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David Porter » Entries tagged with "Music"

The Beggar’s Opera: How One Work Feeds Many Reinventions

Like body part transplants, ideas get recycled. One 18th century play with music inspired other art forms in entertainment history, and still speaks today. On the principle that in life nothing is ever wasted, no experience is too insignificant that some creative can’t turn it into a novel, play, movie, painting or song, The Beggar’s Opera is a study in how the arts feed off each other. It also shows how later work can be far more ‘original’ than the first works. The Beggar’s Opera First hitting the London stage in 1728, John Gay’s piece was an immediate success being performed more than any other work in the whole century. It was original in the sense that it broke from contemporary Italian operatic conventions: it used dialogue and music to push plot that … Read entire article »

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Movies and Pop Songs Draw Deep from the Wells of Classical Music

Far from being an exclusive, elitist world, classical music is a rich source of inspiration for movie soundtracks, TV commercials and popular songs. A broad definition of classical music is: ‘Western and European art music created 1600-1900, and music created after 1900 that follows the style and tradition and is created for the sake of music itself – not as song melody nor movie score’. Reusing old tunes is widespread; nothing is sacred in pop music or Hollywood. 1965’s Seekers’ hit The Carnival Is Over by Tom Springfield, used the melody of a Russian folk song Stenka Razin, though some hear Berlioz too. O solo mio, an 1898 Napolitan tune, found its way into opera, TV commercials and films and is in It’s Now or Never, Elvis Presley’s 1960’s hit. Classical Music Feeds … Read entire article »

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Mighty Tamla Motown is the Great Survivor of Music Labels

What turned one man’s recording label dream in Detroit, Michigan into one of the best-loved surviving musical and cultural icons from the 1960s? While big 60s’ recording companies like Stax, Pye, Island, Decca, Chess, Fontana, Columbia, Bell are now recalled only by devotees and less frequently than mods versus rockers or hippies, Motown has remained one of the triggers into that controversial decade and since. The music, like other aspects of ‘the swinging sixties’ is subject to revision and the vagaries of faulty memories. People either blame that period for the drugs, moral-sapping liberalisation behind the ills of today, or see it fondly through rose-coloured spectacles as a time of freedom, peace, love and ‘doing your own thing, letting it all hang out’. But there is widespread agreement that Hitsville USA, Motown, … Read entire article »

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The Arts and Mathematics Are Sometimes Close Relations

From the Geometry of Innocence to Mondrian’s abstracts to Mozart’s Effect to Minimalist music & painting, the arts owe a debt to the science of mathematics. Maths is popularly thought definite, absolute and provably true, while art is the exact opposite, often defying logic. However, there are few certain realities, and some of the greatest works of art have drawn on mathematics to demonstrate that. Geometry as Artistic Fundamental Albert Einstein said: In so far as statements of geometry speak about reality, they’re not certain, and in so far as they are certain, they don’t speak about reality.’ Geometry is the essence in architecture and design, but is also a powerful image-maker. The Geometry of Innocence is a book (2001) by US photographer Schles, about which Library Journal says: ‘his critical eye brought him … Read entire article »

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Bob Dylan and The Movies: His Songs and His Acting

Poet, singer, songwriter, musician, painter, actor: there is no limit to what Bob Dylan brings to the world through his creativity and originality. Bob Dylan is no stranger to screen, whether concert recordings or documentaries. He has helped make and participated in movies, using his music and his many-times reinvented persona. Documentaries About the Man According to Internet Movie Database (IMDb), D A Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back (1967), famous for opening with Subterranean Homesick Blues word cards, was a portrait of the artist as a young man, following Dylan round a three week British tour two years earlier. Among others, Joan Baez and British troubadour Donovan are featured. IMDb also rate Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) as a portrait of an artist as a young man. Using interviews cut with archival … Read entire article »

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Sometimes Sickeningly Sentimental Songs the Key to Chart Success

The craze for songs about death, crashes, murders, accidents and disasters was not confined to the 50s and 60s. Such music has always been lucrative. According to folk history, “folk music entertains, tells or supports a story transmitted from generation to generation… music of the common person as well as the wealthy”. Much American folk originated in Europe, often in oral tradition. It’s a long-lasting genre, that has influenced other arts. It has embraced life’s themes: death, love’s shades, religion, accidents, tragedies, murders, relationships, breakdowns, transport, suicide and war. Train crashes have been a staple. Deaths of train-riding hobos, brave engineers saving others, trains knocking people down. Yet all deaths in infinite variety have inspired further tragic songs in western … Read entire article »

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Weird and Wonderful Song Titles, Lyrics and Band Names

Some big music hits have come from the most unlikely words, the strangest titles and by the oddest named groups; but if they strike a chord, who cares? In 2009 self-confessed ‘failed musician’, Johnny Sharp, published Crap Lyrics, (Portico Books, Annova), dedicated to “thousands of songwriters over the years who’ve sweated blood in the pursuit of song writing excellence”. It’s catalogued “humour”, but raises serious issues about how lyrics are written, titles chosen and bands name themselves. Where Do Those Lyrics Come From? Lyrics.time identifies several thousand weird, out of left field or just plain bad lyrics. Words in the cold light of a printed page, may seem strange; but married to melody, bizarre words can make hits. Johnny Sharp includes Dylan’s Ballad of a … Read entire article »

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Rebellion as Adolescent Stage and Performance Stage Inspiration

While not as loud as earlier generations, youth rebels today are part of growing up and helping to create some great art works, just like their fathers. Musicians, film makers, poets and writers have expressed rebellion against parents, governments and norms of the time, provoking outrage through their music, clothes, hair, tattoos, piercings and public behaviour. The Decadent Thirties, and Swinging Sixties with its “protest movement,” stand out. However, history is littered with parents and children falling out, each unable to understand the other. Accumulated wisdom and proffered advice is usually rejected. Each generation makes its own mistakes. Historical Rebellions, Uprisings and Wars There are shades of rebellion: from passive resistance via civil disobedience, through subversion to revolt, insurrection, mutiny, terrorism, revolution … Read entire article »

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Music Videos Make Claims to be Real Artistic Statements

Often derided as sales gimmicks for songs, music videos have become controversial, experimental and challenging. They are now a serious, accepted art form. Popularised on MTV and elsewhere during the 1980s, music videos are short films that accompany songs. They are basically a marketing/promotional tool, designed to exhibit a song in a visually interesting way, in the hope that more copies will be sold. However, they are older than the 80s. Music videos might contain a mini-narrative to parallel song lyrics or enact them. They can use animation, abstracts, still image sequences, surrealism or be unconnected with the song. They may be documentary, or docu-drama. Some are deliberately mysterious; a few set out to be provocative. Some History Historians reckon ‘an illustrated song’ … Read entire article »

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Hit Popular Songs Worth Their Weight in Gold in Successful Movies

Many song hits aren’t written specifically for cinema soundtracks, but songs and their writers get a new lease of life from being part of a profitable film. Music/song reinforces movie action, stokes emotion, heightens terror. Popular songs increase chances of a hit movie, especially if soundtracks are released. Dirty Dancing (1987) soundtrack success surprised the record company, but “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes wasn’t a hit before the film. Most film-hits, though, are already song-hits. Most Popular Artistes Some artists see several songs featured in favourite lists. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” shot to Billboard Number 2 twenty years after release: it was in Wayne’s World (1992). Their “Don’t Stop Me Now” (1978) played in British horror comedy … Read entire article »

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