h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I could kick myself - Dylan's "Hurricane" is far superior to the Chris de Burgh one!!

And my favourite ever ever - makes me cry every time: Guns 'n roses "November Rain"

Hope the hurricane is merciful to you.

, Paul.

No, I'm not in Pennsylvania these days - I've moved to North Carolina.

"I'm not in Pennsylvania these days - I've moved to North Carolina"

North Carolina will get off easy this time. I remember one year when that state got hit with three hurricanes in the space of a month.

"I could kick myself - Dylan's "Hurricane" is far superior to the Chris de Burgh one!" [TC]

I find myself regretting that the only Dylan CD I bought was "Nashville Skyline." I enjoy that CD, but it hasn't got any obvious references to rain or hurricanes....

Yeah, Paul. I was living near Charlotte when Hurricane Hugo came inland. It was, er, interesting.

The governor of Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency starting late Sunday. My local electric utility has put out an unusual announcement: "customers will be able to report outages on NStar’s website using computers or their smart phones." Um, if the power is out, your computer won't work unless it's battery operated. I know my computer doesn't use batteries.....

A storm-related recording that I *wish* I had is the soundtrack for Steve martin and Bernadette Peters' movie "Pennies from Heaven." However, I have two versions of the title song, as sung by Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday.

Thanks Paul

It's 7:00 p.m. om Sunday. There isn't much wind. There's a light rain falling. Sometimes it's just a gentle mist. A cloud cover began moving in this morning, and has been total since early afternoon.

The hurricane is supposed to arrive in these parts about 24 hours from now.

I close this post with lyrics from one verse of "Look for a sky of blue," from the satirical musical "Little Mary Sunshine," which starred the late Eileen Brennan in the 1970s off Broadway:

Whenever clouds appear,
Looking dark and drear,
Look for a sky of blue.

Whenever raindrops fall,
covering one and all,
Look for a sky of blue....

Many have discussed the quality (or lack tereoff) of Dylan's and Springsteen's voices, but I don't think you can question the sincerety of their singing in songs like Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell" and Springsteen's "The River" (the title track).

Not that I see any real problems and neither do the two gentlemen in question, I believe. They can cry all the way to the bank as our late friend Liberace put it

Same can be said for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who may at times have difficulties hitting the right notes precisely. There's something else there (a lot, actually) to make up for it, I think

That's it Paul - look for blue skies and sunshine. No more singing about rain, wind and storms when you have plenty of them outside.

I hope you're still OK.

"Many have discussed the quality (or lack tereoff) of Dylan's and Springsteen's voices, but I don't think you can question the sincerety of their singing" [Pierce]

I was listening to my Springsteen CD last week. It contains "The River". I wasn't looking for reasons to not like his singing, honest! As I listen to it more in the future, I'm hoping to eventually appreciate what he's trying to do.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash sang at the Woodstock Concert in 1969. I enjoyed hearing them. I have "I'm your man," in which a variety of performers sing Leonard Cogen's songs. I prefer to hear Leonard sing his own material. There are nuances there that others don't pick up on. Irene Ryan ["Pippin"] and Lotte Lenya ["Cabaret"] are fantastic, despite age-ravaged voices. Johnny Cash hits some clunkers, but he's also willing to sing about matters that aren't pretty, in an absolutely convincing way.

The first time I heard first-rate singing was in high school, when a girl in my class sang a solo in a Christmas concert. She'd had no voice lessons. She just totally got into the spirit of the song, singing directly and without artifice. I appreciate that kind of singing whenever I hear it, whether live or on recordings. Peggy Lee used to be quite good at it. She was one of my mother's favorite singers. Folk singers in general are pretty good at singing without artifice. Leadbelly, Woody Guthry, Pete Seeger, etc. To them, the song is what matters, and they are there to do it justice so that people can hear what they have to sing about.

The other side of the coin is that some voices are just plain enjoyable to listen to. It helps that the best of them -- Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Joan Baez -- have everything going for them in addition to having great voices. When John Lennon sings "Imagine," I get distracted by the wear and tear that has accrued to his voice. When Joan Baez sings the same song, she makes it seem as easy as pie, and I get a sense of lightness and airiness that I'm sure Lennon intended but couldn't provide. Am I wrong to want justice done to a song?

Some people argue that the song takes precedence over the singer. Others argue that the singer is more important than the song. People will be debating this for centuries to come.

The nice thing about music is that it helps drown out the sound of the wind outside. Right now I'm listening to "Very best of Fleetwood Mac," CD #2. I like their overall sound and their catchy tunes. They have some good singers who enjoy what they're singing. Right now they're singing "Tell me sweet little lies."

After Fleetwood Mac, I'll be listening to orchestral transcriptions of Puccini.

Then I'll hear "Best of Woody Herman," followed by instrumental pieces by Thomas Tallis. After that, I'll hear highlights of Mozart's "Magic Flute." As Tamino and Pamina walk through the trials of fire and water, the sound of their flute will protect them. I wish I had a flute to protect me from the trials of wind and water.

"I find myself regretting that the only Dylan CD I bought was "Nashville Skyline." I enjoy that CD, but it hasn't got any obvious references to rain or hurricanes...."

Perhaps this will do: 'Shelter from the Storm' (from Blood on the Tracks): http://www.goear.com/listen/29bc164/shelter-from-the-storm-bob-dylan

Wishing you 'Blue Sky' (up above ): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC5s3nzVzo

"Am I wrong to want justice done to a song?"

No, of course you're not. But in the end it's all a matter of taste. Some hear justice done - some don't.

Is it fair to compare Beniamino Gigli to Tom Waits? One sounds like he would sell his mother's soul to get it right, the other is quite the opposite - and yet there is something there that I can't really expain, but it makes it alright for Waits to sing like he does.

Hi paulh. Hope you don't mind my sticking my nose in here, but I just read elsewhere that you were in the path of Big Wet Sandy (or whatever it's official designation is now) and decided that I wanted to give you my best wishes, and came across this rainy thread. I read above that youtube isn't much use to you, but I want to include this link anyway..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGWq4bC29as

"It Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

I hope that the next few days don't give you too many problems.

hd.

"The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Anymore" (The Walker Bros.)

"Rainbows All Over Your Blues" (John B. Sebastian)

(You'll know the latter from Woodstock, he's such a nice guy )

Here's hoping all will be well in the end

I just heard on the news that 3 million US'ians are without electrickery at the moment. Hope you are not - and will not be - affected

Somewhere, over the rainbow
Weigh a pie
There's a land that I dreamed of
Once, in a lullaby.

Thanks for the good wishes everybody!

It's Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m., and the sun has come out from behind the clouds. My electricity stayed out throughout the storm. There were some nasty gusts last night. They hit the sides of my house pretty hard, but there was no damage. I left my hanging flowerpots out [they're hanging from the railing of my porch]. The storm didn't knock them off, but the flowers look pretty bedraggled. The violas, usually erect and pointing toward the sun] are lying on their sides.

As of late last night, 4 million people had lost their power, and ten inches of snow had fallen in West Virginia and Kentucky. Manhattan got drowned by seawater pushed over the flood walls by the storm surge. 13 feet, beating a record that had been set in 1821.

"in the end it's all a matter of taste. Some hear justice done - some don't" [Pierce]

You're right.

"s it fair to compare Beniamino Gigli to Tom Waits? One sounds like he would sell his mother's soul to get it right, the other is quite the opposite - and yet there is something there that I can't really expain, but it makes it alright for Waits to sing like he does"

I don't know Tom Waits as a singer, but I've seen him as actor. He played a rabbit-toting psychopath in "Seven psychopaths." Enthusiasm counts for a lot. I've always loved Little Richard's songs. He sounds like he's having barrels of fun when he sings. Creedence Clearwater Revival is the same. For years I hated "Down on the Corner" because it was always playing on second-rate public address systems in stores. But now that I've heard it on a good stereo system, and had a chance to catch more of the words, I realize that it's a fine song. "Proud Mary" I always liked, but didn't know what the title was. Now I know.

"Hi paulh. Hope you don't mind my sticking my nose in here, but I just read elsewhere that you were in the path of Big Wet Sandy (or whatever it's official designation is now) and decided that I wanted to give you my best wishes, and came across this rainy thread." [Hygenicdispenser]

Thanks for the kind wishes. Pretty much everybody from Maine to Ohio was in the hurricane's path. The storm was about 800 miles wide. New Jersey and New York were at ground zero. New York has about 20 million people, so any storm that wallops it is going to do a lot of damage. Last I heard, 4 million people lost their power.