Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Jul 04 - 09:42 PM

Wait on - you can't ALL have the SAME song, that's not the point - we want to preserve as MANY songs as possible... :-)

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: GUEST,Anne Croucher
Date: 28 Jul 04 - 11:37 AM

Ah - that would be - Hamish Henderson's 'Freedom Come all ye'

There is a SF story of a being planning to become its own monument, one which - when approached, would play 'The old Hundredth'

I thought of a dozen traditional songs, a couple of hymns, and Alices restaurant, and a couple of songs from the Quo - but it has to be F-C-A-Ye.

It is not my language, but it speaks both to me and for me.

Anne

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: GUEST,J
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 07:40 PM

Great idea. Great thread. Great choices. I loved F451 as a teenager (I'm 49), but appreciated it more recently because of my sister-in-law's father-in-law. He was an elderly academic from Czech-land who, before the walls came down, would travel here, spend mornings in libraries reading history and news, spend afternoons writing it out to commit it to memory, and then go home as a walking journal of political theory and reportage. He couldn't carry a Time magazine for fear of confiscation and arrest, but became his friends' link to the world beyond the Iron Curtain. He never, to my knowledge, read Bradbury, but I bet Ol'Ray knew all about him and others like him.

Oh, my choices. Staines' "Crossing The Water", Humphries' "We Are One" or "Swimming To The Other Side."

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 04:39 PM

Gawd, this isn't any easier today than it was four years ago!

"Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" is one song which must never be lost. I'll stick with that one.


A

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: GUEST,Blackcatter
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 04:21 PM

Gee, I thought I posted to this thread 4 years ago.

Hmmmmmmm


This Land Is Your Land.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 05:50 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mooh
Date: 02 Sep 00 - 09:10 PM

My Led Zeppelin might be Whole Lotta Love for its sheer primal involvement, or Nobody's Fault But Mine for its confessional value.

Deep Purple's When A Blind Man Cries for its "in another's shoes" statement.

Mooh.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mbo
Date: 02 Sep 00 - 04:19 PM

I'd save Stairway to Heaven. "There's this feeling I get when I look to the West..." rings so true in my life. BTW Seed have you ever heard Martin Carthy sing "The Bonny Swans"? It has the same repeated phrase on ever line of the verse, and the song lasts about 15 minutes. I'll stick with Stairway...although if I was going for a Zeppelin song, I'd take "The Rain Song" since it is one of my favorite & most beautiful songs ever, and the sentiments it expresses deserve to be preserved.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 02 Sep 00 - 04:12 PM

Neo, your Uncle Charles thanks you profusely for deciding against preserving "Stairway to Heaven" unto all eternity: It has the most annoying repeated phrase in all of recorded music--it would be okay once at the very end of the song, but thirty-two or fifty-seven or a hundred and thirteen or however many times they repeat it is just too damned much. Now be a nice niece and promise to consign that one to the very dusty bottom of your repertoire, and save some of your own sweet tunes instead.

--with much love and gratitude, Uncle Charles

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Dave Swan
Date: 02 Sep 00 - 02:01 AM

Other folks have got important, significant, and moving covered. I keep coming back to Three Merry Men from Kent. I've loved singing it for years. It's musically pleasing, a song bent on having a good time, but not mindlessly so.

"For who can know where we may go to be merry another year?..."

E.S.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 01 Sep 00 - 07:01 AM

Catspaw, did you see that? It is Uncle Charles!
He has come home.

Catspaw I know you said I can only pick one song but I've been kicked out of so many music stores playing my Stairway To Heaven, can I pick another song?
How about Sweet City Woman? Being that it was the first song I ever heard on the banjo and when I asked Rick to teach it to me he almost fell off his seat. Not sure why, guess he was overwhelmed with joy.

Banjo Bunny

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 01 Sep 00 - 01:24 AM

Sounds like kind of an oral RUS, huh, Amergin? That IS frightening.

--seed

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Amergin
Date: 31 Aug 00 - 09:29 AM

This is a bit of a thread creep here on a good thread (sorry, 'Spaw), but if we memorised a song and passed it on to succeeding generations who memorised it exactly the way we memorised it (without permitting the song to change or grow over time), wouldn't that destroy the very nature of folk music?

Amerginwhoseverysorryifhefuckedthisthreaduptoobad

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 06:48 PM

Just found this thread - Bravo, Spaw!

My song would be "Brown-Eyed Girl". In a way, it's kind of an anthem from the 60's. Rebels could identify each other by gently singing the chorus - tell me there's someone who doesn't know how that goes. Meetings could then be furtively arranged for talk and sharing tunes.

I think the tale of Van Morrison - a vastly creative artist, tortured by his demons and by his success, who's life had it's share of tragedy (T.B. Sheets), included a religious conversion and an ongoing search for a musical philosopher's stone - is inspirational and cautionary.

I find this particular songinteresting on another level, also. The title is indicative of the contradictions of the times in which it was written, as he was required to change it from "brown-skinned girl" to avoid negative reaction to celebrating an inter-racial relationship.

Besides, I know it all the way through.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 06:25 PM

That's a well thought out selection Arthur....as I find most of these to be. Even Seed, who tried to slide in quite a few, has played the game well.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Airto
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 02:01 PM

I would want to see the beautiful, haunting German song Die Moorsoldaten/Peat Bog Soldiers included in the repertoire. The concentration camp subject matter would be entirely appropriate and the elements of defiance and optimism in the final verse would make it a valuable resource in times of adversity.

But perhaps I should have left this song for the likes of Wolfgang to claim.

Closer to (my) home, Paul Brady's song The Island would be a must. It comes closer to stating my personal credo about political conflict than any other song. Amazingly enough, the ironic lines "I know us plain folks don't see all the story, I guess peace and love's just copping out" lost him a lot of friends when he first sang it in the early 1980s.

Arthur O'Malley

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: GUEST,Mbo
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 01:48 PM

What about "The Last Cowboy Song."

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Peg
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 01:47 PM

thanks Mbo! Guess I better sing a few times before the month is out...

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:38 PM

Peg, the original Burns title is "Song Composed In August."

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Peg
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:17 PM

tough choice!

I think Westlin' Winds by Robbie Burns...(can't recall the other title)

(or maybe "American Pie" by Don McLean but I would not be the best one to sing it..but I think it should be in there)

peg

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:16 AM

Amergin.

Do you say that because you know I am a bodhran player????????

(no offense taken :-))

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: JulieF
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 07:43 AM

I have to agree with 'A Man's a man for a' that'. Not only does it reflect on the human spirit but it would pass some aspect of the language and culture down.

Assuming this passing of songs would be under a totalitarian threat I would also choose 'Only our rivers run free' which could be adapted to any such situation.

Julie

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 01:28 AM

Catspaw, yer as stingy as can be. I refuse to try to remember just one song (do I have to forget all the rest?) If I remember Bob Gibson's "Abilene"--the one I'd choose for its yearning for home to help keep the revolutionary spirit alive--would I have to forget "The Overflowing Catbox Blues" and and "I Ain't Got No Home" and "All You Need Is Love" and "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Careless Love" and "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" (done bluesy) and "Every Night when the Sun Goes In"? Or "Battle Hymn of the Republic" or "How Can I Keep from Singing?" or "Hard Travellin'"? Or "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly"?

Gimme a break.

--seed(big on memorizing)

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:13 AM

I'm impressed so far.....Just what I was after. Not the best or most significant, but certainly worthy for a wide variety of reasons............Next?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Peter T.
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 03:29 PM

Great idea. One thing that the movie (horrible boring movie) did was to emphasize that the people began turning into the books, presumably because they were concentrating on it so much. I knew a famous Hungarian poet (George Faludy) who was thrown into a concentration camp, and his friends who were also in the camp all memorized his poems so they would not be lost if he died. There was a reunion some years ago, where all these 70 year olds stood up and finally recited their memorized poems to the poet on his birthday. I was not there, but I was told by someone who was that the men sat there gasping and wheezing -- not because they were drunk (though they got drunk later) -- but because, as one of them said, our hearts were so full that we could not breathe, we all thought we were going to die of heart attacks or too much crying for our pride before the night was out.

My problem is that the song I would pick would have to have the original accompaniment and players to really work. So I guess I would have my body micro-implanted or something. I would pick "She Loves You" by the Beatles for sheer exuberance, and the outbreak of something new in the world. If someone told me I could never hear it again, I am sure I would sit down and cry like a baby, and if other people never got the chance --

My dutiful second choice would be Beethoven's Ode To Joy, just because if that was lost, it would be a sin against humankind. I don't even like it that much anymore. But still, duty calls.

I think it was Anton Rubenstein who when he knew he was going blind in the last years of his life sat down and read Ulysses and one or two other books.

I wonder what this competition would be like if you said: O.K. you will be permanently deaf starting tonight midnight. What would you listen to in the few hours remaining, for the last time (I don't mean to thread creep, just doing some variations)? Now that is scary.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Amergin
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 03:23 PM

Actually, Wandering Minstrel, the song equivalent of a fireman would be bodhran player....

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: CamiSu
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 02:41 PM

Only one? Not fair! (My friend has--I think--9 books of Milton in his head now. Sometimes makes it a bit difficult for anything else to lodge there.)

My first thought was Kilkelly, for the story of going away and never coming home. THen Harriet Tubman with its highly political 3rd verse. My youngest asks for it often. NOT The Cat Came Back, I'll let HIM learn that one. Rabbitrunning took my wedding song, and that bit of history. But I think it might be Swing Low, because my Dad and I used to sing it in the car, and I sang it at his funeral. Hope in a difficult situation.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 11:44 AM

This is intriguing. What would the musical equivalent of a "fireman" be I wonder? a "tuner" perhaps!

can I make a bid for "Hooks and Nets" as we'll probably need to keep alive the poachers arts while lurking in the forest

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: LR Mole
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 11:22 AM

I nominate the melody of Gregorian chant, because it would echo and harmonise with itself so nicely around the caves. It would be difficult to separate from the R.C. lyrics, I suppose, but the tune is worth preserving.(Creep, creep...) if we're mentioning Something Wicked This Way Comes, I toss in the book Dandelion Wine: same author, and the sunny other half of Bradbury's middle American boyhood magic. Harder to find than it should be, but what isn't?

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Big Mick
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 09:01 AM

I can't believe no one has beat me to the punch on this one. Because it unites generations, because to me it's chorus represents for me my bond with the land of my grandparents, because it is just a wonderful song, and because I will never forget the first time I heard a recording of Mother Maybelle singing it with Doc Watson playing and singing on it...............Will The Circle Be Unbroken. And Sandy, I would love to sing this at the Getaway if I can make it.

Mick

Subject: Lyr Add: RIVER (Bill Staines)
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 01:35 AM

I will choose to save Bill Staines' River. I love what it says.

I was born in the path of the winter wind
Raised where the mountains are old
The springtime waters came dancing down
And I remember the tales they told.

The whistling ways of my younger days
Too swiftly have faded on by
But all of my memories linger on
Like the light in a fading sky.

Chorus:

River, take me along. In your sunshine, sing me your song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river, you changing old river
Let's you and me, River, run down to the sea

Well, I've been to the city and back again
Been moved by some things that I've learned
Met a lot of good people and I call them friends
Felt the change as the seasons turned

I heard all the songs that the children sing
And listened to love's melodies
Felt my own music within me rise
Like the wind in the autumn trees

Some day when the flowers are blooming still
Some day when the grass is still green
The rolling waters will round me bend
And flow in to the open sea

So here's to the rainbow that's followed me here
And here's to the friends that I know
And here's to the song that's within me now
I will sing it where'er I go.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Susan from California
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 10:43 PM

Springsteen's "The River" because it was the first song that made me cry. It is a song that evokes a particular time in US history, but also speaks to universal themes. Also because it reminds me of my youth, only we all went to a reservoir instead of a river...

I have a question, Spaw. Will we be able to communicate with each other to be sure there aren't duplications? It would be depressing to venture out from the caves to find that everybody in the song circle I was in memorized "Ooops, I Did it Again", :-)or some other soon to be classic. But I don't want to have to out think the obscurity angle.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Serf
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 10:18 PM

well..... with mixed feelings... i will commit to pass along .. in the post musical world..... in some candle lit basement... Four Strong Winds.. ( Ian Tyson) why mixed? ..... well remember Tom Hanks in Volunteers fearing that some Peace Corps Type ...would burst into Kumbaya... Well ,.. in Canada .. you couldnt go anywhere for about 20 years.. without some "folkie" doing the mandatory song.. i am sure ...as welcome as one more version of Blowin' in the Wind.. But..in the last couple of years.. i have dared to perform it.. and it still touches the winsome nerve..located directly behind the heart strings. ( but just for the record... the winds dont blow all that awesomely cold out in Alberta... ) Serf in Toronto

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 04:00 PM

451 is a good book----a bit of a romantic stretch to have guys/folks (men/women/whatever) all wandering in the snow at the end (of the film) reciting their book---Is that being an individual within the community ? But my favorite volume of that type has to be Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.

That said, the one song I'd memorize would be one that could transport me into a world I wish I'd been a part of.

"Tam Lin"

"California Joe"

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 02:35 PM

Thank you Bert.........It was either that or the Major Tom thing. I guess its real name is "Space Oddity"...and it certainly is.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Bert
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 02:31 PM

Now! now! Bonnie! You should know that 'Stairway to Heaven' was the reason that all music was outlawed in the first place.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 02:15 PM

Catspaw, can I pick Stairway To Heaven?
I will have to learn to play it on my banjo and then I will hang-out in the back of a big music store playing it over and over again until they beg me to stop. But I won't stop, because the song must be passed on, right?

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 01:19 PM

Not a bad pick in the bunch and some really outstqnding efforts.

Jeri, we all know more than one, but ONE is the only one that YOU are directly responsible for....above all others. Still wanna' go with "WMT?" Its one great song, and if you don't want it, its likely to get grabbed up (maybe by Caroline?).

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 01:13 PM

I don't know - I'll get back to you when we start moving into the caves. Spaw, does this mean I have to forget all the songs I know except one?

The first song I thought of was "Wild Mountain Thyme" for its sheer singability. I'm still working on one that I should learn because of the meaning in the words. One that no one else has picked, that is...

Aw, the hell with it! I have a very large collection of poetry. No, sorry Mr/Ms authority figure, you don't see any music, do you? How could you think they're songs?! I like to call it "Rise Up Rhyming."

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: rabbitrunning
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 12:47 PM

I love Bradbury, but F451's the one book I dislike. Probably because it's on so many required reading lists, and it just isn't his best long novel. (Something Wicked This Way Comes!)

But for songs, I'll take "Simple Gifts". What an opportunity to talk about religion, history and Aaron Copland! Can we save variants, too?

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Wesley S
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 12:39 PM

Well , Spaw - I think I'd want to grab "This Land Is Your Land" for the following reasons. First it celibrates the beauty of nature. Next it would remind the corporations exactly who is the real owners of this land { no one and everyone }. And certainly because the song has the gift of the sing along chorus. That's a power not to be underestimated.

"And on the other side it didn't say nothing - this land was made for you and me"

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 12:39 PM

Despite its "politically incorrect" 18th century language, I think I'll remind the world that "A Man's a Man, For A' That." (Robbie Burns) Unfortunately, a "person's a person" just doesn't scan well.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Bert
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 10:36 AM

Believe me if all those endearing young charms.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: MMario
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 09:57 AM

The Rice Krispy Theme Song. (except I never HAVE been able to memorize the sucker)

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 01:04 PM

I'm thinking, Spaw. Maybe this is a good idea for a song-swap at the Getaway, Whaddya think, Rita? Meanwhile, I'm off to sing "Amazing Grace" at a gathering of some 3000 recovering alcoholics at nearby "High Watch Farm." My late business partner spent a couple of weeks there, years ago, and it did seem to help him kick the hard stuff.

I'll be back later, kids.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Noreen
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 12:58 PM

I've been thinking about this a lot, Spaw, and thinking along the same lines as kat that mine would be a lullaby.

I nearly went for 'Summertime' from Porgy and Bess but it should really be a song from my own tradition, so I'll take 'The Gartan Mother's Lullaby', full as it is of Celtic imagery and the spirit world, with many a story to tell if time allows.

Now this thread should be made into a book!!

Noreen

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: sledge
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 12:55 PM

The one I pick today would be Steve Knightly's The man in green, what I might pick tomorrow who knows.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 12:48 PM

Well, I'm beginning to get an order to our song circle here. I think Rick has the leadoff tune, an excellent choice. I think 'Gin goes next perhaps with a song that does kinda' get to the heart of this. I dunno' WHERE we put Joe.........

And yes, I do admit to some shameless toadying here as I did write to a few and mention this in PM's to others that I would value their take on this...and I DO!!!

Its a silly thread, but it says a lot about an individuals personality and thought processes too, not to mention tastes. Again though, I don't know what to think about Joe, except that he seems to be in company with Karen. When I mentioned this one to her, she had the same reaction and the only one she could think of was "Happy Birthday."

Keep 'em coming folks.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 11:41 AM

I am away performing at an Irish Music Festival, with a side trip to a birthday gathering for the 80 year old matriarch of a wonderful Irish family this weekend. I stopped to read my email and one of them urged me to take a look here. I love the concept of this thread and feel like I should give it the consieration it deserves. So I am going to take my time and approach this as if I really could only take one song. As if I were choosing the one song that had to be preserved. I have an idea which one I think that should be. Get back to you later.

Mick

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Amergin
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 11:26 AM

I love Bradbury, especially the Martian Chronicles....

Mine would probably have to be "We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years" by an unknown proletarian....with this fourth verse added:

Now we hide from you within the caves
For you try to kill our past,
To hide the truth from yourselves
That our songs will all outlast
The money, the power, and the tyranny
In the offices where you stand!
If blood be the price of your oppressive wealth
Good God! We have bought it grand.

Yes, I know it is a weak ending but it is a folksong and very liable to change....

Amergin

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 08:22 AM

ah, damn! you're right, doug!! I'm as bad as Mbo, aren't I?

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Drumshanty
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 05:57 AM

Mine would be the Hal an Tow. I used to "do" the Hal an Tow as a teenager and I would take it because I could pass on not only the song but the stories behind it and the pageantry of it.

It is not necessarily my favourite song (as if that were possible!) but it reminds me of being young and looking forward to long summers.

And Scabby Doug has my other one so that's all right then!

Drumshanty

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: GUEST,Scabby Doug
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 05:33 AM

This is sort of offthread, but, Sorcha, Asimov didn't write "Stanger in a Strange Land" - That was Robert Heinlein.

My song would be "the Freedom Come-All-Ye" by Hamish Henderson, it always lifts my spirits to sing it, or hear it, I just love it.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mark Clark
Date: 27 Aug 00 - 02:36 AM

Okay, I'm going to remember "Song Of My Hands" and teach it to my children and their children. I think Paul Robeson used to sing it though I've never found a recording. It does appear to be included in the Bear (#15720) 10 CD boxed set called "Songs For Political Action" available through Camsco. The artist there is Bernie Asbel. I'll buy the set as soon as I come up with a spare (USD)251.30. Of course those will all be destroyed, that's why I have to remember the song.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 11:37 PM

Excellent choice, Rick, and very fitting, esp. with you or Art singing it!

So Spaw...I tried, darlin'...nobody wants to Only make believe I love you....Only make believe that you love me, We could find pece of mind in pretending....

C'mon people...add some background, some reasons, some drama...this could be one of those classic ones...it's got potential...let's see if this baby can fly!!!

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 10:54 PM

Guess the one I'd want to pass on would be Jerry Rasmussen's "Handful of Songs" with it's wonderful chorus.

"Some may leave money from a lifetime of savin'

Some just their name on a marble stone.

It's not what you leave, it's the joy of rememberin'

All I can leave you is a handful of songs."

Rick

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 10:43 PM

no, no, Mbo. Vonnegut did Cat's Cradle, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Mothernight, and others, but Ray did 451. Trust Uncle Joe and I on this. Asimov did Stranger in a Strange Land, and the I Robot series, as well as LOTS of other fiction and the non fiction that convinced me that the Maths were, indeed, correct.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 09:17 PM

Just found this and have to give it some thought.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 09:16 PM

Sorry, but I'm ROTF here Joe!!! Now listen, you can only have ONE....and when the fever breaks, I hope its not one of those.............Major Tom!!!......I'm dyin' here..........What can I use to get the mess off my screen and keyboard?.........Major Tom............gimmee peace............

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 09:07 PM

Mbo, me boy, you have much to learn...

Vonnegut did good stuff, too, though.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mbo
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 09:03 PM

I thought Kurt Vonnegut wrote "Fahrenheit 451"?

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 09:00 PM

Oh, Joe!! LOL! LOLOLOL!! too funny..........(Bradbury taught me plausible/scary, Asimov was the only one who could teach me maths, now that's scary isn't it?)

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:51 PM

Gee, Spaw, you put me on the spot. I mean, I've been a Bradbury fan since I was eight, and this is very important to me. Two songs came to my head right off, and now I can't think of any others. It always happens that way to me. When I'm called upon to say something profound, my head fills up with only the most inane ideas.
So, I'm just going to sit back and listen, because the only songs in my head right now are these:

Now it's time to say goodbye
To all our company...
M-I-C-K-E-Y...
M-O-U-S-E.

And the other one is:

Why-o, why-o, why-o
Why did I EVER leave Ohio...

Oh, and the other one that's clogging my head right now is this one (click). I warned you.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:18 PM

PA got a good idea!! You go, mon! And, as always, I liked Bradbury's book much better than the movie. I guess the reason I did like it was because it seemed so plausible, and therefore VERY SCARY!! Of course, Bradbury could make anything seem plausible..........

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Pene Azul
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:07 PM

Members of future generations are bound to sometimes want to feel the blues deep down in their souls. If we keep one nice hard driving blues song alive, then many more are bound to follow. After all, the blues is all about expression. Once you have it inside of you, some it's gonna need to get out. There are many I could choose here, but how about Little Walter's "Blues With A Feeling."

Jeff

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mbo
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:06 PM

If I was going to choose an Oasis song (glad you used the word "nice") it would be "D'yer Wanna Be a Spaceman" a beautiful song about growing up and the loss of childhood innocence.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:02 PM

I wasn't a big fan of the movie either Bill as it had a third Reich about it as you say...but that's what made the concept here so interesting to me. We've done lots of lists, b this doesn't have to be the best or most significant song...maybe just a pretty one or one with some "learning" orusefulness in it....no criteria at all. And how would you feel if you were assigned a nice Oasis tune? (DON'T JUMP MEEBO---ITS A JOKE)

BUT REMEMBER--YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE!!! Don't want to get caught and dessimated before we can overthrow the scoundrels.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 07:51 PM

hmmm...very much like questions about "what's your favorite song?"...or "What would you take to a desert island?"...REAL hard!

Maybe I'd just do a short, poignant ballad about the human condition..."The Twa Corbies"...........and I'll change my mind tomorrow...(it would be far easier if I were assigned one!)

And, you know, I never liked that movie much...can't say exactly why. Too much like the Third Reich, I guess

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 07:18 PM

Sorcha---If you hadn't picked that one, it was going to get picked I think. Good choice.

kat......Exactly what I expected!!! And you have a good reasoning thought behind it. I love your set-up...makes the "rebel life" a bit romantic!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 06:55 PM

Well, it might seem simplistic, but one I know I will never forget and that people would always have a need for, at least in their hearts, is the Prairie Lullaby...kids will still need to be sung to sleep and rock-a-byed, I hope...

Very KEWL idea and thread, Spaw. Do we get to come back with second suggestions and, uh-oh, were we supposed to be in character? That would be fun...

I am out in the middle of the former state of Why-Oh-Myn....now a vast wasteland, with dead drilling rigs and ghosttowns littering the horizon. Nothing stirs, no buffalo left, not even a horned toad lizard.

A few of us live up against the mountains in the quartz crystal caves which survived...we venture out for food gathering and once in a while to meet with those from other outposts, once we've decided they are safe to meet.

Then, we have a small feast around the campfires burning and we post guards to watch the skies for those who seek to destroy our knowledge. In low tones, we each go round, intoning the words of pasts forgotten by most, remembered and passed on by the few...tonight I start off with the soft lilt of the lully my mother always sang to me...Tumble in bed, my tired little sleepyhead...

A chill runs through the gathering as we hear a whirr in the distance. We hurry to cover the fires and run for the caves, the last vibrations of the tunes shimmering in the air, then dropping down to almost inaudible whispers of ancestors telling us to "remember..don't let the songs die."

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 06:46 PM

OK, OK, I think I've got it--"Follow the Drinkin' Gourd", it's a lovely plaintive melody, that I can kinda sorta sing, and it means something--it's an important part of US history.........(what happens if I think of another one later?)

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 05:18 PM

It is spaw, it is. I'm just thinking hard about my choice. I don't have many lyrics in the Old File cabinet of a brain, so I'll have to pick something REALLY simple, that also has perhaps, an ulterior motive........still thinking...............

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 05:09 PM

That's an excellent choice Matt, really it is. The thought and sentiment expressed is more than music and more than philosophy....the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, and well worth passing on.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Mbo
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 05:03 PM

To Be A Man by Boston.

--Matt

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 04:41 PM

Aw c'mon guys.....I thought this one would not only be a little fun, but require a little thought on several levels.....I may have been wrong. Its not a best song ever....just a good one to save to aid the future generations, like b said, a little time capsule. I'll give it another chance or two.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 06:04 AM

Good thought bflat.....Again, an interesting pick!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: bflat
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 09:31 PM

I'd like to pick a zipper song. Specifically, "We Shall Not Be Moved." In carrying this song forward to future generations, a concept of lyric substitution would be passed along and of course, the inherent message of peaceful unification and demonstration for equality is a most compelling and powerful reason for my selection.

I really like this. Kind of a premptive time capsule.

bflat

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Dee45
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 09:09 PM

One more wee tid bit of trivia regarding my previous post. Alton Delmore an extremely prolific song writer, was also responsible for teaching Merle Travis to read music.

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 08:53 PM

And we're off, with a solid and thoughtful choice from Dee45. I like your reasoning on this one and it shows a lot of elements to those "future generations."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: Dee45
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 08:51 PM

I love the concept here 'Spaw.

One song is pretty difficult, but I'll stake my claim on Doc's version of Deep River Blues which is a derivative of Rabon and Alton Delmore's Big River Blues.

Doc's early flatpicking was inspired by Rabon's hot lead playing on a tenor guitar (a Martin O-17T I believe) and over time he adapted it into the fingerpicking classic "Deep River Blues". I think this is one worth preserving and I think I may have to put a version of Doc performing it (vocals and all) on a micro CD, (concealed in my key chain) because nothing can mimic the voice he lends to this song.

Subject: Fahrenheit 451-The LAST Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 07:46 PM

Do you remember the movie Fahrenheit 451? It told the story of a future culture who burned all the books, 451 degrees being the kindling temp of paper. The "rebels" in the story lived out and away from the city and each member memorized a book to pass on to future generations until perhaps the time came when things would change.

So here's the deal...............

All music is outlawed and we are the rebels here at the Mudcat. Many of us know more than one song obviously, but we must be secretive to avoid attack and the loss of our little colony.......SO........Each one is responsible to know and perform ONE SONG to pass on, including its history and significance and meaning. This does NOT have to be the most significant song of all time, just one YOU feel should be kept alive.

GOOD LUCK FELLOW REBELS....AND MAY THE SONG BE WITH YOU!!!

Spaw