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A math guy's random thoughts. |
| A math guy's random thoughts. |
 Harold Arlen is perhaps best known for writing the score to MGM's 1939 release of "The Wizard of Oz." The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) ranked his "Over the Rainbow" number one on their Songs of the Century list. But Arlen was nominated eight times for the Academy award and was responsible for many familiar classics, including standards like "That Old Black Magic" and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive." He also wrote "Get Happy" in 1930. Judy Garland sang the song in 1952 in her last MGM musical, "A Star is Born." Her performance is linked below. The exuberant music and lyrics have gospel roots, and exhort the listener to "get happy" and "get ready for the judgement day." There are two songs referenced in "Chapter 9--Get Happy, In Dreams"  of "Dreamin' Life Away" . Yesterday's blog dealt with the Roy Orbison classic, "In Dreams," and explained its connection to the story. For "Get Happy," the connection is the line "get ready for the judgement day." In earlier chapters, the protagonist, Dante, has made a Fausitian bargain and has gotten his reward. But now it's time to pay the price. So, hearing the lyrics to "Get Happy" warns him to "get ready for the judgement day." The payoff comes when he hears "In Dreams," with a turning point that mirrors a scene in David Lynch's "Mullholland Drive."The story has a surreal, slipstream mood, and I wanted the performance of the song to reflect that. So, instead of Judy's famililar performance, I chose the one Rufus Wainwright did in his Canrengie Hall concert. Wainwright's performance and staging copy the familiar MGM clip, right down to Wainwright dressing in drag, wearing black nylons, high heels, and a saucy little hat. Since Dante is celebrating his reward in the 1950s, I described Wainwright's performance but placed it in a 1950s gay club. Here's Judy Garland in "A Star is Born" And here's Rubus Wainwright, at Carnegie Hall |
| Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" is an amazing, operattic rock ballad in seven movements. It tells the story of a lost love, now available only "in dreams." His 1964 release featured his phenomenal range, over two octaves and well beyond the reach of most popular singers. The song peaked at number 7 on the US charts. It regained popularity in 1986 when David Lynch featured the song in his provocative auteur film Blue Velvet. I featured the song in "Chapter 9--Get Happy, In Dreams" of "Dreamin' Life Away" , where the protagonist hears it performed in a nightclub. I got the overall structure for this novella from Lynch's masterpiece, Mulholland Driive, although my story uses a linear timeline in contrast to Lynch. The pivotal scene in Lynch's movie--pivotal in the sense that it's where the timeline reverses--occurs in a night club where Rebecca de Oro sings another Orbison song, Crying, in Spanish. So, of course, my protagonist hears "In Dreams" in Spanish. The lyrics of the song fit perfectly with the story's plot. The first chapter suggests that the protagonist murdered his lover, so the absent lover is surely available only in dreams. There are lots of hints, though, that something else may have be going on with the absent lover. I won't reveal the plot twist here. Here's an amazing version of "In Dreams" in Spanish. Even if you don't understand Spanish, this beautiful language fits perfectly with Orbison's song and lyrics. |
| Earlier in "Dreamin' Life Away" , Dante made a Faustian bargain while the Dies Irae ominously drummed away in the background. In "Chapter 8--You Belong To Me" , he gets the pay-off. Since he's time-travelled to the 1950s, I wanted a song from that era that reflected the cost of his big break. The lyrics for the 1952 song, "You Belong to Me," fit perfectly. Patti Page covered it in 1952 and rose to number 14 on the Billboard singles chart. The version that I remember, though, is the one linked below, the 1962 release by the Duprees. Here, the all-male quartet crooning the lyrics "you belong to me" gives it an entirely different subtext. I remember thinking even back then that the lyrics were disquieting. Clearly, they are saying that the girlfriend "belongs to" her boyfreind. Not that he wants to be with her, or misses her. The lyrics declare ownership. The Duprees version rose to number ten on the charts, probably due to their soothing boy-band rendition. In any case, the song's mood fits the 50s and the lyrics fit what's about to happen in the chapter. It's all metaphor, of course, but by the time the chapter is over, Dante's on his way to success--at least, in his slipstream dreams--and the price is his soul. |
| Dante, the protagonist in "Dreamin' Life Away" , is a multiple failure as an artiist. He hears a street-musician pianist playing this song in the subway that takes him to Tulsa in the 1950s, and remembers being laughed at when he played it for his audition to Juilliard. The music has a grave, despondent tone, which fits with the kind eerie vibe of this story. In addition, the title reference an ancient Greek term for the naked dance young Spartan warriors did. That connects it to the tension between Dante and his (apparenlty) murdered lover. So the mood and the title fit with "Chapter 7--So What, Gymnopédies" .Satie wrote these three dances for piano in the 1890s, when his popularity was fading. However, other musicians have taken up the work. Most notably, Blood Sweat and Tears included a version in their 1969 album, which is the version linked below. That same album includes other amazing songs, including their version of Laura Nyro's "And When I Die." |
| "Mad World" is a 1982 release by UK band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit. It's been covered by many other artists, most notably by Gary Jules for the movie Donnie Darko. I love this song. I admit, I've never watched Donnie Darko, even though I'm a movie geek. The lyrics, including the line, "the dreams where I'm dying are the best dreams I've ever had," are supposedly derived from the ideas of the discredited psychologist Arthur Janov. His book, The Primal Scream, has semi-plausible pseudo-science with no evidence to support it. It has a few case studies, but the plural of "anecdote" is not "data." So, there are reasons for me to dislike the ideas that inspired the song, including that one perfect line that inspired a chaper--in some ways, in inspired the whole novella. But because Wagner was a racist and anti-semite doesn't mean I can't enjoy The Siegfried Idyl. Anyway, this haunting song is one that I love. It would be part of the soundtrack of my life even if it hadn't inspired a story. In this case, I use it at the start of "Chapter 6--Mad World" of "Dreamin' Life Away" Here's the Gary Jules version. Max Griffin Please visit my website and blog at https://new.MaxGriffin.net Check out most recent release!
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Everyday, it's gettin' closer Goin' faster than a roller coaster. So starts the 1957 BuddHolly song "Everyday." It was the B side of his much better-known hit "Peggy Sue," but it's the one that I like much better of the two. The song reached number three on the BIllboard Top 100 chart in 1957, then hit number three again in 1987 when James Taylor covered it, this time on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Other artists to cover this include John Denver and Pearl Jam. I used this song in "Chapter 5--Everyday" of the novella "Dreamin' Life Away" . Part of the plot of the novella is that Dante, the protagonist, is taken on tour of 1950s Tutlsa, sort of like another Dante's famous tour of...a similar place. Dante's rather bemused, possibly from taking drugs, and goes along with the tour without much thought or resistance. But he does have the feeling that every day his life is going nowhere, faster than a roller coaster--at least, that's what he thinks when he hears the song playing on the radio in his guide's Edsel. There's a lot more I could say about this song or about the mulitple references I had fun putting into this story, but I've already blogged about the song elsehwere. As to the references, well, looking for Easter Eggs can be fun, so why give it away? (Looking at you, T.S. Eliot.) Anyway, this particular blog is just about how the song connects to a story I've written. Here's a link to the song. |
| Today's song, "Take Five," is the best-selling jazz recording of all time. It was written in 1958 by Paul Desmond and released in 1959 by the Dave Brubek Quartet. It's quirky rhythms evoke thoughts of smoky coffee houses in Greenwich Village and beat poets like Allen Ginsberg. Hearing it, I imagine what it must have been like to sit in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's coffee house, City Lights, reading Kerouac. It's an odd song to have become a hit. The key--E-flat minor--isn't what makes it strange. It's the meter. It's written in 5-4 time. Pick almost any song in the Western canon for the last, say, four hundred years, and you'll tap your toe to two, three, or four beats per measure, or some multiple thereof. (I know, there's Stravinsky and Le Sacre, but even Stravinsky reverted to conventional meter in his later years. Please don't bring up John Cage's piece 4'33”  ) The song's name comes, in part, from the rhythm. But it's also a reference to "taking a break," i.e., taking five. My novella, "Dreamin' Life Away" , involves a character named Dante finding a subway in his basement that takes him back in time to 1950s Tulsa. To launch his trip, I wanted a song emblematic of the 50s. Of course, "Rock Around the Clock" might have been choice, both for it's importance in launching rock music and because "clock" would have been a nice reference to time travel. But...this is a slipstream story with a surrealist tone, so I wanted something unsettling. What could be more unsettling than a 5-4 beat that evokes Ginsberg and Kerouac?The song appears at the end of the second chapter, "Chapter 2. Take Five" , when Dante finds the door to the basement subway.Here's the link to the song; |
| Today's song, "Take Five," is the best-selling jazz recording of all time. It was written in 1958 by Paul Desmond and released in 1959 by the Dave Brubek Quartet. It's quirky rhythms evoke thoughts of smoky coffee houses in Greenwich Village and beat poets like Allen Ginsberg. Hearing it, I imagine what it must have been like to sit in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's coffee house, City Lights, reading Kerouac. It's an odd song to have become a hit. The key--E-flat minor--isn't what makes it strange. It's the meter. It's written in 5-4 time. Pick almost any song in the Western canon for the last, say, four hundred years, and you'll tap your toe to two, three, or four beats per measure, or some multiple thereof. (I know, there's Stravinsky and Le Sacre, but even Stravinsky reverted to conventional meter in his later years. Please don't bring up John Cage's piece 4'33” ) The song's name comes, in part, from the rhythm. But it's also a reference to "taking a break," i.e., taking five. My novella, "Dreamin' Life Away" , involves a character named Dante finding a subway in his basement that takes him back in time to 1950s Tulsa. To launch his trip, I wanted a song emblematic of the 50s. Of course, "Rock Around the Clock" might have been choice, both for it's importance in launching rock music and because "clock" would have been a nice reference to time travel. But...this is a slipstream story with a surrealist tone, so I wanted something unsettling. What could be more unsettling than a 5-4 beat that evokes Ginsberg and Kerouac?The song appears at the end of the second chapter, "Chapter 2. Take Five" , when Dante finds the door to the basement subway.Here's the link to the song; |
| Today's song, "Take Five," is the best-selling jazz recording of all time. It was written in 1958 by Paul Desmond and released in 1959 by the Dave Brubek Quartet. It's quirky rhythms evoke thoughts of smoky coffee houses in Greenwich Village and beat poets like Allen Ginsberg. Hearing it, I imagine what it must have been like to sit in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's coffee house, City Lights, reading Kerouac. It's an odd song to have become a hit. The key--E-flat minor--isn't what makes it strange. It's the meter. It's written in 5-4 time. Pick almost any song in the Western canon for the last, say, four hundred years, and you'll tap your toe to two, three, or four beats per measure, or some multiple thereof. (I know, there's Stravinsky and Le Sacre, but even Stravinsky reverted to conventional meter in his later years. Please don't bring up John Cage's piece 4'33” ) The song's name comes, in part, from the rhythm. But it's also a reference to "taking a break," i.e., taking five. My novella, "Dreamin' Life Away" , involves a character named Dante finding a subway in his basement that takes him back in time to 1950s Tulsa. To launch his trip, I wanted a song emblematic of the 50s. Of course, "Rock Around the Clock" might have been choice, both for it's importance in launching rock music and because "clock" would have been a nice reference to time travel. But...this is a slipstream story with a surrealist tone, so I wanted something unsettling. What could be more unsettling than a 5-4 beat that evokes Ginsberg and Kerouac?The song appears at the end of the second chapter, "Chapter 2. Take Five" , when Dante finds the door to the basement subway.Here's the link to the song; |
| The Mammas and the Pappas covered "California Dreamin" in December of 1965. Initially, it didn't get much attention until a Boston radio station started featuring it. It peaked in March at number four on the USA Billboard 100, but was the top single in the Billboard end-of-the-year survey for 1966. The song was a collaboration between Michelle Phillips and Barry Maguire, who were friends at the time. Phillips wrote the lyrics and Maguire the music. Originally, Maguire was supposed to be the lead vocalist on the release with Phillips' group, The Mammas and the Pappas, just providing backup vocals. However, the producers didn't care for Maguire's rough voice and instead released a recording with Dennis Doherty, a founding member of the Mammas and the Pappas, as the vocalist. The song had enormous impact. For one thing, it introduced the "California Sound," innovated by the Beach Boys, to folk music and helped to initiate the "folk-rock" combination. But the song's lyrics became a powerful metaphor for an entire cultural movement--a movement that built on and expanded the "California Dream" and accelerated migration to the state. The Gold Rush in the nineteenth gave birth the "California Dream" of a place where success depended less on the dreary Puritan values of personal deprivation and hard work and more on freedom and good luck. The California Sound, on the other hand, originatied with beach culture, centered on youthful innocence, surfing, and hot rods. The fusion of the California Sound with the social consiousness of the folk music, a fusion launched by "California Dreamin', transformed both the California Sound and the California Dream. Today, we can see the lyrics as a metaphor for a new "California Dream," the dream of a place that is at once free, politically aware, diverse, and prosperous. I personally know countless people who migrated to California motivated, at least in part, by this song. One can surely argue that Phillips had none of this in mind when she wrote the lyrics. Indeed, she has said her only motivation was nostalgia for better weather when she wrote the song while enduring a New York winter. But once she wrote it and the group performed it, the lyrics and the song became art. It's axiomatic that people take their own meanings from art. I see I've rambled, a hazard of old age. This particular blog series is supposed to link songs to stories I've written. I do have a song that features "California Dreamin," but doesn't reference any of the ways that make this song so important to me personally. Instead, the story is a minor exercise in irony and attempt at humor. It turns out, I'm humor impaired, so it's not a very good story. The story itself was written for a holiday party with some author friends. It was also written to a prompt. An intro to the story, included in the link, explains this background. The story itself references at least a dozen songs. See if you can find all twelve.
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Take on me is an excellent choice.
