Written for Thursday Inspiration #269
Run For Your Life. Here’s my spin on things.
Tag: Thursday Inspiration
Going Back To New York City
Noble Spirit
Written for Weekend Writing Prompt #370,
incorporating the word ‘pirate’ in a story of exactly 74 words.
Also for Thursday Inspiration #234 – ‘No Matter What/Nothing’,
What Do You See #242 (#WDYS) and Weekly Prompts –
The One-Day Prompt (3). Here is my story in exactly 74 words.
The fiery battle raged for days; in the end Evalyn, the Pirate Goddess, was victorious … but at what cost?
While fighting on deck, there was a sudden cannon retort followed by grapeshot finding its mark … Evalyn’s beautiful face. Her eyes were spared but she was disfigured.
That one day changed Evalyn into a stronger woman. For her, nothing else mattered.
Fashioning a mask of solid gold, she became Evalyn, the Noble Pirate.
NAR©2024
74 Words
This is “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
Much Too Late
Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration #232
where the theme is “Too Late”. Jim has given us free rein
so I have written about a song featuring the ‘too late’ theme.
The first single from the album Valotte, and Julian Lennon’s most successful, was “Too Late For Goodbyes”, released in 1984. While Julian has gone on record to affirm that this song was not about his estranged relationship with his father but rather a failing romance with a woman, one cannot help but wonder. Considering a figure resembling John looms largely in the video, the song could carry more meaning despite Julian’s objections.
John and Cynthia Lennon divorced when Julian was just five years old, and for the next nine years Julian rarely saw his dad. When he was 14, Julian reconnected with John and made occasional visits to his home in New York City.
Julian inherited many of his father’s musical gifts, including a knack for songwriting. He wrote “Too Late For Goodbyes” on his own and released the song when he was just 21. It was a Top 10 hit in both the UK and US and helped him earn a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, which he lost to Sade.
The album was produced by Phil Ramone who had managed albums by Paul Simon and Billy Joel. Ramone kept the production tasteful and mature considering he was working with a 21-year-old British kid in 1984. This is one of the more synth-heavy tracks on the album, with prominent guitar and bass.
If there’s one thing that bothers me about this video it’s the fact that we see Julian “playing” harmonica (it’s really just his cupped hands) but the legendary harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans was the one who actually played the harmonica part. Picky, maybe, but it just doesn’t sit right with me. It would have been nice to see Toots in the corner playing his harmonica; gotta be a reason that didn’t happen. The video, which was directed by movie director Sam Peckinpah, did very well on MTV; Peckinpah also directed Julian’s next video which was for his song “Valotte”.
“Too Late For Goodbyes” was a top-10 hit, reaching #6 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1984, and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in late March 1985. The song peaked at #1 on March 16, 1985 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, spending two weeks in the top slot.
One final note that is so obvious it cannot be ignored: the Beatles’ DNA is incredibly dominant as we can see here in Julian’s video, in performances by Dhani Harrison, Sean Lennon, James McCartney and drummers Zak and Jason Starkey, two of Ringo’s sons. All the Beatle Boys bear a striking resemblance to their famous fathers and have been blessed with their very identifiable voices, artistic songwriting abilities and performing talents …. quite a legacy for a little group from Liverpool.
This is “Too Late For Goodbyes” by Julian Lennon
NAR©2024
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
Come Softly: Dectina Refrain & Haiku
Written for Jim’s Thursday Inspiration #231 –
“Come Softly To Me”. Here is my piece,
a Dectina Refrain followed by a haiku.
Do
You hear
Me tapping
On your window
Come softly darling
Sit right here beside me
Kiss my trembling fingertips
Take me in your arms and hold me
Tell me you will never let me go
Do you hear me tapping on your window
A petal soft kiss
Fluttering cherry blossoms
Love’s gentle breezes
NAR©2024
The Dectina Refrain is written as follows:
1st line is 1 syllable,
2nd line is 2 syllables,
3rd line is 3 syllables, and so on for 9 lines;
the 10th line is comprised of the first four lines
and written as one stand-alone line.
This is “Come Softly To Me” by the Fleetwoods
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
WHAT A DELIGHT
A tongue-in-cheek response.
Oops!
😉
Jim Adams at ‘Thursday Inspiration‘ has asked us to respond to his challenge regarding songs dealing with the word “delight”. This is my response to that challenge.
“Dixieland Delight” is a 1983 song written by Ronnie Rogers and recorded by the American country music band Alabama. It was released in January 1983 as the lead-off single from their album, “The Closer I Get…”.
The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list. After its release, the song became a college football tradition within the Southeastern Conferrence, most notably within the Alabama Crimson Tide football and Tennessee Volunteer football fan bases.
The song’s title refers to the girlfriend of the singer. The bottom line is that during their weekend outing, he plans to get it on with his sweet little “Dixieland Delight” in his truck in a meadow (“Home-grown country girl, gonna give me a whirl“).
Now, ain’t that romantic?
NAR © 2023
This is Alabama singing “Dixieland Delight”
Lyrics
Rollin’ down a Backwoods, Tennessee byway
One arm on the wheel
Holdin’ my lover with the other
A sweet, soft, southern thrill
Worked hard all week, got a little jingle
On a Tennessee Saturday night
Couldn’t feel better, I’m together
With my Dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Hold her uptight, make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason-Dixon night
Fits my life, oh, so right
My Dixieland delight
White-tail buck deer munchin’ on clover
Red-tail hawk sittin’ on a limb
Chubby old groundhog, croakin’ bullfrog
Free as the feelin’ in the wind
Home-grown country girl gonna give me a whirl
On a Tennessee Saturday night
Lucky as a seven, livin’ in Heaven
With my Dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Hold her uptight, make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason-Dixon night
Fits my life, oh, so right
My Dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Hold her uptight, make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason-Dixon night
Fits my life, oh, so right
My Dixieland delight
Rollin’ down a backwoods, Tennessee byway
One arm on the wheel
Holdin’ my lover with the other
A sweet, soft, southern thrill
Worked hard all week, got a little jingle
On a Tennessee Saturday night
Couldn’t feel better, I’m together
With my Dixieland delight
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ronnie Rogers
Dixieland Delight lyrics © Keats And Shelly Music, Downtown Dmp Songs, Sister John Music
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE…
Deep Purple has been my go-to rock band for as long as I can remember. I saw them perform live twice and am a devoted follower of both Deep Purple and their “spin-off” group, “Rainbow”. What better song for Jim’s prompt today than “Smoke On The Water”?!
The lyrics tell a true story: on December 4, 1971, Deep Purple was in Montreux, Switzerland to record the album “Machine Head”.
On the eve of the recording session, a concert with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention was held in the casino’s theatre. This was the theatre’s final concert before the complex closed down for its annual winter renovations, which would allow Deep Purple to record there.
At the beginning of the Mothers’ keyboardist Don Preston’s synthesizer solo on “King Kong”, the place suddenly caught fire when somebody in the audience fired a flare gun towards the rattan-covered ceiling. Although there were no major injuries, the resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers’ equipment.
The “smoke on the water” line that became the title of the song referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched from their hotel. Deep Purple’s Bassist Roger Glover said “It was probably the biggest fire I’d ever seen up to that point and probably ever seen in my life. It was a huge building. I remember there was very little panic getting out because it didn’t seem like much of a fire at first. But when it caught, it went up like a fireworks display.”
What a phenomenal classic rock song this is! All the lyrics from the song explain the event vividly. Listen closely and follow along with the written lyrics as the musical story unfolds:
Lyrics
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile, yeah
We didn’t have much time now
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
(Smoke) on the water, you guys are great
They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
He was pulling kids out the ground now
When it all was over
Find another place
Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
Burn it down
We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty, cold and bare
The Rolling truck Stones thing just outside
Huh, making our music there now
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know, I know we’ll never forget
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
(I can’t hear anything)
one more time
(Smoke on the water) hey!
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ian Gillan / Jon Lord / Ritchie Blackmore / Roger Glover / Ian Paice
Smoke on the Water lyrics © Glenwood Music Corp.
NAR © 2023
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