Tonic Jukebox History
WEEK 73 - Animals 2
This week' animals include an ant, a ram, a blue bird, a donkey, some ducks, an ape, a toad, a rat, a mole and a badger.
Monday August 2
High Hopes
High Hopes is a song first popularised by Frank Sinatra, with music written by James Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It first appeared in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head sung by Sinatra and child actor Eddie Hodges. It won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 32nd Academy Awards. Van Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won four times. 1944 – Swinging on a Star (lyrics by Johnny Burke), 1957 – All the Way (lyrics by Sammy Cahn), 1959 – High Hopes, 1963 – Call Me Irresponsible (lyrics by Sammy Cahn). I found Eddie Hodges' personal life quite fascinating.
Recording
Tuesday August 3
The Blue Bird
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 – 1924) was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Stanford composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but his best-remembered pieces are his choral works. The Blue Bird is one of his best known pieces. The words are taken from a poem by British novelist and poet, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 - 1907). She was the great-grandniece of the celebrated English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Recording
The lake lay blue below the hill/O'er it, as I looked, there flew/Across the waters, cold and still/A bird whose wings were palest blue
The sky above was blue at last/The sky beneath me blue in blue/A moment, ere the bird had passed/It caught his image as he flew
Wednesday August 4
Donkey Serenade
The Firefly is a 1937 musical film starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones (also in one of my favourites, A Night At The Opera). The film is an adaptation of the operetta of the same name by composer Rudolf Friml and librettist Otto A. Harbach that premiered on Broadway in 1912. The song, Donkey Serenade, was sung in the movie by Jones and MacDonald who were major stars of the day. Friml and Harbach were responsible for many well-known songs (see links to them above). Enjoy this classic example of early film making.
Recording
Thursday August 5 (Duck Day)
The Ugly Duckling
Hans Christian Andersen is a 1952 Hollywood musical film starring Danny Kaye. I am sure the song needs no further introduction.
Recording
Couplet de Canard (Quacking chorus)
L'Ile de Tulipatan (The Island of Tulipatan) is an opera in one act by Jacques Offenbach. It was first performed in Paris in 1868.
Bryan explains: Couplet de Canard, might mean "Song of the Duck", but Canard also means an unfounded rumour "fake news" if you like - and that is the point - it's a pun. I was in a production of L'Ile de Tulipatan, (playing a very minor role) in about 1981
Recording
Approximate translation (from Bryan):
[It is the] gentle and very debonaire prince that you see in me, the great Cacatois.
My subjects, of whom I am the father, all love me, at least I believe so.
If you are told in the gazettes that I don't manage well, that I have paid off all my debts [fraudulently],
My dear friends, don't believe it!
On my word It's a canard [duck], a frivolous noise, a trap!
Quack, quack [etc]
If sometimes newspaper headlines state that I am a terribly incapable, and that I get everything wrong,
If they say that I'm losing my mind and my fortune to gambling at dominoes, that I am sometimes tipsy,
don't believe it!
Friday August 6
I Wanna Be Like You
I Wanna Be Like You is a song from Walt Disney's 1967 film The Jungle Book. The song was written by Robert and Richard Sherman. The score features eight original songs: seven by the Sherman Brothers and one by Terry Gilkyson. Longtime Disney collaborator Gilkyson was the first songwriter to submit several complete songs that followed the book closely but Walt Disney felt that his efforts were too dark. The only piece of Gilkyson's work which survived to the final film was his upbeat tune The Bare Necessities. The Sherman Brothers were then brought in to do a complete rewrite.
Recording
Weekend August 7/8
Home is a special kind of feeling
The Wind in the Willows is a children's book by British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It focuses on four anthropomorphised animals: Mole, Rat (a European water vole), Toad, and Badger. They live in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. John Milford Rutter (born 1945) is an English composer, mainly of choral music. Rutter set the Wind in the Willows story to music with narration, running for about 30 minutes. Home is a special kind of feeling is the finale and Tonic Extra thoroughly enjoyed learning/singing the piece. Radio station Classic FM plays continuous carols at Christmas time and many are by Rutter. This has led to a saying in our house when a carol is played which has not been written by him, "You can't believe it's not Rutter".
Recording
High Hopes
High Hopes is a song first popularised by Frank Sinatra, with music written by James Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It first appeared in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head sung by Sinatra and child actor Eddie Hodges. It won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 32nd Academy Awards. Van Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won four times. 1944 – Swinging on a Star (lyrics by Johnny Burke), 1957 – All the Way (lyrics by Sammy Cahn), 1959 – High Hopes, 1963 – Call Me Irresponsible (lyrics by Sammy Cahn). I found Eddie Hodges' personal life quite fascinating.
Recording
Tuesday August 3
The Blue Bird
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 – 1924) was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Stanford composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but his best-remembered pieces are his choral works. The Blue Bird is one of his best known pieces. The words are taken from a poem by British novelist and poet, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 - 1907). She was the great-grandniece of the celebrated English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Recording
The lake lay blue below the hill/O'er it, as I looked, there flew/Across the waters, cold and still/A bird whose wings were palest blue
The sky above was blue at last/The sky beneath me blue in blue/A moment, ere the bird had passed/It caught his image as he flew
Wednesday August 4
Donkey Serenade
The Firefly is a 1937 musical film starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones (also in one of my favourites, A Night At The Opera). The film is an adaptation of the operetta of the same name by composer Rudolf Friml and librettist Otto A. Harbach that premiered on Broadway in 1912. The song, Donkey Serenade, was sung in the movie by Jones and MacDonald who were major stars of the day. Friml and Harbach were responsible for many well-known songs (see links to them above). Enjoy this classic example of early film making.
Recording
Thursday August 5 (Duck Day)
The Ugly Duckling
Hans Christian Andersen is a 1952 Hollywood musical film starring Danny Kaye. I am sure the song needs no further introduction.
Recording
Couplet de Canard (Quacking chorus)
L'Ile de Tulipatan (The Island of Tulipatan) is an opera in one act by Jacques Offenbach. It was first performed in Paris in 1868.
Bryan explains: Couplet de Canard, might mean "Song of the Duck", but Canard also means an unfounded rumour "fake news" if you like - and that is the point - it's a pun. I was in a production of L'Ile de Tulipatan, (playing a very minor role) in about 1981
Recording
Approximate translation (from Bryan):
[It is the] gentle and very debonaire prince that you see in me, the great Cacatois.
My subjects, of whom I am the father, all love me, at least I believe so.
If you are told in the gazettes that I don't manage well, that I have paid off all my debts [fraudulently],
My dear friends, don't believe it!
On my word It's a canard [duck], a frivolous noise, a trap!
Quack, quack [etc]
If sometimes newspaper headlines state that I am a terribly incapable, and that I get everything wrong,
If they say that I'm losing my mind and my fortune to gambling at dominoes, that I am sometimes tipsy,
don't believe it!
Friday August 6
I Wanna Be Like You
I Wanna Be Like You is a song from Walt Disney's 1967 film The Jungle Book. The song was written by Robert and Richard Sherman. The score features eight original songs: seven by the Sherman Brothers and one by Terry Gilkyson. Longtime Disney collaborator Gilkyson was the first songwriter to submit several complete songs that followed the book closely but Walt Disney felt that his efforts were too dark. The only piece of Gilkyson's work which survived to the final film was his upbeat tune The Bare Necessities. The Sherman Brothers were then brought in to do a complete rewrite.
Recording
Weekend August 7/8
Home is a special kind of feeling
The Wind in the Willows is a children's book by British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It focuses on four anthropomorphised animals: Mole, Rat (a European water vole), Toad, and Badger. They live in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. John Milford Rutter (born 1945) is an English composer, mainly of choral music. Rutter set the Wind in the Willows story to music with narration, running for about 30 minutes. Home is a special kind of feeling is the finale and Tonic Extra thoroughly enjoyed learning/singing the piece. Radio station Classic FM plays continuous carols at Christmas time and many are by Rutter. This has led to a saying in our house when a carol is played which has not been written by him, "You can't believe it's not Rutter".
Recording