Saturday, July 28, 2012

Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18791679

Okay then, if you watched the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympics in the USA,  you stayed up very late, didn't you?  Wow, I need to watch it when I have not had such a bad week, that always influences me and makes me feel more negative...  Let's look on the bright side, shall we?

The highlights for me were the children's choirs singing Jerusalem, Danny Boy, Flower of Scotland and Guide Me Oh Thou Great Redeemer (sung to the Welsh tune of Cwm Rhondda).  This hymn is one of my favorites that we sing in my own church and I was very glad to hear it in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics!  I have a link above to the BBC's video showing the children on the beach in Wales where this was filmed.  Bless them, they must have been cold but so excited.  It made me happy to see and hear this...just beautiful children singing on a gloriously beautiful beach.
And the song "Jerusalem" is one of my husband's favorites and one that I had never heard until I lived in England in 1985, but I like it very much indeed. And I know Richard's parents and friends in England were glad that this was the song that was chosen for England.  Also, I must add that Richard was very happy to see Mike Oldfield but also wanted to be able to hear more of "Tubular Bells".

The National Health Service and the Great Ormond Street Hospital, I wonder how many owe their lives to that one hospital alone?  J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, left the royalties from Peter Pan to go to this hospital.  You may read about it at   http://www.gosh.org/gen/peterpan/history/peter-pan-and-the-hospital/ As a child, my husband spent a good bit of time there and feels he would not be here today if not for the care that he received there.  I don't pretend to understand the staging during this segment but I was grateful to see the Great Ormond Street Hospical represented. (Maybe that giant baby looked better from a distance, in the stands you see, not close-up on TV!)

To end the ceremony with Sir Paul McCartney was, of course, the icing on the cake for me.  As many times that he has sung "Hey Jude" over the years, I love that he seemed choked with emotion when he first started singing it...

The seven British teenagers lighting the torch was magical to me.  They moved with such youthful, graceful energy and they were all so perfectly in time that it put all computer imagery to shame.

I cannot give all of those children bouquets of flowers, nor can I call Sir Paul and tell him how much I appreciate him but here is a daffodil which is, I think, very special to Wales and of course, is very much loved all over Great Britain.   (I did a post this year about the poem "Daffodils" by Wordsworth.)
I don't have the children's choir from Wales singing for you,but I DID find a wonderful Welsh choir singing the same song that they sang, and this has the lyrics for you too. Please,  turn it up so you might hear all their voices.  You know I did!

38 comments:

  1. I confess when it started I thought it was all a bit twee, with the maypoles etc, and I wondered if the world would see us as a backwards nation, but I thought it got better. Although we did think the music section was over long, and some of the songs seemed a strange choice. I also thought that although the Arctic Moneys gave a good performance, it somehow didn't seem appropriate at that point.
    I suppose the tie in with GOS Hospital, and children's literature, comes from the fact that J M Barrie gave all the rights of Peter Pan to the hospital.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that J. M. Barrie gave the rights of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital, it is the staging of it all that was puzzling to me. I promise that if you had seen this on American TV, you would know what I mean! Did you like the children's choirs too?

      Delete
  2. I haven't finished watching what we recorded on our DVR last night, but I did see the choirs (beautiful), the big baby (loved the fact that Matt Lauer said he couldn't decide if it was creepy or not - me, I vote for creepy), and part of the parade of nations. I think we left off somewhere in the D's. I'll watch the rest this afternoon. It was interesting and definitely different from Beijing - who could follow that and top it? I couldn't understand why everything was said first in French and then in English, but I read the answer on Yahoo this morning (and now I can't find it). I vote "good job" for the opening ceremonies and can't wait for all the competitions.

    By the way, the flowers on your header are beyond gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kay! Your reply is below. I don't know how I do that! :-)

      Delete
  3. I think you have been more generous in your observations than I was, Kay! I wonder whether US networks' cameras were better positioned than our own. To us, everything seemed very tiny and far away!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was odd. At times, we were far away, and other times it was as if the camera was up people's noses!
      Those doves at the end that were supposed to look as if they were flying? The men on bicycles were shown so up-close that it reminded me of a combination of the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys.

      Delete
  4. Hey Kay!
    French is spoken first because they were the first to try to emulate the ancient Olympic games, and they did this in the late 1700's. French and English are the official languages used, plus the third language of whatever the host country is...does that make sense? In other words, when they were in China, the announcements would have been French, English and then, Chinese.
    I think I have to look this up every Olympics, I have a brain like a sieve.
    And I hope your sister Rhonda, likes that Welsh tune!
    And those flowers? They are from England! That was the Wedding Anniversary bouquet that was from Richard's parents and I enjoyed them so much, and now I am sharing the beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post, I enjoyed the opening ceremony very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Susan Jane Jones! And please visit me again!

      Delete
  6. I haven't seen the ceremony, but it is very interesting to read different people's different reactions to it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny, it seems you either love it or hate it.
      I was more on the hate side last night but in the light of day, I am in a more positive frame of mind.

      Delete
  7. I put up a post of my favorite moments from last night's opening night ceremonies also. KUDOS to the British Isles for the great show. My all time favorite is really the queen and James Bond though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kay!
      I am glad you enjoyed it! I wonder how Danny Boyle talked the Queen into filming that scene with Daniel Craig? (He will never be James Bond to me). And when the parachutes opened into Union Jacks? That just made me feel nostalgic for Roger Moore as James Bond in "The Spy Who Loved Me". Richard said that he saw that movie in London and the crowd let out a cheer when the parachute opened into a Union Jack.

      Delete
  8. The best piece of television for the last four years...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I am glad you enjoyed it. It was not my favorite but it had its moments.

      Delete
  9. It was quite a spectacle, and i hope everything goes off without a hitch. They've worked hard for this, and it shows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A spectacle indeed! I hope everything goes well too! Will you watch a lot of the Olympics?

      Delete
  10. My favourite parts were the singing of "Jerusalem," Evelyn Glennie's drumming, the Queen's "James Bond" segment and Mr. Bean's subversion of "Chariots of Fire."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course, I thought that was a bit disrespectful of one of my favorite movies! But if it makes young people aware of "Chariots of Fire", then it can't be a bad thing!

      Delete
  11. I didn't see the second half but I thought the farmland maypole opening was lame unt I realized I had to be patient and attentive and if I were I would not just be entertained; I would also learn something

    Xoxo
    kj

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understood the concept of it all but still feel that is was way overdone for TELEVSION. I have many faults but I have a laser beam focus on things and I am more patient than most people I know.

      Delete
  12. Sadly I missed the opening ceremony. Would have loved to have heard Sir Paul!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Paul,
      He was wonderful and his voice still sounds great. Maybe someone recorded it for you and you can watch the whole thing! :-)

      Delete
  13. Hi Kay,

    I thought the opening ceremony was fantastic. The idea was the transformation of G.B. from a very rural and gentle landscape to the industrial revolution and onward. Hence Jerusalem - "this green and pleasant land" to "those dark satanic mills". Picking out Shakespeare, National Health Service, J.K. Rowling and Roald Dahl etc. plus music and dance and the digital age. So often, we think of the negatives in life but that ceremony concentrated on most of the positives and good things that have come out of G.B. It also showed that we British have a sense of humour and can laugh at ourselves. That was my take on it anyway and I thought it amazing. Good luck to all the boys and girls who have worked so hard to get to the Olympics - they all deserve a moment of glory.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought my post was about finding the positive aspects of it.
      And see my reply to kj above.

      Delete
  14. I so loved the ceremony. It brought tears to my eyes. My soul is definitely there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you like the seven teenagers lighting the final torch? I thought that was wonderful.
      Not one single person has commented on that from my post.

      Delete
    2. I sure did. I also liked seeing Beckham hand it over in the boat. He is such a British icon, and apparently grew up in the area where the O. is being held. And I loved the agrarian element, and the Glastonbury Tor. And 'our Paulie.' I sorta wish Ringo would be included in more of these 'Beatle-y' things.

      Delete
    3. Oh Nan,
      Ringo Star! I love him and I thought the same thing, why oh why, couldn't they have gotten Ringo to play on the drums! That would have been fantastic!!!

      Delete
  15. Hi, Kay. I'm not able to watch any of it since we can't get it here at our house (no cable TV or antenna), but I know I would have enjoyed the children's choir. I really loved the video of the Welsh choir singing "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer." So powerful---gave me chills. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Beth,
      I'm so glad you liked that too. Apparently, there was a segment during the opening ceremony that was about the bombing in London on July 7, 2005. They had the song "Abide With Me". In America, that was CUT so that we could hear Ryan Seacrest interview Michael Phelps. I think the country should be OUTRAGED over that.

      Delete
  16. Hello KayG. Thanks for dropping by today.
    I didn't see much of the opening of the Olympics and appreciated your 'snap shot' of it. Would have loved to have heard Sir Paul!! And the choirs!
    Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Jim!
      And I thank you for your visit and kind comment!
      Sir Paul was great, as were the children's choirs.
      And please, stop by again, "You've Got A Friend" in me!

      Delete
  17. As hard as I tried I couldn't make it until the end to hear Sir Paul sing....I was bummed but enjoyed the parts of the show that I did see!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...and I missed the teenagers lighting the torch! I had a house full of family members and have found it hard to see as much as I would like!

      Delete
    2. The ceremony did go on for a very long time, too long for me on a Friday night to be able to fully appreciate it!

      Delete
  18. To answer your query, yes -- I liked Queen E's hair, hat and dress at the Opening Ceremonies. But I would have gone with white handbag, gloves and shoes. Black was too overpowering for her coral outfit. Why does the Palace NEVER listen to me?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Debra, the Palace never listens to me either and you know I could give such good advice! I also would have said white or cream to go with the coral...

      Delete