"Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Freddie Mercury of Queen. Freddie Mercury - Wikipedia (You should click on that link and read some descriptions of his incredible singing voice.) The song comes from Queen's album, "A Night at the Opera", released in 1975. Richard told me in some of our first letters that he was a fan of Queen. He saw them in concert in 1974! When the album came out in 1975, I was amazed. It was unlike anything I had ever heard! Since that time, "Bohemian Rhapsody" has gained more and more fans and this year, it has now become the most streamed song from the 20th century with over 1.6 billion global streams! Years ago, I shared this video of "Bethlehemian Rhapsody", which is the same song with lyrics about the Nativity. I am sharing it again and I am hoping you can see it, this one shows the lyrics. (There are others that out there, but I really like this one, the man singing has a good voice, I think.) The puppets and the lyrics are excellent and of course, we know the music is sublime!
Hey! Anybody remember me telling you that I had discovered a CD that I didn't know that we had? I know you must have all just been waiting with great anticipation to know the name of it! Well, wait no longer.... it is "Quality Street", the Christmas album by Nick Lowe! It came out in 2013 and Richard tells me that we have had that in our collection since that year. Tee -hee, better late than never, right? Anyway, I have given you three of the songs here but please, search these songs out. I love them all!
"I Was Born in Bethlehem" was written by Nick Lowe.
"Old Toy Trains" was written by another great songwriter, Roger Miller.
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". Roy Wood with Wizzard are the original artists. (Roy Wood is listed as the songwriter.) It is VERY popular in the UK! That song was on "Now That's What I Call Music (The Christmas Album") from 1985. You know we have it still! It is becoming more well known here in the USA with more and more artists covering this song. I really love how Nick Lowe does it! It really makes you want to dance around and sing along to it, it does that for me anyway!
Nick Lowe is from England and perhaps that is why he called his Christmas album "Quality Street" as that is the name of a popular tin of chocolates in the UK!
Since I write so much about music and songwriting, I am sure you know that I think I really must go and see the new film that is coming out shortly, "Song Sung Blue". It is based on a true-life couple who were singers who sang songs by Neil Diamond. That movie seems tailor made for me!
In my last post, I showed you a photo of my tree from last year. In doing that, I saw this picture of the Planters Nuts that I had gotten for my husband. La dee dah, I thought I would try to buy this again for him. Guess what, you cannot find this ANYWHERE! You can see it on Amazon, but it is completely sold out. Interesting to me, I think it is because it has such sweet colorful packaging with funny little sayings. I liked it so much, I didn't even wrap it, as you can see!
Now, I have been going a little "nuts" myself crocheting presents for people. Do my friends and family want homemade gifts from me? Ha! That's what they are getting! Hope you are all doing well, enjoying music and nature and creating things. You know I am!
"Christmas Can't Be Far Away".
Hey! I found another video! If you look at this, you can click on each number and hear a sample of each song on the album.
That must be the cry in heaven this week, as Steve Cropper has passed away. I am very much saddened by this. I have written about him on my blog before...I wrote a post when his very good friend Donald "Duck" Dunn died in 2012. You may read that post here. I told you all those years ago to make sure that you watch the film "The Blues Brothers". I was surprised at the number of people who left comments who had never seen it! It is always sad to me to lose someone like Steve Cropper, not just a talented musician and songwriter but also, a very nice guy.
I have two videos here for you. "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave, where Steve Cropper was the guitarist for the backing band and that is where the "Play it, Steve" is first heard.
The next video is of Steve Cropper playing his guitar on a late-night TV show. What a talent!
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Steve Cropper!"
Thinking of the music of today, I was reminded of the lyrics of the song by Bob Seger. ("Old Time Rock and Roll" was a big hit for Bob Seger but it was written by George Jackson. It became even more well known when Tom Cruise danced to it in a film in the 1980's!) George Jackson (songwriter) - Wikipedia
"Just take those old records off the shelf. I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself. Today's music ain't got the same SOUL, I want that old time rock and roll!"
There, I typed out those lyrics above and those are from my memory, so I might not have them exactly, but they are close enough, don't you think?
Feeling a bit blue? Nothing like a bluebird to cheer you up! Richard got this shot of the bird having a nice bath in our very expensive bird bath that we put out. (Ha, it is a plastic dish, but we keep it very clean and the birds love it.)
All of our beautiful autumn leaves are now a thing of the past. November was beautiful with color but now, December is with us, and it is rainy and grey. Oh well, all the more reason to break out the bright decorations for Christmas with the cheerful red colors and lights!
As I have been typing this post, I keep having to stop and go check on the clothes that I am washing and drying. It reminds me of something that someone sent me recently that made me giggle...."Do you know something that you can always rely on? Laundry. There is always laundry!" There, that is very true, isn't it? The next time you wash your clothes, you will think of me! Hope you giggle too.
I don't have my Christmas tree up yet but perhaps looking at these photos from last year will make me do so.
