Liberal Arts Blog — Three Iconic Songs: “God Only Knows” (Beach Boys), “My Way” (Frank Sinatra), “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic: Three Iconic Songs: “God Only Knows” (Beach Boys), “My Way” (Frank Sinatra), “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen)
Did you know that “My Way” was played at Alexei Navalny’s funeral? That Paul McCartney called “God Only knows” the greatest song of all time? Is there a more haunting song than “Hallelujah”? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
MY WAY (1969) — English lyrics by Paul Anka based on the French song “Comme d’habitude” by Jacques Devaux and Claude Francois (1967) — for decades the most popular song played at British funerals, but recently superseded by the duet of Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, “Time To Say Goodbye” an English version of “Con Te Partiro”
1. “And now, the end is near, and so I face my final curtain, my friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full, I travelled each and every highway, and more, much more than this, I did it my way.”
2. “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention, I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption, I planned each chartered course, each careful step along the byway, and more, much more than this, I did it my way.”
3. “Yes, there were times, I sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew, but through it all when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all, and I stood tall, and did it my way.”
NB: “I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried, I ‘ve had my fill, my share of losing. and now as tears subside I find it all so amusing, to think I did all that and may I say not in a shy way, oh no, no not me, I did it my way.” “For what is man, what has he got, if not himself, then he has naught, to say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels, the record shows I took the blows, and did it my way.” “Yes, it was my way.”
GOD ONLY KNOWS (1966) — the “greatest song of all time” (Paul McCartney) — what would your pick be?
1. “I may not always love you, but as long as there stars above you, you never need to doubt it. I’ll make you sure about it. God only knows what I’d do without you.”
2. “If you should ever leave me, well, life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you.”
3. “God only knows what I’d be without you, If you should ever leave me, though life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you.”
God Only Knows (Remastered 1999)
“HALLELUJAH” (1984) — famous covers by John Cale (1991), featured in the film Shrek (2001) and Jeffery Buckley (2004) — which is your favorite version?
1. “Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing Hallelujah.”
2. “Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you, She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, and she cut your hair and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.”
3. “You say I took the name in vain, I don’t even know the name, But if I did, well, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light in every word, It doesn’t matter which you heard, the holy or the broken Hallelujah.”
NB: “Maybe there’s a God above, but all I’ve ever learned from love was how to shoot someone who outdrew ya, And it’s not a cry you hear at night, It’s not somebody who’s seen the light, it’s a cold and broken hallelujah.”
“I did my best, it wasn’t much, I couldn’t feel, so I tried to tough, I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you, And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.” (Chorus) “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah”
Leonard Cohen — Hallelujah (Official Live in London 2008)
John Cale — Hallelujah (Official Video)
Jeff Buckley — Hallelujah (Live At Bearsville)
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song) — Wikipedia
BACKGROUND
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music.
Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
