Bob Dylan and George Harrison

Last week Bob Dylan celebrated his 70th birthday. I was a young girl back in the 60s when I listened to his songs for the first time. He belonged to the group of folk singers that I loved – Donovan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan.

Somewhere, deep down in my book shelves or even in some containers with old books there must be a book with his lyrics. I bought it cheaply when I was in England for one year from 1974-75, because at that time folk music had ceased to be popular with the masses.

I went up to Youtube and did a long search. Actually there was a video which showed Bob Dylan on the stage in 2010, but I had the impression that there, standing in front of the microphone, was not the Bob Dylan I had in mind. There is a lot of his old songs on YouTube, but with most of them you can just listen to the music and look at an record cover. Not very exciting, is it!

Then I found this video. It is the video of a rehearsal, just Bob Dylan and George Harrison plucking at their guitars. I love it!

Thank you for the Music!

On Friday evening I went out to a dance party and danced my shoes off. The music was special – from the early days of twist and shout and the crazy time of rock’n roll till – ABBA. I love to move to the music of this band, and there are a few songs I really love. “Thank you for the music” is definitely one of them, and I think it is the perfect one to begin the week with! Here it is:

In the Summertime

Here in Berlin we are all hoping for a weather change. Up to now the month of May has been much too cold and rainy, too.  There are rumours which say that the summer will arrive in June, with the beginning of the Soccer world championship in South Africa. We had that fours years ago, when the championship took place in Germany. We had about 8 weeks of permanent sunshine, the perfect weather for watching the games in the open air (The German word for this is “public viewing”. Many Germans do not know the real meaning of these words.).

Here is some music which reminds me very much of past summers: Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime” in the original version. Enjoy!

Come with me to the beach and enjoy all kinds of music!

Today I’d like you to follow me over to the beach and have fun with music. The beach, that is Squidoo Music, a blogging community writing about all kinds of music.

Every Tuesday I write about Classical Music (the name of the weekly column is “Going Classical”), and the latest story is about the most famous piece of Maurice Ravel, the “Bolero”. Of course there are always music videos with the writing (actually it is more music than writing!).

There are other categories as well: Folk Music, Country Music Fest, Friday Dance Party and the Awesome 80’s, to name a few. Have a walk around – you will find some music you’ll like!

Squidoo Music is a perfect example for a blogging network – people weaving the web together, working on one project.

Judy Collins sings “Barbara Allan”

“Barbara Allan” is a folk song about three centuries old. It is a song about unrequited love and death.

It is said that this song is of Scottish origins. It is sung by many folk singers – Joan Baez, Art Garfunkle and Pete Seeger, to only name a few -. I picked Judy Collins, because I think she has a wonderful voice.

Enjoy!

Out of the Archives – Vivaldi’s Spring

As spring is with us now in Berlin (I’ve actually seen the first forsythias’ in bloom) I digged deep in the Archive of March 2009 and found:

Vivaldi – The four Seasons: Spring

I hope you enjoy the music!

The Shoals of Herring

“Shoals of Herring” is one of my favorite folk songs.

• It is on a record which I brought home from England in 1975, after having spent one wonderful year there as an assistant teacher, so it brings back memories of that time (long, long ago!).
• It is sung by Ewan McColl, a famous folk singer (he wrote “Dirty Old Town” as well)
• It tells us about the fishermen’s daily life, their hardships but also their pride in doing their job
• It tells us about a time long ago, when there were lot of shoals of herring and herrings were poor men’s food – today herrings are a luxury.

St. Patrick’s Day

Screenshot of my Squidoo page

Today Irish people all over the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Of course music plays an important part in the celebrations. Whether or not you are Irish you can enjoy Irish music, Celtic music or Irish Folk.

The Dubliners are my favorite Irish folk band. So I created a squidoo page about them with  selection of their finest songs, songs about love, women, booze and the Easter rising.

Enjoy the music, tap your feet, raise your glass, sing along – have fun!

Vivaldi – Spring

Here in Berlin snow and ice have disappeared. It is still not spring yet, but it is the beginning of March and the first snowdrops are rising their little heads. It won’t be long and there will be crocusses (croci) all over Berlin.

I don’t know how the weather is where you all live, but for any of you who is waiting for spring I’ve got something to spend the waiting time in a most pleasant way: The music piece “Spring” created by Antonio Vivaldi. Enjoy!

Tiger Rag

It is the 14th day in Berlin without sun. This kind of weather definitely gives me the blues. But – there’s one medicine for me, and that’s music. I love all kinds of music, but with this dreary weather I decided for the good old Dixieland jazz.

I don’t know how you are feeling at the moment, but listening to “Tiger Rag” definitely lifted my spirits. Here it is: