My Ballarat connection daughter, Face-timed the other night. She is a girl of the 80s and we started to talk about the songs of that era, and the parody they are now to the current Lockdown restrictions.
It kind of ended up with us rolling on the floor laughing as we tried to recall as many as we could that had something to say about our current situation. Our politicians haven’t helped by adding such euphemisms as “Getting on the Bus” and “Roadmap Forward”, which no doubt could in themselves make great song titles.
I, of course was at a disadvantage as most of my recollection of the times was telling her to “turn that music down”
Here is a hit parade we came up with. Not in any real order, but it made us smile.
- ACCA DACCA: “Highway to Hell
- The Police: “Don’t stand so close to me”
- U2 “With or without you”
- Talking Heads: “Road to Nowhere.”
- Whitney Houston: “I wanna dance with somebody”
- INXS: “Never Tear Us Apart”
- Bowie and Queen: “Under Pressure”
- Queen: “I want to break free” or “Another one bites the dust” (we were getting silly then)
- Fleetwood Mac: “Everywhere”
- edited UPDATE Dire Straits: “So Far Away”… from me.
- Cyndi Lauper: “Girls just want to have fun”,
I let that in as I thought of two more, although not really 80s - Elvis: “In the Ghetto” and SkyHooks, “Horror Movies, the Six Thirty News”In the end we had a giggle and it gave me some food for thought
My Saturday morning read these days includes a topical piece by Virginia Trioli, on how the lockdown has left many feeling broken, and how most of our communication is via screen, through glass or from behind a mask.
But, one of the things she shared is a link to a new Bruce Springsteen release, “Letter to You”. You can find the vid at the bottom of her piece.
Now I have to say its pretty much typical Bruce, he is a great entertainer, but to me, after awhile they do begin to sound the same, I once used his, “My hometown”, for an event, so I’m not unsympathetic.
His “Streets of Philadelphia” for the Tom Hanks movie is really quite a sensitive statement.
So back to “Letter to You”
It’s worth a look at the vid, as it’s all been shot in black and white, most of it in stills, and most in the studio where I presume the song was put down.
Turn the music down, and watch the clarity and expressions that the mono vision brings out. Says a lot about the power of photojournalism to reach into the soul of the moment.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
Classic Springsteen indeed. It is a superbly presented clip and speaks more to the message of the song than most of the ‘you beauts’ that are around these days. And, yes, it shows the power of mono, especially the stills to perfection. He is an interesting man to work with, very deep under the showmanship. 2014 was a great tour which included some more intimate venues and we got to know him.
Love the list of tunes you and your daughter came up with, a lot of great memories there that surely take on new meaning in the current situation.
Your header image of the young Night Heron is superb.
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Hello David,
I agree that Bruce is a superb writer. His use of word pictures brings such a dynamic to the music. Sometimes easy to overlook or simply ignore.
Another in the same vein is “Hotel California” by Glen Fry et al. Written for one reason, applicable across many others. 🙂
I’m tipping there were a lot more that we couldn’t recall and a few that were out of the range.
Every day I look out the window and its a beaut day, I reminiss about how good it would be to be in the field. I think that is my major frustration with the situation.
Number are beginning to normalise, so there is a bit of cause for optimism.
Catch ya along theTrack sometime
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Oh yes, Bruce Springsteen. My friend wrote yesterday “something to look forward this autumn” meaning Bruce’s new record to be released in October. My friend lives on the other side of the world. Interesting how we all interconnect. Interesting how I took to monochrome photos after following you mentioning Nik Collection. The hit parade suits me well. Something to laugh about in our lockdown. And last but not least – the image of Night Heron is just what I want to see to keep me continue my new monochromatic adventure in photography. Thanks David!
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G’day Adam, as we’ve said before, life is interesting in the swirls and interconnections that seem at first to be completely random, yet, at some deeper level the universe intersects.
Monochrome is such a lovely medium because it brings out the importance of the shapes, and the tones to make them do the story telling. Your recent spideweb bird motif is all the more powerful for the simplification as the shapes open up the myth and mystery we all have bubbling along inside.
goodo.
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Lovely image David, and so good on monochrome. (I still can’t “Like” your essays for some reason, yet can comment via WordPress. Rest assured, I like them!)
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Your Pandemic Playlist is one similar I put together in the beginning of the Pandemic. Although, you do have a few songs I can add to my list. Also, the black and photo on this post is stunning. Stay safe and healthy Bird Man.
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