Degrees of Separation

[Barry]

Sorry Guys,

I have the link, but I don't know the (modern) Greek for 'cut' and 'paste' - nothing seems to work.

(My vestigial knowledge of ancient Greek hasn't been of much help either!)

Perhaps one of "The Olympian Mods" can help.

[The Grand Wazoo]

CTRL+C: Copy
CTRL+X: Cut
CTRL+V: Paste

[The Grand Wazoo]

It'll all be clear after another bottle of Mythos!

[Barry]

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Cheers Chris.

Mythos is good - but "Fix" (Phi Iota Xi - I'm here in Greece and I can't use the Greek characters on the keyboard) is better; same strength but not quite as sweet.

But the best so far (and a real 'head banger') is Donkey Beer; whose slogan is "hippy, hoppy kick-ass beer". They are all unfiltered beers, one being called "Crazy Donkey", 7% ABV and only sold in 750ml bottles (14 EU a bottle!) Three of those, and your E110 health card allows you admission to free rehab!

[Barry]

No takers? Well at the risk of seeming to be ‘playing with myself’, I’ll provide another link.

There were/are several performing acts with the name “Brothers” in their title. Some of these were genuine sibling relationships: The Everly Brothers, The Isley Brothers or The Neville Brothers, some were not: such as The Blues Brothers, The Righteous Brothers, The Doobie Brothers or The Walker Brothers. So we won’t go there.

If you listen to the 10 minute long track ‘Time (Has Come Today)’, you will notice the word “time” is repeated many, many times. I couldn’t be bothered to count exactly how many times, but it’s a lot. This reminded me of the The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ with the much repeated refrain: “nah, nah, nah, na-na-na nah, hey Jude”, or even better the near-countless number of times the monosyllabic grunt: “huh”, is made during Laurie Anderson’s ‘Oh Superman’. :eyebrows:

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[The Grand Wazoo]

Laurie Anderson is married to Lou Reed, an artist who's singing style could be described as having originated from 'Dead Pan Alley'.
From the same school of vocal prowess comes Jad Fair, an incredibly prolific singer, guitarist and graphic artist, most famous for being a founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.
...but known to me for his album with Teenage Fanclub, 'Words of Wisdom and Hope' which I love:

Jad Fair - 'I Feel Fine'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAj6dVd02Y0

[Barry]

From the Grave

[Barry]

Well we don't seem to have any new takers to our game, so I'll have a go. And in doing so, will perhaps show how the game can be played.


Chris left us with Jad Fair and the Teenage Fanclub with the track ‘I Feel Fine’. They weren’t the only people who "felt fine"; The Beatles also sang "I Feel Fine":

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So now we have The Beatles, it shouldn't be too difficult for someone to follow that. (Hint: any one of the Beatles, or something they played, George Martin, their LP covers etc.)

[DanJennings]

The Beatles, a little known 60s beat combo, also produced a song called While My Guitar Gently Weeps,

Here competently played by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Prince, Steve Winwood & Dhoni Harrison

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Prince steals the show there, so I will stick with one of his:

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[The Grand Wazoo]

Prince famously duetted with Sheena Easton.
Hmmm. OK!
Sheena Easton famously introduced James Bond

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[Barry]

Great we have lift off – the ‘old girl’ lives again. Thanks Dan.


So Prince with ‘Darling Nikki’, well that track appeared on his Purple Rain album. Now “Purple” can take us in a number of directions: Deep Purple, “Purple Sprouting Broccoli” (yes - it is a track on the Bonzo Dog Band’s ‘Pour l’Amour des Chiens’, honest!), or how about “Purple People Eaters”, a novelty song by Glenn Shelby, reaching no 1 in the American Billboard Top 100 in 1958:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_People_Eater

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But no – a much better connection is to Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix:

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However, maybe this too easy, so how about the same track as performed by the Kronos Quartet?

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[Barry]

Prince famously duetted with Sheena Easton.
Hmmm. OK!
Sheena Easton famously introduced James Bond

35YMelR8Dyc


Bugger!

Oh well - Sheena Easton sang the theme tune to “For Your Eyes Only”; the twelfth in the James Bond film series and the fifth to star Roger Moore. All of the Bond films were produced by Cubby Broccoli – so “broccoli” and “Purple Sprouting Broccoli” etc., which takes us to ‘Purple Haze’ by the Kronos Quartet.

[Puffin]

I have not played this game before and think I might get banned before I start:lol:

Little Red Quartet - Prince
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[Barry]

Great, a new player to the game. Welcome Rob :)

Ah – a “punning” connection! That hasn’t been tried before, but we like tenuous connections in this game, so as long as the puns aren’t too awful –well, why not?

So for your neat 'Quartet' to 'Corvette' sidestep, I’ll match your Little Red Corvette and raise you Little Deuce Coup by the Beach Boys:

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[The Grand Wazoo]

A little deuce coup, known to sniggering schoolboys as a 'Little Deuce Poop', is a 1932 Ford Model B Coupe, which is considered to be the definitive car for hot - roddding. Maybe it's what Rory Gallagher had in mind when he sang about a 'Souped Up Ford'

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[Barry]

One thing it inadvisable to do whilst driving (regardless whether it’s a ‘little deuce coup’ or Rory Gallagher’s ‘Souped Up Ford’) is to drink alcohol.

Here is the inestimable Rory Gallagher playing some good rip – roaring acoustic blues by J. B. Hutto about ‘Too Much Alcohol’

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So how about ‘Whisky in the Jar’ by Thin Lizzy?

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[DanJennings]

Metallica famously did a cover of Whisky In The Jar

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Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was an early member of Metallica before ironically getting sacked for drinking too much:

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[Alex_UK]

Hmmmm... The obvious: Rubber Bullets - 10cc; Bullet the Blue Sky - U2; or combining both links -Sweat in Bullets - Simple Minds? Nah, we prefer oblique! ;)

Dave Mustaine was one of the founder members of Megadeth, and previously a member of Metallica, who were one of this year's headliners at the Glastonbury festival. Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, and is steeped in mystery and mythology and is notable for legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Some believe that Glastonbury Tor is in fact the Island of Avalon - the original resting place of King Arthur and his Queen - Guinevere. Guinevere was a track on the 1966 album "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan. Here's the title track:

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[Barry]

Donovan was born Donovan Philips Leitch, on the 10 May 1946. Phonetically Donovan’s family name: Leitch is the same as leech.

Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes, such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites.

Hermaphrodites are beings equiped with both male and female sex organs. The term derives from the Latin: hermaphroditus, from Ancient Greek: ἑρμαφρόδιτος hermaphroditos, which derives from Hermaphroditos ( Ἑρμαϕρόδιτος), the son of Hermes and Aphrodite in Greek mythology. According to Ovid, he fused with the nymph Salmacis resulting in one individual possessing physical traits of both sexes; according to the earlier Diodorus Siculus, he was born with a physical body combining both sexes.

So hermaphrodites could be said to be Aphrodite’s Child – which leads us to either Demis Roussos or to Vangelis.

Yes you guessed right, I going with Vangelis and the track from the film Blade Runner where the replicant Rutger Hauer gives his famous “Tears in the rain” soliloquy:

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[Jason P]

Yes you guessed right, I going with Vangelis and the track from the film Blade Runner where the replicant Rutger Hauer gives his famous “Tears in the rain” soliloquy:

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Ok... well Roy Batty says he's 'watched C-Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate'.

Tannhäuser, the opera by Wagner, tells the story of a singer enthralled by his love of Venus... He's a Minnesinger, a kind of wandering performer - you might say a Troubadour.

Troubadour was the fourth album released by JJ Cale, and contained his seminal classic - I give you 'Cocaine'...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqXdPaUlWyg

[The Grand Wazoo]

It's interesting to note that the use of coca leaves (from which cocaine is produced) to brew a type of tea is promoted by the governments of both Peru and Bolivia to overcome the effects of altitude sickness. The outcome is that you take cocaine in order to overcome the effects of being high!!
The effect of the recreational use of cocaine is often described as a 'rush'.

Rush are a Canadian band who had a hit single with the song 'The Spirit of Radio'.

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The Pye valve wireless at Montrose Air Station, a heritage centre that tells the story of the men and women who served there, has no power and is not connected to any source of electricity. However, it appears to be inhabited by supernatural forces - spirits of the radio - because (according to reliable sources) it can be heard playing music at low volumes. One tune which has been identified is 'At Last' - Glenn Miller Orchestra.

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It is well known that when the Glenn Miller Band broke up, they reformed and called themselves The Steve Miller Band. Due to what are cited as 'musical differences, The Steve Miller Band then evolved into The David Miliband, who had a massive hit single with 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother'.
That track was later shamelessly plagiarised by The Hollies,

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......whose original singer emigrated from Mancunia to live in Crosbystillsnashville, where he met and formed a relationship with Joni Mitchell, living in a house which he wrote a song about.
Crosby Stills Nash & Young - 'Our House'

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Joni Mitchell was one of the acts featured in the film 'The Last Waltz' along with Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton recorded a song called 'Cocaine', which was a cover version of a song by JJ Cale.

.......oh bugger. Isn't that where we started?

OK - JJ Cale wrote a song called 'Same Old Blues' which Captain Beefheart covered on his 'Bluejeans and Moonbeams' album.

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[Barry]

Captain Beefheart was a ‘mad genius’, as inventive and idiosyncratic as Frank Zappa, Beefheart achieved public prominence with his debut album ‘Safe as Milk’. Supporting him was the Magic Band - a rotating ensemble of musicians, with whom Beefheart recorded thirteen studio albums.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QpSbqjJHL._SY355_.jpg


Beefheart had a tyrannical control of the members of the Magic Band; often they were unpaid, forced to live communinally and would go hungry, yet had to rehearse for several hours a day until they got Beefheart’s complex compositions note perfect.

Safe as Milk is notable for the involvement of a twenty year-old Ry Cooder, who played guitar and wrote some of the arrangements. However Cooder ‘saw the writing on the wall’ and left the group following an incident when shortly before the scheduled Monterey Festival, the band began to play "Electricity" and Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the ten–foot stage and landed on manager Bob Krasnow. He later claimed he had seen a girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth.

To be precise, Ry Cooder probably only saw half the writing on the wall, since following a self inflicted accident with a knife at an early age, Cooder has a glass left eye.

Someone else who has a glass eye is Smiffy in ‘Smiffy’s Glass Eye’ on the album ‘Hokey Pokey’ by Richard and Linda Thompson.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yVOzm2t%2BL.jpg


Hokey Pokey comes from same group of expressions as Hokey Cokey or Hocus Pocus – all suggesting trickery or deception of some form.

Hocus Pocus was the title of a track from the album ‘Moving Waves’ by the Dutch rock group Focus, noted for the yodeling singing style of keyboardist and flutist Thijs van Leer:

Joladadijoladadijoladadijoladadi
Joladadijoladadi-jo-o-ooh!
Joladadijoladadijoladadijoladadi
Joladadijoladadi-jo-o-ooh!
Oooooh-oooooh-oooooh-oooooh...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HHQ2TJXSL.jpg

Another track, also from the Breaking Waves album, is titled ‘Sylvia’. Sylvia means ‘forest’ in Latin, so this brings us to the group Forest - an English psychedelic-folk trio formed in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1966.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DY7RyquRL._SX355_.jpg

If one were to ask for albums that might appeal to Forestry workers (as in the Radio 4 quiz: "I'm sorry I Haven't a Clue"), one might indeed suggest Forest, or Trees - 'The Garden of Jane Delawny' or even perhaps Jethro Tull’s ‘Songs From the Wood’:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/611L%2Bqi38ML._SX300_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51B-dPItl4L._SY355_.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

Songs from the wood has a photograph of a tree stump mounted with an SME tonearm on it's back cover. Another album with a tonearm featured is The Nightfly by Donald Fagen, he of Steely Dan.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41aHQmIkKWL.jpg

The photograph on the cover shows a fifties dj sitting in front of a transcription turntable mounted with a Para-Flux A-16 tonearm made by Radio-Music Corporation. The album sleeve of Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders is on the desk beside the turntable. Clearly, the dj, one Lester 'The Nightfly' ("Hello Baton Rouge"), is a man of taste!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZYSA51CCL.jpg myGhylEGjdc

[Andrei]

Songs from the wood has a photograph of a tree stump mounted with an SME tonearm on it's back cover. Another album with a tonearm featured is The Nightfly by Donald Fagen, he of Steely Dan.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41aHQmIkKWL.jpg

The photograph on the cover shows a fifties dj sitting in front of a transcription turntable mounted with a Para-Flux A-16 tonearm made by Radio-Music Corporation. The album sleeve of Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders is on the desk beside the turntable. Clearly, the dj, one Lester 'The Nightfly' ("Hello Baton Rouge") is a man of taste!



That album cover is truly a work of art. In fact I prefer it to the music even! Everything is there and the detail is nigh on perfect. Black and White, check; Cigarette, check; Time on the clock, check. etc.

[Barry]

Continuing with the ‘geek’ detail of the cover of Fagan’s ‘The Nightfly’: the microphone is an RCA 77DX and Fagan is smoking Chesterfield ‘King’ cigarettes. (Wikipedia is a wonderful thing!)

Donald Fagan was of course one half of the band Steely Dan, the other half being Walter Becker. Together they made many albums; one of which is titled ‘Aja’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JVZ1MCSJL.jpg

The title of the album is said come from the name of a Korean woman who married the brother of a high-school friend of Fagan. Perhaps she might have played the Chinese game of strategy Go, which was introduced to Korea in the 5th century. Professional Korean players such as Lee Chang-ho, Cho Hunhyun, Lee Sedol and Yoo Changhyuk have dominated international Go tournaments, winning many titles.


Another music duo who played Go were the UK folk performers Bert Jansch and John Renbourne, who can be seen playing the game on the cover of their album ‘Bert and John’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wd-3Iw3VL.jpg

They too are smoking; the open pack beside Bert Jancsh appears to be a pack of John Player ‘Gold Leaf’ cigarettes.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs36/i/2008/249/9/8/John_Player_GOLD_LEAF_4_by_fahap.jpg

Cigarette packs have formed the basis of a few album covers. One of which is J. J. Cale’s ‘Shades’; clearly influenced by the pack design for French Gitanes cigarettes.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/918Oj5Bi9eL._SL1500_.jpg

http://www.tobaccoonline.co.uk/images/products/Gitanes_Brunes_Non_Filter_Cigarette.jpg

Another is the Small Faces’ ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’, based on the idea of a tin of rolling tobacco. The original sleeve was circular and having four circular fold-out sections, was quite fragile. I’ll leave you with it for the recording on side 2: the wonderful narration of the adventures of Happiness Sam, by the late and great, ‘Professor’ Stanley Unwin.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zLOUGp35L.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

With all that album cover mounted tobacco, you'll be needing a light.
Bob Marley and the Wailers - 'Catch a Fire' will do nicely!

http://ancienttofuture.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/bob-marley-catch-a-fire-403015.jpg

Although I suspect that the Zippo lighter on the cover of that album would be used to ignite a rather different type of cigarette than ol' Lester the Nightfly's Chesterfield Kings on the Donald Fagen album!

The first track on the Wailers album is 'Concrete Jungle'

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Concrete is often used in places alongside asphalt - The Asphalt Jungle is a film noir directed by John Huston in 1950. It spawned a TV series for which Duke Ellington provided the theme music.

Duke Ellington - 'The Asphalt Jungle'

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Duke was a hugely influential jazz musician who died in May 1974 and shortly afterwards Miles Davis recorded 'He Loved Him Madly', a half hour long dirge in tribute to his hero. He said "At least one day out of the year all musicians should just put their instruments down, and give thanks too Duke Ellington."

Miles Davis - 'He Loved Him Madly'

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[Barry]

Wow - that was a quick reply Chris. :eek:

I'll have to think of a suitable reply in turn - unless anyone else wants to have a go. Andrei?

[Andrei]

Catch A Fire → Light My Fire


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MifWlrkEBD4

Anyone know what that keyboard contraption is?

[The Grand Wazoo]

The Doors had no bass guitarist, so Ray played those parts on the keyboards - I'm a long way from being knowledgable about these things but I think it's a Fender Rhodes piano bass sitting on top of a normal keyboard.

[Canetoad]

Continuing with the ‘geek’ detail of the cover of Fagan’s ‘The Nightfly’: the microphone is an RCA 77DX and Fagan is smoking Chesterfield ‘King’ cigarettes. (Wikipedia is a wonderful thing!)

Donald Fagan was of course one half of the band Steely Dan, the other half being Walter Becker. Together they made many albums; one of which is titled ‘Aja’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JVZ1MCSJL.jpg

The title of the album is said come from the name of a Korean woman who married the brother of a high-school friend of Fagan. Perhaps she might have played the Chinese game of strategy Go, which was introduced to Korea in the 5th century. Professional Korean players such as Lee Chang-ho, Cho Hunhyun, Lee Sedol and Yoo Changhyuk have dominated international Go tournaments, winning many titles.


Another music duo who played Go were the UK folk performers Bert Jansch and John Renbourne, who can be seen playing the game on the cover of their album ‘Bert and John’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wd-3Iw3VL.jpg

They too are smoking; the open pack beside Bert Jancsh appears to be a pack of John Player ‘Gold Leaf’ cigarettes.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs36/i/2008/249/9/8/John_Player_GOLD_LEAF_4_by_fahap.jpg

Cigarette packs have formed the basis of a few album covers. One of which is J. J. Cale’s ‘Shades’; clearly influenced by the pack design for French Gitanes cigarettes.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/918Oj5Bi9eL._SL1500_.jpg

http://www.tobaccoonline.co.uk/images/products/Gitanes_Brunes_Non_Filter_Cigarette.jpg

Another is the Small Faces’ ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’, based on the idea of a tin of rolling tobacco. The original sleeve was circular and having four circular fold-out sections, was quite fragile. I’ll leave you with it for the recording on side 2: the wonderful narration of the adventures of Happiness Sam, by the late and great, ‘Professor’ Stanley Unwin.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zLOUGp35L.jpg

To be politically correct shouldn't there be a ban on cigarette advertising on this forum? :lol:

[The Grand Wazoo]

I don't think there has been a vote on that yet.

[Andrei]

To be politically correct shouldn't there be a ban on cigarette advertising on this forum? :lol:
Well we could put it to the vote. On second thoughts, no. The vote will either be rigged or or someone will claim it was rigged.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Best not then, eh?

[Barry]

To be politically correct shouldn't there be a ban on cigarette advertising on this forum? :lol:

Why don't you propose that in Critic's Corner? We could have a vote and if the result was "Yes", the PC Police would swing into action and remove all references to cigarette advertising from The Art of Sound. :D

[DanJennings]

damn! beaten to the punch, I was going to go with Five Leaves Left!

[The Grand Wazoo]

Actually Dan, that's a bit adrift of where we should be, Barry was quoting an earlier post.

This is where we have got to:
My last track was Miles Davis - 'He Loved Him Madly'.
I was expecting that to get us to the Doors - Love Her Madly, but somehow, by a weird quirk, we ended up with 'Light my Fire' by the Doors from Andreii.

Go on, get to 'Five Leaves Left' from 'Light my Fire' in 6 moves!

[loo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-liwDGzaw
as Andrei asked what Ray Manzarek was playing and Chris correctly answered that it was a fender Rhodes bass piano
this seems appropriate with Billy Preston joining the fab 4 on a fender Rhodes
Billy Preston is the only artist to be named alongside the Beatles on one of their recordings

[Barry]

A full answer can be found here: http://www.thedoorsguide.com/music/equipment.html

[Barry]

So, from ‘Five Leaves Left’ to ‘Light my Fire’ in six steps – that’s a difficult one but I’ll have a go.



http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RR1KWY7YL.jpg

1.
‘Five Leaves Left’ was the title of Nick Drake’s debut album. The title was probably inspired by the slip of paper found in all packets of Rizla rolling papers, advising you to buy another packet as there were only ‘five leaves left’ in the current packet. Whenever I saw that advisory note, I would say “Hmmm it must be autumn already”. (I won’t say what I rolled up in those papers: I’ve already been ribbed about tobacco advertising). So autumn leaves?

2.
‘Autumn Leaves’ was a popular song of the 1950s. Originally it was a 1945 French song called "Les feuilles mortes" (literally "The Dead Leaves") with music by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert (the Hungarian title is "Hulló levelek" (“Falling Leaves”)). It is a wistful song reflecting the singers regret about a lost love. It has been performed by many singers over the years: Edith Piaf, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and more recently by Eva Cassedy and by Mark Lanegan.

3.
The lover sung about in the song is lost but not dead, so the French title does not accurately reflect the sentiment of the song. Had the lover died, the lamenting singer would have wished the dead lover’s soul a safe passage to the afterlife. There are of course countless examples of requia compositions, as well as written advice to aid the soul through its onward journey: such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

But this is a music forum, so I’ll cite the Lyke Wake Dirge - a traditional English song that tells of the soul's travel, and the hazards it faces, on its way from earth to purgatory. It has been performed by Pentangle (on their album ‘Basket of Light’), Steeleye Span and by Buffy Sainte-Marie (on her album ‘Fire & Fleet & Candlelight’).

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51m9kkWr40L._SX425_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DKM6WZS9L.jpg


4.
‘Fire and Fleet and Candlelight’ is a line from the Lyke Wake Dirge:

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
(Refrain): Every nighte and alle,

Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
(Refrain): And Christe receive thy saule.

When thou from hence away art past
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last
If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon,
Sit thee down and put them on;
If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
The whinnes sall prick thee to the bare bane.
From Whinny-muir when thou may'st pass,
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last;
From Brig o' Dread when thou may'st pass,
To Purgatory fire thou com'st at last;
If ever thou gavest meat or drink,
The fire sall never make thee shrink;
If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane,
The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;
This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle,

Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
And Christe receive thy saule.

5.
The line ‘Fire and fleet and candle-light(e)’ is explained by F.W. Moorman, in his book on Yorkshire dialect poetry, that fleet means floor. He also notes that the expression Aboute the fyre upon flet appears in the mediaeval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and explains that "Fire and fleet and candle-light are a summary of the comforts of the house, which the dead person still enjoys for this ae(one) night, and then goes out into the dark and cold."

6.
The idea of a cosy fire is one evoked in the Scottish greeting and wish for wellbeing: "lang mae yer lumb reek". (Reek = smoke and lum = chimney...hence, “long may your chimney smoke”. That is, literally, “May you always have the means to buy fuel” or, more generally, “May you be prosperous a long time”.) But of course to get your chimney smoking (and anything else for that matter), you might say to your partner – “Come on Baby, Light my Fire”; as did Jim Morrison.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51sMBNcR19L._SX425_.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

.....Go on, get to 'Five Leaves Left' from 'Light my Fire' in 6 moves!

You did it in reverse gear Barry.
Not to worry.

In 1968, Buick asked The Doors to endorse Opel cars (which were sold through Buick dealerships in the US). The idea was that there would be a recording of the song and the lyrics would be rewritten to "Come on Buick, Light My Fire". Morrison wasn't available or contactable, so the three other members, thinking that old Jimbo would quite like a share of the $75,000 that was being offered. They were wrong! Our Jim called Buick when he found out what had happened and told them that when they had agreed their business affairs in 1965, the members of the band had agreed that any single member had a right to veto any decision and that if the advert was ever aired, then he would appear on TV with an Opel car and would smash it up with a sledgehammer.

'Opel' is the name of an album by Syd Barrett. It was a compilation of unreleased material and alternate takes of recordings from sessions for Barrett's solo albums.

Syd Barrett - 'Opel'

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MyqsjHgVL.jpg

One of the albums that Barrett released in his lifetime was 'The Madcap Laughs', the rear cover of which featured a photograph of a nude woman known as Iggy the Eskimo

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41UPkqEvZTL.jpg

Her real name was Evelyn.

Frank Zappa wrote a song about an eskimo called Nanook and another about a dog called Evelyn.

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - 'Evelyn, A Modified Dog'

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[Barry]

You did it in reverse gear Barry.
Not to worry.

Oops – I should read the post more carefully!

So from ‘Light my Fire’ to ‘Five Leaves Left’ six steps. OK, here goes:

1.
Light my Fire is a track on the Doors’ debut album ‘The Doors’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21W3GAHS0ML.jpg

The Doors recorded for the Elektra label, formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. The usual spelling of the Greek mythological Pleiad Electra was changed, as Holzman famously explained, “I gave her the ‘K’ that I lacked”. He found the 'C' in the original name "too soft" but liked the "solid bite" of the letter 'K', citing its use in the Kodak name’.

2.
Elektra, was the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra and was a princess of Argos. In the Illiad, Homer is understood to be referring to Electra in mentioning Laodice as daughter of Agamemnon.

3.
Homer Simpson is the breadwinner and head of the household in the cartoon series the Simpsons. He works as an inspector at the Springfield nuclear power plant.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/02/Homer_Simpson_2006.png/212px-Homer_Simpson_2006.png

4.
The Springfields were were a British pop-folk vocal trio comprising singer Dusty Springfield, her brother, record producer Tom Springfield and Tim Feild. Dusty Springfield went on to have an outstanding solo career of her own.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51h%2B%2BFATB-L._SY355_.jpg

Elton John has said that the first performer he idolized was Dusty Springfield.

"Hers was the first fan club I belonged to," John said after learning that Springfield had died Tuesday at her home in Henley-on-Thames, about 30 miles west of London, after a long battle with breast cancer. "I had pictures of Dusty all over my walls." In memory of Dusty Springfield’s death, Elton John has sung one of her hits, "I Only Want to Be With You" and said, "Dusty, wherever you are, this one's for you, my love, with all my love."

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5.
Hookfoot were a short-lived British rock band formed by Caleb Quaye (guitars, piano and vocals) and three fellow DJM session musicians, Ian Duck (vocals, guitars and harmonica), Roger Pope (drums) and David Glover (bass). The band were also backing musicians for Elton John, appearing together on most of his early recordings for DJM.

6.
Hookfoot produced an album titled ‘Communication’. The cover design was inspired by the pack of Rizla cigarette papers, which included a slip of paper near the end of the pack, advising the purchaser that there were only ‘Five Leaves Left’.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61oYi-A0c2L._SX355_.jpg

This was the title of Nick Drake’s debut album.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RR1KWY7YL.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

'Five Leaves Left' was described by Q magazine as "The pinnacle of a melancholy canon of work so distinctive that admirers can only speculate miserably on what might have been."

Melancholy is a weird word isn't it? 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' is an album by The Smashing Pumpkins, the title track of which, is a piano piece.

The Smashing Pumpkins - 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'

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Billy Corgan from the band described the album as "The Wall for Generation X" Quentin Tarantino has been described as a Generation X filmmaker and his film Reservoir Dogs had a soundtrack that included music from Joe Tex and Stealers Wheel.

Stealers Wheel - 'Stuck in the Middle With You'

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[Barry]

Stealers Wheel formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed without Egan or Rafferty in 2008.

Gerry Rafferty sadly died in 2011, but will always be remembered for the track off his album City to City: “Baker Street” which has a wonderful eight-bar saxophone riff, played by Rapheal Ravenscroft, as a break between verses. It always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

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So too does the sax break in “Will You” on Hazel O’Connor’s debut album Breaking Glass . This comes in at 2:43, just after the East Enders-like roll on the tom-toms.

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Well worth listening to for the haunting and wistful lyrics, describing the hesitant and uncertain feelings felt by the singer towards her boyfriend and how the date might develop.

You drink your coffee and I sip my tea
And we're sitting here playing so cool, thinking "What will be, will be"
But it's getting kind of late now
Oh I wonder if you'll stay now, stay now, stay now, stay now
Or will you just politely say goodnight?

I move a little closer to you, not knowing quite what to do
And I'm feeling all fingers and thumbs, I spill my tea, oh silly me!
But it's getting kind of late now
I wonder if you'll stay now, stay now, stay now, stay now
Or will you just politely say goodnight?

And then we touch much too much
This moment has been waiting for a long long time
Makes me shiver, it makes me quive
This moment I am so unsure
This moment I have waited for
Was it something you've been waiting for, waiting for too?

Take off your eyes, bare your soul
Gather me to you and make me whole
Tell me your secrets, sing me the song
Sing it to me in the silent tongue
But it's getting kind of late now
I wonder if you'll stay now, stay now, stay now, stay now
Or will you just politely say goodnight?

[The Grand Wazoo]

So, to sum things up, Ms O'Connor wasn't entirely sure whether the object of her affection was going to heed the advice of Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge and Co.

The Moody Blues - 'Go Now'

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....or

...follow the recommendation of Mr Browne:

Jackson Browne - 'Stay'

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But what she didn't know was that the other party had a similar mental torment going on.

The Clash - 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?'

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The backing vocals on this song are, unusually sung in Spanish. The singers here were Joe Strummer and Joe Ely. The translation was provided by the mother of Eddie Garcia, the studio tape operator, who was from Ecuador. The Pixies used a similar ploy, with singer Frank Black often screeching away in Spanish interludes on tracks such as Vamos, Isla De Encanta, Crackity Jones and, perhaps, most unusually, their cover version of an old song from The Yardbirds.

The Pixies - 'Evil Hearted You'

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[Barry]

Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. Akin to the Irish and Scottish Aos Sí, pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground ancestor sites such as stone circles, barrows, dolmens, or menhirs.

Along with pixies, other mythical creatures appear in European folklore, such as elves; dwarves; goblins; sprites and fairies.

A fairy (also fay, fae; from faery, faerie, "realm of the fays") is also a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural. They are especially interesting because even today, half of adult Icelanders, when polled claimed to believe in their existance.

Indeed, Icelanders will often build a replacement house or home, looking a bit like a dolls-house, for the fairies if their natural habitat has been disturbed or destroyed.

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608027435097917141&pid=15.1&H=120&W=160&P=0

A known fairy location at Hafnarfjordur, a port on the outskirts of Reykjavik, where a large rock described as an fairy habitat led to plans for a nearby road being changed so as not to disturb its supernatural residents. Some mysterious accidents were also reported in front of one particular stone, which brought work to a standstill at the construction site at Ljarskogar, about three hours drive north of Reykjavik. The constructors called a medium, to find out if the fairies were to blame for the disruptions. The chief engineer also claimed to have had a series of bad dreams and nightmares, allegedly caused by the fairies whose home would have been destroyed by the new road.

Fairies, it seems come in at least two different colours: green and pink. Although elusive, the Green Faerie is well known to drinkers of Absinthe.

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608030450160240879&pid=15.1&H=200&W=160&P=0

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608018699129651393&pid=15.1&H=220&W=160&P=0.

Whereas the Pink Fairies are far less shy and often perform onstage. Initially active in the London underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s, they promoted free music, drug taking and anarchy and often performed impromptu gigs and other agitprop stunts, such as playing for free outside the gates at the Bath and Isle of Wight pop festivals in 1970.

Here they are singing about Lucile, Johnny B. Goode and Uncles Henry and Harry.

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[The Grand Wazoo]

Now then.
The Pink Fairies first album (1971) was called 'Never Never Land', a masterpiece of snotty rock music. Track One, Side Two of the album was given the title of.....well, actually, they called it 'Track One, Side Two'.

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Conversely (quite literally) track two, side one of their second album, 'What a Bunch of Sweeties' was called 'Right on, Fight on'. This is the tale of a free gig by the Pinkies and Hawkwind gave underneath the Westway overpass in London, just off the Portobello Road. The police came in and broke it up, much to the chagrin of band and onlookers alike.

The 1950 Ealing film 'The Blue Lamp', which starred Dirk Bogarde featured scenes filmed in the Portobello Road before the Westway overpass was built.

'Blue Light' is a song by Frank Zappa. God knows what it's about, although a fine fellow called Ben Singleton did a dissertation focusing on the musical meaning of that track, though as it is 17,960 words long, it's perhaps a trifle detailed for too much discussion here. One of the themes of the song, though, is that of the degradation of the English language. Excellent - that Zappa chap is another fine fellow!

Frank Zappa - 'Blue Light'

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[Barry]

Tinseltown is a veiled nickname for Los Angeles, hinting at its facile and often shallow nature. The Doors sang about Los Angeles, describing her as a woman in ‘LA Woman’, again perhaps a hint at the meretricious nature of the city:

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Tinseltown American Diner is also a name of a chain of American-style diners situated in London in Farringdon, Ealing and Wood Green. Maybe a guy called Tom runs them all? The same Tom that Susanne Vega sang about in ‘Tom’s Diner’:

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Tom’s Diner was the first song to be encoded to Mp3, but we shouldn’t hold that against it.



The diner is an essential icon of '50s Americana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diner), along with the soda fountain or milk-shake bar. Which brings us to ‘Soda Jerking Baby’ or ‘Milk Shakin’ Mamma’ by Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks:

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[The Grand Wazoo]

Dan Hicks played a cameo performance in the 1991 film, 'Class Action', which starred Gene Hackman. A couple of years later, Gen Hackman starred with Tom Cruise, among others, in a film called 'The Firm'.

The Firm were a short lived band (2 albums) which featured Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers. Their first album contained a song called 'You've Lost that Loving Feeling'


The Firm - 'You've Lost that Loving Feeling'

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This was a cover version of a song song written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, best known as a number one single by the Righteous Brothers, but also recorded by artists such as Cilla Black, Dionne Warwick, and Hall and Oates. The Righteous Brothers also had a big hit with 'Unchained Melody', a song which was released as a b-side but played because disc jockes preferred it to the a-side.

An anagram of the title of that song is 'unloaded chimney', which is what you'd be left with after a visit from a chimney sweep. Hopefully he wouldn't have a dogdy cocker-knee accent like Dick van Dyke had when he sang 'Chim Chim Cher-ee' with Julie Andrews in the film 'Mary Poppins'


Dick van Dyke - 'Chim Chim Cher-ee'

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[Barry]

Well after lying comatose for ten months, ‘Degrees of Separation’ is alive and, hopefully, kicking.

So to follow the musical ‘Mary Poppins’; probably it’s most famous song is “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

The roots of the word have been defined as follows:

super- "above",
cali- "beauty",
fragilistic- "delicate",
expiali- "to atone",

and

docious "educable",

with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for educability through delicate beauty." (A maxim worthy of a mention in Pseud’s Corner) According to the film, it is defined as "something to say when you have nothing to say", which is a far more likely explanation.

The root “cali-“ is roughly connected to the name of one of the Muses: Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. In Greek mythology the Muses were the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science. So the term muse is often taken to mean a guiding spirit, or a source of inspiration.

The Muses were:

Calliope – epic poetry
Clio – history
Euterpe – music, song and elegiac poetry
Erato – lyric poetry
Melpomene – tragedy
Polyhymnia – hymns
Terpsichore – dance
Thalia – comedy
Urania – astronomy.

Presumably the rock group Muse have Euterpe as their muse, whereas some might think differently.

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(Clearly there are many other Muse YouTube clips out there. I thought nine would be more than enough for someone to have a go, and ‘follow on’.)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Muse - 'Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)'

The subtitle of this track recalls an album which got its name from a conversation involving a break up between two partners.
Him - "I don't want to see you anymore. We're finished".

Her - "But you said you'd love me forever"

Him - "Well, Forever Changes"

The Him was Arthur Lee and his band was Love.

Love - 'Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark and Hilldale'

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[spm]

bugger, just discovered this thread, spent 10 minutes thinking of a post to follow on Muse and someone sneaks in - you wait 9 months for a post and ............

[The Grand Wazoo]

Go on then, do yer stuff and forget I was ever here!

[Barry]

Yes, go on and do yer stuff Sean.

Chris and I have been playing DoS for a long time, so it's only right we let some 'new blood' to have a go. :)

[spm]

I can't just put a glitch in 81 pages of connection!

Arthur Lee shared a surname with Alvin Lee of 10 Years After who released the rather excellent Hear Me Calling which was covered by Slade on their Slade Alive Album.

David Slade is a film director who cut his teeth on music videos including a number of videos for Muse!

The bass player with Muse is Christopher Wolstenholme, Keith Wolstenholme is the commentator famous for the line They think it's all over.....it is now which is a name of an album by Thunder. Beyond the Thunderdome is a film in which Tina Turner acted. Ike and Tina Turner had a big hit with River Deep Mountain High which leads me nicely onto my chosen track - the very good Theme from an imaginary Western by Mountain.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_x0xH9fLM

[Barry]

Excellent Sean - you have got into the spirit of DoS: the more tenuous the connection the better.

I won't follow on, as I'll let either Chris or anyone else have a chance.

Well done Sean; maybe the old girl is alive and kickin' at last!.

[The Grand Wazoo]

No Barry, please, be my guest.

[Barry]

Jack Bruce and Pete Brown wrote “Theme for an Imaginary Western”. The song originally appeared on Jack Bruce’s debut album ‘Songs for a Taylor’.

It might be that the Taylor of the title is James Taylor, but I think it unlikely. James Taylor often performed with Carole King, and mention of Carole King reminds me of the three great kings of the Blues: BB King, Albert King and Freddie King.

I’m going to go with Freddie King and the track “Going Down” taken from his album ‘Getting Ready’.

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