Musical Monday - History Repeating by Shirley Bassey and Propellerheads

One of the depressing things about having studied history is that one can see when it begins to repeat itself. What is even more depressing is realizing that so many of one's fellow citizens are not well-versed enough to see it as well. Over the last several years, many people have been very concerned about what they perceived to be a dearth of science, engineering, and math students, but at the same time, we have seen so many people go through the educational system and emerge without a solid grounding in the humanities, including history, civics, and world affairs. I believe this is in part responsible for the current sad and uninformed shape of the American electorate.

We have seen this sort of thing happen before. It is really no mystery to anyone with an understanding of history as to what happens when a politician resorts to scapegoating minority populations and blaming foreigners for perceived economic woes. There is no real mystery as to what happens when the government is taken over by corporate interests and generals. The lesson history teaches us is that these developments are merely harbingers of far worse to come. I wear a tattoo on my arm that is a quote from the late Senator Daniel Inouye, a veteran of World War II who literally gave his right arm in the defense of American democracy. The quote is "lessons learned must remain", a portion of his speech at the dedication of the memorial to those Japanese-Americans who were placed in internment camps during World War II. This was a warning that we must all remember what was done before so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, I think that too many Americans have forgotten, and consequently we will have to learn these hard lessons once again. I can only hope that the price of acquiring this wisdom is not too high.

Previous Musical Monday: The World That He Sees by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Subsequent Musical Monday: Man in Black by Johnny Cash

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Musical Monday Playlist - Symphony of Science

The Symphony of Science is the creation of John D. Boswell, who goes by the user name melodysheep on YouTube. The project uses autotune software to craft songs out of speeches and interviews given by prominent scientists. In general, the scientists highlighted are already passionate and eloquent - Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, David Attenborough, Richard Feynman, Jane Goodall, and Jill Bolte, all expounding on subjects ranging from the creation of the universe, to the evolution of life, to our place in the cosmos, and what our future might look like. If you don't like autotuned voices, then these songs aren't for you. On the other hand, they are filled with the wonder and hope engendered by the joy of science and discovery as told by people who have dedicated their lives to those causes.

09/20/10: A Glorious Dawn by Symphony of Science

09/27/10: The Unbroken Thread by Symphony of Science

10/25/10: The Case for Mars by Symphony of Science

11/01/10: A Wave of Reason by Symphony of Science

11/24/10: We Are All Connected by Symphony of Science

01/24/11: The Big Beginning by Symphony of Science

07/02/12: We Are Star Dust by Symphony of Science

07/16/12: The Greatest Show on Earth by Symphony of Science

09/17/12: Our Biggest Challenge by Symphony of Science

01/06/14: Our Place in the Universe by Symphony of Science

01/13/14: Monsters of the Cosmos by Symphony of Science

03/16/15: Ode to the Brain! by Symphony of Science

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Musical Monday Playlist - Other Holiday Songs

These are all the Musical Monday videos that I have posted over the years in relation to holidays other than Christmas and Halloween. I haven't really posted enough videos to justify an individual playlist for any holiday other than those two, so I have consolidated them into one list. I have listed the videos by holiday, and listed the holidays in the order that they arrive on the calendar every year.

President's Day

02/20/12: The Presidents by Jonathan Coulton

Easter

03/26/18: The Easter Song by Paul & Storm

Star Wars Day
05/05/14: The Imperial March

Memorial Day

05/26/14: Mama, Look Sharp by Stephen Nathan

Fourth of July

07/06/15: Daylight Again by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

07/04/16: The Egg by William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, and Ken Howard

07/03/17: The Lees of Old Virginia by Ron Holgate, William Daniels, and Howard Da Silva

Armistice Day

11/11/13: Cortège by Cecil Coles

Thanksgiving

12/01/14: Thanksgiving Is Better Than Christmas by Molly Lewis

11/20/17: The Pumpkin Spice Lament by Molly Lewis

Chanukah

12/07/15: Chanukah Honey by Rachel Bloom

New Year's Eve

12/31/12: In My Mind by Amanda Palmer
12/30/13: A Talk With George by Jonathan Coulton

12/29/14: Cats at Parties by The Doubleclicks

12/28/15: Overrated New Year by Sarah Donner

12/26/16: History Repeating by Shirley Bassey and Propellerheads

01/01/18: Talking with My Father by Dougie MacLean

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Musical Monday Playlist - Halloween Songs

When I set about creating Musical Monday playlists, I was midly surprised at the number of Halloween songs that I had featured as Musical Monday selections. After Christmas songs, Halloween songs are the most prevalent of any of the holiday-related songs that I have featured. I suspect this is mostly due to the fact that there just aren't a lot of songs for other holidays - there aren't a whole lot of Thanksgiving songs, for example, and Easter songs are pretty rare as well. And so on.

What makes the number of Halloween songs kind of odd is that I don't really have any particular fondness for Halloween - I am just not one of those people who gets excited about decorating the house for the holiday, carving pumpkins, dressing up, or going out to cornfield mazes, or any of the other activities that some people get really worked up over. I don't have anything against the holiday, but for the most part my participation has come down to making sure that I have candy on hand in case I get trick or treaters, and not even that in the past couple of years due to the fact that the place I am living pretty much gets no trick or treaters.

These songs have no real connection to one another save that they are at least vaguely Halloween-related and I like them. None of them are really serious either. One odd note that I have noticed is that even though Halloween is ostensibly scary, in popular culture it is more often portrayed in a light-hearted humorous manner.

09/28/15: Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival

10/05/15: Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon

10/12/15: Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers

10/19/15: Lame Monster Party by Paul & Storm

10/26/15: Vincent the Vegetable Vampire by Morgan Freeman

10/31/16: Cruel, Cruel Moon by Paul & Storm

10/30/17: Stranger Things Opening Theme

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Musical Monday Playlist - Christmas Songs

Every year over the last few years, starting some time in December I post a couple of Christmas-related songs as Musical Monday selections. There isn't really a lot that connects these songs other than the fact that most of them are a little bit nerdy, many of them are fairly funny, and they are all about Christmas in some way. The songs on this list range from country songs about a gloriously red-necky Christmas celebration to a nerd-folk science fiction song about people ruled over by robot overlords (excuse me, I mean protectors) to an a capella celebration of the season by two of the student singing groups at the University of Virginia. For the most part, the only thing that truly connects these songs (other than their Christmas theme), is that I like them.

11/05/12: The Way Too Early Christmas Song by Paul & Storm

11/26/12: Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton (with Paul & Storm)
12/03/12: Kidnap the Sandy Claws by Lock, Shock, and Barrel
12/17/12: Christmas Is Interesting by Jonathan Coulton (with Paul & Storm)
12/24/12: Present Face by Garfunkel & Oates

12/02/13: Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keen

12/09/13: The Hobbit Christmas Song by The Doubleclicks
12/16/13: 12 Days by Straight No Chaser
12/23/13: Christmas Eve Eve by Paul & Storm

12/08/14: The Music Box by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

12/15/14: White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin

12/22/14: Old City Bar by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

12/23/14: Winter Song/White Winter Hymnal by the Virginia Gentlemen and the Virginia Sil'hooettes

12/24/14: Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas by Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and Joel Robinson

12/14/15: Grandma Cooked the Dog by Paul & Storm

12/21/15: Things to Believe In by Sarah Donner

12/05/16: Christmas Time Is Here by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

12/12/16: Please Bring Firefly Back (for Christmas) by Mikey Mason

12/19/16: The World That He Sees by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

11/27/17: O Holy Night by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

12/11/17: Christmas Canon Rock by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

12/25/17: Christmas Eve/Sarajevo by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

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Musical Monday Playlist - Dream Five Year Mission Set

Left to right: Butler, Spurgin, Fark, Rittenhouse, and O'Connor

Based in Indianapolis, Five Year Mission is, quite simply, the best Star Trek themed band in existence. Composed of Noah Butler, Andy Fark, P.J. O'Connor, Mike Rittenhouse, and Chris Spurgin, the band was originally formed with the intent of writing and recording a song for each of the episodes of the original Star Trek series, including the originally unaired pilot The Cage (which was later reworked into the two part story The Menagerie). Thus far, the band has released three CDs consisting of songs about individual episodes up through The Immunity Syndrome, plus two more specialty CDs composed of songs all focused on a single episode: One for The Trouble With Tribbles, and another for Spock's Brain.

Between August 2015 and February 2016 I laid out what I would consider to be the best play set for the band, drawing from the songs they had released through that time period. As far as I know, this set has never actually been played, and nor is it likely to, as I believe some of these songs are songs that the band either no longer plays live, or has never played live. Even so, this is the playlist I wish they would play some time, and if I were the king of the world who could make such things happen, it would be.

08/03/15: The Cage by Five Year Mission

08/10/15: Balance of Terror by Five Year Mission

08/17/15: City on the Edge of Forever by Five Year Mission

08/24/15: Miri by Five Year Mission

08/31/15: The Doomsday Machine by Five Year Mission

09/07/15: I, Mudd by Five Year Mission

09/14/15: The Corbomite Maneuver by Five Year Mission

09/21/15: Charlie X by Five Year Mission

11/02/15: Where No Man Has Gone Before by Five Year Mission

11/09/15: Mirror, Mirror by Five Year Mission

11/16/15: The Changeling by Five Year Mission

11/21/15: Wolf in the Fold by Five Year Mission

11/30/15: Arena by Five Year Mission

02/01/16: Shore Leave by Five Year Mission

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Musical Monday Playlist - Brandenburg Concertos

J.S. Bach

The Brandenburg Concertos are a set of six musical works Johann Sebastian Bach presented to the Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt as a group in 1721. Although the concertos were all given over as a gift to the Margrave in 1721, it seems likely that several of them were composed earlier. Accompanying the compositions, Bach provided a dedication, which reads in part

"As I had the good fortune a few years ago to be heard by Your Royal Highness, at Your Highness's commands, and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the little talents which Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking Leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness designed to honour me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my Composition: I have in accordance with Your Highness's most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments; begging Your Highness most humbly not to judge their imperfection with the rigor of that discriminating and sensitive taste, which everyone knows Him to have for musical works, but rather to take into benign Consideration the profound respect and the most humble obedience which I thus attempt to show Him."

Christian Ludwig

The concertos were exceedingly innovative works for their time, using a broad array of instruments in combinations that had never been tried before. Ironically, due to a lack of musicians available, it appears likely that Ludwig was never able to hear the concertos himself, and they remained unused until after his death in 1734, when they were discovered in the Margrave's library and sold for a relatively trivial amount.

This playlist is fairly straightforward: Bach wrote six Brandenburg Concertos, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra recorded performances of all of them. I posted them in part because one was played at my son's high school graduation, and in part because they are pieces of music that have inspired me over the years. I find them to be the perfect music to play when I am writing or working.

07/11/16: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

07/18/16: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

06/27/16: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

07/25/16: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

08/15/15: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

08/22/16: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

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Musical Monday Playlist - Cabaret

In the 2016 Presidential election, I wrote about the music from the movie Cabaret, using it to compare the Trump campaign to one of its closest historical precedents. Starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey, and set in Germany during the Weimar Republic, Cabaret shows people living out their fairly ordinary lives, and that is what makes the play so terrifying. In the background of the play, showing up every now and then, the Nazi Party is on the rise, and with only a few fleeting exceptions, the characters mostly ignore them. There are a few instances in which the performers at the Kit Kat Klub make fun of the Nazi adherents, and one notable albeit futile instance of open resistance, but for the most part, the characters all put the Nazi threat out of their mind and proceed with their lives as normal.

This, I believe, is paralleled by the rise of Trump, and the fact that most people seem to want to simply put it out of their mind and go on with their lives as if everything was normal. Make no mistake about it, Trump is an authoritarian, and if he were given the opportunity to impose the policies he has espoused and the leadership style he has favored in the past, he will be a fascist. All those saying "give him a chance" are merely playing out the part of the characters in Cabaret, who spent their time worrying about the details of their personal lives while the nation around them slowly caught fire.

In the weeks before the election I said that I feared that the election of Trump as President of the United States might mean the end of the U.S. Republic as we have known it. I still stand by that assessment. It is likely that we are about to see a remaking of the nation at a very fundamental level. Laws and practices that most people alive today have taken for granted as the basic foundations of the landscape of the country are up for grabs: The Voting Rights Acts, the Civil Rights Acts, the separation of church and state, a respect for non-Christian religions, the laws against neopotism and graft, the very existence of national parks - these and much more that people simply assume are facts of life in the U.S. are all likely to be threatened by a Trump administration. Effectively, with a pliant Republican controlled Congress, there is no law or policy that is not subject to revocation or alteration. With a Republican controlled Supreme Court, there is nothing at all that is safe.

The world is changing, and like the characters in Cabaret, many Americans are willfully oblivious to the coming storm.

02/15/16: Tomorrow Belongs to Me by Mark Lambert

09/12/16: Wilkommen by Joel Grey

09/19/16: Mein Herr by Liza Minnelli

09/26/16: Two Ladies by Joel Grey

10/03/16: Money, Money by Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli

10/10/16: If You Could See Her Through My Eyes by Joel Grey

10/17/16: Tiller Girls featuring Joel Grey

10/24/16: Cabaret by Liza Minnelli

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Musical Monday Playlists

Over the last couple of years, some of the Musical Monday selections I have made have been thematically linked, either by accident or by conscious decision making on my part. Over the next few days, I am going to gather these linked selections together into Musical Monday playlists that I will post links to here. I will probably post more in the future, and as I do, I will add them to this list.

Brandenburg Concertos
Cabaret
Christmas Music
Five Year Mission Dream Set
Halloween Music
Other Holiday Songs
Symphony of Science

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