Not *exactly* a filk, but I wrote it over the weekend.

[johnpalmer]

Intro:

So, this is a Simon and Garfunkel tune, heavy on the Garfunkel, who *still* has far more range than I so I need two things. COuld someone give me a reference note?
(friendly filker strikes a note on guitar) Okay, I was hoping for something written, that's why I asked for a 'note'. And one final thing that will protect the ears of those who have knowledge of voices... (looks around) Deborah? Where's the helium? Oh, well...."

TTTO: Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream

Last night I had a stranger dream than any I'd pull from my rump
I dreamed the Presidency went to Donald OhMyGod Trump
I dreamed inauguration day,
Attended by powerful men,
And with the speechifying we knew
There'd soon be more fighting again.
And when the speechifying's done
And a million freedoms frayed,
They laughed a bit maniacally
At thoughts of the wealth to be made.
And the people in the streets below
Were protesting all around
As ACA, enviro regs, were tramped on the ground.
Last night I had a stranger dream than any I'd pull from my rump
I dreamed the Presidency went to Donald OhMyGod Trump

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Simon & Garfunkel were among the many, many performers who covered that song - in my mind, I hear it in Pete Seeger's voice - but they didn't write it. But that's a damned good parody you've written!

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

NEXT I suppose you're going to tell me they didn't write SCARBOROUGH FAIR! I hadn't heard any other covers, but that's really not surprising, alas - I don't get enough music exposure.

PS: My other line for the weekend was "I'm told that I have relative pitch. Yeah... one of my uncles was a decent hurler in triple-A for the Phillies."

(See, relative, pitch... yeah, not funny, okay *fine*. :-) )

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

As I said, the version that plays in my head is Pete Seeger's. (Seeger, of course, covered just about every protest song ever written, as well as writing some of them himself.) S & G did write part of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" - the descant under the main song.

And I do get the joke :-D

I'm not trying to one-up you, nor poke holes in your musical endeavors. It's just that, having worked in radio during the 1960s and '70s, I have a headful of music from that time and earlier, along with the liner notes and suchlike that the average listener might not have seen. You have every right to tell me to shut the fuck up.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Darlin', I appreciate the worries a person might have about overstepping boundaries, and you're nowhere close to overstepping mine.

I *could* have believed S&G wrote "Last Night..." though it's awfully simple for Paul Simon, and, as I said, that was the one and only cover I ever heard. Once you said that, well, I *knew* Scarborough Fair was not original, and far older than either (eta: either Simon or Garfunkel).

Sad to say, but the last time I counted on friendship to maintain ties when I tried to push back against bad behavior, it was during a breakup of a decade+ relationship, and it didn't work out well... I probably wouldn't push back (as in "please shut up") so much as just end the conversation. But I don't feel any urge to do either.

I *do* feel bad that fatigue often keeps me from listening to as much music as I would if I didn't have it... I could plug some holes in my musical knowledge if I had more time in which I wasn't trying to do 2-3 things at once.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

As I mention in my user profile, "I have a tendency to emit information and/or advice almost involuntarily, the way a cat sheds." Some people find it annoying, or even patronizing, so I always wind up apologizing when I catch myself doing it. I hope you know that I didn't intend anything of the sort - I don't ever want to offend you or piss you off!

One way to broaden your musical knowledge would be to go to YouTube and search for "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream". Then also look up the title in Wikipedia (although not all song titles have entries). Do that for other "protest songs", too. You'd be surprised at who wrote what, and who else recorded it :-)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I really don't mind learning more.

But I do feel a bit of a need to point out that I wasn't concerned about any one song, I was concerned that music really matters to me, and it's another thing fatigue steals from me. I found myself thinking about scheduling time to do something I can do while listening to music. That's not how I want to be.

Music is powerful and magical and meaningful, and it doesn't require as much energy or physical ability as many other joys in life. And I still probably won't ever *have* it in the sense that matters most to me. One of the reasons I posted my filks (none of which are *great* - though a couple are definitely "not bad") is that it's unlikely I'll ever be at another event again.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Try thinking of it the other way around: not "What can I do while listening to music?", but "What can I listen to music while I'm doing?" (My mainstay used to be listening to the radio while driving, but the family car was without a working radio for at least five years, so I sorta got out of the habit. We now have two cars again, and "my" car has a fully functioning radio - except I'm not usually awake during the time when there's anywhere to drive to.)

Listen to music while you're doing any mundane activity - cooking and/or eating, doing the laundry, reading, playing a game, falling asleep. You don't necessarily have to be paying a lot of attention to the music; it'll seep into your subconscious, and eventually it'll pop back up and demand that you find out more about it.

Go to YouTube, but don't log in; a page of videos selected by some algorithm will appear, and there are always some music videos among them. Click on one of them. Click on one of the ones that appears alongside of it. Lather, rinse, repeat :-)