Today we continue our journey through the miscellany of songs about walking. Yesterday we travelled from the 1920’s to the mid 1960’s and today we move into the 1970’s and beyond. Walk on the Wild Side” is a song by Lou Reed from his second solo album, Transformer (1972). It was produced by David Bowie […]
Walking (Part 1)
Having covered the points of the compass last week, we are now going to embark on a series on modes of transport. So today we begin with the most ancient and simplest form of transport – Walking. Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestial locomotion among legged animals. Walking […]
Steal Away
“Steal Away” (“Steal Away to Jesus“) is an American Negro Spiritual. “Steal Away” the song is a standard gospel song, and is found in the hymnals of many Protestant denominations.The song is well known by variations of the chorus: Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!Steal away, steal away home, I hain’t got long […]
West
West or Occident, is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from East, and is the direction in which the sun sets. The word “west” is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (ouest in French, oest in Catalan, ovest in Italian, oeste in Spanish […]
East
East or Orient, is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from West. As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that east is direction where the sun rises: east comes from Middle East est, from Old English ēast, which itself comes from […]
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. South is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to the East and West. The word south comes from Old English sūþ, from earlier Proto-Germanic *sunþaz (“south”), possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word sun derived from. Some languages describe south in […]
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert Watts was an English drummer who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Rolling Stone. He was one of the band’s longest serving members, joining in January 1963 and remaining a member until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, he started playing drums in London’s rhythm and blues […]
North
We have spent the last two days travelling across the country so with that in mind we are going to begin a series on travel by first considering the compass. So today our theme is North. The word north is related to the Old High German nord, both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *ner-, meaning […]
We Sat Down and Wept by the Waters
After a season of ballads colected by Francis Child, I thought as it was Sunday that I turn our attention to another ballad, this time composed by Lord Byron and based on Psalm 137. This psalm has been for centuries a favourite with poets and poetical translators, and its pathos appealed to Lord Byron when […]
The Fair Flower of Northumberland
For our final dip (for the moment) into the amazing bag of ballads collected by Francis Child I have chosen “The Fair Flower of Northumberland” (Child No. 9, Roud 25).This ballad is refered to in Deloney’s book Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, in his younger yeares called Jacke of Newberie. According to Child the book […]