Hey guys! 🙂
For today I chose a traditional Scottish piece, played by the duo whose music I have featured on here before – harpist Lisa Lynne and multi-instrumentalist Aryeh Frankfurter. – I’ve shared this song previously played by the Irish harpist Aine Minogue.
Hey people! 🙂
Last month, I shared with you Visa om ett Rosenblad by Cornelis Vreeswijk. Today I thought we could listen to another version of it, sung by Cornelis’ son Jack. If I had to say which version I like more I’d have a really hard time because I find them both really beautiful and gripping, each in its own way. I wrote the translation and shared some thoughts about the song in the post with the original version.
Jack Vreeswijk – “Visa om ett Rosenblad”
Hiya people! 🙂
Today I’d like to share with you a lovely, kind of bittersweet and very jazzy song from Cornelis Vreeswijk. The melody to this song was actually composed by Georg Riedel, who is a Czech-born Swedish jazz musician and who, after Cornelis’ death, released an album called Cornelis vs Riedel, with his arrangements of Cornelis’ poems, sung by his daughter Sarah and Nikolai Dunger, several of which I’ve shared on here in the past.
I like this song for quite a few different reasons, but I think mostly because, while it sounds like a very clear allegory of the oh so commonly occurring and depicted, classic theme in romantic relationships where a man manipulates a woman just to hurt her and eventually leave, over the years, as I’ve been listening to this song again and again, I have realised that it also works as an allegory for many other less obvious things, or has not so obvious mini allegories within it, though no idea if it was a conscious/deliberate thing on Cornelis’ part. Perhaps it’s just one of those things in which everyone sees something a little different, or the same individual sees something a little different in it with each listen. And then I’m pretty sure that, on a more personal level for Cornelis, Ann-Katrin Rosenblad (a character who frequently appears in his songs and poems), or her real-life counterpart(s) must also be present somewhere here, it must be about a “rosenblad” for a reason. Regardless, I like how sensitively all of these allegories are handled here. I also do really like it musically, even though regular people on here know that I am generally not overly big on jazz. The translation below is Bibielz. Bibielz had no particular issues writing it, because the original lyrics are quite easy and uncomplicated language-wise, so it should be more or less alright.
Once upon a time, there was a little rose petal
And the rose on which she grew was red
Then one day she fell off because the rose was dead
Then an icy wind passed by, then she was happy
Because the wind was a cheerful and fiery guy
Who was on his way from south to north
He blew her ear full of beautiful words
Come, sweetheart, said the wind, come
Then she got dizzy
She couldn’t resist what he said
She gave him everything he asked for
He brought her with him to a big rich city
Here will the two of us live, he said.
And she said yes
But the wind was an unfaithful specimen
Who only wanted to tumble around in the sky
He blew her away from himself, she fell down into the mud
Then he left the city in a hurry
And she stayed
Should you see a flower petal somewhere
Among rubbish and dirt in our happy city
Remember that she once was a beautiful rose petal
She once loved a wind and she was his
And the rose that she grew on was dead
And the wind whom she loved, he’s gone
Every night she walks into the room where I live
She is called a rose petal
And her colour is red
Hey people! 🙂
Today I want to share with you a little song from one of Cornelis Vreeswijk’s earlier albums – Tio Vackra Visor och Personliga Persson (Ten Beautiful Songs and Personal Persson) – which isn’t necessarily my favourite song of his (that HAS to be Grimasch om Morgonen) or probably isn’t even in the top 3 of my favourite songs of his, yet I have a little bit of a sentiment for this song, because it’s kind of cute, but also because when I first came across it I thought it was “Bisbis Visa”, and I went by Bisbis before it further evolved into Bibiel/Bibielle. 😀 But it’s obviously not “Bisbis Visa”, ‘cause even Bisbis’ Dad was merely a foetus when this album came out lol. Instead, it is Bibi Andersson’s visa, in whose case it stands for Berit Elisabet).
This whole album of Cornelis is strongly inspired by the first time he spent in Brazil and Brazilian music and culture, because around that time (1968) he was playing in the film Black Palm Trees set in that country. Bibi Andersson was there too as she played one of the main roles – a Finnish girl called Elin Papilla – so they probably got to hang out a fair bit. – As it happens, I’ve read that she did lose her bracelet, so the story’s actually real. 😀 I am sharing Cornelis’ own version, but also that of his son Jack, as I like both a lot. The translation below is Bibiel’s. One line I had a mini problem with was the one with the “blue gaze”, because I don’t recall ever actually seeing anyone using the word “gaze” like this in English, to basically mean eyes, so I’m not sure if it works or sounds odd, but the original Swedish word does literally mean “gaze”, and we also use this word like that in Polish, and putting “eyes” in there felt kind of simplistic.
I have a bracelet which is yours
It is of plastic and it is white
Now I just wanted to ask you
Shall I keep it or not?
I have a bracelet which I have hidden
It is your bracelet which you have forgotten
And where I live I guess you know
Come here and look in case you want
Come here and look one beautiful day
Because you are beautiful and I am weak
Well I am weak, for your gaze is blue
Come here and take your bracelet then
I have a bracelet which is yours
It is of plastic and it is white
Now I just wanted to ask you
Shall I keep it or not?
Cornelis Vreeswijk:
Hiya people! 🙂
Today I’d like to share with you this traditional air from the Scottish Highlands, in the beautiful harp arrangement by Aine Minogue. I’ve shared a few pieces by her already and mentioned how I really love her music and how it has helped me through some difficult times. Aine is originally from Ireland but lives in New England and is also a singer.
For today, I have quite a cheerful song for you, by Y Bandana, a rock group from North Wales of which one of the members Is one of my faza peeps – Gwilym Bowen Rhys. – The group no longer exists, but it was really popular on the Welsh-language scene, and this song was one of their most popular, if not the most recognisable one. The video below contains both the Welsh lyrics as well as the translation so you can have a look.
Hiya people! 🙂
Recently I shared with you a song by Ruth Keggin, and in that post I mentioned her brand new album recorded with the Scottish harpist Rachel Hair, the album is called Lossan (Light) and I said I’d probably be sharing something from it, namely another song with “mish” in the title. Well, I’ve had very few encounters with Manx music, so I was very excited when I found out that this album came out, , and that also there’s so much harp on it which is obviously my favourite instrument, and I’ve already listened to it several times, and I really really like it. So I decided that I’ll actually share a few songs from it rather than just one, and the one I’m sharing today isn’t the “mish” one yet. Instead, for today I decided to share with you a beautiful little lullaby sung by Ruth a capella. It was collected by Manx folklorist Mona Douglas from one Mrs. Shimmin of Foxdale. The song was apparently originally in English and then later translated to Manx, and while I don’t know what it’s lyrics are exactly and haven’t been able to find a translation, I’ve read that they’re similar to the English Rock a Bye Baby. The sea is a big part of these lyrics which makes me like this lullaby even more.
What is a song you used to like but don’t anymore and why?
My answer:
Im sure I have a lot of such songs, but the one that came to my mind first was Sad Eyes by Big Fox. I even posted it on here in the beginnings of my blog, not because I’d ever loved it very much but just liked enough to share with people. But a few days after that, my laptop got screwed up in some not easily definable way, I guess the main problem was drivers or something like that, and somehow the song, as well as Big Fox’s music in general, got forever associated in my brain with that incident, or more exactly its month-long aftermath when I was near-totally cut off from the online world (I wasn’t an Apple Bibiel back then and didn’t have a smartphone or anything really other than my laptop) and a lot of technology that I relied on for all sorts of things daily, while my laptop was being fixed by a blind company on the other end of the country, because mainstream tech people had no idea what was wrong. Which meant I was totally understimulated in all that time, my sensory anxiety was sky high, and also it was often just plain boring when I couldn’t even get myself new books or anything. I’m not perfectly sure why, of all the music I listened to at that time, it was Big Fox who I associated with this the most, because I didn’t even listen to her at all while it was being fixed because the only music I have offline on my SD cards is stuff that I truly love and actually have bought it, but the association is still there and I hate her music and especially that particular song with a vengeance, and I genuinely can’t even understand what I found even remotely likeable about it back then, because I guess if I was to hear it today with no associations attached, I’d feel totally neutral at best.
How about you? 🙂
Hey all you people! 🙂
Yeah I know I shared a song by Cornelis only two days ago, but that one was sung by Sarah Riedel and this one is sung by himself, whereas it was written by someone else, so it’s a different category.
This song, just like the one called Babyland which I shared earlier this month, was written by Jan Ero Olsen from the Norwegian duo Tobben og Ero. I didn’t write a translation of this one, because there are some bits that I’m just not sure how to translate literally. But I can tell you that in this song, the lyrical subject is wondering what the “you” from the title is doing now in her life, and whether she’s perhaps in another relationship and what it might be like, and reflecting a little on his own relationship with her.
Hey people! 🙂
Would you believe that I had a dream about COrnelis Vreeswijk last night?! :O This used to be a fairly regular occurrence back when he was my dominant faza peep, and this very normal for me to have dreams about my faza peeps while my faza on them is the dominant one, but my faza on Cornelis faded in 2017 and I still occasionally have dreams featuring him, or even have random minor faza peaks on him, usually for no apparent reason – just because. – This is quite nice, and doesn’t really happen with my other faza peeps, well, I do still get peaks on Gwilym Bowen Rhys, but that’s simply because he’s the most active of my faza people and keeps releasing something on a regular basis.
It was a long, super cool and hilarious dream, if slightly surreal and awkward at times, and I liked it very much, the more that I had it soon after a sleep paralysis session so it had some healing effect on my brain battered by “Ian”and I was able to wake up in a pretty good state, with only a vague memory of the sleep paralysis part, and I was not very impressed when Misha finally woke me up.
Anyway, I’m talking about this because I decided that, for this reason, it would be a good idea to share some song by Cornelis in our song of the day series. And so that’s what I’m doing.
This song comes from the album called Cornelis vs Riedel, and contains fifteen songs which (aside from one) were never released by him or even set to music. The music was composed by jazz musician Georg Riedel, and the songs are sung by his daughter Sarah and Nicolai Dunger. I’ve actually already shared at least three pieces from this album on here, because I really love pretty much everything about it, which may seem weird given that I’m not very much of a jazz person, but this album is still very accessible as a whole even if you’re not, with so much (but not too much, which can sometimes be a very delicate balance) expressivity and the minimalistic arrangements.
This song is for Linnea, who is a recurring person in Cornelis’ various songs and poems, like This one that I shared earlier this year. It is possible that this Linnea has to do with his second wife – the actress Birgitta Gunvor Linnea “Bim” Warne. – I find this song very interesting because listening to pretty much all the Linnea songs that Cornelis has released himself, I guess one can easily get an idea that their relationship was all happy and really fulfilling for both, but this song shows it from a bit of a different angle.
Bibiels decided to try and translate it into English for y’all, although Bibiels can’t say that it’s as good as Bibiels would like it to be, but Bibiels trust that it’s not too bad either.
The thing I really wish for,
For which my heart is burning,
And what I never ask for,
You do not realise.
The thing I really want,
All while the forest is greening.
Sometimes gone during the day,
I come when you have fallen asleep,
Wake what has gone numb,
And which I love tenderly.
Do you think you have dreamt?
No! But you are being deceived!
You wake up and you see me,
See me wanting for nothing,
But when you refuse to wake up,
Or you hear nothing –
Know that I would rather die,
Than I would ever ask you.
The words of love are short,
Are you talking or panting?
Whenever your clock chimes,
I listen to your voice.
The roe deer in your chest,
Laughs and is gone.
You whom my heart longs for,
You whom my heart yearns for
You unto whom is my desire,
Do you promise me and swear,
To listen to my request?
All while the sea is greening.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I thought I’d share with you a song by Y Bandana – the cheeky teenage Welsh rock band that one of my faza peeps – Gwilym Bowen Rhys – was the frontman of while it existed. – When I think of the four solo albums that Gwilym has released since they disbanded it kind of feels like Y Bandana was a thing in some very distant past, even though they released their last album in 2016. And it’s a song from that last album – Fel Tôn Gron – that I want to share with you. It’s called quite appropriately given that it comes from their final album, namely Diwedd y Gân, which means End of the Song.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I’d like to share with you a harp piece, played by an Irish harpist whose music I’ve never shared on my blog until now, namely Gráinne Hambly from county Mayo. I first heard of her and got to listen to her music on BBC Radio Ulster a few years ago. This piece played by her that I want to share with you is a sad tune composed by Irish poet and musician from 19th century – Tomás Rua ó Súilleabháin, who was working for some time as a headmaster in Derrynane, co. Kerry. Once a permanent headmaster for the school was appointed, he was forced to move to Portmagee. He owned a huge library of books, which he decided to transport by boat that was going from Derrynane to Valentia Harbor and himself travelled by road. Sadly though, the boat carrying all his priceless books struck a rock, and his whole collection was lost! And that’s how this song came to life, he wrote it as a way of seeking solace after such a huge loss. I think every bibliophile’s heart must break just thinking about this tragedy, but even more so when listening to this tune and knowing about its origin. I can definitely understand how awful it is to lose a book irretrievably, and it must be so much worse losing like a huge library, especially back then when books were a lot more of a rare thing! This tune is also known as Valentia Lament and Cuan Bhéal Inse.
Gráinne Hambly – “Amhran na Leabhar (The Song of the Books)”.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I thought I’d share with you a song that has captured my attention last year very much, and still whenever I listen to it, it really makes me think and raises a lot of feelings for me, because I think it’s so very interesting and unusual! I don’t really know much about Samia, I’ve listened to some of her other music after I accidentally came across this song for the first time, but her other songs didnn’t quite strike a chord for me as much as this one did. I first heard it on Spotify, there’s that thing on there called autoplay which will play similar music after what you’ve been listening to ends, and that’s how I came across it and it just played in the background in my room. What first captured my attention about this song was its melody, but as I listened to it again and more closely, it was the lyrics that really intrigued me. She wrote this song for the musician Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, one of her early musical influences. And I think it is so bold and courageous of her to do, to expose her deep feelings in this song like that, all the inner conflict that she has going on around this fascination with him, and obviously she didn’t just write this song and lock it away somewhere but actually shared it with the world, taking the risk (very high I think) that one day Josh Tillman may indeed decide to Google his name or learn about this song some other way and have a listen to it, and think something about it, and possibly about her as well. She’s even sure that he’ll hate it but she put it out there anyway, even though, despite implying that she doesn’t really care about his opinion, it sounds like at least a part of her does care. To me, that’s a really brave and I guess quite an unusual thing to do, and an intriguing topic to write a song on. Even though I have no idea about Father John Misty other than being vaguely familiar with the name, every time I listened to this song I was wondering whether he actually heard it aand what was his reaction, and at some point I came across an interview with Samia where she said that he put it on his playlist, but according to her is probably a bit scared of her now. I guess people often respond to things like this by feeling creeped out which is understandable in a way but also kind of sad because that’s hardly the fascinated party’s intention. 😀
Hey guys! 🙂
Today I have a lovely piano piece for you, from this great Scottish multi-instrumentalist, a couple of whose tracks I’ve already shared on here before. I think this piece doesn’t sound at all like war, but it’s nice.
Hey guys! 🙂
This is the second song from the band Bob Delyn a’r Ebillion (Every Harp and the Pegs) that I want to share with you all on here. I really like its minimalism. It’s a beautiful, acoustic love song, written by the leader and vocalist of the group – Twm Morys. – Begw is a Welsh feminine name, a nickname of Margaret, so I think we could say it’s a Welsh equivalent of Peggy or Maggie.
Hiya people! 🙂
For today, I chose to share with you something from this great Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist, a couple of whose pieces I’ve already shared on here before. I think this one’s very beautiful.
I’ve already shared one interpretation of this song, played by Gwenan Gibbard. If I had to choose which one I prefer, I definitely wouldn’t be able to tell, they’re all beautiful, and I suppose this mournful-sounding piece would be really difficult to properly butcher by anyone. As I’ve explained when sharing the Gwenan Gibbard rendition, Lleison is a Welsh surname. I wonder who they were and what’s the story behind this piece.
Hiya people! 🙂
For today I chose one of the songs by Plu from their album “Tir A Golau” (Land And Lights), which is definitely one of my most favourites from that album. This is the only traditional song on it, and I’ve come across quite a few different renditions of it ever since I’ve started to listen to Welsh music more seriously and learning the language. But Plu’s arrangement is definitely the best I’ve heard, I love absolutely everything about it! The lyrics are great too, capturing it very well how inspiring music can be. I’ve found an English translation of the Welsh lyrics, which has been written by
An occasional song will keep my breast
From sinking down under the frequent wave;
The muse is so cheerful,
so attractive, so pure,
I give heart-felt thanks
for an occasional song.
An occasional to song
as the night turns dark,
So light is the day, so cheerful the rose,
Misty, hopeless clouds – like wool
They turn, if I can
get an occasional song.
An occasional song
gives strength in the limb,
And the shoulder to carry
many a burden,
And the force of difficulties
to be crushed completely
If I can get to sing an occasional song.
An occasional song I will get in the world,
But I travel to a land
which is all singing,
And after I leave the desert completely
I hope to get to sing,
not an occasional song.
Hey guys! 🙂
For today, I’m sharing with you a song from Declan Galbraith second album, Thank You, which he released at the age of 14. Just as with his first album, it contains a lot of covers of either pop classics or some popular Celtic songs, and some original stuff. This song was a hit in the late ’70’s in some European countries, all because of The Kelly Family, who performed it originally, with John Kelly singing the solo. The song became particularly popular because of being the theme song for the German TV production called “The Adventures of David Balfour”, based on the book “Kidnapped’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. The music to this tune was composed by Vladimir Cosma. On the same album by Declan, there is also another Kelly Family song – “An Angel” – which I shared with you before. I like both of them a lot more in Declan’s versions.
Hiya people! 🙂
Today, I have a beautiful Cornelis Vreeswijk song for you (or Swedes would say a Cornelisk song, Cornelisk is an adjective and I like it because it shows how he really is a huge and recognisable part of Swedish culture. I think this is one of my favourites. We could say nowadays that it is so beautifully emo. 😀
It is a very sad and beautiful love song, and if we’re talking Cornelis and love songs, of course we’re also talking Ann-Katrin Rosenblad, to whom he most often dedicates his love songs, and other of his songs often mention her too. If you’re not yet in the know, Ann-Kat(a)rin Rosenblad was his fictional muse, based on the real life one – Ann-Christin Wennerström. – This comes from his debut album – “Ballader Och Oförskämdheter” (Ballads And Rudenesses/Impertinencies) from 1964.
I even managed to translate the lyrics (go Bibielle!!! I guess it’s my fourth Swedish-English translation if I’m counting right) and they surely do tell you what the song is about, but I wonder if it’s just me who feels that the English lyrics are way clunkier than Swedish. Perhaps it’s because it can’t be otherwise, or maybe I could do it better, I don’t know. If you speak Swedish and read this, lemme know.
Also, honestly, ever since I’ve first listened to this song (which was like… 2016 I guess?) and then understood its lyrics fully, I’ve never really figured out what’s the deal with the “sieve” in the lyrics (see translation below). I thought maybe this word has more meanings in Swedish or it’s some idiom or something, but when I was translating this today I couldn’t find anything like that. So I still don’t know. Maybe it means that she was so selective in love or didn’t retain her emotions for long, meaning that she easily fell out of love, or something? I found out that sieve can symbolise virginity, because of a vestal in ancient Rome who proved her virginity by carrying water in a sieve and not spilling any of it. Cornelis read a whole lot and we could say that he was quite nerdy, and there are mythological references in some of his poems and songs. But here it doesn’t seem very likely to be the case. Yeah, I was the best in my class at poem analyses but have always felt like I’m not very good at it actually. 😀
I’m singing a song in the wind,
And hope the wind will bring
This song to my beautiful one’s cheek,
And sprinkle it in her ear,
And move her heart.
I have been to many countries,
And not been to many more.
I guess I could stop going,
If you ask me to do so.
And lovingly look at me.
But wish me luck on the journey,
When I now pull away from you.
And the reason, Ann-Katrin, is this:
I cannot stay,
Where I do not have your love.
I’m singing a song in the wind,
I’m singing a song in a storm.
My heart is like a granite,
My heart has lost its shape,
And my pain is enormous.
But listen to my march under the moon,
It swings in steady minor.
It does not fit on the gramophone,
It’s about you, you troll,
That your heart is a sieve.
My Inner MishMash 