Tonic Jukebox History
WEEK 77 - Holiday Tunes 2
More Tonic Jukeboxers with memories of past holidays and associated music.
Monday August 30
Madamina (from Don Giovanni, Mozart)
From Philip Barnett
We were on holiday in Italy, near Perugia. Our hotel served gourmet vegetarian food. They trained chefs from all over the world. One of our outings was to the atmospheric town of Panicale and it was there we found the Teatro Caporali, a very small theatre. Follow the Teatro Caporali link and look at the 5 or 6 photos to understand fully the following story. Our tour party consisted of a guide and 7 tourists. We were sitting in the stalls asking questions. I asked the guide if I could stand on the stage, which incidentally was the size of a large postage stamp. She agreed, but wanted to know why. I told her that I liked standing on stages (true). Judy then added that I had a lovely singing voice, so the guide asked if I would sing something. I sang the first few lines of the Madamina aria from Don Giovanni. Singing Mozart in Italian, in a tiny, yet perfect mid-19th century gem of a theatre, in Italy. It doesn't get much better than that. Take it away, Bryn.
Recording
Tuesday August 31
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
From Sue Jessel
My dad used to sing Missed the Saturday Dance (or as I thought Mister Saturday Dance) as we strode along the beach in Bembridge when I was about 7 years old. He, trying to do a Satchmo impression, and me trying to keep in step with him. I can't listen to this without smiling, although at the time, I don't think I had ever heard the original.
Recording
The March from The Love For Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
When my children were around 12 and 10 we used to do a lot of camping holidays in France so the car journeys were long and we always had a selection of music tapes: Abba, Beatles, Carpenters and more likely, classical. We had a tape of Lieutenant Kijé - the kids enjoyed the story, but this was how we discovered The March from The Love For Three Oranges as it was a 'filler' on the same tape.
Recording
Wednesday September 1
Parent-less holiday 3
Pera Matura
From Daphne Burman
It’s August 1962, Marilyn Monroe had just passed away and I was off with my best friend to Italy. Viareggio called, and we were off. First time…..no parents. We stayed up all night and slept all day and bopped every night in Italian sultry heat to this song. I used to know all the words, but 60 years on my memory often fails me. When I found it on YouTube I was bopping all around the kitchen! It was some holiday!! All those Italian fellas and not a parent sitting on my shoulder.
Recording
English translation
Thursday September 2
Ging Gang Goolie
From Jean Swanson
During the 1950's I went with my guide company to the Isle of Wight for a camping holiday. Some evenings we would have a sing song around a bonfire on the rocks overlooking the sea. One of the songs we used to sing as a round was Ging Gang Goolie.
Recording
Friday September 3
I Just Called to Say I Love You
Strangers in the Night
From Philip Barnett
The place is Merligen on Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland. The hotel, Beatus, is one we visited several times. Each year I got to sing a few numbers with that year's resident pianist, in the Piano Bar during the evening. It was fun to sing with grand piano, keyboard and rhythm box. Sometimes people got up and danced. On one holiday we took my mum and a gentleman asked her to dance while I was singing. Special moment. Two of my favourites to sing are presented here for your listening pleasure.
Recording 1
Recording 2
Weekend September 4/5
Born Free
From Gillian Peters
My husband & I had a wonderful trip touring South Africa in 2012, starting in Cape Town, then driving the Garden Route, as well as doing an amazing three-day safari at the Amakhala Game Reserve. On our last day we spotted a lion dozing in the long grasses at sunset, looking quite replete. On the return journey in the jeep, we all sang Born Free as we bumped our way along the tracks back to our base camp. It was such a once in a lifetime experience that we shall never forget. We can only hope and pray that the political situation there can return to some sort of peaceful normality soon.
The theme from the 1966 film Born Free has music written by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black and is sung by the wonderful Matt Munro and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film starred Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers and was based on the true story of Joy and George Adamson who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and then released in the wilderness.
Recording
Madamina (from Don Giovanni, Mozart)
From Philip Barnett
We were on holiday in Italy, near Perugia. Our hotel served gourmet vegetarian food. They trained chefs from all over the world. One of our outings was to the atmospheric town of Panicale and it was there we found the Teatro Caporali, a very small theatre. Follow the Teatro Caporali link and look at the 5 or 6 photos to understand fully the following story. Our tour party consisted of a guide and 7 tourists. We were sitting in the stalls asking questions. I asked the guide if I could stand on the stage, which incidentally was the size of a large postage stamp. She agreed, but wanted to know why. I told her that I liked standing on stages (true). Judy then added that I had a lovely singing voice, so the guide asked if I would sing something. I sang the first few lines of the Madamina aria from Don Giovanni. Singing Mozart in Italian, in a tiny, yet perfect mid-19th century gem of a theatre, in Italy. It doesn't get much better than that. Take it away, Bryn.
Recording
Tuesday August 31
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
From Sue Jessel
My dad used to sing Missed the Saturday Dance (or as I thought Mister Saturday Dance) as we strode along the beach in Bembridge when I was about 7 years old. He, trying to do a Satchmo impression, and me trying to keep in step with him. I can't listen to this without smiling, although at the time, I don't think I had ever heard the original.
Recording
The March from The Love For Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
When my children were around 12 and 10 we used to do a lot of camping holidays in France so the car journeys were long and we always had a selection of music tapes: Abba, Beatles, Carpenters and more likely, classical. We had a tape of Lieutenant Kijé - the kids enjoyed the story, but this was how we discovered The March from The Love For Three Oranges as it was a 'filler' on the same tape.
Recording
Wednesday September 1
Parent-less holiday 3
Pera Matura
From Daphne Burman
It’s August 1962, Marilyn Monroe had just passed away and I was off with my best friend to Italy. Viareggio called, and we were off. First time…..no parents. We stayed up all night and slept all day and bopped every night in Italian sultry heat to this song. I used to know all the words, but 60 years on my memory often fails me. When I found it on YouTube I was bopping all around the kitchen! It was some holiday!! All those Italian fellas and not a parent sitting on my shoulder.
Recording
English translation
Thursday September 2
Ging Gang Goolie
From Jean Swanson
During the 1950's I went with my guide company to the Isle of Wight for a camping holiday. Some evenings we would have a sing song around a bonfire on the rocks overlooking the sea. One of the songs we used to sing as a round was Ging Gang Goolie.
Recording
Friday September 3
I Just Called to Say I Love You
Strangers in the Night
From Philip Barnett
The place is Merligen on Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland. The hotel, Beatus, is one we visited several times. Each year I got to sing a few numbers with that year's resident pianist, in the Piano Bar during the evening. It was fun to sing with grand piano, keyboard and rhythm box. Sometimes people got up and danced. On one holiday we took my mum and a gentleman asked her to dance while I was singing. Special moment. Two of my favourites to sing are presented here for your listening pleasure.
Recording 1
Recording 2
Weekend September 4/5
Born Free
From Gillian Peters
My husband & I had a wonderful trip touring South Africa in 2012, starting in Cape Town, then driving the Garden Route, as well as doing an amazing three-day safari at the Amakhala Game Reserve. On our last day we spotted a lion dozing in the long grasses at sunset, looking quite replete. On the return journey in the jeep, we all sang Born Free as we bumped our way along the tracks back to our base camp. It was such a once in a lifetime experience that we shall never forget. We can only hope and pray that the political situation there can return to some sort of peaceful normality soon.
The theme from the 1966 film Born Free has music written by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black and is sung by the wonderful Matt Munro and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film starred Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers and was based on the true story of Joy and George Adamson who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and then released in the wilderness.
Recording