Bill 1:2 Throws Down A Challenge...

Hello there Blogsters...!
Here is a little useless information, which I'll follow up with a challenge.
Pre 1967 (circa) international copyright laws meant that anyone translating a song from one language to another would have to forfeit half of the writers royalties to the originators and quite right but (and this is the injustice) any future royalties in the original language meant that the translator was entitled to a percentage too.

If you're still with me I'll give you an example; Lennon/McCartney wrote 'She Loves You' which was translated into German by some geezer, whom I'll call Wolfgang into 'Sie Liebt Dich' (Ja Ja Ja) John and Paul received half the writers royalties from these recordings but all future royalties from the sales of the song in English, Wolfgang got half. Thankfully it was changed, not, I might point out that it made any difference to me but a strong principal was at stake.

So, here is the challenge. Below are the german lyrics to Hey Jude and if anyone can sing them I'll buy them a pint (or equivalent) To make it easier on both performer and listener, I've only included verses 1 & 2 + the chorus.

1. Hey Junge, mach doch keinen Mist
Hor ein trauriges Lied, und dann mach's besser
Denk daran, ihr die Tur zu deinem Herzen zu offnen
Dann kannst du's probieren, es besser zu machen

2. Hey Junge, hab keine Angst
Du bist losgezogen, um sie zu kriegen
Und in dem, Augenblick, wo du ihr dein Herz offnest
fangst du an, es besser zu machen

Chorus:
Und wenn's dich doch mal kalt erwischt, hey Junge
lass dich nicht gleich niederschmettern
Du weiss ja, nur Dummkopfe machen einen auf cool
indem sie die Welt noch etwas kalter machen
Da da da da da da, da da da ...

So there you go, I find I can make the first two lines but then it all seems to go to pot.

See you Friday ... Bill 1.2

Beresford Green Speaks (Twelfth Fit)...

Here you are then - some more BLOG stuff.

HATS OFF TO TARRY
Well I would do were it not so cold. To those who managed to leave their warm fireside on Friday 2ndJan to brave the freezing elements of the Regnum Club, I have only the warmest of feelings & I really do salute you. I counted 20 of us driven spirits anxious to start the New Year just as we left the old one; - with enthusiasm! Brenda! Are you listening?

STREETS OF WHERE?
A very fascinating piece of information nearly came to light on Friday despite the cold. Care of Mike & Bill1 we were to learn that Ralph McTell probably didn't write the original melody to "The Streets of London" having shared a Paris sewer / do I mean subway with another composer who also wrote it! Not finished yet because it would appear that neither of them actually wrote it. The whole idea was that of another "Third Man"

THE HARRY LIME THEME
For me, playing the guitar has a great deal of habit attached to it. It's a dummy thing. At the very start I was taken by my mother's enthusiasm for The Harry Lime Theme, which I believe is more properly called "The Third Man Theme." I was about 6yrs old when I was in the Hounslow branch of British Home Stores with my mother. She heard it playing. {See - don't worry about the Coronation, Suez, or the Kennedy assassination, it's the Zither I remember!}. From this moment on these were the sounds that I wanted to make. No more crying, no more silly parental requests, no hunger for food, nor toys or even Rusk! My future was mapped out - well sort of.

There had been precious few new British records in that austere post war period. Mum rued the passing of the great dance band era, viewing all subsequent efforts as very sub-standard. On this occasion however, she was almost demented. "Oh listen to that sound. It is truly wonderful. If I had the money I would buy that. I'm going to ask them to play it again". She gave in and bought the 78 record after borrowing half the money (was the record 3/6d?) from my Grandma. I still have that record here. It was played at her funeral along with other favourites.

Of course I listened to what were then very strange tones of the German Zither. OK it was Austrian then. Actually I think it was the musician & composer Anton Karas that was Austrian. There was to be precious little new Zither music. Perhaps it was just too difficult, or the instruments unavailable. It was to be the guitar that took over & in reality, usurped it. Playing the strings so directly is a very different experience from other instruments. Unlike the piano, which uses hammers, it is so intimate. One is so much a part of it that the vibrations reach you through contact as well as via the auditory passages. The fingers are right there where the note is formed, able to alter it, will it, or stroke it into being. One can even mute it, truncate it, damp it or otherwise express the execution. Then there's that sound. Magnificent! I used to play, (can't quite do this anymore), with my ear actually on the side of the guitar just to hear more of the sound. In some more recent acoustic guitars, they have made another sound outlet on the side of the upper/smaller bout. This allows more sound to reach the ear of the player & it is said does no harm to overall sound quality.
Of course the Zither man used finger picks, just as so many guitarists use them, a plectrum, or their nails. By that means you trade off one thing for another. The plastic or metal gives a very staccato attack (beginning) to the sound, but it's much more difficult to exploit the volume dynamics unless you use plain fingers. By that I mean the mixture of the flesh & nails of the right hand.

Do you know how long it was before I actually saw a Zither being played live? A busker in Guildford in the 1980's. Forty years - that's how long! I was determined to remember how it worked, but I couldn't. I knew everything seemed to be the opposite of the guitar. I remembered banks of strings tuned to chord groups. Then there was a raised fingerboard with five strings (Anton seems to have six), which are stopped by thimbles/fingers/slide worn on the left hand. The RH thumb has a pick for the fingerboard, whilst the RH fingers produce the chord sounds. There are two YouTube videos. I think the sound on Anton's 1949 London B & W film has been overdubbed. It is too processed. Have a look at the 1982 colour version on YouTube. It has the whole tune. Can you see that Third Man?

Being the 2nd of January 2009...

Ahoy..!
So, we have returned...
From our park benches, from our cardboard lean-to shelters under the fly over, from our wheelie bins at the back of the off license and, in my own case, from the gaunt, imposing gothic pile atop the frightening windswept hill where my faithful retainer Mungo gnashes his rotten teeth and rails at the endless sky...

Having cast aside our elasticated Christmas gifts we did this:

The Last Thing on my Mind: Colin+full cast
The Road Away: David
Christmas Day (except): Mike
The Leaving of Liverpool: Bill 1:2
Samuel, Oh How You've Changed!/Streets of London: Mike
Winter Wood: Berry
Rise Like Larks: Mave
Down in yon Forest: Colin
Come Fill Up Your Glasses: Ken
The Bold Fisherman: Jane/Dave
I Just Want to Stay and Love You: Maggie
The Cruel Mother: Bill 1:1
Flash Company: Jenny
Outward Bound: Lynda/Paul
Bird on the Wire: Paul
Joe Peel: Anne
Cousin Jack: Peter
When the Spring has Come: David
The Forsaken Mother and Child: Colin
Travellin' Shoes: Bill 1:2
Mary You May Have to Run: Mike
Lonesome Me: Berry
Back and Sides Go Bare: Ken
Love Hurts: Jane/Dave
Unsure Love: Maggie
Brisk Young Widow: Bill 1:1
Raglan Road: Lynda
Isle of Hope: Anne/Peter
Black Muddy River: Anne/Peter

I must now go and film a potato...

Someone said, "Get that on the BLOG!"

David was far too modest to post this himself.



Then, we're all gorgeous!