The Story Behind The Song

[gryphon]

I have had this idea for while now but feel that I am ready to present it

We all listen to our music and what we hear varies from person to person and what they know about the track:

I think also we all have our own fields of expertise and we have got to know about the music we know about through various sources:

Therefore I think it would be interesting to share some of this knowledge on the forum.

I think there are two main ways we can do this

1. Actual stories which have been gleaned from our reading experience etc about an artist
   

eg I have long believed the myth that David Bowie's "Prettiest Star" was written about
Marc Bolan and he image that he presented to the world when in fact it is a Story about David;s first wife Angi Bowie and her lifestyle choices and personality.

In knowing the truth about a song often has made me hear it in a different light and have a fuller understanding of it................indeed it has often sent me off to find out and explore an artist's more fully.

2. A story that you have which is connected with when you first heard a particular song or the times it reminds you off.....................In 2010 and before people often talk about popular music being "The Sound Track To Their Lives " so perhaps members would like to let us in on some of the scenes from the films of their lives and tell us about he soundtrack !

I think that this has plenty of possibility and might draw one of two new members in a little more to the site as they tells us about their experiences thoughts and it may make them feel more connected with MD !

[Jerome]

Good point!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

back in 1983, i left school in the august to start my aprenticeship and that particular week 'wrapped around your finger' by the police was released,as the Police were at the top of their game virtually every radio station was playing them,what felt like every second song. anyway the opening line in the song 'you consider me a young apprentice....' caught my attention and thus whenever i hear that song now it brings back memories of long hours,crappy tasks and little pay...but in a good way

[CRAZY-HORSE]

classic missinterpretation of a song that had a whole different meaning once i realised what it was about:

"BORN IN THE USA" The Boss.

i used to hate the song with a passion when it first came out, i thought it was all about 'American patriotism' and 'America is great' bollocks, it wasnt till much later i realised the true meaning of the song..basically problems Nam Vets faced on their return from duty.
even when i was in the Navy, when the song came on in the 'wet mess'(bar) most of the guys would raise their fists in the air and bellow out 'born in the usa' along with the chorus...im like, you've got it all wrong fella's, its not a 'gung-ho' call to arms song.
i believe even Springsteen was p*ssed with the incorrect interpretation of his lyrics.

[gryphon]

In 1968 I had the great honour of moving house from the outskirts of the city of Sheffield in England to North Lincolnshire.

In those days the North Of Lincolnshire was an isolated part of the world and was quite a wilderness..................To say that this was a place of isolation was to understate the matter slightly ..........................The law in such places was not really enforced with great gusto and as was my parent want for a drink now and then needed to be satisfied, I found my self in the odd bar in this part of world

On one such occasion I found myself in the riverhead area of a certain town which is a famous fishing port around midday on a week day and was sat in the corner of the bar with a lemonade...............whilst my parents managed something stronger...............I did not really find a rough city centre pub to be my style but was drawn to the entertainment which was laid on......................If I remember the name correctly the Pestal and Mortar pub had a piano as its sole form of entertainment and at it was sat a young lad who was playing the local hits of the time ..........................I have since learned that that young lad also remembers his days in the Pestal and Mortar and later wrote about them ..............................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cWtA1LNv...re=related

Amazing who you meet in the pub eh ?

[gryphon]

Magna Carta …………The Airport Song


Looking for a hit single to consolidate the sales of their First two albums ( Magna Cart and Seasons) , Magna turned their sites on this song.
It comes from the album “Seasons” and was released in 1970………
In the early days of the 70’s the popular music industry was anything but organized. Deals were often hazy things, managers were flighty to say the least and publicity was a hit and miss affair. Vertigo/Fontana records had been set up quickly to cash in on the new progressive rock which was quickly becoming popular and had only a skeleton structure…………….


It was against this back ground the song was written and “marketed”
At it’s core this is a simple song based on a true story…………………Magna had had quite a bit of success in the UK when they were invited to come to Holland to join a very healthy underground .scene there.


Meanwhile the publicity and promotion machine misfired into life to promote “The Airport Song” They started well by securing a place on the new British Telecom service “Dial a disc” and as such the song got good airplay …………..but despite becoming ”Record of the Week on several national radio stations playlists good old Vertigo didn’t manage to distribute enough copies to ensure the push it needed to get into the top 20! (As a then young record buyer and anxious to get a copy I remember seeing an empty space in the racks where the record should be, despite going to many record shops I could not get a copy. Finally I had to put it on order and after six weeks I got an import copy from The Netherlands!)

So what about he song? Well it is a gentle piece of progressive folk that owes a lot to people like Simon and Garfunkle: The song is a true story with a few pieces of artistic license:


The song starts by talking about “Sitting in the airport lounge I’m waiting for a plane” The airport was Heathrow London and indeed it was not written in an airport . I believe it as written in the home counties of England
.There is mention of a Sunday supplement and a cigarette. “Dozing with a coffee and a drooping Cigarette “Chris Simpson is a smoker, he loves his coffee and there are always Sunday paper supplements to read in UK airports in the 70s.

“And a face in a photograph !”...............This s interesting I know that the photograph is of a lady called “Mary” Chris’s first wife and nearly a founder member of the group .
The trip is supposed to be to Singapore ……………in fact it was to Amsterdam Schipol but it didn’t rhyme .
The fog was not there ………………but the writer had been in this type of situation before.
“With a guitar and a suitcase and a face” The writer is a gypsy like character and always is “on the road” so this is his picture of himself. The guitar always is in a case covered in ravel stickers and shows up on many Magna Carta album covers ………………..


The song was heavily covered :


In the Netherlands it has twice ridden high in the charts as a cover version: One cover by Lisbeth List who is a well respected serious Dutch entertainer.
In Norway the Airport song is the subject of a full orchestral arrangement by one of Norway’s leading classical musicians.
Magna Carta continue to promote the song forty years after its release, in the regular concerts.

So time to give he song a listen and perhaps with a new insight into its meanings :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6rs-Y3P1ew&feature=fvst:cool:

[gryphon]

In late 1973 Mike Oldfield released Tubular Bells ................A classic album.

Virgin records in those days was dedicated to albums but in 1974 a track began to appear on the radio which was from the Album Tubular Bells

At first I believed that this was nothing more than a section that had been taken from the album and put out as a single ...................however close listening showed this was not the case.

I attempted to get a copy in the shops but as told that Virgin was an albums label only.

More work revealed that Virgin had released single of music from tubular bells and the music was not simply lifted from the album.......but was a new piece of work.

It was coded as VS 101 ad with a lot of effort I racked down and ordered a copy.

The day came to collect the single and home I went to listen............

The track I heard became one of my all time favorite pieces of music ..

I owed this wonderful single until life changed for me in 1999 ad then it as lost.........

A week or so ago I as reunited with this great track by buying the Mercury reissue of Tubular Bells

Sadly the album contains only the A side of Vs 101 but it is still a great piece of music:

By the magic of youtube I am able to add the B side


A side

[video=youtube;aMJ1SzupsMI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJ1SzupsMI[/video]

B side
[video=youtube;xEwQqL4OyLQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEwQqL4OyLQ[/video]

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i was a but dubious to click on "froggy went a courting" but it is a good take on the old country song.

thanks Gyphon.

[Music Head]

i was a but dubious to click on "froggy went a courting" but it is a good take on the old country song.

thanks Gyphon.

couldn't be worse than Dylans

[fresk]

nice move dude.