Kendal is famous for cake
but not the sort that you bake
It’s perfect for climbers
and walkers and rhymers
and helps to keep them awake
Song Lyric Sunday 01/12/2019 – Eye in the Sky – The Alan Parsons Project
Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
Today, Jim has given us a whole head to play with. We can choose from Chin /Ears /Eyes /Face /Mouth / or Nose.
I’m choosing Eyes, although there are few eyes in the lyrics. The song may be about a breakup of a relationship, the all seeing eye of Horus, or even Saturn, in antiquity, when it appeared above the North Pole and Mars was below it. It doesn’t really matter!
“Eye in the Sky“ is a 1982 song by the British rock band The Alan Parsons Project who were active from 1975 to 1990. It hit No. 3 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. in October 1982, No. 1 in both Canada and Spain, and No. 6 in New Zealand and was their most successful release. The instrumental piece entitled “Sirius” segues into “Eye in the Sky”‘ on the original recording and in my chosen live performance.
The group had only two permanent members, Alan Parsons, and Eric Woolfson who died in 2009. Other members were mostly session musicians who were booked as and when required.
Alan Parsons is primarily a renowned and very talented audio engineer who became a successful songwriter, musician, and record producer.
Except for one occasion, the Project never played live during its original incarnation. This was because Woolfson and Parsons saw themselves mainly in the roles of writing and production, and also because of the technical difficulties of reproducing on stage the complex instrumentation used in the studio. In the 1990s things changed with the technology of digital samplers. The one occasion where the band was introduced as ‘The Alan Parsons Project’ in a live performance was at Night of the Proms in October 1990 (at the time of the group’s break-up), featuring all Project regulars except Woolfson, who was present but behind the scenes, while Parsons stayed at the mixer except during the last song, where he played acoustic guitar.
Since 1993, a new version of the band has toured, with Parsons performing live acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals, with various line-ups. This latest incarnation was called Alan Parsons, later renamed the Alan Parsons Live Project to be distinct from ‘The Alan Parsons Project’, due to founder Parsons’ break-up with Woolfson. The band currently features lead singer P.J. Olsson, guitarist Jeffrey Kollman, drummer Danny Thompson, keyboardist Tom Brooks, bass guitarist Guy Erez, vocalist and saxophonist Todd Cooper, and guitarist and vocalist Dan Tracey. In 2013, Alan Parsons Live Project played Colombia with a full choir and orchestra (the Medellin Philharmonic) as ‘Alan Parsons Symphonic Project’. A 2-CD live set and a DVD version of this concert were released in May 2016. This recording is from that concert.
I hope you enjoy “Sirius” followed by “Eye in the Sky”
Eye in the Sky
Don’t think sorry’s easily said
Don’t try turning tables instead
You’ve taken lots of Chances before
But I’m not gonna give anymore
Don’t ask me
That’s how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you’re thinkin’
Don’t say words you’re gonna regret
Don’t let the fire rush to your head
I’ve heard the accusation before
And I ain’t gonna take any more
Believe me
The sun in your Eyes
Made some of the lies worth believing
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don’t need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind
Don’t leave false illusions behind
Don’t cry cause I ain’t changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain’t gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the signs are deceiving
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don’t need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Alan Parsons / Eric Norman Wolfson
Eye in the Sky lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lundi limerick #62
Limericks are normally light hearted, mildly humorous, often tongue in cheek, and slightly risqué. This one is not any of those. For whatever reason, this came to mind and it makes me rather sad. I shall not analyse, or explain, any more than that!
Jenny from Jarrow was sad
she’d argued with Mum and with Dad
She’d never felt right
and had told them in fright
that she desperately felt like a lad
Song Lyric Sunday 24/11/2019 – Bounty /Desert /Eat /Feast /Food /Hungry /Turkey
Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourites you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
I am totally cheating this week in that this is an instrumental video, it is NOT A SONG, and there are NO LYRICS. However, it is the end music to the film “Mutiny on the Bounty” from 1984, so it sort of fits the bill.
It really is great music, in the very recognisable form of Vangelis, although, in this video, sequenced with sonar and tyros 3 and performed by Albertvvl.
I hope you enjoy it.
Also, below, is the Opening music
Rapid rhyme #18
My cousin Kevin worked at Kew
he kept the kale well clipped
He couldn’t cut too closely though
in case his clippers slipped
He used a cutlass on the grass
as sharp as sharp could be
A fact that he regretted much
as he sliced right through his knee
Regardless, Kevin hopped around
but fell and banged his head
He rolled across the grass and then
he rolled into the bed
Alas poor Kevin is no more
succumbed to cuts too many
And if you want another verse
Well tough, there are not any!
Rapid Rhyme #17
I’m sure I’m never certain
I’m certain I’m unsure
and when I think about it
I have to think some more
I nearly made my mind up
I’ll have to think again
But really I am certain
It’s just I don’t know when!
Inspired by this marvellous thought from Colleen.
Lundi limerick #61
Sidney from Ilfracombe
crept quietly into her room
He wanted to dance
with the lady from France
who wore in her hair a red plume
(For those outside UK Ilfracombe is pronounced ILFRACOOM)
Song Lyric Sunday 17/11/2019 – Are Friends Electric? – Don’t ask
Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
I have missed three weeks but have still managed to listen to the entries. However, since “There are two means of refuge from the misery of life — music and cats.” (Albert Schweitzer) I thought I’d better make an effort to find the time to offer my choice for this week, and stroke my cat, Daisy!
The song I’m offering has a very tenuous link to the prompts this week (Did/Didn’t/Do/Don’t/Does/Doesn’t) in that the lyrics contain the word DON’T twice. That’s it! The real reason is I like this song and I hope you do too. It is the first hit of a group who only existed from 1975 to 1979.
Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave and electronic band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-based number-one hit, with their single “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK charts in mid-1979. After its release, Numan opted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release music under his own name as he was the sole songwriter, producer and public face of the band, but he retained the musicians from Tubeway Army as his backing band. (Wikipedia)
And here is a later, live performance, at the Brixton Academy.
Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
It’s cold outside
And the paint’s peeling off of my walls
There’s a man outside
In a long coat, gray hat, smoking a cigarette
Now the light fades out
And I’m only wondering what I’m doing in a room like this
There’s a knock on the door
And just for a second I thought I remembered you
So now I’m alone
Now I can think for myself
About little deals and S.U.’s
And things that I just don’t understand
Like a white lie that night
Or a slight touch at times
I don’t think it meant anything to you
So I open the door
It’s the friend that I’d left in the hallway
“Please sit down”
A candle lit a shadow on a wall near the bed
You know I hate to ask
(But are friends electric?)
[Incomprehensible] mine’s broke down
And now I’ve no one to love
So I find out your reason
For the phone calls and smiles
And it hurts and I’m lonely
And I should never have tried
And I missed you tonight
So it’s time to leave
You see this means everything to me
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Gary Numan
Are ‘Friends’ Electric? lyrics © Universal/Momentum Music 3 Ltd., Numan Music Usa LLC, UNIVERSAL – POLYGRAM INTERNATIONAL PUB INC, UNIVERSAL-MCA MUSIC PUB OBO UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUB. LTD., GARY NUMAN USA UNIVERSE
Twittering Tales #162 – 12 November 2019
It’s time again, for Kat Myrman’s wonderful challenge, to write a story, inspired by her picture prompt, in 280 characters or fewer.
Here is this week’s prompt and my contribution.
Check out all the fabulously creative entries here and, if you’ve never had a go, why not try a story of your own? You may surprise yourself!
Photo by raw pixel @ pixabay.com
The colourful speech society were an ecstatic group of life loving individuals, but were quite concerned that the latest generation of schoolchildren could speak only English.
Had they been a little less ecstatic they may have discovered that the children were all colour blind!
(278 characters)
Lundi limerick #60
Horatio hailed from Hull
the guy was incredibly dull
He polished his nose
and painted his toes
and now his diary is full!
