Music

Heartsignals (updated)

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Various types of communications media…letters, telegrams, telephone calls…have long played a role in popular music. Just for some weekend fun, here are some songs, ranging from the light-hearted to the very sad, in which various forms of communication make an appearance.

Conventional Mail:

Please Mr Postman, The Marvelettes (1961)

Return to Sender,  Elvis Presley (1962)

Unconventional Mail:

The Carrier Dove, (1836)

Telegraph:

Western Union, The Five Americans, 1967

Telephone:

Sylvia’s Mother, Dr Hook (1972) (also recorded by Bon Jovi in 2003)

Memphis, Tennessee, Chuck Berry/Johnny Rivers (1963/1964)

Operator, Jim Croce (1972)

Missing You, John Waite (1984)(also recorded with Alison Krauss in 2007)

Why Haven’t I Heard from You?, Reba McIntire (1994)

Telephone: Lady Gaga (2009)

Telephone Line:  Electric Light Orchestra

Broadcast Radio:

Border Radio, Dave Alvin  (also this version)

Marine Radio:

Ship to Shore, Chris De Burgh

Newspapers and Magazines:

Escape (The Pina Colada Song), Rupert Holmes

My True Confession, Brook Benton

How about e-mail and text messaging?…are there any good songs featuring these media?

Here is a collection of songs featuring e-mail that I found…haven’t listened to them all. There are quite a few songs referring to text messaging, haven’t found any particularly impressive ones so far.

This post is an updated version of my earlier post on the same theme: fixed some broken links and added some communications types.

Christmas 2023

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Newgrange is an ancient structure in Ireland so constructed that the sun, at the exact time of the winter solstice, shines directly down a long corridor and illuminates the inner chamber. More about Newgrange here and here.

Grim has an Arthurian passage about the Solstice.

Don Sensing has thoughts astronomical, historical, and theological about the Star of Bethlehem.

Vienna Boys Choir, from Maggie’s Farm

Snowflakes and snow crystals, from Cal Tech. Lots of great photos

In the bleak midwinter, from King’s College Cambridge

The first radio broadcast of voice and music took place on Christmas Eve, 1906. (although there is debate about the historical veracity of this story)

An air traffic control version of  The Night Before Christmas.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, sung by Enya

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RetroMusical Goodness

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There are a lot of great songs, once well-known, that aren’t performed or listened to much anymore. Here are some that I especially like.

Thine Alone.  This beautiful song sounds like it might be a hymn, but it’s actually a love song, from the 1917 operetta Eileen. I only know it because it’s on a Victor Herbert album that belonged to my parents.

Duncan Gray.  A fun song, with lyrics written by Robert Burns in 1792.  The tune seems to be much older, dating as far back as 1700.  The Scottish lyrics are only partly understandable to English-speakers and are translated  here.

Three for Jack.  My father liked to sing this song from 1902.

Softly as in a Morning Sunrise.  My father also liked this one.  Nelson Eddy, from his 1940 movie New Moon.  Originally from the 1928 operetta of the same name.

10,000 Miles Away.  The singer’s wife or girlfriend has been convicted of a crime and is being deported to Australia. Seems to date from the early 1800s.

Lorena.  Written by a Reverend in 1856 after a broken engagement. Popular among both sides during the Civil War.

Carrier Dove.  From 1841.

Summertime Love.  I heard this song on the radio once and really liked it but could never locate it again.  Finally found it at the link shown here…but I can’t quite manage to decode all the lyrics.  Any help would be appreciated.

Seeman (Sailor).  A German song from 1959.  Also heard on the radio once and not rediscovered until many years later.  I think the version I heard was  the US hit version of 1960, which includes an English-language overlay of some of the words.

When the Wind Changes.  A most unusual 1960s protest song, by PF Sloan.

Where e’er You Walk.  From the musical dram Semele, 1744, libretto by William Congreve and music by Handel.  Another favorite of my father’s, who sang it beautifully.

Westron Wynde.  This song fragment dates in published form from 1530, but the lyrics are believed to be several hundred years older.

Some of my previous music posts:

Crimesongs

Coal Mining Songs

Rodeo Songs

Rodeo Songs

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Earlier this month, I linked some coal mining songs.  Another prolific source of American music has been the rodeo.  Here are a few songs on that theme that I like.

Bucking Horse Moon, Tom Russell

All This Way for the Short Ride, Tom Russell

Everything That Glitters is Not Gold,  Dan Seals

Someday Soon, Suzy Bogguss

Also Someday Soon, Ian Tyson

Saddle Bronc Girl, Ian Tyson

And this one isn’t about the rodeo, but about a young cowboy and his first cattle drive:

Banks of the Musselshell, Tom Russell

…and the same song by Ian Tyson

Others?

Coal Mining Songs

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In the metabolism of the Western world the coal-miner is second in importance only to the man who ploughs the
soil. He is a sort of caryatid upon whose shoulders nearly everything that is not grimy is supported.

–George Orwell

Whatever the downsides of coal mining have been, Orwell was certainly correct about its importance to the building of our civilization.

And coal mining has also inspired an extraordinary number of good songs…indeed, coal seems almost up there with the sea as a source of musical inspiration.

Some of the songs that come to mind include…

Coal Tattoo, Billy Edd Wheeler

Dark as a Dungeon, Tennessee Ernie Ford

Coming of the Roads, Billy Edd Wheeler

The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore

Daddy’s Dinner Bucket, Ralph Stanley

Last Train from Poor Valley, Norman Blake

Paradise, John Prine

Coal Mining Man, The Roys

Others?