December 2008
23 posts
Listen
fredrik - alina’s place
on repeat all afternoon…
Listen
have yourself a merry little christmas
(let’s not lol too much that it’s the conor oberst + maria taylor version, allright?)
History
The song first appeared in a scene in Meet Me in St. Louis, in which a family is distraught by the father’s plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their beloved home in St. Louis, Missouri just before the long-anticipated Louisiana Purchase Exposition begins. In a scene set on Christmas Eve, Judy Garland’s character, Esther, sings the song to cheer up her despondent five-year-old sister, Tootie, played by Margaret O’Brien.[2]
When presented with the original draft, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli criticized the song as depressing, with lines such as “Have yourself a merry little Christmas / It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past” and “Faithful friends who were dear to us / Will be near to us no more”.[3] Though he initially resisted, songwriter Hugh Martin made several changes to make the song more upbeat. For example, the lines “It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past” became “Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight”.[3] Garland’s version of the song, which was also released as a single by Decca Records, became popular among United States troops serving in World War II; her performance at the Hollywood Canteen brought many soldiers to tears.[4]
In 1957, Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise the line “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow”. He told Martin, “The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?”[3] Martin’s new line, “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,” has since become more widely recognized and sung than the original. Martin made several other alterations, changing the song’s focus to a celebration of present happiness, rather than anticipation of a better future.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
original lyrics are better and the reason i’ve always liked this one so much
not touching
by billy collins (from sailing alone around the room)
The valentine of desire is pasted over my heart
and still we are not touching, like things
In a poorly done still life
where the knife appears to be floating over the plate
which is itself hovering over the table somehow,
the entire arrangement of apple, pear, and wineglass
having forgotten the law of gravity,
refusing to be still,
as if the painter had caught them all
in a rare moment of slow flight
just before they drifted out of the room
through a window of perfectly realistic sunlight.
Play
Listen
oldie but goodie, like, we’re talking goosebumps goodie
the national - daughters of the soho riots (live) black session from april 2005
“El capitán miró a Fermina Daza y vio en sus pestañas los primeros destellos de una escarcha invernal. Luego miró a Florentino Ariza, su dominio invencible, su amor impávido, y lo asustó la sospecha tardía de que es la vida, más que la muerte, la que no tiene límites. “¿Y hasta cuándo cree usted que podemos seguir en este ir y venir del carajo?” le preguntó. Florentino Ariza tenía la respuesta preparada desde hacía cincuenta y tres años, siete meses y once días con sus noches. “Toda la vida,” dijo.”
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LIFE photo archive →
images.google.com
“Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.”
this is really, really awesome
