pogues died last week. Aside from all the articles about self-destructive genius and the relentless playing of 'Fairytale of New York' over the next few weeks, it's worth remembering that the Pogues' first three albums are well worth a listen.

Incidentally he went to the same private school (Westminster) as Conrad Shawcross though he was expelled for possessing and selling drugs. Shane that is, not Conrad.

The Reverend Al Green tells it how it is.

If you are new to opera the Marriage of Figaro is a perfect place to start: satire, silliness and songs. This is the overture where Mozart sets the mood.

This track is taken from the album There's a Riot Goin' On, where Sly Stone moved away from the upbeat soul of the sixties and filled the sound with a downbeat, hazy instrumentation and vocal. Apparently he wasn't feeling great at the time. Critics think it is great though. Such is art.

Some pieces of music are very familiar, but the composer not known. 'Fanfare' was written by American composer Aaron Copland in 1942 in the wake of his country's entry in to the Second World War.

Written in the late sixteenth century, this song is typical of Dowland's melancoly ways. But is also catchy. An Elizabethan pop song perhaps.

Steven Rickards is the counter-tenor, Dorothy Linell plays the lute.

So famous you've never heard of them, Fanny were one of the first all-female rock bands. This track is a cover of a Beatles song (who you probably have heard of). It is from an episode of Beat Club, the legendary German sixties and seventies music programme. It has a treasure trove of performances from the period.