Tag: MM Music

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Music Challenge (29 May 2020)

Jim’s prompt this week is Midnight at the Oasis, a song which conjours up all sorts of visions. For me, the very first thought is of the desert, Egypt, the Sphinx. During lockdown I have responded to this prompt, normally with a song of my own, but this week, let’s do something different.

Firstly, apologies to my UK readers, who might well have seen this one on the quiz show Eggheads a few days ago. In fact it was because I was reminded of this question so recently that I post it today for an international audience.

We’ve all heard of the Riddle of the Sphinx, right? The riddle that says What is it that has one voice, and is four-footed and two-footed and three-footed? And we all know that the answer is a person, because the three stages represent the three stages of life?

But did you know that there was a second, less well-known riddle? This one goes along the lines: There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?

Anybody got any idea what the answer is? Sure, you can look it up, but where’s the fun in that?

If you think you know the answer, post it in a comment and I’ll publish the correct answer, also in a comment, shortly after 6PM my time (GMT + 1), tomorrow.

MindLoveMisery Menagerie Music Challenge (15 May 2020)

I was reading through NewEpicAuthor’s prompt today and it conjured up images of a professonal musician, somebody who plays in a bar, maybe, to entertain the customers. Cocktail music, perhaps.

That image linked to Billy Joel‘s song, Piano Man. Uptown Girl charted when I was a teenager, which got me listening to his back catalog. Joel, of course, was an established artist by then and Piano Man had been released some ten years earlier. In fact it was his first single, which climbed to #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and #25 on the Hot 100. In it, Joel sings from the point of view of a bar pianist, which seemed apt today.

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin

He says, “Son can you play me a memory
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet
And I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes.”

Sing us a song you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feeling alright

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be

He says, “Bill, I believe this is killing me.”
As a smile ran away from his face
“Well, I’m sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place.”

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he’s talking with Davy, who’s still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they’re sharing a drink they call “Loneliness”
But it’s better than drinking alone

Sing us a song you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feeling alright

It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
‘Cause he knows that it’s me they’ve been coming to see
To forget about life for a while

And the piano it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, “Man, what are you doing here?”

Sing us a song you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feeling alright

written and performed by Billy Joel

Mindlovemisery Menagerie Music Challenge (1 May 2020)

Okay, not my normal music but I thought I’d share this one:

I read the lyrics to today’s MindloveMisery Menagerie’s Music Challenge prompt, he keeps banging on about his intentions are good, and so I thought I’d post this one.

I am spared from posting any lyrics, but about the composer/performer: Sarah Coponat is a little-known French pianist/composer who I discovered a while ago. She’a a current artist, so she can be found on all the usual social media outlets and so on, but I doubt she’s very well-known, even in France! But I like it, what do you think?