This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Here is some more music that has taken my fancy in recent times. Some I heard on the radio, others I played for my own enjoyment and thought I’d share it with you.

JOHANN FASCH was a German violinist and composer.

Jo’s dad died when he was about 12 and the family moved in with his mother’s brother who was a clergyman. It was through him that young Jo became a choir boy and made the acquaintance of several composers who put him on the path to becoming a composer himself.

He wrote cantatas, concertos, symphonies and chamber music. Surprisingly, nothing he wrote was published during his lifetime. One such is his Concerto for two Oboes da caccia, two Violas, two Bassoons and Continuo in G major. The oboe da caccia was a hunting oboe.

I didn’t know that there was such a thing. It’s a bit deeper than the regular oboe and looks like this.

I’ll play the whole concerto as it’s quite short as was the way of things back then before Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach came along and changed all that.

♫ Fasch - Concerto for 2 Oboes da caccia 2 Violas 2 Bassoons and Continuo in G Major FaWV L_G11

The music of PHILIP GLASS tends to polarise people.

Nobody seems to be ho hum about it – you usually love it or hate it. You can tell where I stand as I’m including him today. I especially like his piano music and I’ve included a piece today, his Etude No. 2. Listen with an open mind.

♫ Philip Glass - Etude 2

Continuing with contemporary music, ELENA KATS-CHERNIN is easily Australia’s finest living composer.

It might not induce you to listen to this when I say that the text of the piece is made up of mostly nonsense syllables sourced from Russian words to do with sea creatures; those words are then split up and used in reverse.

The composition was first heard at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. It’s performed today by Sally Whitwell playing piano and the Gondwana Voices, a Sydney young people’s choir. Here is Deep Sea Dreaming.

♫ Kats-Chernin - Deep Sea Dreaming

For a complete change of pace, I give you MAX BRUCH.

Max was a German composer who has a couple of hundred compositions to his name, but is best known for his violin concertos which have become a staple on the concert circuit. That is especially so of his Violin Concerto No 1 in G Minor. Here is the third movement.

♫ Bruch - Violin Concerto No 1 (3)

MAURICE RAVEL is best known (and quite often only known) for Bolero.

Like every composer, there’s more to him than a single composition. In 1904, the French musicologist Pierre Aubry was preparing a lecture on Greek folksongs. He enlisted the help of Greek-born fellow musicologist and critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi to provide some examples. He, in turn, asked his friend Maurice to orchestrate some of the chosen songs.

One of those is Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques (Song of the Pistachio Harvesters). It’s sung by the marvelous soprano SARA MACLIVER.

♫ Ravel - Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques

NICOLA FRANCESCO HAYM was an Italian jack of all trades.

He went to London when he was in his early twenties and stayed there for the rest of his life. He took a job as a theatre manager and also wrote the words for operas by various composers, including Mr Handel.

Besides that he composed music of his own, was an artist and a literary editor who wrote about linguists, art, politics, poetry, geography, mathematics and astronomy.

Nic is the only composer I’ve come across who was a numismatist, being an expert on early Greek and Roman coins. He wrote several trio sonatas, one of which is the Trio Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 1. This is the fourth movement.

♫ Haym - Trio Sonata No. 1 in D Minor Op. 1 (4)

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY has a suite called “The Seasons”, a bit like Haydn, Vivaldi and others.

This is a misnomer as it’s really just the months of the year. These are twelve solo piano compositions and are quite lovely, gentle pieces; a million miles away from his bombastic works. The one I’ve included is June. It’s played by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

♫ Tchaikovsky - The Seasons (June)

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS was a French composer, organist and pianist.

He was a child prodigy and performed major works in concert before he was a teenager. He was a bit of a polymath as he excelled in philosophy, literature, Greek and Latin, mathematics, astronomy and archaeology.

Camille is probably best known for rather over the top works like the Organ Symphony (No. 3) and Danse Macabre.

His Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 is not in that mold; it’s a lot quieter than those. This is the second movement with Ha-Na Chang playing the cello.

♫ Saint-Saëns - Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor Op.33 (2)

There is an oratorio that GEORG HANDEL wrote three times.

Well, he revised it twice would be more accurate. The first time he wrote it in Italy and called it Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion). The next time was when he had moved to London and he called it Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità (The Triumph of Time and Truth).

The third version was in English and just called The Triumph of Time and Truth. An aria from that is called “One Band Of Pleasures Keeps Watch Over My Thoughts”.

♫ Handel - One Band Of Pleasures Keeps Watch Over My Thoughts

I’ll end with FRANZ DANZI whose name might give away his origins. He was born in Germany to an Italian cello player.

Franz took after his dad and took up the cello himself. He also wrote music and was a conductor of some note at the time. His compositions tended to favour chamber music – duos, quartets, quintets, septets and the like.

What we have today, however, is a bigger work. It’s the Concertante in B-flat major for flute, clarinet & orchestra, Op. 41, the first movement.

♫ Danzi - Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major for flute clarinet & orchestra Op. 41 (1)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

FELICE AND BOUDLEAUX BRYANT wrote several thousand songs, somewhere between three and seven, depending on who’s counting. Here are a few of them that you might recognise.

People of a certain age (that is, round about mine) tend to associate them with the Everly Brothers, as they wrote a bunch of songs for them, most of which were big sellers. There’ll be a few of those today.

The Oxford American Magazine summed up their writing style best...

”If you’re drawn to musicians who salvage their art from tragic romance, addiction, and other personal wreckage, you may as well turn elsewhere now.

“The lives and joint career of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Nashville’s first full-time, non-performing songwriters, offer few attractions for the rubbernecker. By all accounts, their 42-year marital and creative partnership was nearly idyllic, as Boudleaux acknowledged when asked to explain the optimism of many of their songs: 'I suppose it’s because we’ve had such a very wonderful relationship.'”

Felice said,

“'We started writing for the hell of it, for fun,' Boudleaux said, 'and after about 80 songs we thought, this looks like it could be a good thing. But we originally wrote them for our own amusement.'”

I’ll start, appropriately, with the EVERLY BROTHERS and one of their big hits.

As mentioned above, they wrote a lot for the Everlys, and this will not be the only song of theirs. It’s Wake Up Little Susie.

♫ Everly Brothers - Wake Up Little Susie

By 1960 there was a fad for teenage tragedy songs. Not just the teenagers (Tell Laura I love Her, Teen Angel and so on) but others as well (by Marty Robbins, Patti Page etc).

The Bryants wrote a song to send up this phenomenon, called Let’s Think About Living and BOB LUMAN was the singer who turned it into a considerable hit.

Bob was from Texas and lived in some wonderfully named towns early on – he was born in Blackjack, grew up in Nacogdoches and went to high school in Kilgore. His father was a good amateur musician and encouraged young Bob.

His first band included the great guitarist James Burton, before he played with Ricky Nelson, Elvis, Emmylou Harris and anyone else who wanted the very best. Anyway, here’s Bob with the song.

♫ Bob Luman - Let's Think About Living

BUDDY HOLLY mostly performed his own songs.

However, now and then he’d have a go at someone else’s. This one turned out to be quite a hit for Buddy, Raining in My Heart.

♫ Buddy Holly - Raining In My Heart

Here is our second dose of the EVERLY BROTHERS.

Their song is Sleepless Nights. This was also performed by the Flying Burrito Brothers, a group that contained Chris Hillman, founder member of The Byrds, and Gram Parsons, himself a member of The Byrds for a short time.

♫ Everly Brothers - Sleepless Nights

A few people have recorded the song, She Wears My Ring, but the version I like is by JOHNNY O'KEEFE.

Johnny was the first and best of Australia’s early rock and rollers. He started out as a wild one (a song he wrote and recorded) but like many from that time, mellowed over the years.

This song is on the mellower end of his output, but it’s still evident he’s a rocker when you listen to his voice.

♫ Johnny O'Keefe - She Wears My Ring

Love Hurts was originally recorded by the Everly Brothers. It was later covered really well by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Emmy also did her own version, as have several other performers. One of those is LEO SAYER.

Leo was a bit of a chameleon, changing styles depending on what was popular at the time. However, he always brought a little extra to everything he performed. This one is a little heavy on the celestial choirs and strings but he does a good job.

♫ Leo Sayer - Love Hurts

Some more EVERLY BROTHERS.

It seems they were naughty and got banged up in the slammer. However, they don’t want Mary to know about this. It should become obvious to her when they don’t come home for quite some time, or ever, according to the song. Take a Message to Mary.

♫ Everly Brothers - Take a Message to Mary

When SUE THOMPSON had several hits in the early sixties - she sounded to us as if she were a teenager just starting out. We were wrong as she was was well into her thirties at the time.

This isn’t one of the songs of hers I remember from then, but it was written by our pair today, so it’s included. The song is Have a Good Time.

♫ Sue Thompson - Have A Good Time

Doug Dillard, of The Dillards, and Gene Clark, from The Byrds, teamed up to record a couple of fine albums under the name DILLARD AND CLARK.

Doug was a virtuoso banjo player, which will be demonstrated on the song Rocky Top. Donna Washburn is also prominent singing along with them.

♫ Dillard & Clark - Rocky Top

Okay, it’s approaching the last dance of the evening, so grab your sweetie for that last dance. Here are the EVERLY BROTHERS to do the honors.

This is what we used to call a “clutcher hugger”, and we blokes really liked these. I don’t what the gals thought about them. The song is Devoted to You.

♫ Everly Brothers - Devoted to You

FELICE AND BOUDLEAUX may have claimed to be non-performing songwriters, but they did make a couple of albums, so we’ll finish with them.

They’re better than they give themselves credit for as they demonstrate on All I Have to Do is Dream, originally a hit for (guess who?) the Everly Brothers.

Felice & Boudleaux Bryant - All I Have to Do is Dream

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Another in the occasional "Singing With" series, this time it's B.B. KING. He hasn't sung with as many people as Willie Nelson, who is present today, but he's up there.

I imagine that everyone here (and many more who didn't make the cut today) would have jumped at the chance to perform with the blues master. I hope you like blues and soul because that’s what you’re getting today - with occasional jazz and gospel influences.

The most appropriate place to start is with the song Playin' with my Friends. On this one B.B. has the help of ROBERT CRAY.

Robert is one of the newish breed of blues artist who bring elements of soul, rock, jazz and gospel into their playing. He’s an excellent guitarist and a pretty good singer as well. Here he is playin’ with B.B.

♫ Playin' with my friends

BONNIE RAITT is one of the foremost blues guitarists of her generation.

She’s also a fine singer and here she gets to demonstrate both skills with B.B. doing the same on Baby I Love You.

♫ Baby I Love You

Apart from B.B., JOHN LEE HOOKER was probably the last of that early generation who made the trek from the southern states to Chicago and plugged in their guitars (so they could be heard above the generally raucous crowds).

His style of singing and playing is quite the opposite of B.B.’s, but as with everyone today they work well together. The song is You Shook Me.

♫ You Shook Me

Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton (and some others) introduced B.B. to an earlier mainstream, mainly rock, audience. U2 performed the same function for the next generation of listeners.

Instead of B.B. influencing U2 to play the blues, they turn the tables and turn B.B. into a rocker with When Love Comes to Town.

♫ When Love Comes to Town

DIANE SCHUUR is a jazz singer and pianist.

She’s performed with many artists over the years, including Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Stan Getz, Alison Krause and many others. Today it’s B.B.’s turn. The song they perform is Spirit in the Dark. They sure get the spirit on this one.

♫ Spirit in the Dark

After that song, we all need to sit down and rest a while. To help us calm down we have WILLIE NELSON singing and playing with B.B.

We have two distinctive guitarists on this one, maybe the two most distinctive who have ever recorded. No one would mistake either of their playing for anyone else.

The same with their singing. The song they perform is Night Life, a song Willie wrote. Due to his straitened circumstances at the time, he had to sell the rights for a pittance, and it’s often credited to others, but it is Willie’s.

♫ Night Life

The song Hummingbird was written by Leon Russell, and he did a fine version of it. Around the same time, B.B. recorded it on his “Indianola Mississippi Seeds” album. Today he has the help of DIONNE WARWICK to sing it.

This version is the equal of the previous two I mentioned. Maybe it’s the song – there are some songs where there is no bad version. This could be one of them.

♫ Hummingbird

Mac Rebennack, better known to most of us as DR JOHN, died recently.

Mac (or John or Doc or whomever) was another who liked performing with other people, so he’s a good fit in the column today. His style is quintessentially New Orleans, where he was born and bred. Of course, that includes a big dollop of the blues.

They perform There Must Be a Better World Somewhere. Unfortunately or fortunately, this world is all we have.

♫ There Must Be A Better World Somewhere

When I say that ERIC CLAPTON is up next, I imagine you'd expect a great blues jam with B.B., however, you'd be wrong.

Eric and B.B. recorded an album together called "Riding With The King" where they performed in all sorts of styles. The track I've chosen is the old standard Come Rain or Come Shine, not what you'd expect from these two. Of course, they turn it into a blues song.

Come Rain or Come Shine

Although he didn’t write it, The Thrill Is Gone became B.B.’s signature tune. He performed it in pretty much every concert he gave during the last several decades of his life. It has appeared on many albums, including “Deuces Wild” where he performed with a bunch of artists and is a valuable source of material today. One of those performers is TRACY CHAPMAN.

Tracy first came to my notice with her terrific song, Fast Car, from the late eighties. She and B.B. do a great job with the song – it’d be hard not to.

The Thrill Is Gone

I’ll end with one of B.B.’s friends BOBBY BLAND.

B.B. and Bobby often performed together and also made several records, both studio and “live” records. From one of the latter, a most appropriate song: Let the Good Times Roll.

♫ Let the Good Times Roll

GERRY GOFFIN AND CAROLE KING were one of the most successful song writing teams of the fifties and sixties. They managed to get more than 100 of their songs on the Billboard Top 100, which isn’t a bad effort in anyone’s language.

Carol Klein went to school with (later) fellow songwriter Neil Sedaka. They were a bit of an item for a while and he wrote his first hit, Oh Carol for her. Later she wrote an amusing answer song called, Oh Neil.

She began using the nom de plume Carole King and met budding songwriter Gerry Goffin in college. They started writing songs together and were soon married and became fixtures at the famous Brill Building, song-writing central in New York at the time. These are just a few of their songs, some of which I was surprised that they wrote.

THE BYRDS performed two Goffin and King songs on their album “The Notorious Byrd Brothers”.

Both songs appear today, the second below by a different artist. When you talk about rock and roll harmony singing, there’s none better than The Byrds. This is a prime example, Goin' Back.

♫ The Byrds - Goin' Back

THE SHIRELLES don’t seem to be spoken of in the same league as The Supremes and The Ronettes, which is a real shame as I think they are up there with the best.

Apparently they had several hits before I noticed them with the song we have today. Will You Love Me Tomorrow reached number 1 pretty much everywhere that had hit parades.

It was ranked as the number 1 song of 1962. As a trivial aside, the flip side of the record was the song Boys, recorded by The Beatles a couple of years later.

♫ Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

GENE MCDANIELS was a jazz singer who became successful singing a bunch of non-jazz songs.

I didn’t know this at the time; I just thought he was a terrific singer. I hope his success meant that he was set up so he could do what he wanted to do. Getting back to those pop songs that hit the top of the charts, one of them was Point of No Return, written by our couple today, of course.

♫ Gene McDaniels - Point of No Return

I can’t think of any group from the late fifties, early sixties who were as good as THE DRIFTERS.

Particularly during the rather short period when Ben E. King was singing lead for them, and incidentally writing songs for which he didn’t receive credit. They sang our couple’s songs as well, one of which is Up on the Roof.

♫ Drifters - Up On The Roof

Here is the other song, mentioned above, that was performed by The Byrds. I have to admit that I prefer The Byrds’ version, but DUSTY SPRINGFIELD does it pretty well too.

Dusty was born Mary O’Brien and she first came to my notice as part of a folk group with her brother Dionysius O’Brien, who took the name Tom Springfield. They were joined by Tim Field initially, and later Mike Hurst and called themselves The Springfields. Dusty left and became a successful solo artist. One of her songs from that career is Wasn't Born to Follow.

♫ Dusty Springfield - Wasn't Born To Follow

BOBBY VEE was the recipient of quite a few of Gerry and Carole’s songs.

Bobby has always been lumped in with the early sixties pretty boy singers who were created by opportunistic record companies. I think he has more substance than he’s been given credit for. He mostly didn’t write his songs, but he was an astute chooser of them. One such is Take Good Care Of My Baby, a big hit for him.

♫ Bobby Vee - Take Good Care Of My Baby

Eva Boyd was a babysitter for Gerry and Carole. They had seen her dancing around and singing while performing her tasks and wrote a song for her. Friends of theirs said that was a really bad idea because while good singers are rather easy to come by, good babysitters are worth their weight in gold.

In spite of this advice, they went ahead anyway. The song was The Loco-Motion, and Eva recorded it under the name LITTLE EVA.

The song was later also recorded by Kylie Minogue, but Eva’s version is far superior to Kylie’s. Sorry Kylie.

♫ Little Eva - The Loco-Motion

Even when this next song was around, I thought that it was a bit creepy. After all these years I haven’t changed my opinion. You may be surprised to learn that the singer is STEVE LAWRENCE.

Yes, he of Steve and Eydie fame. The song is Go Away Little Girl which sounds pretty good until you listen to the words. It was first recorded by Bobby Vee, which would make it slightly less creepy. Donny Osmond had a go at it later too. He’d have been about the right age.

♫ Steve Lawrence - Go Away Little Girl

Perhaps the song of which Carole and Gerry are most proud is (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. That’s almost certainly because ARETHA FRANKLIN recorded it.

Aretha nailed it and turned it into one of the finest records of the twentieth century. Nothing more needs to be said, here it is.

♫ Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

THE MONKEES don’t get any respect from critics of popular music.

We know they were created by nefarious TV executives to cash in on the success of The Beatles. However, at least three of them were good musicians before they came together. They grew in that role to become quite a decent band in their own right.

Before that happened, they were given songs to perform from established song writers. One of those from our couple is Pleasant Valley Sunday.

♫ Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday

I imagine that pretty much everyone reading this knows that CAROLE KING herself recorded an album called “Tapestry”.

This was hugely successful, one of the biggest selling albums of all time. Possibly as a result of that, she went on to have a career as a singer/songwriter (she and Gerry were divorced by then). However, before that, way back in 1962, she recorded a song that became a big hit for her.

Again, Bobby Vee first recorded it, and the record company was a bit dubious about releasing Carole’s version as she only recorded it as a demo for other artists. Don Kirshner (later producer of The Monkees) really liked it and had it released. The song is It Might As Well Rain Until September.

♫ Carole King - It Might As Well Rain Until September

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Here is some more interesting and entertaining music.

MARIE JAËLL was born Marie Trautmann in Alsace and learned the piano when she was six.

She was only ten when she was admitted to the Paris Conservatory and within months she won first prize for piano. At 20 she married Alfred Jaëll, once a pupil of Chopin, and they performed together throughout Europe and Russia.

Marie also started writing music and getting it published. Her compositions weren’t just for piano, but covered the full range of music. An example of this is the third movement of her Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in F Major.

♫ Jaëll - Concerto for cello and orchestra in F Major (3)

I’m not a fan of FRANZ LISZT’s rather bombastic compositions, which seems to be most of them as far as I’m concerned.

Check that picture, talk about the original rock star. Getting back to what I was saying, every now and then he came up with a beautiful, lyric piece and I have one of those today. It is Au lac de Wallenstadt (At Wallenstadt Lake). The pianist is Lazar Berman.

♫ Liszt - Au lac de Wallenstadt

NICOLÒ CORRADINI was an Italian composer of the early Baroque era.

Not a great deal is known about him except that he was the organist of the Cremona Cathedral. He later became a Kapellmeister to a local noble who liked to put on music around town.

Nic wrote music suited to the times, mostly religious. What we have today is a motet called Spargite flores. It’s performed by BRUCE DICKEY, who plays the cornetto, which I know of as an ice cream, but in this context is an instrument totally unrelated to the modern cornet, as you’ll see below. Along for the ride is the soprano HANA BLAŽÍKOVÁ.

Corradini - Spargite flores

FRIEDRICH KALKBRENNER was born in a carriage traveling between Kassel and Berlin and because of that it caused all sorts of problems registering his birth.

But born he was. In spite of being German, he attended the Paris Conservatoire, and spent the rest of his life in France, mostly in Paris (well, who wouldn’t?) Although living mostly in the nineteenth century, he thought of himself as a throwback to the days of Haydn and Mozart, and he composed in the classical style, rather than the rather bombastic (to my ears) romantic that was the vogue at the time.

Besides being a composer, he was a teacher of piano and he made them as well. Getting back to his compositions, here is the third movement of the Piano Sextet in G major, Op. 58.

Kalkbrenner - Piano Sextet in G major Op. 58 (3)

IGNAZIO ALBERTINI lived in the middle of the seventeenth century. Iggy doesn’t seem to have stood still long enough to have his photo taken.

As far as we know he was born in Milan but the first real mention of him was in Vienna. It was in this city that he spent the rest of his life, all 41 years of it, as he was murdered in suspicious circumstances (stabbed by persons unknown).

All that’s known of his music is a collection of twelve sonatas for violin. This is one of them, his Sonata for Violin & Bass continuo in F major.

♫ Albertini - Sonata for violin & bass continuo

FLORENCE PRICE was born Florence Smith in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887.

She was taught piano at a very young age and gave her first performance when she was only four and was publishing music when she was eleven. She was head of the music department at an Atlanta university where she married Thomas Price and they moved back to Little Rock.

After a number of nasty racial incidents in that city they decided to move to Chicago. After her divorce from Tom, Florence made ends meet by playing for silent films. She later won (monetary) prizes for some of her compositions, which helped a bit.

Florence was the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra. A lot of her compositions were thought lost, but a large number have been found in an abandoned house in Illinois. One of those is Tropical Moon, from a series called “Dances in the Canebrakes.”

♫ Florence Price - Dances in the Canebrakes II. Tropical noon

Very little is known about NICOLA FIORENZA, who was from Naples.

He was a cellist in the Neapolitan Royal Chapel Orchestra. Later he was up for a job as the head of the string section at the local conservatory. There were four in the running and they drew lots. Nic won.

It seems that he wasn’t the best teacher around – he used to beat his students and otherwise mistreat them – so he was eventually fired from that position. Only about 30 of his compositions are known to exist. One of those is his Cello Concerto in B-flat major. This is the second movement.

♫ Fiorenza - Cello Concerto in B-flat major (2)

GEORGES BIZET is best known for his operas (Pearl Fishers, Carmen and so on).

However, that’s not all he wrote – there were symphonies, many compositions for piano, vocal works and so on. Here is the third movement of his Symphony in C. I must admit that it does sound as if it wouldn’t be out of place in an opera.

♫ Bizet - Symphony In C (3)

CHRISTOPH GLUCK was a German composer who specialized in French and Italian operas.

Chris spent some time at university in Prague, but for a while after that he seemed to have vanished until he popped up in Vienna some years later. He traveled quite extensively: Italy, London, back to Prague and Paris.

He made radical changes to the prevalent opera style of the time – sort of left over from its Baroque origins – and turned it into the now familiar style. He spent some considerable time in Paris, but spat the dummy and returned to Vienna, where he remained for the rest of his life, when one of his operas received a poor reception.

From his most famous opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, from Act 3 we have Orfeo singing “Che farò senza Euridice.” This is performed by countertenor PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY.

♫ Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice Wq. 30 Act 3 Che farò senza Euridice (Philippe Jaroussky)

JOSEPH EYBLER was born in Schwechat, which is near Vienna.

His dad was in the music biz and the family was good friends with the Haydn family, indeed they were distantly related. It was through Joseph Haydn that he was introduced to Mozart, another of Haydn’s friends.

They got along famously, such that he was (eventually) asked by Mozart’s widow to complete Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. He thought that task was beyond him, but he did conduct that work (finished by Franz Sussmayr) some years later.

Alas, he suffered a stroke while he was doing that, but lived for another 13 years. He wrote about 250 works, one of which is the Clarinet Concerto in B-flat major, this is the third movement.

Eybler - Clarinet Concerto in B-flat major (3)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

After The Beatles, The Kinks were probably the most important British band from the sixties. Like the Fab Four, they vastly expanded the topics about which pop and rock song could be written.

They were formed by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in Muswell Hill, North London. Ray was the songwriter, singer and rhythm guitarist and Dave played lead guitar and sang backup.

They were completely different personalities: Ray was a quiet intellectual who preferred the home life, and Dave was the quintessential sixties, rock-star party animal. What could possibly go wrong?

They were joined by Pete Quaiffe, a school friend of Dave’s on bass, and Mick Avory on drums. They were a volatile mix, especially the brothers, often arguing and fighting – even on stage. Pete has said that performing with the brothers was like being on stage with Jimi Hendrix on one side and Noel Coward on the other.

Ray and Dave were constants throughout with changes in the other members from time to time. They later added a regular keyboard player.

The Kinks burst on the scene with a song that contained snarling vocals and snarling, dirty, distorted guitar achieved by slashing the speaker cones with a razor blade. This one made all the other bands at the time sit up and take notice. Its influence on punk, grunge music, heavy metal and garage bands of all sorts is incalculable. That song is You Really Got Me.

♫ You Really Got Me

After three or four top 5 hits in the original style, the Kinks completely changed direction in their music. This is because of Ray’s song writing ability. The songs became more observational, many of them mini-short stories in song form. Some biting or sarcastic, some affectionate, others merely reflections. One rather pointed song is Dedicated Follower of Fashion.

♫ Dedicated Follower Of Fashion

Ray has said that he was really depressed when he wrote Sunny Afternoon, on the surface a quite happy song. Not so if you listen to the words.

It gave the impression that the group was really rich and they were complaining about trivial things. The reality was quite different as, along with a lot of performers of the time, their managers ripped them off so they saw virtually nothing of what they had earned.

♫ Sunny Afternoon

Ray’s songs aren’t nostalgia exactly, more a celebration of times gone by and things that are lost to the modern world. Picture Book really is a photo album, but I imagine that the title scans better in a song.

♫ The Kinks - Picture Book

The Kinks came up with a couple of what would later be called “rock operas” some time before The Who did the same thing. One of these is called “Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)”, which is rather self explanatory about its subject.

From that is the song, and a reasonable hit for them, Victoria. This one really rocks out, in spite of its subject.

♫ Victoria

Sorry about going back to the beginning for those who aren’t really into heavy rock and roll, but here’s their second hit, All Day and All of the Night. I can see an influence for the Oz rock band The Easybeats in this song.

♫ All Day And All Of the Night

It’s pretty amazing that the band that had a huge influence on punk and grunge music also produced indubitably the most beautiful song from the sixties. Certainly the most beautiful by a rock group anyway. That song is Waterloo Sunset.

There’s a long-standing story that Terry and Julie, referenced in the song, are Terence Stamp and Julie Christie who were an item at the time the song was written and recorded. Ray has said repeatedly that this is not so, it’s about his sister (and presumably another Terry).

He and Dave had six older sisters some of whom have made an appearance in other songs, so I’m inclined to believe him.

♫ Waterloo Sunset

This is just a silly throw-away song, but we need some of those now and again. This one is Apeman. I think it was just an excuse for Ray to play his National steel guitar, also used in the final song today.

♫ Apeman

It’s really admirable, astonishing really, that for young men, just in their mid-twenties, to observe that things were changing really quickly and asking are we losing something valuable?

Well, they might notice the first part, but it was unusual for them to reflect upon the second. It’s generally years later that people gain that insight. There was an album (actually more than one) devoted to this concept, and from that we have The Village Green Preservation Society.

♫ The Village Green Preservation Society

Also from “Arthur”, mentioned above, is the song. Australia. You know I couldn’t resist a song with that title. It’s about the Oz government’s campaign to induce British people to emigrate to Australia back in the fifties and sixties. It was rather successful. This one gives Dave a good workout on the guitar.

♫ Australia

Ray wrote Come Dancing as a tribute to his sisters who were all older than he was. They used to go out dancing at the weekends and the music they danced to was from an earlier period – big band and the like. He and Dave absorbed that music as they were growing up by listening to their sisters’ records.

♫ Come Dancing

I’ll end with an example of the idea that songwriters often don’t know the quality of their own songs. This one is probably their biggest seller (okay, that’s not necessarily a guide to quality), and Ray has said, “It’s a nothing song, not really important”.

The song is Lola. It’s based on a real event that happened to their manager at the time. Dave has said that Ray is brilliant at compressing small details into a song and making them come alive. He certainly did on this one.

♫ Kinks - Lola

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

My first column on earworms was really historic in nature – they were songs that have plagued me for some considerable time, more than 50 years in some cases.

Today's column is about new earworms. These are songs that got stuck in my brain while I was searching for music for various columns. The criterion is that they are not songs that hung around for a day or two, all these tormented me for at least a week.

Although they are recent additions, some of these go back quite a ways as well; I was just reminded of them during my searches. As with the previous column, I hope that because there are quite a few of them they'll cancel each other out. I'm not too sanguine about that. So, I've had to suffer all these and now it's your turn.

It’s not simple or dumb songs that fit the criterion. Ondeed, today’s list are made up mostly of good songs, starting with HALL AND OATES.

A couple of their songs could fit in this category, but the one that impacted on me in this regard is Rich Girl.

♫ Hall & Oates - Rich Girl

JERRY ORBACH started his show biz career as a song and dance man. He also played baddies quite a bit on television.

In his earlier incarnation he played the lead in the original staging of the musical play "The Fantasticks", often considered the longest running musical in history.

Jerry sang the musical's most famous song, Try to Remember. This is a gentle earworm I’ve featured before in these columns.

♫ Jerry Orbach - Try to Remember

THE DIXIE CUPS were sitting around the recording studio one day between takes of whichever song they were recording. They began singing a song one of their grandmothers used to sing. The recording engineer let the tape roll and with a bit of tweaking, they had their biggest hit.

That song, and I’m sorry to inflict it on you, is Iko Iko.

♫ The Dixie Cups - Iko Iko

Another female trio from around the same time is THE TOYS.

They had one big hit that impacted on my brain, and it’s this one. It’s based on a minuet by classical composer Christian Petzold (not J.S. Bach as is often contended). The song is A Lover's Concerto.

♫ Toys - A Lover's Concerto

It’s best not to listen too closely to the words of Adam and Eve by BUZZ CASON.

They are problematic on several counts. The song is really jaunty though and I’ve been singing the chorus for about 50 years now, not continuously I hasten to add. I’ll play the song and leave it up to you.

♫ Buzz Cason - Adam & Eve

IAN AND SYLVIA started out as a folk duo and eventually evolved into a full tilt rock band (Great Speckled Bird).

Some time towards the end of that process they recorded an album in Nashville called (surprise, surprise) “Nashville”. It didn’t get very good revues but I really liked it. One of the songs from it is The Renegade. Boy, this one stays with me for a long time whenever I hear it.

♫ Ian & Sylvia - The Renegade

We’ll stay in Canada with GORDON LIGHTFOOT.

There are a number of songs of Gordie’s that remain in my brain, but for some reason this one seems to be the most insidious of his. It’s nowhere near my favorite, but it stays there for weeks at a time. Christian Island.

♫ Gordon Lightfoot - Christian Island

One of the finest bands from Texas, and one who have made a career of performing western swing music, is ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL.

There’s an album of theirs that I really like a lot. It’s called “The Wheel”. All the songs on it are worth a listen, just be prepared for I Can't Handle It Now, because it’ll stay with you for long time.

♫ Asleep at the Wheel - I Can't Handle It Now

It's not only songs that are earwormy, tunes can be as well. In that case I go along singing dah dah dah dah dah dah dah (and so on). In this case I’m talking about a tune from “CAROUSEL”, indeed The Carousel Waltz. This will keep your dah dah dahs going for a long time.

♫ The Carousel Waltz

THE EAGLES sure could write memorable songs.

It’s not too surprising that one of those would appear here today. The one I have in mind is Take It Easy, written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne.

♫ The Eagles - Take It Easy

This one is really historic. I hadn’t heard it for decades when I discovered it for one of my “Years” columns. That proved to be unfortunate as it’s by far the most earwormy song today, at least for me. I haven’t really managed to erase it since then. The song is performed by the FOUR KNIGHTS.

The song is I Get So Lonely. You have been warned.

♫ 4 Knights - I Get So Lonely

THE BEATLES certainly wrote catchy tunes, but only one of theirs makes it to earworm status, for me anyway.

It’s not even a song, more a songlet, and on the “Abbey Road” album it was joined to other songlets, which is what we have today. Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End. I find the Golden Slumbers bit is the earwormy section, although the other bits hold their own as well.

♫ The Beatles - Golden Slumbers (etc)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

BOBBY DARIN changed a lot during his singing career – starting out as a rock & roller, then to a big band singer, a Sinatra wannabe, a jazz singer, a folk singer and blues performer.

I don’t think there are many of us who liked all aspects of his output, but I could be wrong. We’ll see today as that’s what I’m doing, at least to a degree. I prefer his early work.

Bobby’s folks knew him as Walden Robert Cassotto and he was from the Bronx.

Always in rather fragile health, he was motivated to succeed before he turned up his toes which happened at the too young age of 37.

Bobby started as a Brill Building writer, especially for Connie Francis, with whom he was romantically attached until her rather strict father ran him off with a gun. Connie has said that he was the love of her life.

He later married Sandra Dee, no accounting for taste. He also had a songwriting partnership with Don Kirshner, who was later responsible for the formation of The Monkees.

Bobby mentored such diverse talents as Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, Wayne Newton and Jim (later Roger) McGuinn from The Byrds.

BOBBY wrote the song, Splish Splash, as a bet with the disk jockey, Murray the K. The bet was that he couldn’t write a song that began with the words "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath". He not only could, he took it to the top of the charts.

♫ Splish Splash

Beyond the Sea was based on a song called La Mer, written and performed by Charles Trenet. They kept the tune and put English words to it, words that bore no resemblance to the original.

I think La Mer is the superior song, but Beyond the Sea isn’t bad, especially if you don’t have the original around with which to compare it.

♫ Beyond The Sea

The song Multiplication made the charts in 1961. It was from an album called “Twist with Bobby Darin”. Groan.

♫ Multiplication

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but in 1962 Leroy Van Dyke had a hit with the song If a Woman Answers. In that same year, really about the same time, BOBBY had one as well with If a Man Answers. Got everything covered there.

♫ If A Man Answers

Now we’re getting to some quality stuff. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman did a wonderful version of the song Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise. BOBBY’s version is nowhere near as good as that one (nor is anyone else’s), but it’s not too bad.

♫ Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

One of his finest of the fifties’ songs is Dream Lover. It’s a song he wrote himself and was recorded at Atlantic Records, a company that knew how to get the best out of their artists. As a trivial aside, that’s Neil Sedaka playing the piano.

♫ Dream Lover

Bobby’s version of Mack the Knife is based vaguely on Louis Armstrong’s earlier hit. Both bear little resemblance to the original version from Kurt Weill’s “Threepenny Opera”. It doesn’t matter too much as they both earned a tidy amount for themselves.

♫ Mack The Knife

Back to the rather silly songs, this one from the early sixties, although it sounds as if it should be earlier. The song I’m talking about is Things, another he wrote himself. I could have done without the female singers on this one; it would have been better without them but that was the way to do things back then I suppose.

♫ Things

Black Coffee is an old song that he recorded on an album called “This is Darin” in 1960. It sounds as if it came from much later in his career, so I guess he was already thinking of a change of style.

♫ Black Coffee

During his folk period, BOBBY recorded several of Tim Hardin’s songs. Interestingly, the highest charting song Tim had was with a Bobby Darin song, in spite of the many terrific songs he wrote himself.

Anyway, I’m not using the obvious one, instead here is The Lady Came From Baltimore. He sounds rather like Tim on this one.

♫ The Lady Came From Baltimore

As well as Tim, BOBBY took a song from another singer/songwriter, in this case it was John Sebastian. The song is Darling Be Home Soon, which has been covered extensively over the years. It’s a good song on which to end.

♫ Darling Be Home Soon

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

In my general classical columns, I tend to feature lesser known composers who really need to be better known rather than those whose music fills the concert halls all over the world. Today it’s the turn of the big names.

I imagine you know all of these composers, they’re well known because their music is wonderful. Choosing something to include for each will be a tough, but fun, exercise. I’m particularly fond of quartets of various kinds, and several will be featured today.

I’ll start with the most famous composer in history, LUDWIG BEETHOVEN.

There are a lot of his works I could have included, but the one I settled for is the Rondo for Piano and Orchestra. I really like this one.

Ludwig had intended it as the final movement for his Piano Concerto No. 2 but he decided it didn’t fit so he removed it from that composition. It eventually surfaced as a stand-alone piece, the Rondo for piano and orchestra in B flat major.

♫ Beethoven - Rondo for piano and orchestra

Had I been doing this column 50 years ago, certainly one hundred, you’d have all gone “Who?” when I mention ANTONIO VIVALDI.

That’s because most of his works were thought lost but vast amounts of it were rediscovered in the 20th century, and mostly the second half of that.

New (to us) compositions are still being found. If you live in Venice, check your attics, cupboards, trunks and whatnot; elsewhere as well – he moved around a bit. You never know.

Anyway, rather than use one of his instrumental works, I’ll go with some singing. The singer is the terrific CECILIA BARTOLI.

She performs Anch'il mar par che sommerga.

♫ Vivaldi - Anch'il mar par che sommerga

I really like the music of JOSEPH HAYDN.

To my mind he’s up there with the more famous Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. Like them, he was an innovator, inventing the string quartet and (sort of) the symphony. Okay, that had been around before but he expanded it into the major form that we have today.

I’m not going with either of those, though. Today it’s his Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Oboe, Cello and Bassoon Hob I-105, the first movement.

♫ Haydn - Sinfonia Concertante In B-Flat Hob I-105 (1)

The concertos of JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH have been tinkered with over the years; different instruments have been substituted for the original ones. Even Jo himself did that.

I’m going to do the same. Okay, I’m not that clever, I’m going to include a version that has had that treatment. In this case it’s his Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV1060R.

The violin and oboe got the flick and two guitars have taken their place. The guitarists are probably the best around at the moment, SLAVA AND LEONARD GRIGORYAN.

The tinkerer is their father, who also knows a bit about this sort of music. This is the third movement.

♫ Bach - Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor BWV1060R (3)

FELIX MENDELSSOHN always contended that his sister Fanny was a better composer than he was.

That’s a big call, as he was one of the best. The more we hear of Fanny’s work, the more credence can be given to his opinion; however, so far, it’s her brother whose works are performed regularly.

I don’t know if this is one of those regular ones, but I like it. It’s the Piano Quartet No. 1, the fourth movement.

♫ Mendelssohn - Piano Quartet No. 1 C Minor (4)

My first opera composer is GIACOMO PUCCINI, my favorite (along with Mozart) opera composer.

I have changed my mind about what to include half a dozen times. Finally, Norma, the Assistant Musicologist, insisted on the piece of music that I (sorry, we) finally settled on.

It’s not from one of Gia’s best known operas; they were the ones I had originally considered before I was overruled. The opera is “Il Tabarro”, and it’s quite a short opera – it doesn’t even top an hour. Wagner should take note and learn a thing or two.

The singers are Renata Tebaldi and Mario Del Monaco. The duet is È Ben Altro Il Mio Sogno.

♫ Puccini - Il tabarro ~ È Ben Altro Il Mio Sogno

WOLFGANG MOZART was a fine writer of music for the clarinet; probably the best ever.

His clarinet concerto is, in my opinion, the finest piece of music anyone has composed. I’ve used that several times over the years, so I’ll go with something else. The first movement of his Clarinet Quartet, K. 317d in B Flat Major.

♫ Mozart - Clarinet Quartet K. 317d in B Flat Major (1)

Franz Liszt and FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN were the big names in piano music in the 19th century.

I much prefer Fred to Franz as the latter was too bombastic and over the top for my taste. Fred was born in Poland but spent the second half of his life in France. It’s surprising to me that for all that time in France he only gave 30 public performances (unlike Franz who would tinkle the ivories at the drop of a hat).

So, people at the time had to learn about Fred’s music via sheet music. Luckily for us there are lots of pianists who like to play his music. Here is a little bit of it, his Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 1 in B flat minor, a lovely gentle piece.

♫ Chopin - Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 in B flat minor

MR HANDEL was better known to his friends as Georg.

His countryman George of Hanover, who had hightailed to Britain to become George One of that country, invited him over. George made Georg a citizen and then promptly died. His son, George Two, was also a friend and Georg wrote lots of music for him, for which he was paid royally (so to speak).

A lot of that was vocal music, but Georg wrote lots of instrumental stuff as well, including the Trio Sonata No 1 in B Flat Major for two oboes and continuo. This is the third movement.

♫ Handel - Trio Sonata No 1 B flat Major (3)

GIUSEPPE VERDI was a terrific writer of music for choruses and several voices.

Norma, the Assistant Musicologist is particularly fond of these, so I played the contenders for the column and let her pick the one to include. After a bit of to’ing and fro’ing she settled on a piece from Nabucco: Io t´amava! Una furia è quest´ amore.

This is sung by Renata Scotto, Elena Obraztsova and Veriano Luchetti.

♫ Verdi - Nabucco ~ Io t´amava! Una furia è quest´ amore...

I don’t know if FRANZ SCHUBERT lived fast, but he certainly died young – just 31.

There is a lot of music I could have included – symphonies (finished and unfinished), quintets (and other chamber music), songs (or lieder as they are pretentiously called), lots of operas that don’t get performed any more. A lot more I could have added to the list.

In the end I’ve chosen an interesting combination of instruments, his Quartet for Flute, Guitar, Viola and Cello in G Major, D96. The first movement.

♫ Schubert - Quartet for Flute Guitar Viola and Cello in G Major D96 (1)

GUSTAV MAHLER has only been in the repertoire of most orchestras for the last few decades, but what an impact he’s made. Gus is probably the most performed composer at the moment.

His symphonies are long, really long; they make Beethoven’s seem like miniatures. That is, except for number 4, which, maybe coincidentally, is my favorite of his.

Like Beethoven’s ninth, this one has a vocal final movement but unlike Ludwig’s, it’s by a single soprano, not a choir. In the version I have today RENÉE FLEMING is that soprano.

So, here’s that movement of Gus’s Symphony No.4 in G.

♫ Mahler - Symphony No.4 In G (4)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

We’re now getting back before any of us can remember, and I imagine before any readers were born – if I’m wrong on that, please leave a message in the comments. So, I can waffle on and nobody can contradict me. Well, they can, but not from personal experience. So, on with the motley.

JELLY-ROLL MORTON (or Ferdinand LaMothe to his mum and dad) was really up himself (as we say here in Oz).

He claimed to have invented jazz much to the derision of others at the time (and since). He was jazz pianist, band-leader and composer and was the first to publish a jazz composition.

He showed that the essentially improvised music could be notated without losing its verve and spirit. We’ll just glide over that “invented jazz” business and hear what he does with Kansas City Stomps.

♫ Jelly Roll Morton - Kansas City Stomps

CLARA BUTT was an English contralto who specialised in (then) contemporary composers like Elgar and Saint-Saëns.

She also made records of popular music as well as her classical repertoire. One of those is the song Love's Old Sweet Song, these days better known as Just a Song at Twilight.

♫ Clara Butt - Love's Old Sweet Song (1923)

JOHN STEEL was an American tenor who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies several times.

He was a regular performer on Broadway and on the vaudeville circuit. In spite of earning vast amounts of money (for the time), he went broke and finished his life as a singing instructor. He performs one of his hits, Lady of the Evening.

♫ John Steel - Lady of the Evening

Over the years, many people have had a go at the song That Old Gang of Mine. It was written in this year, 1923, by Ray Henderson, Billy Rose and Mort Dixon. Quite a few performers recorded it at the time, but the one I have is by BENNY KRUEGER AND HIS ORCHESTRA.

There is a “vocal refrain” on the record, as was the thing back then. As far as I can tell it’s by Billy Jones and Ernest Hare, but I could be wrong.

♫ Bennie Krueger's Orch. - That Old Gang Of Mine

Any year that has a BESSIE SMITH hit is worth a listen, and so it is for this year.

Bessie was the most popular blues performer of her time, and she’s been a major influence on blues, jazz and rock singers ever since. Her music is still being recorded today. So, back to 1923 and Gulf Coast Blues, her very first record.

♫ Bessie Smith - Gulf Coast Blues

Unlike Jelly-Roll up at the top, KID ORY, or Edward to his mum and dad, may have been the most important person in the early development of jazz.

That’s because he hired King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Johnny Dodds amongst others for his band. Unlike many musicians from that era, he lived a long time, retiring to Hawaii in 1966 and dying in 1973 (he was born in 1886).

This is Ory's Creole Trombone with those musicians mentioned playing along with him.

♫ Kid Ory Louis Armstrong - Ory's Creole Trombone

ETHEL WATERS had a dreadful childhood and early life. I won’t go into it but it’s worth finding out about it, just to see what she had to overcome.

Quite early on she was performing in the same club as Bessie Smith who was the headliner. Bessie refused to allow Ethel to sing blues or jazz, so she (Bessie) wouldn’t be upstaged. So Ethel performed pop songs from the day.

Maybe that set her up to be the versatile performer she became. Here, and ignoring Bessie, Ethel performs Georgia Blues. This has Fletcher Henderson and cornet player Joe Smith accompanying her.

♫ Ethel Waters and Her Jazz Masters - Georgia Blues

BEN BERNIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA were the first to record the song Swinging Down the Lane.

Isham Jones wrote the song and he recorded it as well, but not until a few months later. Ben had quite a good singing voice but this track is an instrumental.

♫ Ben Bernie - Swinging Down The Lane (1923)

I remember Connie Francis singing Who's Sorry Now? That wasn’t in 1923, of course. The song was written in that year and several people recorded it at the time, including MARION HARRIS.

She was one of the first white performers to sing jazz and blues. I have to admit that I can’t hear it in this song. There is a talkie bit in the song which Norma, the Assistant Musicologist, always contends that means it’s a country song. I bow to her insight, but I notice that later recordings eschew this bit.

♫ Marion Harris - Who's Sorry Now

BLOSSOM SEELEY was a vaudeville performer who helped to bring blues and jazz to a wider audience.

For a white performer of the time she’s not bad. She’s no Bessie Smith, but nor is anyone else. She was one of the first to sing many of the songs we think of as classics today, including Way Down Yonder in New Orleans.

♫ Blossom Seeley - Way Down Yonder In New Orleans

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

This was the joke name for a trio consisting of EMMYLOU HARRIS, DOLLY PARTON and LINDA RONSTADT. They recorded some albums together and occasionally performed in various combinations over the years. This column is merely an excuse to hear three of the finest singers of the last 50 years.

EMMY leads off with Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? Of course, as with all the songs today, the others are there in the background (or foreground).

The song was actually written by Dolly, and she has performed it both on one of her albums and another as a duet with Chet Atkins. However, it’s Emmy’s turn today.

♫ Do I Ever Cross Your Mind

Everyone together with Mr. Sandman, a cover of The Chordettes’ hit from the mid-fifties.

The song was written by Pat Ballard and was first recorded by Vaughn Monroe, of all people, before The Chordettes took it to the top of the charts.

♫ Mr. Sandman

LINDA is to the forefront of Lover's Return, an old Carter Family song, written by A. P. Carter.

♫ Lover's Return

LINDA sings a splendid lead on one of Jackson Browne’s finest songs, For a Dancer.

This first came to our notice on Jackson’s fine album “Late for the Sky”, maybe his best. Jackson’s version is hard to beat, but Linda just about equals it.

♫ For a Dancer

The song, I've Had Enough is mostly the trio, with EMMY out front now and then.

It was written by Kate McGarrigle, who was a writer of fabulous songs.

♫ I've Had Enough

Are You Tired Of Me was written by G.P. Cook and Ralph Roland, and first recorded by L.K. Reeder in 1925. Since then it’s been performed by many people including our trio. It’s mostly the three of them, but EMMY is slightly to the fore.

♫ Are You Tired Of Me

I’ve always been ambivalent about Neil Young. I don’t particularly like his singing. When I’m in the mood (not very often) I like his roaring lead guitar. However, he sure can write great songs. This is one of those, After the Gold Rush. DOLLY performs this with some help from the others in the background.

♫ After The Gold Rush

DOLLY again, with the song, He Rode All the Way to Texas.

The song was written by John Starling, and performed by him in his band, The Seldom Scene, a fine, progressive, bluegrass group. Others have recorded it as well, and it’s the trio’s turn today.

♫ He Rode All The Way To Texas

My Dear Companion goes a long way back but is attributed to Jean Ritchie. However, Jean’s sister Edna recorded a version before Jean tackled it. Jean massaged the song, scrubbed it a bit, made the language more poetic and recorded it herself. That’s the version we have today. EMMY sings lead on this one.

♫ My Dear Companion

To Know Him is to Love Him is a song written by Phil Spector, inspired by words on his father's tombstone. It was a huge hit for The Teddy Bears (which included Spector, the only group he was ever in). This is essentially a trio song, with EMMY occasionally singing lead.

There’s some nice guitar work by Albert Lee.

♫ To Know Him Is To Love Him

LINDA takes the lead on this beautiful version of Across the Border, a song written by Bruce Springsteen. This is a superb song, and this is a wonderful version of it.

If you’d like to hear Bruce’s version, it’s on his album “The Ghost of Tom Joad”.

♫ Across the Border

I’ll end with a religious song and that’s rather unusual for me as I’m not religious; indeed, if pushed I would say I was anti-religion, but we won’t go there.

The first three verses have EMMY and DOLLY trading lead vocals and that alone would make it a great song. Then LINDA comes in on the fourth verse and takes the song into the sublime realm, making it one of the finest songs ever recorded.

Surprising, Softly and Tenderly didn’t appear on their official trio albums; it was only when the complete sessions were released that we discovered it. See if you can remain unmoved by this one.

♫ Softly And Tenderly

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

A column about arms – the things attached to our bodies, not the things that armies use.

OTIS REDDING started as a driver for the blues performer Johnny Jenkins.

One day, after Johnny had recorded a couple of songs backed by Booker T and the MGs, there was some time left over. Otis asked if he could try one of his songs.

They let him do that and backed by Booker and crew, he recorded These Arms of Mine. It became a smash hit, the first of many for Otis (but alas, not nearly enough).

♫ Otis Redding - These Arms Of Mine

Like Ray Charles, SOLOMON BURKE liked to mix his musical genres.

Also like Ray, he delved into the country repertoire for songs that he could give a soul treatment to. One of those, and one his most successful songs, is Just out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms).

♫ Solomon Burke - Just out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)

MARK SEYMOUR was the singer, songwriter, guitarist and general chief of the Australian rock group Hunters & Collectors.

One of the songs the group performed back in the eighties was Throw Your Arms Around Me. It wasn’t very successful at the time but since then the song has gained enormous stature, such that’s it’s now considered a classic song.

Quite a few performers have covered it over the years, most notably Paul McDermott from The Doug Anthony Allstars. However, here is Mark with a more recent group of his, The Undertow, with his song.

♫ Mark Seymour - Throw Your Arms Around Me

NICK CAVE recorded Into My Arms during his brief relationship with P.J. Harvey.

It’s one of his rare romantic songs - he’s not noted as a performer of such material - but when he sets his mind to it, as he does here, the results are terrific.

♫ Nick Cave - Into My Arms

Everyone from Elvis to Dobie Gray to Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge has had a hit with the song Loving Arms. The man who wrote it is often forgotten, but not by me. That man is TOM JANS.

Tom made a bit of a name for himself in the seventies as a songwriter of note, and also a performer, both as a solo artist and as a duo with Mimi Fariña, Joan Baez's sister. Unfortunately, he died due to complications after a motor cycle accident. Here’s his version of the song.

♫ Tom Jans - Loving Arms

Iain Sutherland wrote the song Arms of Mary in the Sutherland family farmhouse in England. Iain performed with his brother Gavin as The Sutherland Brothers. The pair got together with the rock group Quiver and they all became known as THE SUTHERLAND BROTHERS & QUIVER.

It was this combination that recorded the song which was a worldwide hit, except in America. Later the Everly Brothers recorded the song and their version is even better, but today we have the original.

♫ Sutherland Brothers & Quiver - Arms Of Mary

I’ve used this song by WILLIE NELSON somewhat recently in a column on Sleep.

However, it’s such a good song, and it fits well here as well, that I’m going to use it again. After all, too much Willie is barely enough. Can I Sleep in Your Arms?

♫ Willie Nelson - Can I Sleep in Your Arms

Music of the last sixties years would be quite different if it weren’t for LES PAUL & MARY FORD.

For a start, Les was the person who developed the Gibson Les Paul guitar, probably the finest electric guitar in the world. He also invented double (and triple and whatever) tracking on recordings. Les was also one of the finest guitarists around and Mary was a fantastic singer. They were decades ahead of their time.

Their song today is Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me.

♫ Les Paul & Mary Ford - Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me

Crazy Arms was written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals (and maybe Paul Gilley). Ray Price was the first to have a hit with the song. Many others have also recorded it with some success. One version that didn’t make the charts, but I quite like, is by LEON REDBONE.

Of course, very little, if anything, that Leon records makes the charts, but what a terrific performer he is. See what you think of his interpretation. Leon died last week on 30 May - no one reporting it in the press seemed to know his real age for certain.

♫ Leon Redbone - Crazy Arms

You may not be very familiar with the duo DILLARD & CLARK.

They might become a little more familiar to you when I say that they are Doug Dillard, from The Dillards – probably the first country rock group, who were also featured often on The Andy Griffith Show – and Gene Clark, a founder member of The Byrds.

The pair made one great record and a second pretty good one, and that’s all she wrote. From the second we have Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms.

♫ Dillard & Clark - Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms

O.V. WRIGHT is one of the best unsung soul singers, so I’m going to sing him today (as it were).

He’s best known for his song That’s How Strong My Love Is, covered by both Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones. Today, however, his song is Since You Left (These Arms of Mine).

♫ O.V. Wright - Since You Left (These Arms Of Mine)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Well, it’s 1955 and I’m in grade 5. It was one of the better years (musically) before I hit high school.

In the middle of their successful period THE CHARMS split into two.

One group, who thought they could do without their lead singer, kept the name The Charms. The other, led by that singer, called themselves Otis Williams and The Charms. Otis is not the singer with the same name who later performed with The Temptations.

The song, That's Your Mistake, is performed by the Otis version of the group.

The Charms - That's Your Mistake

BILL HALEY was the first of the white singers to bring rock & roll to a wider audience.

He deserves a place in the musical hall of fame for his best known song, but he had many more hits. One of those is Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie.

♫ Bill Haley - Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie

Bill Haley may have performed rock and roll before him, but ELVIS brought sex appeal to the music. Boy, did he ever.

Elvis was just on the verge of hitting it big in 1955. He was still recording at Sun Studios (some say that’s where he made his best music; I refuse to comment on that).

One of the songs from the time is I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone, with Scotty Moore and Bill Black backing him.

♫ Elvis - I'm Left You're Right She's Gone

I'm rather surprised I didn't use this song on the previous two occasions I featured 1955. It's good in a way as I can include it now. I'm talking about FRANKIE LYMON AND THE TEENAGERS' biggest hit, Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

It seems that a neighbour gave the group some love letters sent to him by his girlfriend (you have to wonder why he’d do that). The Teenagers read those missives and turned them into the song. The title was apparently common in the letters.

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love

The songs that ETTA JAMES recorded around this time were covered by quite a few people, most notably Georgia Gibbs.

Etta’s song today was originally called The Wallflower. It’s probably better known as Roll With Me Henry. Georgia’s cleaned-up version was known as Dance With Me Henry. Let’s listen to the original, as it’s much better.

Etta James - The Wallflower (a-k-a Roll With Me Henry)

GENE & EUNICE were Gene Forrest and Eunice Levy.

They were touted as Los Angeles’s answer to Shirley and Lee (from New Orleans). Some catty commentators suggested that the difference was that Eunice could actually sing in tune (ouch).

They were more lyrical and lighter than S&L, and that probably appealed more to younger teens at the time. One of their hits is This is My Story.

♫ Gene & Eunice - This Is My Story

RUTH BROWN had a bunch of hits in the fifties.

Most of them are worthy of inclusion in any of these columns. As this is 1955 we have to go with one of those from this year. The one I’ve chosen is As Long As I'm Moving.

♫ Ruth Brown - As Long As I'm Moving

BOYD BENNETT was a rockabilly singer who performed with his band The Rockets (or His Rockets, as they were usually known).

He had a huge hit this year called Seventeen, a song he wrote himself. Because it was so successful, others covered it and several versions made the charts.

I’m sure many other countries had people recording the song at the time – I know here in Australia the song was covered as well. However, here’s Boyd’s original.

♫ Boyd Bennett and his Rockets - Seventeen

THE JACKS were really another group called The Cadets.

It seems that the group recorded the song Why Don't You Write Me? and they wanted to release it immediately. Unfortunately (well, really fortunately, I’d imagine), they already had a song on the charts at the time and the record company didn’t want another one by the same group to interfere with the sales of the first one, so they released it under the name The Jacks. It was also a success.

♫ Jacks - Why Don't You Write Me

BIG JOE TURNER was a blues performer, but he had a huge influence on the development of rock & roll.

Everyone was listening to Joe by this stage, and both Bill Haley and Elvis recorded this song, Flip Flop and Fly (as well as other songs of his). An appropriate way to end the year.

♫ Big Joe Turner - Flip Flop and Fly

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

I like to walk along the beachfront on days when I’m not otherwise occupied. This is easy to do as I live not far away. Whenever I’m alone on the walk, I usually have my Sony Walkman along for entertainment, and before people make cracks about living in the seventies, cassettes and whatnot, the current model plays digital files.

As I’ve been doing this for 10 years (I’ve upgraded the Walkman a couple of times) I’ve listened to a range of things – serious talks, audio books, music, podcasts and whatever has caught my fancy.

A recent discovery, although it’s been around for a couple of years, is a podcast called “Compleatly Beatles” (that’s the way they spell it) where a couple of Canadians discuss all the Beatles’ albums, one per podcast.

Each song is discussed and occasionally they say something like “That one wouldn’t make my top five Beatles songs, or top 10 or top 50”. That got me thinking along the lines of which are my top ten Beatles songs?

So, here they are in no particular order. Now, before we have the usual, “What about...?”, remember these are my selections. No doubt yours are different.

Many people put the song, Things We Said Today down near the bottom of their lists. Even Paul, who wrote it, is believed to be embarrassed by it. Quite obviously, I disagree as it’s in the list. It’s from “A Hard Day’s Night”.

♫ Things We Said Today

Eleanor Rigby sounds so integrated that you’d expect that it was written by a single person, but all four of them had a hand in writing it. Maybe that’s the reason.

Paul started it and brought it into the studio where they all finished it off. It’s from the album “Revolver”. Paul said that Eleanor was named after Eleanor Bron who was in the film Help! with them. Rigby is from a wine store he noticed one day and Father McKenzie came from the phone book (well, the McKenzie part).

None of The Beatles played an instrument on the recording.

♫ Eleanor Rigby

We Can Work It Out was released as a double-A side single. That’s because Paul wrote (most of) it and he, George and Ringo thought it should be the A-side. John had written, and they had recorded, Day Tripper and he thought that should be the A. So, they compromised.

Paul wrote about his long term, but now deteriorating, relationship with Jane Asher. I think Jane should get some royalties, not just for this one, but she inspired several of Paul’s finest songs.

♫ We Can Work It Out

For No One is another song Paul wrote about Jane. It’s a great song, but a heartbreaking one. They often make the best songs.

Paul played all of the instruments except for the French horn that George Martin thought would add to it. He was right. The song is from “Revolver”.

♫ For No One

It’s best not to listen too closely to the words of Baby’s in Black because if you do, you can go down a couple of different rabbit holes of interpretation. Just listen on the surface is my advice, but even that’s a bit problematic as I’ve found the song to be a real earworm.

It’s from the album “Beatles for Sale”.

♫ Baby's In Black

When Bob Dylan recorded the song Fourth Time Around for his “Blonde on Blonde” album, Al Kooper, who played on the song, suggested that John (Lennon) might sue Bob as it’s an obvious pinch of Norwegian Wood.

Bob said that he wouldn’t as he had played the song for John before Norwegian Wood was even thought of. So, it’s a matter of Bob pinching from John or vice versa. The upshot is that John didn’t sue, or even threaten to. The song appeared on “Rubber Soul”.

♫ Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Many people think that The Ballad of John and Yoko is a John Lennon solo effort. It’s not, it was attributed to The Beatles and sold really well (okay, everything they did sold really well).

It wasn’t on any of their albums though, it came out as a single. It was The Beatles’ final number one single. Only John and Paul played on the record.

I was surprised that Paul played bass as it’s a rather perfunctory effort from probably the best bass player in rock and roll. He also played piano and drums.

♫ The Ballad of John and Yoko

The song And I Love Her is another of Paul’s about Jane. This is from early in their relationship so things are going well at this stage. Because of this, Paul is under represented on the album “A Hard Day’s Night”; John wrote most of the songs for that album.

♫ And I Love Her

After recording the album “Let It Be”, no one particularly liked the way it sounded. Several people had a go at remastering it without any success. Finally, John took it along to Phil Spector to see what he could do.

Spector added heavenly choirs, orchestral overdubs and all sorts of bells and whistles. No one was satisfied with that but it was released that way as everyone was sick and tired of the whole thing.

About 15 years ago, Paul got the original tapes and remastered the songs stripped back to the way the album was originally intended to be heard. It was released as “Let It Be (Naked)”, and I think it’s much more interesting than the original.

From that version of the album here is Let It Be, as it should be.

♫ Let It Be

Paul wrote the song I’ve Just Seen a Face, and it really moves along at a decent clip. The Dillards recorded the song as well on their album “Wheatstraw Suite”, and it’s a rare instance of a cover being better than the original.

However, today is Beatles day. Paul also wrote the next song on the album (“Help!”), but we don’t have that one today (or yesterday either).

♫ I've Just Seen A Face

If I were ranking the songs, the next one would have to be put at the very top of the heap. It’s amazing that the song In My Life was written by men in their twenties. It was mostly John’s song, with a little help from Paul.

It certainly gave the album “Rubber Soul” added gravitas.

♫ In My Life

On the subject of life, the next (and last) song probably had to be present. If I left it out it’d be like omitting Like a Rolling Stone from a Bob Dylan selection.

From “Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, here is A Day in the Life, an appropriate note on which to finish as it concluded that album in fine style.

♫ A Day In The Life

Okay, the “top ten” blew out a bit, but I imagine that’d be the same for everyone.

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

More stuff that has caught my ears in recent times.

GUSTAV HOLST is mainly known these days, probably only known, for The Planets.

I’ve never been a fan of that suite, but he wrote other stuff that’s more to my liking. One of those is rather amusingly called A Fugal Concerto, for flute, oboe & string orchestra, Op. 40-2, H. 152. Here is the first movement.

♫ Holst - A Fugal Concerto for flute oboe & string orchestra Op. 40-2 H. 152 (1)

ARCANGELO CORELLI was a major figure in Baroque music, much admired by Handel and Bach.

He did more than anyone to develop the sonata and concerto forms of music we know today. As was the custom then, others were not above pinching tunes from their contemporaries, and if you listen closely to his Fugue for Four Voices (although no one’s actually singing) you’ll see where Handel got his Hallelujah Chorus.

Bach appropriated this tune as well. Check the original called Fuga a Quattro voci, played by the New Dutch Academy.

♫ Corelli - Fuga a Quattro voci

Coming right up to date, indeed to the present day, we have someone who’s younger than most of us who are reading this: LUDOVICO EINAUDI.

Ludo is an Italian composer, noted mostly for film and TV scores, but he composes “serious” works as well. He’s often lumped into the “minimalist” movement just because people like to label things, but he’s much more than that.

Here he plays his composition Bella Notte (beautiful night).

Ludovico Einaudi - Bella Notte

J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion is one of the most famous, and loved, pieces of music of all time. However, old Johann wasn’t the only one who used this topic. Indeed, he wasn’t even the first.

Before him (and I can’t say if he was the first, I imagine that he wasn’t) was RICHARD DAVY. Old Rich didn’t stand still long enough to have his photo taken. He was an English composer in the 15th century and his works were compiled in the Eton Choirbook (along with others from the time).

The book is a collection of motets and magnificats devoted to the cult of Mary, a tradition that was pretty much obliterated by the Reformation. Fortunately, his music survived.

This is the eleventh and final movement, “Ah Gentle Jesu”, of his St Matthew Passion.

♫ Davy - Ah Gentle Jesu

ANTON WRANITZKY (or Antonin Vranicky) was a Czech composer and violinist.

He followed his big brother Paul to Vienna, where he became a pupil of both Mozart and Haydn - talk about learning from the best. He later became friends with Beethoven – now there’s an accomplishment.

He was well regarded in his day for his compositions, particularly his violin concertos, one of which we have today. The third movement of his Violin Concerto in C Major. Op. 11.

♫ Wranitzky A - Violin Concerto in C Major. Op. 11 (3)

DOMINENICO ZIPOLI was an Italian Baroque composer.

Somehow or other he got to Spain where he joined the Jesuits as he wanted to go to South America to teach the indigenous peoples about music (and God and stuff, I suppose).

He did just that ending up in what’s now Argentina, where he served as musical director at one of the churches. Alas, some sort of disease struck him down; details of his life are a bit sketchy.

He wrote a bunch of really nice Suites and Partitas, presumably for the harpsichord, but today played on a piano: Suite No. 1 in B Minor, the fourth movement.

♫ Zipoli - Suite No. 1 in B Minor (4)

I always like to include a string quartet in these columns, but this one is a little different. Instead of the usual line up of instruments, two violins, a viola and a cello, everyone took a step to the right and took up two violas, a cello and a double bass.

I really like the way this sounds. The person responsible for this was GEORG WAGENSEIL.

Although virtually unknown these days, Georg was quite famous in his day – both Haydn and Mozart took note of what he was doing. What he was doing this day was writing what he called the Sonata VI in G, the second movement. Really, it’s a string quartet before the term had been invented.

♫ Wagenseil - Sonata VI in G (2)

I used not to like GIOACHINO ROSSINI very much but my radio station kept playing him over the years and I gradually became a fan.

He wrote one of the most famous arias in opera, Largo al factotum della citta, from “The Barber of Seville”. I’m sure most of you will recognize it when you hear it. Simon Keenlyside sings it.

♫ Rossini - Largo al factotum della citta

FELIX MENDELSSOHN wrote his “Songs Without Words” for a solo piano, and, of course, no singer was in evidence.

Naturally, through the years people have tinkered with these. In the case today we have a cello (played by Steven Isserlis) join the piano (played by Melvyn Tan). This is the one D Major, Op. 109.

♫ Mendelssohn - Song Without Words for Cello and Piano in D Major Op. 109

LOUIS SPOHR wrote music for the clarinet that was nearly as good as Mozart’s. Nearly, but that means it was very good indeed.

His first concert tour (playing violin) was when he was only 15, and during that he wrote his first violin concerto. Later on he used to play with Beethoven, and complained that Beethoven’s piano was out of tune. Perhaps Ludwig didn’t know (that’s a joke, not a very good one).

Anyway, he wrote a whole bunch of stuff, the usual compositions, including the Clarinet Concerto No.4 in E minor WoO 20. This is the third movement.

♫ Spohr - Clarinet Concerto No.4 in E minor WoO 20 (3)

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

I imagine that just about everyone reading this gained their initial musical knowledge mainly from the radio. That is certainly so for me as, when I was growing up, I lived in a small country town 400 kilometres from the big smoke (actually, in those days, it was 250 miles from the big smoke), so it was from the radio that music emerged and found a safe harbor in my ears.

When we came to the big smoke (Melbourne) I found that radio station 3KZ had probably the best DJ in the world - Stan Rofe. Stan always played the authentic versions of songs; he eschewed the bland cover versions that pretty much everyone else played back then. He was also a great champion of Australian music. Thus I learned from the best. Here are songs about the radio.

For those who remember President Ike, which is probably everyone reading this, here is MARK DINNING.

Not just Ike, but all the references mentioned would be enough for those with a certain type of memory to be able to date the song pretty precisely. It’s the way radio was back then, consisting of Top 40, News, Weather and Sport.

♫ Mark Dinning - Top 40 News Weather And Sport

WARREN ZEVON gives us a bit darker view of things, but then that’s generally what he did.

I imagine that Warren’s song wouldn’t get any airplay these days on certain stations, particularly those that are associated with Fox, only because of its title. His subversive song is called Mohammed's Radio.

♫ Warren Zevon - Mohammed's Radio

JOHN HARTFORD gets uncharacteristically gospelly with his contribution.

He suggests that you Turn Your Radio On. That’s a good idea if you want to listen to it, although these days it might not be such a good idea. Not like in our day. Oh dear, I’m turning into a grumpy old man.

♫ John Hartford - Turn Your Radio On

There’s another way to be turned on as JONI MITCHELL will explain.

I wouldn’t dare suggest that illegal substances were involved in You Turn Me On I'm a Radio. I’ll let you make up your own mind.

♫ Joni Mitchell - You Turn Me On I'm a Radio

Back in 1994 DAVE ALVIN recorded an acoustic album called “King of California”.

This was the first of several albums of his that really demonstrated his songwriting, singing and musical abilities. This one and the several that followed are all worth a listen. Besides, he has one of the finest voices in the alt-country genre.

From the aforementioned album, Dave performs Border Radio.

♫ Dave Alvin - Border Radio

Getting back to when radio was king we find FREDDY CANNON.

Back then, a lot of the time we listened to the radio on transistor radios. Freddy did the same apparently, or at least his sister did as he will recount on Transistor Sister.

♫ Freddy Cannon - Transistor Sister

It seems that JOHN DENVER was the same as most of us in one respect.

That is, he knew the songs but many of the words were a mystery to him. I think that this is pretty universal. He tells us all about it in Late Nite Radio.

♫ John Denver - Late Nite Radio

From the eighties, a decade from which I include very few songs in my columns, we have QUEEN.

They were one of the few bright musical spots from around that time, however, even this song sounds very much of its time – drum machines, synthesizers and so on. I don’t know why they did that as they were all fine musicians. Anyway, this is Radio Ga Ga.

♫ Queen - Radio Ga Ga

DAVID ALLAN COE really knows how to take revenge on the gal what dun ‘im wrong.

Not just that but he will make some money out of the deal as well. I guess if you’re going to break up with someone, earning a bit of loose scratch from the exercise seems like a good thing. Okay, perhaps not. Anyway, David sings I'm Gonna Hurt Her on the Radio.

♫ David Allan Coe - I'm Gonna Hurt Her On The Radio

Turn up your radio, sings VAN MORRISON. Of course, you should have done that by now.

From his superb album “Moondance”, one of the finest ever recorded, we have Caravan. Nothing else needs to be said.

♫ Van Morrison - Caravan

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Do The Reggay is the first song where the word reggay (which later became reggae) made an appearance. It was performed by THE MAYTALS.

The song was written by The Maytals’ main man, Toots Hibbert. He said that he took the term from a scruffy or unkempt person. Wherever he got it, it certainly caught on. Here is that first song that rather lives up to his definition.

♫ The Maytals - Do The Reggay

Back in 1988, SHABBA RANKS (Rexton Gordon) recorded an album called “Rapping with the Girls”. One of those “girls” was KRYSTAL (Cherylle Ramdeen).

One of the songs they performed is Twice My Age. It seemed to me that Krystal listened very carefully to the song Seasons in the Sun, until I found out our song today was written by Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen (and a couple of others).

Jacques wrote the original French version of Seasons (called Le Moribond), and his friend Rod the English lyrics, so I guess they’re allowed to steal from themselves.

♫ Krystal & Shabba Ranks - Twice My Age

Before there was Bob Marley, before Toots Hibbert, even before Jimmy Cliff, DESMOND DEKKER was pretty much alone bringing reggae music to the outside world.

Desmond performs the song 007 (Shanty Town), and of course, the writer Ian Fleming spent much of his life in Jamaica writing the James Bond (and other) books. I suspect he didn’t live in Shanty Town though.

♫ Desmond Dekker - 007 (Shanty Town)

Jamaican musicians originally based their music on American soul and R&B music. It wasn’t the only style of music that they used. ANNETTE (Annette Brissett) listened to American pop songs, quite obviously.

Annette’s song is Lover’s Concerto, which was a big hit for The Toys. The song was based on a minuet by classical composer Christian Petzold (not J.S. Bach as is often contended).

♫ Annette - Lovers Concerto

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS were the biggest selling reggae performers in the sixties and seventies.

By the eighties, Toots (Hibbert) had left and has had a successful solo career. The Maytals had a couple of songs on the soundtrack of the film The Harder They Come, probably the finest soundtrack album of all time. From that they perform The Pressure Drop.

♫ Toots & The Maytals - The Pressure Drop

CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS (John Taylor and Everton Bonner) have evolved from straight reggae performers into a sort of reggae/hip hop act. They had started along on that change on the song Gal Wine, (from their first album together), but weren’t very far advanced on that journey (fortunately).

They both had established careers before they teamed up to become one of the most successful groups in the genre.

♫ Chaka Demus & Pliers - Gal Wine

At last we get to my favorite reggae artist, JIMMY CLIFF.

I mentioned the film The Harder They Come above. Jimmy was the lead actor in that picture as well as contributing songs to the soundtrack album, including Many Rivers to Cross.

♫ Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers To Cross

PETER TOSH (Winston McIntosh) was a founder member of The Wailers, along with Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley. Initially, he was the only one in the group who could play any instruments (guitar and piano, in his case).

He later left The Wailers after a dispute with their record producer (who refused to release one of their albums). Later in his career he hung around with the Rolling Stones and made records with both Keith and Mick.

In 1987, Peter was murdered in a home invasion. From the album “Wanted Dread and Alive,” here is the title song.

♫ Peter Tosh - Wanted Dread and Alive

I guess people would be saying, “Where’s Bob?” if I omitted BOB MARLEY, so here he is.

Although he’d been recording for a while, he didn’t become known in the outside world until Eric Clapton recorded a cover version of his song I Shot the Sheriff. If you’re familiar with Eric’s version, you’ll be even more impressed with Bob’s version, although he is a bit heavy on the wah-wah pedal.

♫ Bob Marley - I Shot the Sheriff

Just because I can, I’ve added a bonus track from JIMMY CLIFF.

Another song from the film is You Can Get It If You Really Want.

♫ Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Sometime in the second half of 1948 I turned three years old so I don’t actually remember any of this music from the time. I’ve since come to appreciate it.

Already by 1948 the seeds of rock & roll were starting to spring forth out of the ground and wave their hands saying, “Here I come, ready or not”. One of those shoots is WYNONIE HARRIS.

Wynonie was known for amusing and risqué songs but he also sang straight blues and rhythm and blues material. One such is Good Rockin' Tonight, written and first performed by Roy Brown. Oh, course it was later famously covered by Elvis.

♫ Wynonie Harris - Good Rockin' Tonight

The other stream of music that contributed to the genesis of rock and roll is country music. One of the purveyors of this style was JIMMY WAKELY.

The song One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart) became a staple in the heartbreak country genre. Incidentally, the female harmony singer is Colleen Summers, who would later become better known as Mary Ford.

♫ Jimmy Wakely - One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)

Getting back to rhythm and blues, AMOS MILBURN was one of its major exponents.

Amos was a singer and pianist and he was a major influence on Fats Domino. He wrote and recorded the song Chicken Shack Boogie, which was originally the B-side of the record but outsold the putative A-side.

♫ Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack Boogie

Continuing the flip flopping between R&B and country, we have the biggest name in country music, HANK WILLIAMS.

For someone who was so influential, it’s instructive to note that he had only two songs that made the main charts (as distinct from the country ones) in his lifetime and none that got anywhere near the top.

I could draw a parallel with Vincent Van Gogh, but that would be crass. This song didn’t even hit the top of the country charts (although his son’s version did), Honky Tonkin’.

♫ Hank Williams - Honky Tonkin

BOB HOPE is neither R&B nor country.

However, his song is from a western film he made, one of his more famous – “The Paleface” with Jane Russell. Bob laments that he should have stayed in the city, rather than traveling west in the song Buttons and Bows.

♫ Bob Hope - Buttons and Bows

DooWop music was starting to make an impression on the charts by now, especially thanks to one of the earliest and longest lived group THE ORIOLES.

This was due in no small part due to their having one of the finest lead singers in the genre, Sonny Til. It's Too Soon To Know was their first song to make the charts, peaking at the very top. It was covered by many other artists, including Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington.

♫ The Orioles - It's Too Soon To Know

Cajun music rarely makes the charts, at least not without being watered down somewhat. One performer who made it without dilution is IRY LEJEUNE.

Iry brought the accordion back into Cajun where it’s been prominent ever since. For a couple of decades before that, the music mostly leant in the direction of western swing. Iry was killed at the age of 26 by a hit and run driver while he was changing a flat tyre on his car. He performs Evangeline Special.

♫ Iry LeJeune - Evangeline Special

Around this time EDDY ARNOLD had many songs on the charts; several that went to the top.

He was managed by someone you may have heard of, “Colonel” Tom Parker. Old Tom might have had something to do with his success, but I’d like to put it down to Eddy’s talent (rather like Tom’s more famous acolyte).

Anyway, Eddy’s song in 1948 (or one of them) is Bouquet of Roses, a tear jerker if ever there was one.

♫ Eddy Arnold - Bouquet Of Roses

There are songs that were fine at the time, but aren’t particularly P.C. these days. This is one of them. The singer is PEGGY LEE.

I won’t say another word and just let you listen to Peggy singing Mañana.

♫ Peggy Lee - Manana

JOHN LEE HOOKER was definitely the real thing.

He’s also quite unlike anyone else featured here today. His songs were often built around a single note and he relied on his singing and the lead guitarist to supply color and movement. So it is today on one his most famous early songs, Crawlin' Kingsnake.

♫ John Lee Hooker - Crawlin' Kingsnake

For a complete change of pace, here is BUDDY CLARK.

Buddy had a short but successful career after the war until he was killed in a plane crash in 1949. His wasn’t the first version of Ballerina to make the charts, or even the most successful, but it was very popular in its day.

♫ Buddy Clark - Ballerina

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

TAJ MAHAL was born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, and that’s such a splendid name I don’t think he should have changed it.

Unlike many blues musicians, he wasn’t from the south, he was born in New York and grew up in Massachusetts. Both his parents were musicians so it was almost certain that that would be his calling.

Taj was classical trained on piano but was also proficient on clarinet and trombone. However, it was the guitar and pretty much every other stringed instrument that became his preferred choice.

Besides being one of the foremost performers of both traditional and electric blues, Taj also likes to include elements of music from around the world, particularly from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Early in his career, indeed his third solo album, TAJ released a double album called “Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home”. The Giant Step part was modern electric blues, and the Ole Folks part was early traditional blues, even some songs that predated the blues. I’ll start with one of the early songs, Annie's Lover.

♫ Annie's Lover

From the other record, here is its namesake Take a Giant Step, not as raucous as some in his repertoire.

♫ Take a Giant Step

Continuing on the theme of electric blues, TAJ was a guest on a concert by MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD.

This was recorded and released as the album “Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore West”. Here is Taj singing (and playing harmonica) with the unmistakeable sound of Michael’s electric guitar. The song is One More Mile to Go.

♫ One More Mile To Go

Returning to the “Ole Folks” TAJ performs a song called Fishin' Blues. Around the time of its release the song was rather popular with performers who liked to sing roots music. Few did it better than Taj.

♫ Fishin' Blues

As I mentioned in the introduction, TAJ likes music from all over the world. He seems to be taken by the music from Hawaii where he’s lived for some years. One of his albums that surveyed that topic is “Sacred Island”, and from that we have No Na Mamo, with the assistance of The Hula Blues Band.

♫ No Na Mamo

Getting back to nearly the beginning, to TAJ’s second album we have She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride. This song was one that featured in “The Blues Brothers” film, where they did a decent version. Not as good as the original though.

♫ She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride

Taj got together with David Hidalgo from Los Lobos, along with the group LOS CENZONTLES (The Mockingbirds) for the record “American Horizon”.

The record had many styles of music, often in the same song as will be demonstrated here in Solo Quiero Bailar.

♫ Solo Quiero Bailar

Not neglecting his blues roots, TAJ performs Further on Down the Road, a song he’s recorded a couple of times. Not just him, pretty much every blues performer has had a go at this one.

♫ Further On Down The Road

And so back to Hawaii, we have The New Hula Blues. This really is an Hawaiian blues amalgam.

♫ The New Hula Blues

Delving into the music of Africa, TAJ gathered a number of famous performers to record the album “Maestro”. One of those is ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO, with whom he wrote and sang the song Zanzibar.

There’s some lovely African style guitar on this one.

♫ Zanzibar

Just because I can, I’ve included a couple of bonus tracks. These revert back to late rhythm and blues, or early rock and roll. Both are from his successful album “Phantom Blues”. The first is What Am I Living For written by the great Chuck Willis.

♫ What Am I Living For

The second is Let the Four Winds Blow, written by Roy Brown and made hugely successful by Fats Domino.

♫ Let the Four Winds Blow

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

Ronni said a little while ago that she probably didn’t expect to see this day, but I’m glad she has – and I know that everyone reading this will agree with me.

I selected some birthday music, none of which I imagine that she’d have chosen herself. That’s the fun of doing these columns.

The songs today are predominantly from the fifties, the only reason for that is that I’ve used most of the others in previous columns. A number of the songs are so sad you can’t help but laugh; a good thing to do on your birthday, a better thing to do than what I did on my last birthday, but we won’t go into that.

I’ll start with an exception to my opening statement, indeed here is a moment of couth from JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, J.S.’s youngest son, generally called the London Bach because that’s where he lived for the last couple of decades of his life.

Like his father, J.C. wrote some cantatas; that wasn’t his main gig as it was for his dad. This one is Cantata a tre voci (Birthday cantata). This is the first movement.

♫ Bach JC - Cantata a tre voci (Birthday cantata) (1)

That’s out of the way, let’s get down to the rubbish, starting with THE FLEETWOODS.

Okay, The Fleetwoods are really pretty good, so ignore my previous statement. I also noticed that if you really listen carefully to the words, the song sounds a lot more R rated than is usually the case in songs from the fifties.

Maybe it’s just me. They sing It's Your Birthday.

♫ The Fleetwoods - It's Your Birthday

THE FOUR KNIGHTS formed all the way back in 1943 and continued with the same line up until the late fifties when the lead singer had to drop out due to his worsening epilepsy.

They had several hits in the fifties and appeared regularly on Red Skelton’s TV program. They seem really happy to sing Happy Birthday, Baby, a song closer to the forties than the fifties.

♫ 4 Knights - Happy Birthday Baby

Unlike all the other songs today, where the performer wishes someone else a happy birthday, it’s the singer’s birthday instead. That singer is HANK LOCKLIN.

He bought his present and sang happy birthday to himself because his sweetie seems to be otherwise occupied. She didn’t even bother sending him a card. Hank sings Happy Birthday to Me.

♫ Hank Locklin - Happy Birthday To Me

While I was searching for songs, I noticed that whenever an age was mentioned in a song, 16 was far and away the most common. So it is with the next song by THE CRESTS.

They sing, “You’re only sixteen, but you’re my teenage queen” which sounds a bit creepy these days. Let’s hope Mr Crest is himself only 16 or 17. Anyway, now I’ve had my jaundiced look at the song (and you’d agree with me if you ever hear Jerry Lee Lewis’s version), you can listen to 16 Candles.

♫ Crests - 16 Candles

Here’s a brief sojourn into the sixties with the most famous group from that decade, THE BEATLES.

From the album called “The Beatles”, and if you’re scratching your head over that one, it’s universally known as “The White Album”, we have Birthday.

♫ Beatles - Birthday

I have to admit that the PIXIES THREE are unknown to me.

To judge from the song they seem to be having a good time, unlike several others today. It seems that they’re having a Birthday Party.

♫ Pixies Three - Birthday Party

JOHN HARTFORD has some interesting advice for what you should wear on your birthday.

Of course, if you think about it for a minute or two you could probably figure where I’m going. I imagine there’d be few of my readers who’d be willing to go along with John. He sings I Shoulda Wore My Birthday Suit.

♫ John Hartford - I Shoulda Wore My Birthday Suit

You can tell from the introduction to the song that things aren’t going to turn out well for THE TUNE WEAVERS.

They want to wish their baby a happy birthday. Alas, said baby is with someone else. Oh dear, I imagine a lot of us went through this as teenagers. Anyway, Happy Happy Birthday Baby.

♫ The Tune Weavers - Happy Happy Birthday Baby

Okay Ronni, do you want to change your name to Cindy for two and a half minutes. That’s so JOHNNY CRAWFORD can serenade you.

Johnny almost certainly got a recording career because of his acting in the TV show The Rifleman. He was guaranteed name recognition. After much coaching and singing lessons, it paid off with several hits, the biggest of which is Cindy's Birthday.

♫ Johnny Crawford - Cindy's Birthday

I’ll end as I began, with another moment of couth. This time it’s MR HANDEL.

Georg knew on which side his bread was buttered – he wrote music for all sorts of royal occasions. Due to that, he became extremely rich. He wrote an ode to Queen Anne who was the queen of Great Britain after the deaths of Williamandmary (they always seemed to be mentioned that way, as if it’s one word).

What Georg wrote is Eternal Source of Light Divine (Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, HWV 74). Here we have some trumpet playing by WYNTON MARSALIS and some singing by KATHLEEN BATTLE.

♫ Handel - Eternal Source of Light Divine (Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne HWV 74)

Happy birthday, Ronni and I look forward to doing this next year. I hope I can find some better songs.