Songs about art ?

Subject: Songs about art ?
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:02 PM

I don't think I've ever seen this request on Mudcat before: I am going to be performing at an arts festival and would like to do a few songs about art/artists/sculpture and/or creativity.

I am pretty Catholic in my tastes (if not my church) and would be happy with traditional tunes, singer -songwriter songs, even an acoustic version of a well known radio or show tune hit. (It would be ideal if it's on YouTube if it's not well known, so I can research it, but ALL replies are welcome.)

Any suggestions Mudcatter mavens? yours is the ONLY place I can turn to. All I can think of so far is Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" & Don McClean' "Vincent", tho it is a bit of a downer.

Thanks in advance.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PAINTER (from Chris de Burgh)
From: Def Shepard
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:08 PM

There's this cautionary tale from Chris de Burgh

The Painter.

I'd like you to meet my last queen,
over there large as life
She's been hanging there for almost a week,
my poor late wife;

What do think of the colour of her skin,
it has the bloom of the rose, You see she begged me to bring a certain painter in,
and for that picture in her bedroom she would pose;

Well after a while he was driving me mad,
as you could well understand,
Sitting in there, day after day,
with my wife in the palm of his hand...
It was -

"Madam please do this and Madam please do that",
You've never heard such display,
But he didn't mind he was taking his time,
it was me that had to pay,
"Oh Madam I think we should take a walk in the woods,
you understand it's the light",
And did I mind, no, I was so kind when they,
came back in the middle of the night,
and I swear I'll take care of the painter, Oh the painter...

Well as you can see it was hard for me,
but something has to be done,
She only has eyes for him and his lies, and as for me,
not a glance, not a single one;
My orders were severe and she disappeared, it really was such a shame,
And when they told me she was dead I broke down and said, "It's that painter, it's him, he's to blame."

With his "Madam please do this and Madam please do that",
You've never heard such display, But he didn't mind he was taking his time,
it was me that had to pay,
"Oh Madam I think we should take a walk in the woods,
you understand it's the light",
And did I mind, no, I was so kind when they
came back in the middle of the night,
And I hope it's the rope for the painter,
When he's found, it's hellbound for the painter,
I'll get that painter...

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: irishenglish
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:13 PM

Well, on the Albion Band album Before Us Stands Yesterday there is a song called About Paint. I don't have info in front of me here, but could provide, but its certainly not going to be on Youtube.

It's only one verse, but there's a Bob Seger song called Sightseeing which has this, which I always thought was brilliant:

"It was a magical sight to see
An Yves Tanguy in a gallery
The 30's looking back at me
As if he really knew.
I marvelled at the artistry
Pre-dating our technology
A vision there for all to see
Bold and Strong and True"

Its a good question though, have to check my collection tonight.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Geoff Wallis
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:14 PM

Terry Allen's 'Truckload of Art' on his 'Lubbock (on everything)' album takes some beating, but you'd probably like to remain on good terms with your audience.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: peregrina
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:20 PM

Ewen Carruthers, The Amber Room and Pierre Auguste Renoir, both songs on his CD when Time Turns Around (tracks avail. on itunes)

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:53 PM

There is a Scottish jig "The Three Graces" which relates to an aristocrat's acquisition of a copy of the Roman original of Canova's sculpture.

  X:1
  T:The Three Graces
  Z:Jack Campin: "Embro, Embro", transcription (c) 2001
  F:08play/abc/Graces.abc
  S:Joshua Campbell via Murdoch Henderson
  M:6/8
  L:1/8
  Q:3/8=120
  K:C
  (c/d/|e)cc Bdd|ecc  c2G |    cdc      ceg |Te3  d2
  (c/d/|e)cc Bdd|ecc Tc>Bc|    Bdg  ({B}A)GA| G3  G2:|
   d/e/|fed  dDd|fed  d2G |    c>dc     ceg | f3  d2
   G   |Acc  Gcc|Acc  Gfa |({a}g)fe ({e}d)cd| c3- c2:|
  

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 05:25 PM

"VINCENT" by Don McLean (sp?)

Subject: Songs about art ? - The Gallery - Joni Mitchell
From: Genie
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 05:28 PM

"The Gallery" by Joni Mitchell

Subject: Lyr Add: MANOS, HUESOS Y SANGRE (Tish Hinojosa)
From: Genie
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 05:46 PM

MANOS, HUESOS Y SANGRE
(Hands, Bones and blood)
(Waltz for Frida Kahlo)
By Tish Hinojosa

Manos y huesos y sangre sería,
Pero el corazón no muere.
Miles palabras en quieto pincel,
Dueña y escalavade dos.

Ojos que sirven de espejo
Pasión y dolor y placer,
Cara y disfraz que aparace
Esos fracasos de ayer.

Madre de sueños y quien te dira
Toda mujer sueña igual.
Aguila inquieta cadenas cairán -
Frida, es tu descanso en paz?


(Crumbling hands, bones and blood will be gone -
Something in a heart lives forever.
Thousand words painted by love's broken stroke,
(Master and slave, you were both.

Eyes serving as our own mirror
Of passion and pleasure and pain,
Costume and face of a story
Bearing that yesterday's stain.

Mother of dreams, who could dare to predict
Women would dream by your name?
Restless the eagle still chained by the wing -
Frida, are you sleeping in Peace?

© 1990, Manazo Music

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:01 PM

Genie,

Que bonita!!!!!   Who is Frida Kahlo?


Frank

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: bfdk
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:01 PM

Harvey Andrews' Impressions may be of interest.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:07 PM

Sorry, leftie, I didn't see that you'd already mentioned "Vincent."

Here are a couple more:

"EYES OF A PAINTER" Kate Wolf

"SHE RISES LIKE THE DOLPHIN" Kate Wolf ("... sunlight casting shadows like a painter's palette knife ... ")

Then there's the popular ballad Steve Lawrence recorded,
"A PORTRAIT OF MY LOVE."
(David West and Cyril Orandel)

There could never be a portrait of my love,
For nobody could paint a dream.
You will never see a portrait of my love,
For miracles are never seen.

Anyone who sees her,
soon forgets the Mona Lisa.

It would take, I know, a Michelangelo,
And he would need the glow of dawn that paints the sky above
To try and paint a portrait of my love.



Also

"A GIFT TO TAKE" © 2004 Doug Barnett

The soul of a poet that speaks to my own
Far reaching visions away from my home,
It sees into feelings of sorrow or love,
Sweet tears caressing the cheek of a dove.
The soul of a poet is the choice I would make
If given the chance of a gift I could take.

The eyes of a painter see life as a scene,
Palette and brushes creation dream.
The world is a wonder of colors and hues,
A soft curving chin or a wild ocean view.
The eyes of a painter is the choice I would make
If given the chance of a gift I could take.

The hand of a writer the story of life
Begin and ending in glory or strife.
Tales of far lands or people unseen
Bring to life of things that never been.
The hand of a writer is the choice I would make
If given the chance of a gift I could take.

The voice of an angel singing God's praise,
Looking to heaven the hearts it would raise,
So sweet and clear songs rising above
Bring joy to the soul and fill it with love.
The voice of an angel is the choice I would make
If given the chance of a gift I could take.

All of these things have been given I see
By all the people who lived here before me,
The poets and painters that speak to my heart,
The writers and angels who gave me a start,
The gift I was given the life I will live -
The choice is now mine of the gift I will give.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: peregrina
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:09 PM

Allan Taylor's song Firefly

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:10 PM

Frida Kahlo was a world renowned Mexican painter.   I was not familiar with her, at least by name, before hearing Tish's song.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 06:42 PM

Probably no use to you at all, but in classical music there is a lot: Martinu's "Frescoes of Piero della Francesca", Rachmaninov's "The Isle of the Dead", two operas by Hindemith ("Cardillac" and "Mathis der Maler"), and Per Norgard's work based on the art of Adolf Wolfli. Tom Phillipis wrote an opera, "Irma", based on his own artwork "A Humument".

Presumably the text of Blake's "Jerusalem" was illustrated (it's part of his prophetic book "Milton"). Britten set several of his Songs of Innocence and Experience to music, and they have illustrations.

There is somewhere out there on the web an amazing series of allegorical Indian paintings of the ragas. Art about music, and the most abstract kind of music imaginable, rather than the other way round.

Subject: Lyr Add: PEBBLEDASH -and- HEAVEN'S GATE
From: Acorn4
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 07:18 PM

Not sure you'll appreciate this one but here goes:-


PEBBLEDASH

1. He painted windmills, fields and flowers,
And spent many a pleasant hour
Like many Dutch painters who had gone before.
Though his forms were somewhat indistinct
There was nothing there to make you think
That Mondrian could take the world by storm.

2. Now and then he sold one or two
For friends to hang up in the loo
For nowt but just a few odd shillings and pence
When suddenly he realised,
As the scales came falling from his eyes,
There are people out there with much more money than sense.

And he painted parallel lines in black,
Some thick some thin,
And rectangles (some of which he coloured in,)
In yellow, blue, red (but not green,)
His paintings can be seen
Sit back and watch the cash come rolling in.

3. Now Jackson Pollock could wield a brush
And came out with some nifty stuff
And saw what Mondrian had done for art,
Said to himself "I'll have a bash
At finding pillocks with loads of cash"
(He lived in the America so I've got a head start!)

PS (SORRY US CATTERS -only a joke! -English humour!)

4. He said, "Now I will change the world"
And put his canvas on the floor,
And threw paint at it from a very great height,
And all the people gazed on with wonder
And said
"But is it art, Miranda?"
And paid a fortune for this load of sh…ining examples of 20th century neo-plasticism.

And he painted splashes and drips and drops and blibs and blobs
To the amazement of all those arty snobs,
He said, "I've opened up the gates
If you can piss then you can paint
And in the process earn yourself a few bob."

5. So everyone can have some fun,
Paint with your willy or your bum
And you'll create a modern work of art
Everywhere Mondrians are seen
With a load of Pollocks in between
So let's go out right now and get an Arts Council grant.

6. Just bullshit you will fool them all
And get your work on the gallery wall
Maybe even become a millionaire
Scrape up a cowpat covered in flies
And you might win the Turner Prize
The world's your oyster if you only dare.

So paint those splashes and drips and drops and splits and splats,
And even include a couple of matchstick cats,
Go on have a bash
And paint that pebbledash
And sell it to a load of pretentious prats.

Tune "Matchstalk Men"

I've done a more serious one about the German painter Johannes Koelz but you probably need to know a bit about him from

www.koelz.org

to appreciate what an incredible life story he had.

HEAVEN'S GATE

1. The journey of your life I read,
Across the continents of mind
Around the footsteps where I tread,
Oil, wood and canvas of your time,
Through life dismembered, disarrayed
You held a light that cannot fade

Chorus;

Hands in Prayer, edelweiss,
Desolation, sacrifice,
The child that in the cradle lies
Unsheathe the sword and pay the price
As crucifies by church and state
We all line up at Heaven's gate.

2. And all through many a darkest day,
In wilderness dark shadows move
Uncertain enemies and friends
Fear with long knives and twisted truth
Though faith betrayed, honour abused
The devil's silver you refused.

Hands in prayer....

And so at last your rest you found
In dappled light of twilight shades,
As tyrants come and empires fall
Your story will fill many a page
Yet few of us could say for true
We've lived but half a life as you


Hands in prayer...etc

I can send you an MP3 of this if you want.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Acorn4
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 07:19 PM

Forgot to add, my sister in law, who is an artist severely took me to task over "Pebbledash".

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 07:38 PM

Matchstick men - mentioned briefly above - is about Lowry !!

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Joybell
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 07:47 PM

We performed in the Melbourne Art Gallery once. It was a special showing of 19th century American art. We sang songs relating to the subject matter of the paintings, and also to the period when they were painted.
Just an idea.
Good luck and cheers, Joy

Subject: Lyr Add: PAINT ME A BIRMINGHAM (Tracy Lawrence)
From: Bee
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 08:04 PM

'Paint me a Birmingham' by Tracy Lawrence

He was sittin' there, his brush in hand
Paintin' waves as they danced, upon the sand
With every stroke, he brought to life
The deep blue of the ocean, against the mornin' sky
I asked him if he only painted ocean scenes
He said for twenty dollars, I'll paint you anything.

Chorus:

Well could you Paint Me A Birmingham
Make it look just the way I planned
A little house on the edge of town
Porch goin' all the way around
Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For awhile she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A Birmingham.

He looked at me, with knowing eyes
Then took a canvas from a bag there by his side
Picked up a brush, and said to me
Son just in this picture, would you like to me
I said if there's any way you can
Could you paint me back into her arms again.

Paint Me A Birmingham
Make it look just the way I planned
A little house on the edge of town
Porch goin' all the way around
Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For awhile she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A Birmingham.

Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For awhile she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A, Birmingham.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 08:17 PM

Martin Pearson does a hilarious number about some entirely black paintings hanging in the National Gallery in Canberra, to the tune of Starry Starry Night - I think he calls it The Art Song.

There's a reference to Rodin's Belle Heaulmiere in Stan Rogers' song, Lies, but the rest of the song is artless, I mean, isn't about art.

Simon & Garfunkel did a song about Frank Lloyd Wright.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 08:41 PM

Another classical piece is Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibotion".

Maybe somebody can remember this one. A song about a small boy who starts at school painting things his own way, with everything in wildly imaginative and unrealistic colours, and gets all the imagination browbeaten out of him over the years by his teachers.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 10:14 PM

Michael Marra also has a song about Frida Kahlo.

Jimmy Buffet has a song about a hard-luck poet on "White Sports Coat & a Pink Crustacean".

In the version of "Lakes of Ponchartrain" Helen Creighton published in Songs & Ballads of Nova Scotia, the speaker says:

I tried to paint her beauty, but my efforts were in vain,
So handsome was that Creole girl, on the lakes of Ponchartrain.


The Bard of Armagh? I only know the title.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 10:27 PM

(That last being meself).

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 08:08 AM

Art in a broader sense:

Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin

The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colours all over the paper
For colours was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doing young man
I'm painting flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colours in the morning sun
So many colours in the flower and I see every one

Well the teacher said.. You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colours in the rainbow
So many colours in the morning sun
So many colours in the flower and I see every one

The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colours in a flower
So let's use every one

But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:28 AM

Or for REAL art! -

He stood in a beautiful mansion
Surrounded by riches untold
As he gazed at a beautiful picture
That hung in a frame of gold
Was a picture of a lady
So beautiful young and fair
To this beautiful lifelike picture
He murmured in sad despair.

If those lips could only speak,if those eyes could only see
It those beautiful golden tresses,were here in reality
Could I only take your hand,as I did when you took my name
But it's only a beautiful picture,in a beautiful golden frame

He stood there and gazed on that picture
And slumbered forgetting all pain
For there in that mansion of fancy
She stood by his side again
His lips then softly murmured
The name of his once sweet bride
With his eye fixed on that picture
He awoke from his sleep and he cried

Repeat Chorus

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 11:03 AM

Pop Wagner's THE IMPRESSIONISTS TWO-STEP

Tom Meltzer's PAUL CEZANNE

Terry Allen's TRUCKLOAD OF ART

There are other song titles and links in that last thread.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Splott Man
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 11:55 AM

Michelangelo by the late undervalued Jimmy Campbell from Liverpool.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 01:55 PM

If I had a million dollars
    (If I had a million dollars)
    I'd buy me some art
    A Picasso or a Garfunkel


   That's from the Bare Naked Ladies song, "If I Had a Million Dollars"

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 03:24 PM

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". Written to celebrate a picture that a very young Sean Lennon made for his father (although everyone says it's about an LSD trip) it's a very inspirational and imaginative song.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 03:22 AM

If I Had a Talking Picture of You -oo
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:55 AM

"If a picture paints a thousand words
Then why can't I paint you?"

Telly "who loves you baby" Savalas

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:20 AM

"Paint it Black"

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:30 AM

I ride an old painter

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: henryclem
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:27 PM

I have just put my song "The Late Richard Dadd" up on Myspace :

http://myspace.com/HenryClements

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Melissa
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:35 PM

"After he painted these walls" --Bob Dyer
is a song about Benton's mural at the MO capital.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:46 PM

"Draw me nearer, precious Lord?"







Sorry ...

G ; )

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: ClaireBear
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:07 PM

I may be cracked to even think of suggesting this, but it's a favorite song of mine that speaks to the artist's compulsion in a peculiar way: Leon Rosselson's "Barney's Epic Homer."

Words here.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,She's not pretty, but is she Art!
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 12:21 PM

Isn't there a song "Mona Lisa" (?Nat King Cole)

Subject: Lyr Add: IF I WAS A PAINTER (Greg Brown)
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 01:44 PM

"I Wish I Was a Painter" by Greg Brown

It is on the album 'One More Goodnight Kiss'

Didn't find it on YouTube


In these hills is every color,
every one but one or two.
If I knew how to paint pictures,
just think of what I could do.

refrain:
I wish I was a painter,
and could mix red, green and blue.
Oh, I wish I was a painter--
I'd paint a picture for you.

Blue sky is such a companion,
if you had some to hang on your wall,
then could you ever be sorry,
when night came nightly at all?

refrain

And the seasons turning colors,
if I could paint Summer for you,
then in the deep of the Winter,
you could have some Summer too.

refrain

Here in the hills of the Ozarks,
I've seen almost every hue.
And I just wish I could catch them,
I'd turn your wall into a view.

refrain

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 03:13 PM

It seems to me that several of Kate Wolf's songs have explicit references to painting, art, etc., many of the images quite vivid. I mentioned "She Rises Like The Dolphin" and "Eyes Of A Painter," but I think there are more.

One that sort of fits is "Picture Puzzle" ("The picture on the cover doesn't match the one inside. ... ") Another song ("Two Way Waltz") includes the line "he's a weaver of visions with threads finely spun."   ("Weaver Of Visions" is also the title of a Kate Wolf anthology album.)

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Bert
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 03:22 PM

Now, I am a very handy man,
To save a bit of my plan,
Yesterday, I said to me wife,
"The backyard want a wash,
So it do, upon me life.
So we'd better go and do the job."
So I did and help me, Bob.
Mixed a pile of whitewash, set to work,
And the old girl helped me like an old Turk.

Chorus:
Slap dab, slap dab, up and down the brickwork,
Slap dab all day long.
In and out the corners, round the Johnny Horners,
We were a pair of fair clean goners.
Slap! Dab! The old white brush.
Talk about a fancy ball.
I put more whitewash on the old woman
Than I did upon the garden wall!

Now, my Missus and I confessed,
She put me in a new nightdress.
A nightcap, too, she made me wear.
She was dressed like me and we looked like a pair.

Chorus:

Now, feeling very dry just here,
I went to get a drink of beer,
When the kids from the house next door, I think,
Attracted by the whitewash, came and had a drink.
There's goin' to be an inquest now,
And I'm in a dreadful row.
Now I have done my mechanical schemes,
Every night in all my dreams.

Chorus:

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:28 PM

R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders' "Fine Artiste," which pokes fun at arty pretentiousness ("Got me a canvas and bottle of paint/ Five minues work gonna make me a saint.")

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 09:21 AM

From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 03:24 PM

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". Written to celebrate a picture that a very young Sean Lennon made for his father (although everyone says it's about an LSD trip) it's a very inspirational and imaginative song.

    Let me make a mild correction here. It was a young Julian Lennon who drew the picture that inspired "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". Sean hadn't been born yet.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 11:41 AM

There is also a song called 'Painter Man' by The Creation (a minor British hit in the mid 60's) but it probably isn't a good one for an arts fest. It is about an aspiring artist and the compromises and self justifications made in order to earn a living. The subject starts as an idealistic Artist and winds up doing commercial work to make a living.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 04:37 PM

Some of Stephen Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (1986), especially "Finishing the Hat".

Some of DARLING OF THE DAY (Jule Styne - E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, 1968), especially "I've Got a Rainbow Working For Me". Harburg managed to put a rainbow into almost everything he wrote (Oz, ...Paper Moon, Finian, etc).

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Genie
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 06:10 PM

Speaking of E Y Harburg, one song he wrote (to Harold Arlen's music) that doesn't mention rainbows but definitely is about graphic artistry is
"Lydia, the Tattooed Lady". And there are several other songs about tattooed ladies too.

Subject: Lyr Add: TALKING POP ART (Tom Paxton)
From: Rog Peek
Date: 21 Jun 08 - 05:43 AM

TALKING POP ART
Words and Music by Tom Paxton

Well I went out for a walk last week,
I passed a shop they call a boutique.
Fancy Dresses of every size, fancy wigs to pop your eyes.
Bracelets, diamond rings, stuff for women too.

Well I didn't want to see no more,
I slipped inside the grocery store.
I took down a can of beans, I pulled a dollar out of my jeans.
A fella said "Hold it, that'll be three hundred dollars".

Well a feather could've knocked me down,
I mean, I knew this was a high priced town.
But this was getting hard to take, I said "What the hell do you get for steak?"
He looked surprised, said "It isn't just a can of beans, It's a work of art".

Now I see what the poor man means,
He's proud of that little can of beans.
I didn't hear what else he said, I had my eyes on a loaf of bread.
"White bread four-hundred dollars; Three for a thousand"

Well just about then a crowd came in,
And pickin's must've been pretty slim.
Because in just a minute, or three, or four,
They'd cleaned out that whole grocery store.
They bought brooms,
Fought over watermelons,
One fella put down a pickle. Said " I don't know much about art,
But I know what I like".

Well as I stood there wonderin' why,
Two little fellas came cruising by.
Little tight suits, little black ties,
One of them looked at me and said " My how rustic, I bid a thousand".
I said "I beg your pardon?"
"It speaks, I bid five thousand!"

So here I stand in a Superman suit,
And everybody says I'm cute.
I tried to tell them but they would not see,
So they hang their hats and coats on me.
Well a job's a job.
Still if I had my preference, I'd rather be Batman.

Rog

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: quokka
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 12:17 AM

-Neil Young recently brought out a song about a painter, sorry can't remember details.
- Billy Bragg 'Must I paint you a picture'
-Is 'Michaelangelo'(Jimmy Campbell) the one that Emmy Lou Harris sings on 'Red Dirt Girl'? Starts off "Last night I dreamed about you..." that is beautiful.
Cheers,
Quokka

Subject: Lyr Add: PICTURES (Cicely Fox Smith, Bob Zentz)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 11:34 AM

Then there's the shellback's perspective of what "art" is, how a sailing ship should really be painted, from a poem by Cicely Fox Smith that Bob Zentz has adapted for singing:

PICTURES

"Some likes pictures o' women," said Bill,
"An' some like 'orses best,"
As he fitted a pair of fancy shackles
On to his old sea chest,
"But I like pictures o' ships," said he,
"An' you can keep the rest.
An' if I was a ruddy millionaire
With dollars to burn that way,
Instead of a dead-broke sailorman
As never saves his pay,
I'd go to some big paintin' guy
An' this is what I'd say:

'Paint me the Cutty Sark,' I'd say,
'Or the old Thermopylae,
Or the Star o' Peace as I sailed in once
In my young days at sea,
Shipshape and Blackwall fashion, too,
As a clipper ought to be . . .
An' you might do 'er outward bound,
With a sky full o' clouds,
An' the tug just dropping astern,
An' gulls flyin' in crowds,
An' the decks shiny-wet with rain,
An' the wind shakin' the shrouds . . .
Or else racin' up Channel
With a sou'wester blowin',
Stuns'ls set aloft and alow,
An' a hoist o' flags showin',
An' a white bone between her teeth
So's you can see she's goin' . . .
Or you might do 'er off Cape Stiff,
In the high latitudes yonder,
With 'er main deck a smother of white,
An' her lee-rail dippin' under,
An' the big greybeards racin' by
An' breakin' aboard like thunder . . .
Or I'd like old Tuskar somewheres abound . . .
Or Sydney 'Eads maybe . . .
Or a couple o' junks, if she's tradin' East,
To show it's the China Sea. . .
Or Bar Light . . . or the Tail o' the Bank . . .
Or a glimp o' Circular Quay.
An' I don't want no dabs o' paint
As you can't tell what they are,
Whether they're shadders, or fellers' faces,
Or blocks, or blobs o' tar,
But I want gear as looks like gear,
An' a spar that's like a spar.
An' I don't care if it's North or South,
The Trades or the China Sea,
Shortened down or everything set —
Close-hauled or runnin' free —
You paint me a ship as is like a ship . . .
An' that'll do for me!'"

Notes:

From Ships and Folks, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Elkin Mathews, London, © 1920, p. 36-37. Later published in Sea Songs and Ballads 1917-22, © 1924, pp. 82-84. First published in Punch Magazine, Volume 158, February 11, 1920, p. 110.

"Bill" is the poet's sailor-philosopher, a nice feller to crew with, and he knows what he likes in nautical art.

First adapted for singing by Bob Zentz (US), as recorded on Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream,, © 2007.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 02:55 AM

Quokka, that's a different song.

This is Jimmy Campbell's (if faulty memory is correct!):

"I read a book, a most wonderful book,
It moved me so much that I undertook
To live my life like the man in the book.

Working and working and working and working,
My pleasures weren't even a few.
Working and working and working and working,
but only in dreams did I see it come true.

Stay in your book, dreamers, don't take a look
Or you'll see... Michaelangelo.

How can it be that a man such as me,
Who cares not for pleasure or pain,
Shouldn't be rich with God's natural gifts,
To have something to show at the end of life's game.

Stay in your book, dreamers, don't take a look
Or you'll see... Michaelangelo."

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 04:24 AM

Slapp Happy did a song called Michelangelo, but about half the melody's carried by the backing.

Jonathan Richman did a song about Picasso - all I know is the line (couplet?) "Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole".

As for "Pebbledash", Acorn4, I'd be careful who you sing that to. Some artists definitely are frauds - but Pollock and Mondrian definitely weren't.

Subject: Help with UK slang in lyrics
From: GUEST,TonyA
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:22 PM

quoth Bert: In and out the corners, round the Johnny Horners,
We were a pair of fair clean goners.

Can anyone tell me what a "fair clean goner" is?
And would "goner" ever be pronounced "gorner" for some reason?
Or is there a sudden loss of interest in rhyming just here?

And what's a Johnny Horner, if not rhyming slang for corner?
It seems odd to use it that way immediately after the word it rhymes.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:31 PM

Oops. I just figured out why "goner" rhymes with cawner and Hawner.
Should have seen that right away.

Still wondering about the other questions though.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:07 PM

'Johnny Horner' is indeed cockney rhyming slang for 'corner'. A 'goner' in English slang [partic cockney] is one who has gone, i.e who has died. The 'o' is often pronounced as 'aw', just as Londoners will often [or 'awfen'] pronounce 'off' as 'awff'. (In late C19 this used to be an upper-class affectation, parodied in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance ~ "Have you ever thought what it would be like to be an orphan?" "Often." "Yes, orphan." ··· & so ad tedious ∞...)

No-one seems to have noted BTW that the Chris de Burgh song in the 2nd post on this thread is a reworking of Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess'.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:32 PM

Should perhaps add that 'goner' is presumably used here in a hyperbolical sense of something like 'in despair', rather than meaning they had actually died of their efforts!

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Bert
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 02:28 AM

My Dad used to sing.

All over me,
All over me,
Ships of war, Easter eggs,
Indian ink all down me legs,
I'm just like a picture gallery
You ought to see
the sights of London,
All over me.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,Longlankin
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 11:31 AM

Alex Glasgow from the NE of England wrote a good song about art festivals.

The chorus went
"Lets all have one, everbody's got one, Why not have one too
Festival time is here again so roll up and join the queue"

Another song of his "My Love and I" would also be good - in it the two young lovers try to re-enact love scenes they read in a book and see on a film.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,TonyA
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 11:32 AM

Thanks for the info on "goner." We use it in the same way, actually, but an American wouldn't modify it with "fair" and "clean." That's why it sounded strange to me.

What about the second line:
To save a bit of my plan
Is there a word missing there?
On a recording I have of the song, it sounds like
To save a bit of oots my plan
but that makes no sense to me.
Context suggests that it means "my intention being to economise."

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 12:56 PM

Possibly "save a bit of loot" [slang usage of 'loot' to mean currency?]. John Foreman always sang that line as "Saving money's always been my plan".

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST,TonyA
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 05:18 PM

Yes, that makes sense. "Oots" was a Freudian slip. I meant to write "oofs," which is actually what I think it sounds like. I assumed it was cockney for "hoofs," and thought "hoofs" might be a rhyming slang substitute for a word meaning money; but "loot's" would fit, as a contraction for "loot is," though I definitely don't hear an L in the recording.

Incidentally, I've just discovered that the actual recording I have, sung by a group with the very un-cockney sounding name "New Arkansas Travellers," is posted online - here.

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: Joe G
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 09:07 PM

Roger Davies 'Peter Brook's Paintings' is one of my favourites

http://www.myspace.com/rogerdaviesmusic

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 11:13 PM

Tony ~ 'Oof' is also a slang word for money: according to Chambers Dict, from Yiddish 'oof tish' = 'on the table'. In P G Wodehouse, Wooster's richest friend is called 'Oofy' Prosser. So it might be that also...

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:05 AM

... indeed, having now played your link, I think it is definitely "Saving oof's always been my plan", with 'oof' used in connotation mentioned above.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Songs about art ?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 11:28 AM

Terrific! Two mysteries solved at once - Oofy Prosser as well as saving a bit of oof. They really should start doing translations of UK books into American. Or at least add annotations. I was grateful when Ken Loach's "Riff Raff" was shown here with US sub-titles. Thanks!