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Today it is all about circles. I just took pictures of a few circles I encountered in one day of my being in London, and thought about the song WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND which interestingly in French is called les moulins de mon coeur which even with my pigeon french means THE WINDMILLS OF MY HEART… I wonder if only the title was written in French or if it was first written with French lyrics…I have not had time to do enough research.It is a wonderful song and harks back to my love of  many things French.

SONG OF THE DAY

So here it is. I only found out today that the opening two melodic sentences were adopted from Mozart’s second movement from his Sinfonia Concertante for Violon Violan and Orchestra , so I should be gushing about my love of all things Austrian.. and today following the fine example of some of my fine fellow blogger djbaroque I am listing the words- as they are great.Does anyone knows if it the lyrics were written in French first? I would love to know.

today is compare and contrast the original versus the lovely Dusty

Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel,
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon,
Like a carousel that’s turning, running rings around the moon,
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space,
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind,
Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own,
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone,
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream,
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream,
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind, 

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head,
Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand,
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway or the fragment of a song,
Half-remembered names and faces but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware,
That the autumn leaves were turning to the colour of her hair,

 

A circle in a spiral, a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning, on an ever-spinning reel,
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find,
In the windmills of your mind

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“We writers dream of a future where actors are mostly computer generated and their performances can be adjusted, by us, on a laptop, alone.” ~Tina Fey

Interesting quote and I sort of know what she means…when the drum machine became a viable and fashionable instrument I was so excited that I would never have to wait for another drummer to arrive late, play too loud, not be able to follow instructions (  I have several friends who are drummers, so friends they  usually continue to be)

When I found the vocal transformer on Logic and was able to take my voice down an octave it was brilliant! I could now sing Bass. I was my own self contained Acapella Choir…alone!

But it is just not the same – alone is good…’all one’- but the first time I take my self-penned 4 part vocal arrangments to choir and hear them sung by a mixed group of real live singers I always get a shiver- it is one of the most heavenly moments in my small existence when I feel really in touch with God ( the one with no name -apart from God, but the name could be creation, oneness, Julie  -what ever rocks your boat)

There is something about the sound of lots of different voices all together that I can never create when I sing with myself and the same is true of all the manufactured instruments in my palette. Great for sketching…marvellous for dance music and reflective stuff, but some how, if you want to hit the old heart and soul, the people have to be there-breathing, strumming, banging, not quite hitting the note or hitting it good! Thanks to all the musicians and singers I have had the pleasure to collaborate with. I like my ‘all one, al-one,alone time’, but my life is so much richer  being with you.

SONG OF THE DAY

Heaven or Las Vegas -The Cocteau Twins

Someone very thoughtfully  put a translation of the words of the song on this youtube link -cos I can’t understand much of what this beautiful singer is saying-

‘Elizabeth Fraser’s distinctive vocals received the most attention in the band. At times barely decipherable, Fraser seemed to veer into glossolalia and mouth music. Reviewer Ned Ragett wrote that “part of her appeal is how she can make hard-to-interpret lyrics so emotionally gripping.”(ripped from Wiki)

The ol’man is having a whole shoe-gaze renaissance- I missed the Cocteau Twins the first time round  as i was so busy writing my own decipherable lyrics, but have to say they have ripened and mellowed like a fine wine.

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First here is my Christmas Sinlge/Video, made for £3 and 100 years ( there are 2 of us) practise. I wrote my ‘song of the day’. It is titled  – Friends. I happened to watch a touching and apt  movie last night called My Best Friend.so the topic of the day is…I kid you not..  friends.

I love French Cinema for many reasons, one is I  usually don’t have to put up with any idiot soundtracks – ‘oh pizzicato strings…it must be a funny bit’…check out how many ‘blockbusters’ use this nonsense use of music.. I love France and wish my French was up to it, as I would be there like a shot, living i in some beaten up apartment above a bakery or cottage somewhere. Sadly being a bit dyslexic, I find I have remembered every word I  learned in my O’level days, but my short term memory and ability to take in anything new is, and always has been….pants.. There is also a depth and poignancy  in French film you do not get in so much other cinema. The French definately resonate from their hearts and it seems to come through in so much of their cinema. The Prophet …best film I saw last year, gritty and so well observed.

tt0778784(link)

So My Best Friend is the perfect film for anyone  who is spending their time musing over one of the post-a-day ideas for a blog title.  I will not spoil it for you,  but recommend it. It asks all the right questions about ‘what and who is a friend’.It also has a great little plot, as well as a lot of beautifully sensitive  and funny moments. Daniel Auteil is one of my favourite actors. Don’t be put off by bumf on the poster ‘popularity contest’  nonsense . It is quality.

So friends ha!  very complicated and the discussion could go on and on. So I shall just ask the following questions …

who might  you call at 3am in the morning?( and I am not meaning a cab or the 24hr pizza parlour )

who is not going to mind if you cancel?

who is going to tell you that they mind if you do?

who do you want to take with you when you decide to emigrate?

who is a constant, even if you don’t see them for weeks, years, their place in your heart is somehow permanently tattooed?

who makes you laugh at yourself?

who knows you and understands you, and makes you feel like you are an easy person to get on with, and not a messed up, complicated hard to understand type of being?

is that all too much to ask?

No I do not think so, but friends like flowers, need to be nurtured and cultivated ( not over watered though and in this day and age, the busy busy lifestyle makes it very easy for many of  us to forget to keep in touch – my hand  is up first…guilty as charged. So here I am reminding myself, as does my song to thank the Lord ( which ever one/thing you want to thank..) for these friends of mine. Thanks.

SONG OF THE DAY ( there are 2 )

FRIENDS written  and performed by Gitika and Mickey B. Goode on album ‘bittersweet by gitika’  its available to buy on itunes and amazon -it earned me $20 last year ( the whole album that is…..not alot)  -just guitar and voice buy it here

and click on the title-friends to listen to it all the way through ON SPOTIFY

‘you took the time to listen to me moan , bout the trouble in my head, let me sit and cry, worries now have all run dry, it;s so good that the problem’s shared’ and PLACE IN MY HEART written by me and Andrew McCrorie-Shand in 2017 listen by clicking HERE

 

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So minding my own business happily doing a bit of crochet on the Northern Line and pondering on why the tannoy lady who tells you not to obstruct the doors in the stations in South London is so much posher than the voice we get in the lifts in North London – she sounds like she is straight out of an Ealing comedy. Also why the lady in North London cannot pronounce some simple pronounciation. I think they may have changed the annoying ‘Ha Gut’-where are we? OH ! High Gate. But what is with the Golders Greeeeeeeen?

I was on the DLR just this week and they had the tannoy on  delay..it was playing once and then double tracking about a sceond later. ..very dub-step.

The local bus tannoy lady has mispronounced the way we say Dalmeny and Carleton Road for so long I think we have all changed the way we say it and can no longer remember what is our way and what is the incorrect wierd way the tannoy  lady has been saying it for 3 years.

I always fancied there to be  competition that someone won each week and we got to have all the announcements on the tube this week from ‘Celia from Kennington’ or ‘Chantel from Burnt Oak’. I am very partial to the tube drivers who make whitty and sarcy remarks as long as they don’t shout!

SONG OF THE DAY

Ashes to Ashes -I am learning to play this on the guitar and might even sing it at next months acoustic evening. I just absolutely love the video and the whole concept of this song. But when I watched the vid. I had to sit through a rather annoying advertisment for an unsightly burger…enough to put you off your tea. I do hope it does not happen to you…and if it does i am sorry…and I am sure David is too.