HEALTHY RELATIONS: WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PARTNER’S BEHAVIOR BEFORE BEING LEFT SPEACHLESS
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“THERE IS NO PASS TO HAPPINESS: HAPPINESS IS THE PASS” (BUDDHA)
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List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Ludwig_van_Beethoven?wprov=sfla1
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List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven
Title page of Beethoven’s Symphonies from the Gesamtausgabe
The compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) consist of 722 works[1] written over forty-five years, from his earliest work in 1782 (variations for piano on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler) when he was only twelve years old and still in Bonn, till his last work just before his death in Vienna in 1827. Beethoven composed in all the main genres of classical music, including symphonies, concertos, string quartets, piano sonatas and one opera. His works range from requiring a solo performer to needing a large orchestra and chorus to perform.
Beethoven straddled both the classical and romantic periods, working in genres associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his teacher Joseph Haydn such as the piano concerto, string quartet and symphony, while on the other hand providing a precursor to Romantic composers such as Hector Berliozand Franz Liszt with programmatic works such as his Pastoral Symphonyand Piano Sonata “Les Adieux“[2]. Beethoven’s work is typically divided into three periods. The “Early” period where Beethoven composed in the “Viennese” style. The “Middle” or “Heroic” period where his work is characterised by struggle and heroism, such as in the EroicaSymphony, the Appassionata Sonataand in his sole opera Fidelio. Beethoven’s “Late” period is marked by intense, personal expression and an emotional and intellectual profundity. Although his output dropped drastically in his later years this period saw the composition of masterpieces such as the Late Quartets, the Final Five Piano Sonatas, the Diabelli Variations, the Missa Solemnis and his Ninth Symphony[3].
Beethoven’s works are classified by both genre and various numbering systems[4]. The most well known numbering system for Beethoven’s works is that by opus number, assigned by Beethoven’s publishers during his lifetime. Only 172 of Beethoven’s works have opus numbers, divided among 138 opus numbers. Many works that were unpublished or else published without opus numbers have been assigned either “WoO” (Werke ohne Opuszahl—works without opus number), Hess or Biamonti numbers. For example, the short piano piece “Für Elise“, is more fully known as the “Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 (‘Für Elise’)”. Some works are also commonly referred to by their nicknames, such as the Kreutzer Violin Sonata, or the ArchdukePiano Trio.
As well as these numbering systems, works are also often identified by their number within their genre. For example, the 14th string quartet, published as Opus 131, may be referenced either as “String Quartet No. 14” or “the Opus 131 String Quartet“. The listings include all of these relevant identifiers. While other catalogues of Beethoven’s worksexist, the numbers here represent the most commonly used.
List of works by genre
Beethoven’s works are published in several editions, the first of these was Ludwig van Beethovens Werke: Vollständige kritisch durchgesehene überall berechtigte Ausgabe published between 1862 and 1865 with a supplemental volume in 1888 by Breitkopf & Härtel, commonly known as the “Beethoven Gesamtausgabe” [GA]. While this was a landmark achievement at the time, the limitations of this edition soon became apparent. Between 1959 and 1971 Willy Hess prepared a supplemental edition, Beethoven: Sämtliche Werke: Supplemente zur Gesamtausgabe, [HS] containing works that were not in the Gesamtausgabe.
Since 1961 the Beethoven Archive has been publishing a new scholarly–critical Complete Edition of Beethoven’s works, Beethoven: Werke: neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke[5][NA]. However, only 42 of the projected 56 volumes have been published so far.[6] As this edition has not been published in full there are works without an NA designation.
Legend for publications – p: parts s: full score vs: vocal score
Orchestral music
Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, nine concertos, and a variety of other orchestral music, ranging from overtures and incidental music for theatrical productions to other miscellaneous “occasional” works, written for a particular occasion. Of the concertos, seven are widely known (one violin concerto, five piano concertos, and one triple concerto for violin, piano, and cello); the other two are an early piano concerto (WoO 4) and an arrangement of the Violin Concerto for piano and orchestra (Opus 61a).
Symphonies
Beethoven is believed to have intended to write a Tenth Symphony in the last year of his life; a performing version of possible sketches was assembled by Barry Cooper.[10]
Concertos
Best interpretations: Watch “Pathétique,Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13,”,Valentina Lisitsa,SHEET MUSIC” on YouTube
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (/ˈlʊdvɪɡ vænˈbeɪt(h)oʊvən/ (
listen)
listen)listen); German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːthoːfn̩] (
listen
); baptised 17 December 1770[1] – 26 March 1827) was a German composerand pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the classical and romantic eras in classical music, he is considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, the capital of the Electorate of Cologne, and part of the Holy Roman Empire. He displayed his musical talents at an early age and was vigorously taught by his father Johann van Beethoven, and was later taught by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At age 21, he moved to Vienna and studied composition with Joseph Haydn. Beethoven then gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist, and was soon courted by Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions, which resulted in Opus 1 in 1795.
The piece was a great critical and commercial success, and was followed by Symphony No. 1 in 1800. This composition was distinguished for its frequent use of sforzandi, as well as sudden shifts in tonal centers that were uncommon for traditional symphonic form, and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments.[2] In 1801, he also gained notoriety for his six String Quartetsand for the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. During this period, his hearing began to deteriorate, but he continued to conduct, premiering his third and fifth symphonies in 1804 and 1808, respectively. His condition worsened to almost complete deafness by 1811, and he then gave up performing and appearing in public.
During this period of self exile, Beethoven composed many of his most admired works; his seventhsymphony premiered in 1813, with its second movement, Allegretto, achieving widespread critical acclaim.[3] He composed the piece Missa Solemnis for a number of years until it premiered 1824, which preceded his ninth symphony, with the latter gaining fame for being among the first examples of a choral symphony.[4] In 1826, his fourteenth String Quartet was noted for having seven linked movements played without a break, and is considered the final major piece performed before his death a year later.
His career is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late periods; the “early” period is typically seen to last until 1802, the “middle” period from 1802 to 1812, and the “late” period from 1812 to his death in 1827. During his life, he composed nine symphonies; five piano concertos; one violin concerto; thirty-two piano sonatas; sixteen string quartets; two masses; and the opera Fidelio. Other works, like Für Elise, were discovered after his death, and are also considered historical musical achievements. Beethoven’s legacy is characterized for his innovative compositions, namely through the combinations of vocals and instruments, and also for widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet,[5] while he is also noted for his troublesome relationship with his contemporaries.
Life and career
Background and early life
Watch “Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique, Op 14 – Jansons” on YouTube
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Workout: Shoulders Stretch
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Watch “Kill Bill Vol.1 O-Ren Ishii v The Bride (Cotton Mouth v Black Mamba) Fight Scene HD” on YouTube
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Watch “Google — Year in Search 2019” on YouTube
Do you know?: 10 Signs of Maturity…
Watch “THE RAVEN. EDGAR ALLAN POE. READING BY VINCENT PRICE” on YouTube
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Tagged THE RAVEN. EDGAR ALLAN POE. READING BY VINCENT PRICE" on YouTube
Just a thought: “Imagination is fearlessness applied, with mother’s courage as weapon.”
“Imagination is fearlessness applied, with mother’s courage as weapon.”
(© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa)
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??????????? Answered (© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa): “Time is capricious, love unclaimed transcends.”
https://euzicasa.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/st-valentines-day/
????????????? Answered (© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa)
(© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa)
Love, love, love,
is it love,
if one cannot embrace human vanity
or is it just plain silliness?
Should love be sang, declared,
or deep in one’s heart vault be contained,
no,
not like in a prison cell, but like
a precious ore not yet uncovered, claimed, explored…
not yet EXPLOITED, by anyone,
ever so well unclaimed,
it shines like the sum of all suns
Time is capricious, love unclaimed transcends.
(Posted Here )
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Tagged "Time is capricious, love unclaimed transcends." ?????????????? Answered (© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa) (© poetic thought by GeorgeB @ euzicasa)
Christmas at Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3ANativityChristmasLights2.jpg
Christmas
Holiday originating in Christianity, usually celebrated on December 25 (in the Gregorian or Julian calendars)
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world’s nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.
The traditional Christmas narrative, the Nativity of Jesus, delineated in the New Testament says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds who then further disseminated the information.
Although the month and date of Jesus’ birth are unknown, the church in the early fourth century fixed the date as December 25. This corresponds to the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus’ exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas.
The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving; completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath; Christmas music and caroling; viewing a Nativity play; an exchange of Christmas cards; church services; a special meal; and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and Christkind, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore. Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.
Etymology
“Christmas” is a shortened form of “Christ‘s mass“. The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131. Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), “Messiah“, meaning “anointed”; and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.
The form Christenmas was also historically used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal. The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse, meaning “Christian mass”. Xmas is an abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi (Χ) in Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), “Christ”, though numerous style guides discourage its use. This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where “Χρ̄” is an abbreviation for Χριστός).
Other names
In addition to “Christmas”, the holiday has been known by various other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as “midwinter”, or, more rarely, as Nātiuiteð (from Latin nātīvitās below). “Nativity“, meaning “birth”, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola (Yule) referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas. “Noel” (or “Nowel”) entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis (diēs) meaning “birth (day)”.
Nativity
The gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary. In Luke, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus is born there and laid in a manger. Angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him.
Matthew adds that the magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of the Jews. King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later returns to Nazareth.
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Tagged Access many fabulous websites from EUZICASA! (SEVERAL OF THEM ARE FEATURED IN THE SCREENSHOT BELLOW)
Quote: Stop trying to leave…Lao Tzu
Quote: Stop trying to leave…Lao Tzu
A semi-legendary figure, Laozi was usually portrayed as a 6th-century BC contemporary of Confucius, but some modern historians consider him to have lived during the Warring States period of the 4th century BC. A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is claimed by both the emperors of the Tang dynasty and modern people of the Li surname as a founder of their lineage. Laozi’s work has been embraced by both various anti-authoritarian movements and Chinese Legalism.
Names
In traditional accounts, Laozi’s personal name is usually given as Li Er (李耳, Old *rəʔ nəʔ, Mod. Lǐ Ěr) and his courtesy name as Boyang (trad. 伯陽, simp. 伯阳, Old *Pˤrak-lang, Mod. Bóyáng). A prominent posthumous name was Li Dan (李聃, Lǐ Dān).
Laozi itself is a honorific title: 老 (Old *rˤu ʔ, “old, venerable”) and 子 (Old *tsəʔ, “master”). It has been romanized numerous ways, sometimes leading to confusion. The most common present form is Laozi or Lǎozǐ, based on the Hanyu Pinyin system adopted by Mainland China in 1958 and by Taiwan in 2009. During the 20th century, Lao-tzu was more common, based on the formerly prevalent Wade–Giles system. In the 19th century, the title was usually romanized as Lao-tse. Other forms include the variants Lao-tze and Lao-tsu.
As a religious figure, he is worshipped under the name “Supreme Old Lord“ (太上老君, Tàishàng Lǎojūn) and as one of the “Three Pure Ones“. During the Tang dynasty, he was granted the title “Supremely Mysterious and Primordial Emperor” (太上玄元皇帝, Tàishàng Xuānyuán Huángdì).
Historical views
In the mid-twentieth century, a consensus emerged among scholars that the historicity of the person known as Laozi is doubtful and that the Tao Te Ching was “a compilation of Taoist sayings by many hands”. Alan Watts urged more caution, holding that this view was part of an academic fashion for skepticism about historical spiritual and religious figures and stating that not enough would be known for years – or possibly ever – to make a firm judgment.
The earliest certain reference to the present figure of Laozi is found in the 1st‑century BC Records of the Grand Historian collected by the historian Sima Qian from earlier accounts. In one account, Laozi was said to be a contemporary of Confucius during the 6th or 5th century BC. His surname was Li and his personal name was Er or Dan. He was an official in the imperial archives and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the west. In another, Laozi was a different contemporary of Confucius titled Lao Laizi (老莱子) and wrote a book in 15 parts. In a third, he was the court astrologer Lao Dan who lived during the 4th century BC reign of Duke Xian of the Qin Dynasty. The oldest text of the Tao Te Ching so far recovered was written on bamboo slips and dates to the late 4th century BC; see Guodian Chu Slips.
According to traditional accounts, Laozi was a scholar who worked as the Keeper of the Archives for the royal court of Zhou. This reportedly allowed him broad access to the works of the Yellow Emperor and other classics of the time. The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples. There are many variations of a story retelling his encounter with Confucius, most famously in the Zhuangzi.
He was sometimes held to have come from the village of Chu Jen in Chu. In accounts where Laozi married, he was said to have had a son named Zong who became a celebrated soldier.
Watch “The Traitor_Martha Wainwright_Leonard Cohen_I’m Your Man_720HD-022711.avi” on YouTube
Play “The Traitor”
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Now the Swan it floated on the English river
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer
And the judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother “Mother I must leave you
Preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
It was half my fault and half the atmosphere”
But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
And the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
And if she withered I would be to blame
The judges said you missed it by a fraction
Rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back
But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralyzed my will
I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
I’m listed with the enemies of love
And long ago she said “I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”
So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there, I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
And people call me traitor to my face
GeorgeB
General Comment:
Well I guess, it is fundamentally positive, and for a long time I just amaze myself at the beauty of the methaphore, the idea of the world as a stage, as the scene of a quest, in which the spectators are the judges as well, then I heard Leonard Cohen’s explaantion of the line of thought that made him write the poem. It goes like this:
“It was called “The traitor”. It was about the feeling that we have of betraying some mission that we were mandated to fulfill, and being unable to fulfill it, and then coming to understand that the real mandate was not to fulfill it, and that the deeper courage was to stand guiltless in the predicament in which you found yourself”.
It talks about the unvoidable predicament of failure from without, and the only right posture when one’s faced with a situation in which one cannot but fail: standing guiltless, in the predicament in which you find yourself. I think that is positive: not blaming yourself for outcomes of which you could not fully control.
Rating: +1
No Replies
12 Years AgoWinters
General Comment:
- It seems to be about a man settling for someone who is not right for him rather than what his heart desires. He becomes an enemy of love, The Men of Action Falling back is the man too weak to take action and leave, following his heart. He has a relationship of physical love but not real love. He is a traitor to himself.
Rating: 0
No Replies
11 Years Agobhoover247
General Comment:
The rose is the womans genitals, the swan would be his. The line “run some wire through the rose and wind the swan” would be the woman asking him to have sex with her. He daily performs his “idle duty” but he doesn’t love her. He has become an “enemy of love” for betraying his true love.
Rating: 0
1 Reply
9 Years AgoRJSoftware
General Comment:
Damb, aint any Cohen song remotley happy?
Rating: 0
No Replies
9 Years AgoStrangerinme
General Comment:
And long ago she said “I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”
God what a punishment ( the cruelty of the victim is almost far more than of the criminal)
He betrayed her , she doesn’t love him no more but she keeps her body for him to have sex with while her soul is somewhere else …
Rating: 0
No Replies
6 Years AgoJohnnyBee
My Interpretation:
What the Traitor has betrayed is the ideal of love. His ‘scarlet fever’ is lust, but when it is satisfied by ‘lingering on her thighs’, the Traitor is shamed. He recognises that other young men go off to battle without high ideals and they too become ‘the enemies of love’.
Lovely metaphors – great Leonard Cohen.
Rating: 0
No Replies
4 Months Agoalerique
General Comment:
Please, note parallels with famous ‘O Rose Thou Art Sick’ by William Blake, with specific reference to Englishness to remove further doubts. This is widened reinterpretation of the famous poem from the worm’s point of view.
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Rating: 0
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Tagged The Traitor_Martha Wainwright_Leonard Cohen_I'm Your Man
Watch “Fischer/Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64/Myung Whun Chung/Festival de Saint Denis.” on YouTube
Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concertoin E minor, Op. 64, is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertosin history.[1][2][3] A typical performance lasts just under half an hour.
Violin Concertoby Felix Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn in 1846
KeyE minorCatalogueOp. 64Year1844PeriodRomanticGenreConcertoComposed1838–1844Movements3ScoringViolin and orchestraPremiereDate13 March 1845LocationLeipzig
Mendelssohn originally proposed the idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and then concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, who gave him many suggestions. The work itself was one of the foremost violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential on many other composers.
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“Monday’s Prospects” (my virtual graphic arts work)
“Monday’s Prospects” (my virtual graphic arts work)
Monday’s Prospects
Thoughts of Wisdom: Forgive them, even when they are not sorry…
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Tagged even when they are not sorry..., Thoughts of Wisdom: Forgive them
Watch “Hugh Laurie – Saint James Infirmary (Let Them Talk, A Celebration of New Orleans Blues)” on YouTube
It was down by old Joe’s barroom, on the corner of the square
They were serving drinks as usual, and the usual crowd was there
On my left stood Big Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
And he turned his face to the people, these were the very words he said
They were serving drinks as usual, and the usual crowd was there
On my left stood Big Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
And he turned his face to the people, these were the very words he said
I was down to St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table,
So sweet, cool and so fair
She was stretched out on a long white table,
So sweet, cool and so fair
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
When I die please bury me in my high top Stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
The gang’ll know I died standing pat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
The gang’ll know I died standing pat
Let her go, let her go God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
Wherever she may be
She may search this wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
I want six crapshooters to be my pallbearers
Three pretty women to sing a song
Stick a jazz band on my hearse wagon
Raise hell as I stroll along
Three pretty women to sing a song
Stick a jazz band on my hearse wagon
Raise hell as I stroll along
Let her go Let her go
God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide
World over
She’ll never find a sweeter
Man as me
God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide
World over
She’ll never find a sweeter
Man as me
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Joe Primrose / Irving Mills
St. James Infirmary lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, BMG Rights
St. James Infirmary Blues
“St. James Infirmary” on tenor sax
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is an American jazz song of uncertain origin. Louis Armstrong made the song famous in his 1928 recording on which Don Redman was credited as composer; later releases gave the name Joe Primrose, a pseudonym of Irving Mills. The melody is 8 bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4/4 time signature, but has also been played in 3/4.
Authorship and history
“St. James Infirmary Blues”, sometimes known as “Gambler’s Blues”, is often regarded as an American folk song of anonymous origin. Moore and Baxter published a version of “Gambler’s Blues” in 1925.[1]In 1927, Carl Sandburg published a book called The American Songbagwhich contained lyrics for two versions of a song called “Those Gambler’s Blues”.[2] However, the song “St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose (a pseudonym for Irving Mills), who held copyrights for several versions of the song, registering the first in 1929. He claimed the rights to this specific title and won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court on this basis, the defendants having failed to produce the documentary evidence required by the court that the song had been known by that name for some years.[1]
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes said to be based on an eighteenth-century traditional folk song called “The Unfortunate Rake” (also known as “The Unfortunate Lad” or “The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime”) about a soldier who uses his money on prostitutes and then dies of venereal disease. But the familiar recorded versions (such as Armstrong’s) bear little relation to the older traditional song. The earliest known form of this song was called “The Buck’s Elegy” and is set in Covent Garden, London.[3]
According to Robert W. Harwood, A. L. Lloyd was the first person to connect “St. James Infirmary” with “The Unfortunate Lad/Rake”.[1]:36 Harwood refers to a five-page article by Lloyd in the January 1947 issue of the English music magazine Keynote.[4] In 1956, Lloyd published a revised version of this article in Sing magazine.[5] In both articles Lloyd refers to an English broadside song entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, commenting that the song is sometimes known as “The Unfortunate Rake”. No date or source for the latter title is given. The opening line of this version of the song refers to the “lock hospital”, not to an institution named St James. The term “lock hospital” was the name of an institution in Southwark, London, where lepers were isolated and treated. The lock in Southwark was used for those suffering from venereal diseases. The longer term came into use as a generic term for a hospital treating venereal diseases. Its first recorded use is 1770.
Lloyd claims that a song collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918 which contains the words “St James Hospital” is the parent song and that it looks like an elder relative of “The Dying Cowboy”. The opening of that song, as quoted by Lloyd, is:
As I went down by St James Hospital one morning,
So early one morning, it was early one day,
I found my son, my own son,
Wrapped up in white linen, as cold as the clay.
He also claims that this Appalachian version derives in turn from the version published by Such in London in the 1850s which refers to a lock hospital. The opening verse of this song, entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, is:
As I was walking down by the Lock Hospital,
As I was walking one morning of late,
Who did I spy but my own dear comrade,
Wrapp’d up in flannel, so hard was his fate.
Lloyd’s articles comment on the jazz hit “St. James Infirmary Blues”. The first article asserts that “the song is, or was before it became corrupted, a narrative ballad. Such ballads are rare in Negro song…So doubts are raised about whether ‘St. James Infirmary’ began life as a Negro song”.[4]:10 The second article includes the following comment on the song: “Most versions of ‘Infirmary’ include a number of stanzas from other songs, grafted on to the main stem – a confusion especially common with songs current among Negroes. The curious switchover from the actual death of the girl to the hypothetical death of the gambler creates some ambiguity too”.[5]:19 Lloyd points out that in some early variants of “The Unfortunate Rake” the sex of the victim of venereal disease was female. “We realise that the confusion in the ‘Infirmary’, where the dead person is a woman but the funeral is ordered for a man, is surely due to the fact that the original ballad was commonly recorded in a form in which the sexes were reversed, so singers were often in two minds whether they were singing of a rakish man or a bad girl”.[5]:21
Lloyd’s second article is cited as a reference by Kenneth Goldstein in his liner notes for a 1960 Folkways LP called The Unfortunate Rake. These liner notes are often used as a source for the history of “St. James Infirmary Blues”. One example is an article by Rob Walker.[6] The liner notes raise the question of whether St. James’ Hospital was a real place and, if so, where it was. Goldstein claimed in the notes that “St. James” refers to London’s St. James Hospital, a religious foundation for the treatment of leprosy. His references list an article by Kenneth Lodewick. That article states, giving no reference or source for the idea, that the phrase “St. James Hospital” refers to a hospital of that name in London.[7]There is some difficulty in this because the hospital in question closed in 1532 when Henry VIIIacquired the land to build St James’s Palace.[8]
Another possibility suggested by Higginbotham on the basis of his claim that the song “St. James Infirmary” dates at least from the early nineteenth century, is the Infirmary section of the St James Workhousewhich the St. James Parish opened in 1725 on Poland Street, Piccadilly, and which continued well into the nineteenth century.[9] This St. James Infirmary was contemporaneous with the estimated advent of the song “The Unfortunate Lad”, but it is not the London Lock Hospital. Another difficulty is that, out of the early versions of the song mentioned in the references given by Goldstein, only the one collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918, and one found in Canada in the 1920s, make use of the phrase “St. James”.
The liner notes link the Rake to an early fragment called “My Jewel, My Joy”, stating that it was heard in Dublin. The same statement appears in the Lodewick article referenced in those notes[7] The notes given in the source cited for this fragment, a collection of songs collected by William Forde and published by P. W. Joyce, state that the song was heard in Cork, not Dublin.[10]
The version of the “Unfortunate Rake” on the LP of that name is sung by Lloyd, of whom it has been said that he “sometimes modified lyrics or melodies to make the songs more palatable for contemporary listeners”,[1]:38 and its first verse is as follows:
As I was a-walking down by St. James Hospital,
I was a-walking down by there one day.
What should I spy but one of my comrades
All wrapped up in a flannel though warm was the day.[a]
The liner notes[11] state that Lloyd is singing a nineteenth century broadside version, but do not specify which. The Lloyd article cited in the references given in the liner notes,[5]refers to a version published by Such and to no other version. The title and words sung by Lloyd are not those of the Such broadside[12] which has no reference to St. James and is not called “The Unfortunate Rake”. Lloyd recorded a slightly different version in 1966, this time calling the song “St James Hospital”.[13] In 1967, his book Folk Song in England was published.[14] This includes some comment on the song, claims without any supporting references or information that a Czech version pre-dates the British ones, repeats the confusion between Dublin and Cork as the place where the “My Jewel My Joy” fragment had been heard, and includes an unattributed quotation of two verses that differ from the versions sung by Lloyd.
Variations typically feature a narrator telling the story of a young man “cut down in his prime” (occasionally, a young woman “cut down in her prime”) as a result of morally questionable behaviour. For example, when the song moved to America, gambling and alcohol became common causes of the youth’s death.[15]
There are numerous versions of the song throughout the English-speaking world. For example, it evolved into other American standards such as “The Streets of Laredo“.[16]
The song, “Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues”, has sometimes been described as a descendant of “The Unfortunate Rake”, and thus related to “St. James Infirmary Blues”. This song was issued as a record four times in 1927, and attributed to pianist, arranger, and band-leader Porter Grainger.[17] Blind Willie McTell recorded a version of the former for John Lomax in 1940 and claimed to have begun writing the song around 1929.
Gottlieb considered whether there were Jewish American influences through the use of the Ukrainian Dorian mode, but only found hints of this in a version published by Siegmeister and Downes.[18] He also suggests that there may have been Jewish influences on the rendition by Cab Calloway.[18]:211 A melody very similar to the Armstrong version can be found in an instrumental composition entitled “Charleston Cabin”, which was recorded by Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvania Serenaders in 1924 (three years before the earliest recording of “Gambler’s Blues”).[1]:39
As with many folk songs, there is much variation in the lyric from one version to another. These are the first two stanzas as sung by Louis Armstrong on a 1928 Odeon Records release:
I went down to St. James Infirmary,
Saw my baby there,
Stretched out on a long white table,
So cold, so sweet, so fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be,
She can look this wide world over,
But she’ll never find a sweet man like me.
Some of the versions, such as the one published as “Gambler’s Blues” and attributed to Carl Moore and Phil Baxter, frame the story with an initial stanza or stanzas in which a separate narrator goes down to a saloon known as “Joe’s barroom” and encounters a customer who then relates the incident about the woman in the infirmary. Later verses commonly include the speaker’s request to be buried according to certain instructions, which vary according to the version.[19]
Other versions
Koko the clown (a rotoscopedCab Calloway) performing the song in the 1933 Betty Boopanimation Snow White
The song was first recorded (as “Gambler’s Blues”) in 1927 by Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra with credits given to Moore and Baxter.[1]:150This version mentions an infirmary but not by name. The song was popular during the jazz era, and by 1930 at least eighteen different versions had been released.[1]:30 The Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded the song using pseudonyms such as “The Ten Black Berries”, “The Harlem Hot Chocolates”, and “The Jungle Band”,[1]:19 while Cab Callowayperformed a version in the 1933 Betty Boop animated film Snow White, providing vocals and dance moves for Koko the clown.[20]
In 1961, Bobby “Blue” Bland released a version of “Saint James Infirmary” on the flip side of his No. 2 R&B hit “Don’t Cry No More” and included it in his album Two Steps from the Blues.[21][22]In 1967 the French-American singer Joe Dassin recorded the song. In 1968, Don Partridge released a version on his self-named album, as did Eric Burdon and the Animals on their album Every One of Us.[23]Dock Boggs recorded a version of the song entitled “Old Joe’s Barroom” (1965)[24]
The song was often performed by cabaret surrealists The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in South California; the band’s vocalist and songwriter, Danny Elfman, often cited Cab Calloway as his inspiration in his youth. The White Stripes covered the song on their self-titled debut album, and Jack White says he and fellow band member, Meg White, were introduced to the song from a Betty Boop cartoon.[25] In 1981, Bob Dylan adapted the song when he wrote and recorded “Blind Willie McTell”. The song was written for his 1983 release, Infidels, but was not released until The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3: Rare and Unreleased, 1961-1991 (Columbia, 1991).[26] In 2012, Trombone Shortyand Booker T. Jones performed an instrumental version as the opening number of the “Red, White, and Blues” concert at the White House.[27]
- Josh White (1944) [28]
- Snooks Eaglin – New Orleans Street Singer (Folkways, 1959)[29]
- Lou Rawls – Back and Blue(1963)[30]
- The Standells – Try It (1967)[31]
- Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker (1972)[32]
- Canadian Brass – Basin Street(1984)[33]
- Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan[34] (2005)
- The Devil Makes Three – A Little Bit Faster and a Little Bit Worse (under the title St James) (2006)[35]
- Arlo Guthrie with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra – In Times Like These (2007)[36]
- Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk (2011)
- Rickie Lee Jones – The Devil You Know[37] (2012)
- Dalice Marie – Twenty Eight(2016)[38]
- Yo-Yo Ma‘s Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens – Sing Me Home(2016)[39]
- Jon Batiste – Hollywood Africans(2018)
- Liquor Beats Winter – Lost In The Sauce (2018)
See also
From Wikipedia:
St. James Infirmary Blues
“St. James Infirmary” on tenor sax
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is an American jazz song of uncertain origin. Louis Armstrong made the song famous in his 1928 recording on which Don Redman was credited as composer; later releases gave the name Joe Primrose, a pseudonym of Irving Mills. The melody is 8 bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4/4 time signature, but has also been played in 3/4.
Authorship and history
“St. James Infirmary Blues”, sometimes known as “Gambler’s Blues”, is often regarded as an American folk song of anonymous origin. Moore and Baxter published a version of “Gambler’s Blues” in 1925.[1]In 1927, Carl Sandburg published a book called The American Songbagwhich contained lyrics for two versions of a song called “Those Gambler’s Blues”.[2] However, the song “St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose (a pseudonym for Irving Mills), who held copyrights for several versions of the song, registering the first in 1929. He claimed the rights to this specific title and won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court on this basis, the defendants having failed to produce the documentary evidence required by the court that the song had been known by that name for some years.[1]
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes said to be based on an eighteenth-century traditional folk song called “The Unfortunate Rake” (also known as “The Unfortunate Lad” or “The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime”) about a soldier who uses his money on prostitutes and then dies of venereal disease. But the familiar recorded versions (such as Armstrong’s) bear little relation to the older traditional song. The earliest known form of this song was called “The Buck’s Elegy” and is set in Covent Garden, London.[3]
According to Robert W. Harwood, A. L. Lloyd was the first person to connect “St. James Infirmary” with “The Unfortunate Lad/Rake”.[1]:36 Harwood refers to a five-page article by Lloyd in the January 1947 issue of the English music magazine Keynote.[4] In 1956, Lloyd published a revised version of this article in Sing magazine.[5] In both articles Lloyd refers to an English broadside song entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, commenting that the song is sometimes known as “The Unfortunate Rake”. No date or source for the latter title is given. The opening line of this version of the song refers to the “lock hospital”, not to an institution named St James. The term “lock hospital” was the name of an institution in Southwark, London, where lepers were isolated and treated. The lock in Southwark was used for those suffering from venereal diseases. The longer term came into use as a generic term for a hospital treating venereal diseases. Its first recorded use is 1770.
Lloyd claims that a song collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918 which contains the words “St James Hospital” is the parent song and that it looks like an elder relative of “The Dying Cowboy”. The opening of that song, as quoted by Lloyd, is:
As I went down by St James Hospital one morning,
So early one morning, it was early one day,
I found my son, my own son,
Wrapped up in white linen, as cold as the clay.
He also claims that this Appalachian version derives in turn from the version published by Such in London in the 1850s which refers to a lock hospital. The opening verse of this song, entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, is:
As I was walking down by the Lock Hospital,
As I was walking one morning of late,
Who did I spy but my own dear comrade,
Wrapp’d up in flannel, so hard was his fate.
Lloyd’s articles comment on the jazz hit “St. James Infirmary Blues”. The first article asserts that “the song is, or was before it became corrupted, a narrative ballad. Such ballads are rare in Negro song…So doubts are raised about whether ‘St. James Infirmary’ began life as a Negro song”.[4]:10 The second article includes the following comment on the song: “Most versions of ‘Infirmary’ include a number of stanzas from other songs, grafted on to the main stem – a confusion especially common with songs current among Negroes. The curious switchover from the actual death of the girl to the hypothetical death of the gambler creates some ambiguity too”.[5]:19 Lloyd points out that in some early variants of “The Unfortunate Rake” the sex of the victim of venereal disease was female. “We realise that the confusion in the ‘Infirmary’, where the dead person is a woman but the funeral is ordered for a man, is surely due to the fact that the original ballad was commonly recorded in a form in which the sexes were reversed, so singers were often in two minds whether they were singing of a rakish man or a bad girl”.[5]:21
Lloyd’s second article is cited as a reference by Kenneth Goldstein in his liner notes for a 1960 Folkways LP called The Unfortunate Rake. These liner notes are often used as a source for the history of “St. James Infirmary Blues”. One example is an article by Rob Walker.[6] The liner notes raise the question of whether St. James’ Hospital was a real place and, if so, where it was. Goldstein claimed in the notes that “St. James” refers to London’s St. James Hospital, a religious foundation for the treatment of leprosy. His references list an article by Kenneth Lodewick. That article states, giving no reference or source for the idea, that the phrase “St. James Hospital” refers to a hospital of that name in London.[7]There is some difficulty in this because the hospital in question closed in 1532 when Henry VIIIacquired the land to build St James’s Palace.[8]
Another possibility suggested by Higginbotham on the basis of his claim that the song “St. James Infirmary” dates at least from the early nineteenth century, is the Infirmary section of the St James Workhousewhich the St. James Parish opened in 1725 on Poland Street, Piccadilly, and which continued well into the nineteenth century.[9] This St. James Infirmary was contemporaneous with the estimated advent of the song “The Unfortunate Lad”, but it is not the London Lock Hospital. Another difficulty is that, out of the early versions of the song mentioned in the references given by Goldstein, only the one collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918, and one found in Canada in the 1920s, make use of the phrase “St. James”.
The liner notes link the Rake to an early fragment called “My Jewel, My Joy”, stating that it was heard in Dublin. The same statement appears in the Lodewick article referenced in those notes[7] The notes given in the source cited for this fragment, a collection of songs collected by William Forde and published by P. W. Joyce, state that the song was heard in Cork, not Dublin.[10]
The version of the “Unfortunate Rake” on the LP of that name is sung by Lloyd, of whom it has been said that he “sometimes modified lyrics or melodies to make the songs more palatable for contemporary listeners”,[1]:38 and its first verse is as follows:
As I was a-walking down by St. James Hospital,
I was a-walking down by there one day.
What should I spy but one of my comrades
All wrapped up in a flannel though warm was the day.[a]
The liner notes[11] state that Lloyd is singing a nineteenth century broadside version, but do not specify which. The Lloyd article cited in the references given in the liner notes,[5]refers to a version published by Such and to no other version. The title and words sung by Lloyd are not those of the Such broadside[12] which has no reference to St. James and is not called “The Unfortunate Rake”. Lloyd recorded a slightly different version in 1966, this time calling the song “St James Hospital”.[13] In 1967, his book Folk Song in England was published.[14] This includes some comment on the song, claims without any supporting references or information that a Czech version pre-dates the British ones, repeats the confusion between Dublin and Cork as the place where the “My Jewel My Joy” fragment had been heard, and includes an unattributed quotation of two verses that differ from the versions sung by Lloyd.
Variations typically feature a narrator telling the story of a young man “cut down in his prime” (occasionally, a young woman “cut down in her prime”) as a result of morally questionable behaviour. For example, when the song moved to America, gambling and alcohol became common causes of the youth’s death.[15]
There are numerous versions of the song throughout the English-speaking world. For example, it evolved into other American standards such as “The Streets of Laredo“.[16]
The song, “Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues”, has sometimes been described as a descendant of “The Unfortunate Rake”, and thus related to “St. James Infirmary Blues”. This song was issued as a record four times in 1927, and attributed to pianist, arranger, and band-leader Porter Grainger.[17] Blind Willie McTell recorded a version of the former for John Lomax in 1940 and claimed to have begun writing the song around 1929.
Gottlieb considered whether there were Jewish American influences through the use of the Ukrainian Dorian mode, but only found hints of this in a version published by Siegmeister and Downes.[18] He also suggests that there may have been Jewish influences on the rendition by Cab Calloway.[18]:211 A melody very similar to the Armstrong version can be found in an instrumental composition entitled “Charleston Cabin”, which was recorded by Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvania Serenaders in 1924 (three years before the earliest recording of “Gambler’s Blues”).[1]:39
As with many folk songs, there is much variation in the lyric from one version to another. These are the first two stanzas as sung by Louis Armstrong on a 1928 Odeon Records release:
I went down to St. James Infirmary,
Saw my baby there,
Stretched out on a long white table,
So cold, so sweet, so fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be,
She can look this wide world over,
But she’ll never find a sweet man like me.
Some of the versions, such as the one published as “Gambler’s Blues” and attributed to Carl Moore and Phil Baxter, frame the story with an initial stanza or stanzas in which a separate narrator goes down to a saloon known as “Joe’s barroom” and encounters a customer who then relates the incident about the woman in the infirmary. Later verses commonly include the speaker’s request to be buried according to certain instructions, which vary according to the version.[19]
Other versions
Koko the clown (a rotoscopedCab Calloway) performing the song in the 1933 Betty Boopanimation Snow White
The song was first recorded (as “Gambler’s Blues”) in 1927 by Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra with credits given to Moore and Baxter.[1]:150This version mentions an infirmary but not by name. The song was popular during the jazz era, and by 1930 at least eighteen different versions had been released.[1]:30 The Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded the song using pseudonyms such as “The Ten Black Berries”, “The Harlem Hot Chocolates”, and “The Jungle Band”,[1]:19 while Cab Callowayperformed a version in the 1933 Betty Boop animated film Snow White, providing vocals and dance moves for Koko the clown.[20]
In 1961, Bobby “Blue” Bland released a version of “Saint James Infirmary” on the flip side of his No. 2 R&B hit “Don’t Cry No More” and included it in his album Two Steps from the Blues.[21][22]In 1967 the French-American singer Joe Dassin recorded the song. In 1968, Don Partridge released a version on his self-named album, as did Eric Burdon and the Animals on their album Every One of Us.[23]Dock Boggs recorded a version of the song entitled “Old Joe’s Barroom” (1965)[24]
The song was often performed by cabaret surrealists The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in South California; the band’s vocalist and songwriter, Danny Elfman, often cited Cab Calloway as his inspiration in his youth. The White Stripes covered the song on their self-titled debut album, and Jack White says he and fellow band member, Meg White, were introduced to the song from a Betty Boop cartoon.[25] In 1981, Bob Dylan adapted the song when he wrote and recorded “Blind Willie McTell”. The song was written for his 1983 release, Infidels, but was not released until The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3: Rare and Unreleased, 1961-1991 (Columbia, 1991).[26] In 2012, Trombone Shortyand Booker T. Jones performed an instrumental version as the opening number of the “Red, White, and Blues” concert at the White House.[27]
- Josh White (1944) [28]
- Snooks Eaglin – New Orleans Street Singer (Folkways, 1959)[29]
- Lou Rawls – Back and Blue(1963)[30]
- The Standells – Try It (1967)[31]
- Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker (1972)[32]
- Canadian Brass – Basin Street(1984)[33]
- Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan[34] (2005)
- The Devil Makes Three – A Little Bit Faster and a Little Bit Worse (under the title St James) (2006)[35]
- Arlo Guthrie with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra – In Times Like These (2007)[36]
- Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk (2011)
- Rickie Lee Jones – The Devil You Know[37] (2012)
- Dalice Marie – Twenty Eight(2016)[38]
- Yo-Yo Ma‘s Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens – Sing Me Home(2016)[39]
- Jon Batiste – Hollywood Africans(2018)
- Liquor Beats Winter – Lost In The Sauce (2018)