Mathematical Institute Bulletin: Song of the Week

Time we had some swing and a tinkle of jazz courtesy of Count Basie and the band. 

What's your mood today? Whatever your answer, you'll probably find it somewhere in Erik Satie's Gnossienne.

Nina Simone was singer, songwriter and arranger across a variety of musical styles. But she was also a leading civil rights activist throughout her career and her 1969 song 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black' (lyrics by Weldon Irving) became one of the anthems of the Civil Rights Movement. However, it was the reggae version of the following year (Young, Gifted and Black') by Jamaican duo Bob & Marcia that was the most commercially successful.

A song for Black History Month.

In 1967, when a lot of musicians were, in John Lennon's words, wanting to change the world, The Kinks and songwriter Ray Davies were ploughing a different furrow and singing about a more simple life.

William Byrd was a leading composer of sacred and secular music in the 16th and 17th Centuries. He was also a Catholic at a time when Elizabeth I's heavies were tightening their Protestant grip.

Byrd trod a fine line as his position in the Chapel Royal meant he had to produce work for Anglican (Protestant) services which was not too elaborate (ie. Catholic). Some Anglicans felt he crossed the line and he had his run-ins (and certainly composed overt 'Catholic' music for private performance), but he lived to a ripe and rich old age.

As we approach term, it's time for the great Curtis Mayfield to give us a shot in the arm.

A quiet Bulletin this week so it is appropriate that our song is John Cage's famous/infamous 4' 33''. But of course, it isn't quiet. It is every sound you hear, yours and others, while you listen to 4 minutes and 33 seconds of apparent silence. You can watch a live perfomance here.

Stones drummer Charlie Watts died last week. Charlie said he was a jazz drummer at heart (they all say that don't they) but the obituaries made it clear how important he was to the Stones's sound.

You can Google to see him in action - and exchanging sardonic looks with bassist Bill Wyman while Mick flaunts out front - but here is the band in their pomp, the period from 1968-1972 when they could do no wrong (on record that is) and before the albums started to tread water and the touring money began to pour in.

A special request this week, our first, from Vicky Neale, whose annual pilgramge to the Isle of Skye has been delayed. So in its place, and almost as good as being there yourself, here is Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Written in 1830, it was inspired by his visit to the Hebridean island of Staffa.

Continuing last week's theme, Glaswegian band Belle and Sebastian are named after the Cécile Aubry novel about a boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle. The book was, in turn, made in to a French TV series which was, inevitably, badly dubbed in to English in time for the school holidays in the 1960s.

But enough of that. Back to the band. This is from one of their early EPs and is typical B & S: understated storytelling. 

Back in the 1960s and 1970s UK televsion didn't seem to come on very often during the day. But in school holidays it seemed to work a bit harder via a series of imported programmes such as The White Horses which was made jointly by Yugoslav and German television. White Horses was dubbed (badly) and may have been forgotten but for the UK theme tune sung by Irish singer Jackie Lee. It still brings a tear to the eye of ageing children. And horse lovers.

The Countess is in despair. She feels she is no longer loved. In just 3 minutes, in her first appearance in the opera, she explains. Jessye Norman is our guide.

Violetta Parra was one of the leading voices of Chilean folk music as well as a painter, poet and sculptor, and her influence spread far beyond her country and continent. This song ('Being Seventeen Again') looks back on youth from middle age.

If you think you can hear echoes of the Blues on this track that is because it is the Blues; African Desert Blues as performed by Malian singer and musician Ali Farka Tourè, mixing Malian traditional music with the blues from across the Atlantic. This song is from his 1994 collaboration with American musician Ry Cooder. 

Composed in 1894, this is one of Debussy's most famous and influential works. Based on the poem of the same name by the French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, it depicts the faun's sleepy, daydreamy afternoon. Perfect for a Friday afternoon; or as the background to that latest Teams meeting.

The Bonzos met at Art School. It was the 60s. 

Neil Innes, composer and vocalist on 'Urban Spaceman,' went on to write the music for the Rutles, a parody and homage to the Beatles.

One of the rites of passage of youth is staying up all night, preferably a Saturday night so, as dawn breaks, you can play this Song of the Week. With vocals by Lou Reed and backing vocals from Nico, this is from the Velvet Underground's much lauded first album.

You can of course play it after a good night's sleep. Or on a Friday.

1980s pop has a lot of fans which comes as a surprise to some of the people who were there at the time (including your Song of the Week correspondent). Mind you, you should have been around in the 70s.

Still, even the most grudging of critics has to admit to one or two gems and this is one of them. Great hook, great title, stupid video. No comment on the hair. Welcome to the 80s.

it is often said that there were no great British composers between Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and the 20th Century and certainly no great opera composers between Purcell and Benjamin Britten after the Second World War. Then again, Purcell left a very high bar. This famous aria is from his only opera, Dido and Aeneas. The Opera is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid and tells of the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her.

What better way to celebrate a sizzling weekend than hot stuff from the Man in Black. Ring of Fire was co-written by June Carter, Johnny Cash's future wife, about their early relationship (and no, Cash wasn't the other co-writer). There is plenty of Johnny Cash on YouTube including his famous concerts at American prisons in the late 1960s. Cash himself had spent a few nights in prison in his time.

In the first week of June, here is a song about June performed by the comic genius of Stan and Ollie. Like much of their routine it starts well...

There used to be singers and there used to be songwriters. Okay, that is a massive simplification, but the term 'singer-songwriter' only really took off in the late 60s and early 70s. Joni Mitchell is one of its leading lights with a large catalogue spanning five decades. This performance is from 1970. It must have been something to hear that voice live.

Cilla Black became best known for hosting the ITV dating show Blind Date. But she had started as a singer and in the 1970s had a regular BBC Saturday evening 'light entertainment' show (i.e unwatchable if you were under 50).

Marc Bolan, leader of T Rex, was the star of Glam Rock, and in 1973 at the height of his fame. Marc was not really light entertainment (if a bit 'lite' on lyrics sometimes). Life's a Gas was a Bolan song from a couple of years earlier.

They were not a pairing you would expect. But this is probably better than the original.

Galveston, released in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, tells the story of a soldier pining for his Texan hometown as he prepares to go in to battle. "I clean my gun and think of Galveston."

Below is the remastered original and here is an acoustic version. Country singer Glen Campbell had songwriter Jimmy Webb to thank for two more of his biggest hits, Wichita Lineman and By the Time I Get to Phoenix (written when Webb was only 19).

American modernist composer Charles Ives first wrote the Unanswered Question in 1908 before revising it in the 1930s. It wasn't performed until 1946. In the piece a trumpet repeatedly asks the question. The woodwind struggle to find an answer. Sound familiar?