Don’t worry, there’s some totally hilarious posts coming soon, but I’m in a reflective mood right now. Scarlet Blue kindly tagged me to do this. One has to choose an “artist”, and then answer questions about one’s interesting life using only the titles of his/her songs. I thought back to my formative years and wondered which of the great performers might help me – The Jam had perhaps the best lyrics, The Clash had more power, and The Sex Pistols somehow typified the zeitgeist. But no, I’ve simply chosen the best songwriter who ever lived (no, I don’t mean Max Splodge of Splodgenessabounds):1. Choose a band/artist: Franz Schubert
2. Answer ONLY using titles of their songs.
3. Are you male or female: Was Ist Silvia? (Who Is “Sylvia”??)
4. What do you do for a living?: Der Lieirmann (Hurdy-Gurdy Man)
5. Describe yourself: Ganymed (Ganymede)
6. How do some people feel about you: Des Mädchens Klage (The Maiden’s Complaint)
7. How do you feel about yourself: Der Musensohn (The Son of the Muses)
8. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: Die Forelle (The Trout)
9. Describe current boyfriend/girlfriend: Lachen Und Weiner.(Laughter and Tears)
10. Describe where you want to be: Am Meer (By the Sea)
11. Describe how you live: Täuschung (Illusion)
12. Describe how you love: Der Wanderer (The Wanderer)
13. What would you have if you had just one wish: ‘Av a Maria
14. Share a few words of Wisdom: Liebe Schwärmt auf allen Wegen (Love Wanders on Every Road)
15. Now say goodbye: Gute Nacht (Goodnight)
Ah yes, Viennese wunderkind and all-round gent Mr Franz Schubert. (A man whose visage, with its rather cherubic looks and unruly hair, always reminds me of Harris off of Porridge). So it’s Gute Nacht from me and it’s Gute Nacht from him. And, fittingly, this is the song that I'm (probably) going to sing in a small amateur concert soon:
Can we look forward to a podcast of your upcoming performance (seriously!)?
ReplyDeleteI think in your answer to question 3 that you should at least have acknowledged the Librettist: one, William Shakespeare. Herr Schubert merely supplied the rather clunky piano accompaniment, in a style later refined with more success by Kleine Richard.
ReplyDeleteGaw, thanks, but, seriously, no! :-)
ReplyDeleteCamilla, oh ok, if you're going to be pedantic, but, and seeing as how you've mentioned him, nobody ever considers "Good Golly Miss Molly" not to be a Little Richard song, now do they.
The Wanderer!? I always had you down as the faithful type!
ReplyDeleteSx
...unless you're at that age where half way through you can't remember why you're there and have to go and get a cup of tea to try and remind you.
ReplyDeleteGreat song!
ReplyDeletePlease please please do a podcast of your performance (any performance)
Scarley, I was referring to my hands, not to the objects of my desire ;-)
ReplyDeleteKevin, there must a be a Schubert song that covers that. If not we can forge one: substitute coffee for tea and add some Viennese pasties and we've got a hit!
Lulu, glad you like it :-) Ah, I don't reckon: I've never recorded myself and as I'm really only beginner I don't reckon I'll start right now.
I still don't know who Sylvia is. Was she a transsexual?
ReplyDeleteYou're going to sing that? Crikey, and good luck. Will you be appearing on Romania's got talent in the near future?
ReplyDeleteBnanas, I don't know who Sylvia is either: Shakespeare wrote her into this and we know how he likes to confuse everything.
ReplyDeleteEryl, yes, it is a bit "crikey": I can get the top notes, but luckily I don't have to hold them for long :-) I suspect that "Romania's Got Talent" would feature young people dressed like prostitutes and their pimps... miming - so, no!
Good choice. We sang 'Who is Sylvia' in the school choir a little while ago.
ReplyDeleteI assume # 13 was a Tia Maria.
I must put you on my side bar then I don't keep missing your posts.
Pat, please do that, you missed a topper last time! :-) Tia Maria, yes. Are you still in the school choir?
ReplyDeleteAlas no.
ReplyDeleteDone it and it works:)
One of Franz Schubert's biggest fans was Johannes Brahms - he was almost in love with him. The opening harmonic progression of Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major is used in the beginning of Brahms's Third Symphony, which he wrote in Wiesbaden.
ReplyDelete#6 made me laugh
ReplyDelete打扮, I got, but I wouldn't really recommend it.
ReplyDeletePat, I was guessing that you weren't but it was your "a little while ago" that threw me :-)
Percy, good to have your expertise here. I imagine it'd be hard not to be in love with young Franz if one had any asperations towards top-flight melody.
Nursey, thanks - they (#6) had the same reaction!
For me the name Schubert means welding. Dr Emil Schubert is a great professor and make many advances in aluminium welding, and laser hyperbaric welding.
ReplyDeleteVery clever indeed. Not sure I could do the same with ELO, but it would never sound as refined as your list does.
ReplyDeleteAlice, lovely Alice, Franz Schubert was a great great great uncle of your Dr Emil. In fact, the latter was spurred on to invent his Electrode Cleaning device for Resistance Point Welding largely because of the shame he felt at Uncle Franz's inability to finish his 8th symphony.
ReplyDeleteMadame, you really should do the same for ELO. Of course it would sound refined: after all, they had a whole orchestra at their disposal rather than just a voice and a piano!
There was a v good documentary on BBC 4 about Schubert the other day.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you can watch the iPlayer in Romania, but if you can, it's here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r600k.
Brit, thanks a lot, but unfortunately I always get the message that such things are "not available in your area" :-( Bastards.
ReplyDelete