Guest Alan Wood
GuestForum Replies Created
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Actually, as I understood it from Simon Nicol (the singer) in a pub conversation many years ago, the inspiration probably came from a recording by Doc Watson. I subsequently found out that the original lyrics probably came from Northern England as a song called Little Musgrave which were changed over time to Matty Groves in the Appalachia. To make things even more complicated the tune used by Fairport was not the regularly accepted one but of another Appalachian song called Shady Grove.
So, although the Banjo is a relatively recent addition (since 1996 when Chris Leslie joined the band) to the Fairport performance, it is perhaps not all that inappropriate.
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Of course the closer you get to the fusion of rock with traditional music then the more common the violin becomes. If including Folk-Rock in the survey then Ric Sanders with Fairport Convention treats the violin in the same way as a lead guitar (including a full range of effects pedals)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQAfkctLcM
The violin has been an integral part of the band almost from their inception in 1967, not simply an ‘add-on’ for a particular sound for a track.
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Bring the list of notable polymaths a bit more current (and still alive), Brian May of Queen is also recognised as an Astrophysicist and was a science team collaborator with NASA’s New Horizons Pluto mission. Perhaps following in the footsteps of the astronomer Sir Patrick Moore (who I briefly met in the 1970’s), who was also a self-taught xylophonist and pianist, as well as an accomplished composer.
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True, Albert Einstein, was a keen violinist with a love of Mozart, but should not be confused with the musicologist ALFRED Einstein, who had a special interest in Mozart and was editor of the 1st major revision of the catalogue of Mozart’s works (the K numbers).
Albert and Alfred may have been distant (6th) cousins, but this is disputed even within the family. They did once meet at Princetown Uni, but did not acknowledge or more likely even realise that they might be related.
I still have a copy of Alfred’s book on Mozart bought about 45 years ago, well before I really understood much about Albert (and still understand Alfred’s work much better :)).
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Great song and the Twins versions hits just the right spot.
This song was going around in my head as I woke up this morning, although I had listened to it a few times yesterday evening so perhaps that’s why.
The meaning is somewhat ambiguous, and perhaps open to different interpretations which might read too much into the words.
According to PMc (Club Sandwich 55/56, Winter 1990/91)…
{i}Linda was very helpful, because she used to say, ‘I love to hear you play the guitar’. I was no longer sitting in a room on my own, like I used to be. So I’ll strum along when I watch telly. ‘Junk’ came along that way. Handlebars, sentimental jubilee, jam jars: I like images like that. There are certain words you like. I always used to say that candlestick was my favourite word. Certain words either make colours in your head or bring up a feeling. So the song was a pot-pourri of nice words that I had to make some sense out of, so it was ‘buy buy, sell sell, Junk says the sign in the yard’. To lump it all together I got the idea of ‘Junk’. It was a nice way to write a song.[/i]
Given that the song is a slow waltz, it did remind me of another song with a somewhat similar (f more openly sentimental) feel, written only a few years later…. “An Old Fashioned Waltz” by Sandy Denny…
[i]Roses are red and violets are blue,
Primroses pale on a velvet green hue,
Warm summer days by cool waterfalls,
Like the music we hear,
Those things we’ll always hold dear,
Like an old fashioned waltz,[/i] -
The principal feature of Homophony is there is an accompanied single dominating melody (without accompaniment it becomes Monophony). In its purest form most hymn tunes would qualify, but the term is general expanded to include a dominant melody with a supporting accompaniment, and most simple pop/rock/folk music would qualify.
In the case of Stairway to Heaven, I am not sure the beginning would qualify until the voice enters – initially you have an accompaniment figure on guitar, however ascetically interesting it is in its own right, joined by the flutes filling harmony and only when the voice enters you have a real melody. The intro to PF’s Wish You Were Here is in some way similar but even more sophisticated with an overlaying improvisatory guitar solo replacing the simple flute fills (I have been trying to study Lisa’s performance to try and work the solo out for myself (and not getting very far!) 🙂 )
In a way, Homophony is a restricted form of Polyphony. In Polyphony all parts may be of equal importance, like in a good amount of Bach for example (but the Aria from the Goldberg’s would count as Homophony I guess).
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In most forms of music, the question would have no meaning (say in Jazz, Folk/Traditional, Classical) – it’s only in the past 60-70 years mainly in pop and rock orientated music that even the idea that a classic original version is the best could have validity.
But even then, the recording accepted as sacrosanct is only a single performance, albeit possibly recorded in a studio with the ability to retake and mix to get a perfect result as the performer(s) see it.
However, the same performer(s) might play the same song a few days later it a totally different way – is that later performance somehow less valid than the earlier? And quite often people prefer later live versions to studio recordings (PF’s ‘Comfortably Numb or ‘Shine On’ for example)
And its not necessarily the best known version which is the original – say “The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face”, which most people would likely associate with Roberta Flack, but is far removed from it’s original by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger.
There are perhaps some (but few) songs that have canonical versions – “Bohemian Rhapsody” immediately comes to mind, where the actual sound of the studio recording and the way it is put together, is part of what it makes it ‘classic’. Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ also comes to mind.
Music is not intended to be ‘set in stone’, it evolves, sometimes regresses (according to taste), can be redefined and rediscovered according to generation and style.
And although I claimed the original “Bohemian Rhapsody” as perhaps canonical, it does not mean that enjoyable performances cannot hold their own and are equally valid in their own right…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_XVrm6zXmw
ps to myself – must get round to doing intro post 🙂