leave out the spacesthough
regards
terry

Equatorial Guinea had the bad luck to come to independence under Macias Nguema, whose rule was so terrible that a third of the population was either killed or fled. Though he had people garrotted, buried alive and beheaded (and their heads stuck on poles), the detail that sticks in my mind is his having 150 people executed to the tune of ‘Those Were the Days, My Friend’ played over stadium loudspeakers.

A word also to Richard Hewson for his very ingenious arrangement, with different instrumentation for every verse and chorus a la Randy Newman on Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” around the same time.

Something dawned on me that I should have figured out twenty-years ago, namely that Hopkin’s voice combined with her stylistic eclecticism suggest that she was a major influence on another unique British female singer–Kate Bush. It’s probably not coincidental that they both did covers of Donovan’s “Lord of the Reedy River.”

Apparently Cynthia’s single was produced by Chris Norman (of Smokie “fame”) and issued on his own label which could explain the limited distribution - I don’t remember even seeing one at the time, but I saw the video once or twice.

Well, then, she actually does have something in common with the other Mrs Lennon–and the first Mrs McCartney.

Her record must be quite rare–no copies were for sale on eBay.

Oh and as for Mrs Lennon not being a singer: she isn’t really. But it’s hard not to admire her.

It could have been Macca jumping on the Hughie Green bandwagon though. What a thought. I’ll leave it to others to illustrate.

It strikes me that I don’t think I’ve heard this song since it was a hit back in ‘68. It never gets played on oldies stations in America (or at least I’ve never heard it). I think, without really ever giving it any analysis, I’d assumed over the passing years that the record was probably not so good. Having now read Marcello’s essay, and this entry, I’d like to hear the record again to find out how it sounds to me today. I wonder if I’d feel nostalgia for the nostalgia I felt as a nine-year old. Post-modern nostalgia: a very odd concept.

To say one likes or does not like (or, in more extreme form, “loves” or “hates”) something or someone is not an argument in and of itself. One most give some analytical explanation to support one’s opinion that goes far beyond “it sucks” or, by contrast, “it’s so hot,” if one is to avoid saying more about oneself than about the individual or object under discussion. And what one says about oneself in such instances is not terribly flattering. Please bear in mind that others might reasonably hold opinions which differ from your own.

(Excerpted from Doctor Mod’s class materials on “How to Write an Effective Critique”)

Good posts, Tom, shame about some of your readers.

The trouble is that I don’t know how to begin to discuss it. There has been very little with which to compare it–the folk pseudo-klezmer arrangement, a voice more suitable to traditional Celtic/British balladry than pop/rock, etc. There are very few recordings I’d actually deem sui generis within a pop/rock context, but this must surely be one.

The only analogy I can draw is with another record supervised by a major British rock group (the Stones) featuring a young girl with an aetherial voice–Marianne Faithfull’s “As Tears Go By.” Once again, a contemplation of old[er] age. But if Mary suggests you can still dream, Marianne suggests you can’t.

Twenty years on, Marianne re-recorded the song–no longer “pretty” but certainly effectively poignant. It would have been interesting if Mary H had done likewise.

Cynthia Lennon? I’d no idea she was a singer…..

The version of ‘Seasons In The Sun’ that I remember getting to Number One is indeed hideous, but I’m told the Brel original was good. The ‘Thong Song’ is an entertaining enough novelty.

Oh, and a spot of Resurrection Watch: Cynthia Lennon did a version of this about ten years ago.

Hopkin: I lived and dreamed and the dreams didnt come off but we can still dream.

Thom: Modern life is awful compared to what I’ve heard it used to be.

The one is self-analysis, the other is criticism. The one rooted in experience, the other in fairytale. The one ultimately positive, the other a whinge.

(Except of course Hopkin’s OWN experience is no more real than Thom’s imaginings of the 60s and 70s, but what does that matter if she sells the song?)