“Hello Dolly” - Louis Armstrong
From The Definitive Collection
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I wouldn't begin to call myself a theatre buff. I performed in a few plays in high school. I worked for a dinner theatre in college where I did everything from run the box office, served as a waiter, ran the light board, and even acted as a corpse in Big River. I love to go to the theatre, but I my knowledge is slight.
A few years back while I was walking across my alma mater's campus, a friend of mine pulled his car up, rolled down his window, and asked, “I've got two tickets to see Hello Dolly in Birmingham with Carol Channing, wanna come?” I might not be that knowledgeable on all things theatre, but I knew enough to say "sure" and jumped in his car.
I don't remember much about that show now, but Channing was a hoot. She was way past her prime, but she still managed to charm the audience straight through. She even gave a funny little speech in the end.
“Hello....(looking down at a note card)...uh, Birmingham. It is so good to be in this fine city.”
Having turned down any number of invitations to see things I now fully regret having missed, I treasure being able to see Carol Channing in her signature show.
There was a time when Louis Armstrong got slagged for performing such a commercial pop song (musicals aren't jazz, don't you know?) but it became a huge hit (knocking The Beatles off the number 1 spot.) It's great fun, too. Not as crazy inventive as his early work, maybe, but still a fun song by a great musician.
“Hook” Blues Traveler
From Four
Download the mp3.
In college, like so many others, I spent my first couple of years living in dormitories. Small, rectangular rooms made from cinder blocks and duct tape. We never minded the dankness of our rooms though for we were having quite literally the times of our lives.
There are stories upon stories to tell about those days and at this very moment I am planning a reunion with those boys this summer and I look forward to long nights talking about the time we hunted for panthers in the field behind the dorm, or the “Peanut Butter Movie” and the time Mullins cranked up “Give Peace a Chance” put it on repeat and then left for the day, or the face on Pat Tidwell when he came into his room after we had plastered copies of “Black Tail” all over his walls.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
wow.
2 - Mary K. Williams
Wow. Is all I've got to say. At this moment.
Wow.
3 - Mary K. Williams
Wow. Is all I've got to say. At this moment.
Wow.
4 - Mat Brewster
Thanks. Thanks a lot. That last bit, the Springsteen one, I worked and worked on. I wrote it, edited it and then let it sit for weeks. Then wrote a different take and let it sit some more. Finally I got it right (I hope) and here it is.
5 - Alexandria
Powerful stuff. Thanks.
6 - Josh Hathaway
I've long believed that "My City of Ruins" should be sung in every church in America. That's a powerful hymn right there.
Well done, Sir Brewster.
7 - Mat Brewster
It's a great song. The first time I hear it actually was on that trip and it nearly destroyed me. It still does actually. That final rise up is just awesome.
8 - Bennett
Exceptional blend of times good and bad.
"Sometimes I think my whole filthy life is nothing but one long mistake. There are dark nights when I regret the whole thing, and want to start fresh and clean."
Ay, that's the bane of aging with introspection. Well said Sir Brewster.
9 - Gary Benz
The verse you note regarding "...tears on my pillow" is my favorite Springsteen lyric of all time and I'm a major Springsteen fan from way, way back and all the way to the present. The song itself was really written with 9/11 in mind and that particular verse really refers to someone who is gone involuntarily, for example but not specifically, someone who died in the towers. But the great thing about Springsteen and his writing is how he can take that kind of situation and make it more universal, to apply under any number of circumstances including, of course, the situation you wrote about.
10 - Mat Brewster
Thanks Bennett. It sucks to get old sometimes.
Gary, I thought "My City of Ruins" was written before 9/11 and was actually about the decay of Springsteens hometown. It came in handy after 9/11 but I read it was written before those events.
Is that false? Or did he write those more personal lyrics after 9/11?
Great song no matter what.
11 - Glen Boyd
I think "My City" was actually written about Sprinsgteen's hometown, so you didn't get that wrong, Brewster.
The way it was applied to the 9/11 tragedy in it's latter use on the Rising speaks volumes about Sprinsgteen as a writer whose songs can mean so many things, and be applied to so many different situations. Universal I belive is the appropo word, here.
Oh, and Mat...that really was a great piece you wrote here...which is the actual reason I'm chiming in here. Really good stuff.
-Glen
12 - Glen Boyd
Sprinsgsteen...well, at least my speed typing is consistent...as in consistently bad.
-Glen
13 - Mat Brewster
Thanks for clearing that up Glen. I was pretty sure that was the case, but as I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan on the block I wasn't sure. Pretty awesome that it was written about one thing, but then is so easily appropriated into the 9/11 tragedy and just as easily speaks to personal matters.
Oh, and thanks.
14 - CAR
My City of Ruins was written about Asbury Park, Bruce's adopted city. He was and is heartbroken with the deterioration of this once fine shore/ocean community. You gotta love him! And yes it's totally associated with 9/11, however, having lost someone very near and dear to me on that tragic Tuesday, You're Missing totally resonates the feelings of that day for me and my family. Bruce's music is so cathartic.
CAR
15 - stephen
http://www.fatburningtips.org/belly-fat-forum/comment-page-1/#comment-1309 , http://www.bokbbq.com/bbs//zboard.php?id=qna