Vivaldi and Beckett Brought Together

Last night, there was a storm. A chaotic rumble of branches flying about, windows and doors slamming and gusts of wind hammering my abode. Today, the wind is all but gone and a cold, greyblue silence has taken its place. One which calls for subdued reflection.

It is under these conditions that two works of art appear to me as profoundly appropriate. The first is the second movement from Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria (RV589), Et in Terra Pax. This peaceful piece of music beautifully complements a scene from Samuel Beckett's one-act, one-character play Krapp's Last Tape. A melancholy and disillusioned old man, Krapp, sits by himself listening to diary-like tapes he recorded when he was younger remembering episodes with joy, but also regret. The scene included here is one of those episodes.

My suggested method for reading this is allowing Et in Terra Pax to run in the background while reading the scene. If you would like to read Beckett's complete play, you can find it here.

"

TAPE

--Back on the year that is gone, with what I hope is perhaps a glint of the old eye to come, there is of course the house on the canal where mother lay a-dying, in the late autumn, after her long viduity (Krapp gives a start), and the--(Krapp switches off, winds back tape a little, bends his ear closer to the machine, switches on)--a-dying, after her long viduity, and the--

Krapp switches off, raises his head, stares blankly before him. His lips move in the syllables of "viduity." No sound. He gets up, goes back stage into darkness, comes back with an enormous dictionary, lays it on table, sits down and looks up the word.

KRAPP

(reading from dictionary). State--or condition of being--or remaining--a widow--or widower. (Looks up. Puzzled.) Being--or remaining? . . . (Pause. He peers again at dictionary. Reading.) "Deep weeds of viduity" . . . Also of an animal, especially a bird . . . the vidua or weaver bird . . . Black plumage of male . . . (He looks up. With relish.) The vidualbird!


Pause. He closes dictionary, switches on, resumes listening posture.

TAPE

--bench by the weir from where I could see her window. There I sat, in the biting wind, wishing she were gone. (Pause.) Hardly a soul, just a few regulars, nursemaids, infants, old men, dogs. I got to know them quite well--oh by appearance of course I mean! One dark young beauty I recall particularly, all white and starch, incomparable bosom, with a big black hooded perambulator, most funereal thing. Whenever I looked in her direction she had her eyes on me. And yet when I was bold enough to speak to her--not having been introduced--she threatened to call a policeman. As if I had designs on her virtue! (Laugh. Pause.) The face she had! The eyes! Like . . . (hesitates) . . . chrysolite! (Pause.) Ah well . . . (Pause.) I was there when--(Krapp switches off, broods, switches on again)--the blind went down, one of those dirty brown roller affairs, throwing a ball for a little white dog, as chance would have it. I happened to look up and there it was. All over and done with, at last. I sat on for a few moments with the ball in my hand and the dog yelping and pawing at me. (Pause.) Moments. Her moments, my moments. (Pause.) The dog's moments. (Pause.) In the end I held it out to him and he took it in his mouth, gently, gently. A small, old, black, hard, solid rubber ball. (Pause.) I shall feel it, in my hand, until my dying day. (Pause.) I might have kept it. (Pause.) But I gave it to the dog.

Pause

"

Source

Another Song for the Exhausted

My Fridays are always harrowing. If you were to say; "Look at that fellow, Sir Bunbury, he is a nervous wreck" you wouldn't be far off. Giving lectures for hours on end can really take it out of a poor blighter. In these situations, T Rex' We Love to Boogie and particularly this youtube rendition is like ointment to the wearly limb.

Don McLean's "Crossroads"

This is one of the most beautiful songs I know. It features on Don McLean's iconic album American Pie. The lyric and intensely personal nature of the text moves me in a way very few poems do. Apart from W.H. Auden's Funeral Blues, there would be hard to find any verse that echoes within me like Crossoads does. Like Coleridge and Shelley's aeolian harp.

And just like their aeolian harp and, indeed, the first poems this text is accompanied by music. Don McLean has his song presented in simple vocals and solitary piano which combine to give us as complete an experience as we can possibly wish for.

Don McLean - Crossroads

I’ve got nothing on my mind:

nothing to remember,

Nothing to forget,

and I’ve got nothing to regret,

But I’m all tied up on the inside,

No one knows quite what I’ve got;

And I know that on the outside

What I used to be, I’m not

anymore.

You know I’ve heard about people like me,

But I never made the connection.

They walk one road to set them free

And find they’ve gone the wrong direction.

But there’s no need for turning back

`cause all roads lead to where I stand.

And I believe I’ll walk them all

No matter what I may have planned.

Can you remember who I was?

can you still feel it?

Can you find my pain?

can you heal it?

Then lay your hands upon me now

And cast this darkness from my soul.

You alone can light my way.

You alone can make me whole once again.

We’ve walked both sides of every street

Through all kinds of windy weather.

But that was never our defeat

As long as we could walk together.

So there’s no need for turning back

`cause all roads lead to where we stand.

And I believe we’ll walk them all

No matter what we may have planned.

Three Songs I Wouldn't Expect Myself to Like

It' strange how music can move you, as ABBA pointed out. Sometimes, the most surprising songs might become favourites. It seems it is possible to enjoy music immensely without being part of the culture it describes or from which it sprang. This is the case with the following three songs. Although they are the outsiders of my playlist the their exclusivity make them all the more dear to me.

(If you are easily offended by strong language you probably should have stayed the fuck away from this post.)

Enjoy!

Kid Rock's Cowboy from Devil Without a Cause

Green Day's 21 Guns from 21st Century Breakdown

Michael Zager Band's single Let's All Chant

(this one is probably due to its featuring in Watchmen)

Hubba hubba Zoot Zoot Animé Karaoke

With Monday morning coming down hard and a similar aspect of solidity marring the remainder of the day, I was pleased to have my spirits lifted in the evening by this. Enjoy!

I Can Make Those People Dance - Songs for the Exhausted, Bar 3

This is the final top 5 of the songs for the exhausted, songs which would reintroduce the spring in the step of the downbeaten and exasperated. The characteristics of such songs are jauntiness, an upbeat rhythm and often overly expressive vocals and the discerning reader has recognised these in the ten songs in Bar 1 and Bar 2. This leaves the final five, the prime of powertracks, the peak of power, the pinnacle of pep, the flower of forcefulness, the zenith of zest, the superiority of spirit, the excellence if élan, for your enjoyment and gratification, starting with La Grange.

5 - ZZ Top - La Grange



The attentive subscriber will have registered the extent to which the Texans have frequented this trilogy. The carefree and unpretentious appeal and the sheer bluff, grittyness of the La Grange riff should justify their position in a catalogue of revitalising canzonets like this.

4 - Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honor or Humanity



Battle Without Honor or Humanity is a version of Tomoyasu Hotei's Shin jingi-naki tatakai. Originally used in a 2000 film in which Hotei had a role, the instrumental was used in a number of films and games, most notably Kill Bill and Gran Turismo. Both these are admittedly energetic and so are their soundtracks. This full and immersing soundscape is just the ticket for a tired soul.

3 - The Who - The Seeker



From the first chord, the song's sharpish rock'n'roll guitar grabs your fancy and makes you feel like a rock star on stage. That is no bad alternative to feeling under the weather. Please note the legendary Keith Moon on drums.

2 - Lenny Kravitz - American Woman



This 1999 powerload with its bass and drum driving force is designed to give anyone a jolt. The combination of several instruments into a single unity of sound like the guitar and voice following 0:44 gives the song a full, solid and self-confident quality, earning it the second highest ranking on this list.

1 - Bon Jovi - It's My Life



Heading the list, the track at the top of pep, is Bon Jovi's It's My Life. Not unlike American Woman, the song gives you confidence and makes you feel steady and ready. The combination of drums and vocals at the two introductory beats and before each chorus really shakes you awake and makes you want to move to the music.

So that is it from the energy tracks. If 15 songs of pure energy did not present pick-me-ups aplenty you should check for vital signs, because then you are probably dead.

I Can Make Those People Dance - Songs for the Exhausted, Bar 2

The ultimate survivor is Bear Grylls but seeing as horrendous home exams, ten hour writing sessions several days in a row, are not good television no episodes have been made to help fatigued academics in distress. Therefore, I humbly present the second bar in the Songs for the Exhausted series...

10 - Dire Straits - Money For Nothing



Mark Knopfler and Sting together; it had to become a hit. Not only is the liberation of Knopfler's initial solo a powerful pick-me-up and the message of the song something anyone can agree with, but the above music video was one of the first to use computer generated graphics!

9 - Elvis - Viva Las Vegas



This frenetic song from The King with its infectuous mantra might be a bit over the top for some. For these, the ZZ Top version's electrified, synthetic feel might be more homely.

8 - Roxette - How Do You Do



Yes, it is another one from Roxette. The concise guitar and the confident, assertive voices of Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson incorporates that unstoppable 90's optimism.

7 - Ruth Brown - This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'



Admittedly, this 1958 rhythm and blues song stands out in the list but it embodies some of the pre-party impetuous energy which can otherwise only be found in songs like Darkness' Friday Night and The Cure's Friday I'm In Love.

6 - Dire Straits - Heavy Fuel



Finishing in much the same vein as we started this "bar"; what better than a sharpened riff and a text preaching reckless abandon? Heavy Fuel is a macho, British bulldog song for those whose life makes perfect sense.

Cranking up from low to high voltage, move on to the top five energy boosters in Songs for the Exhausted, Bar 3

I Can Make Those People Dance - Songs for the Exhausted, Bar 1

At times we all feel down and in need of a proper energy boost. Arriving home from a hellish day at work or some equally harrying trial, you collapse at your doorstep wondering how to muster the strength to drag yourself indoors and check for vital signs. You muster your last strength, grab for your mp3 player, weakly clasp the headphones to your head and with shrinking field of vision you press play clutching to the last straws of consciousness; the 15th and the last on the list of great power tracks hits you like a shot of adrenalin...

15 - Billy Idol - Rebel Yell



Billy Idol, a powerhouse as an artist, figures as a good last place. The powerful and erratic vocals override the flow of the backup which would otherwise leave the song to sedate to figure on the list.

14 - Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music



Although there are numerous similar disco songs, I have never seen any of them fill a formerly deserted dancefloor like this did, and surely that is a testimony to its envigorating effect.

13 - ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide



The sturdy two thirds, iconically bearded Texas trio has had a knack for delivering energic and playful rock hits with a strong link to blues which provides a strong rhythm and avoids songs like Nationwide becoming stressful.

12 - Aerosmith - Last Child



Sooner or later the Boston Bad Boys would have to appear on this list. Although somewhat outside their more well-known street of ballads, Last Child incorporates some of Aerosmith's exuberant energy and makes you want to put on oversized, Tyleresque sunglasses and stride confidently down the road, making heads turn.

11 - Roxette - The Look



For some, including this scriblerian, Roxette is the epitome of 80's energy. The sligthly rasping voices, the energetic hits, the sharp or shabby hairstyles and the in-your-face attitude of the band should serve as a musical pick-me-up for anyone.

Slightly reinvigorated with promising spasms and rising blood pressure a faint hope glimmers; that you once more shall once more obtain an array of arias, a batch of ballads, a clique of choruses, a deportment of ditties or something in the same alliterative genre.

And it just so happens that you're in luck, as there soon will be a Bar 2 in this Songs for the Exhausted series!