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Post by strabley on Mar 19, 2004 15:44:28 GMT
I knew Bubba was Gary Hurst but I didn't know about Michael Powell. I am aware of the Red Shoes inspiration, but what was their relationship? Did they ever actually work together? Were they friends? Is he the one she is asking, "Do you really love me?" When was she in New York other than 1978? Or was that the time?
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Post by Adey on Mar 19, 2004 16:16:49 GMT
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Sheila
Moving
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese.
Posts: 701
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Post by Sheila on Oct 16, 2005 7:55:48 GMT
If I am doing the math right I am the same age Kate was when she recorded this. My uncle Lester died yesterday and I don't remember going to so many funerals when I was younger. I think (as Kate did)I got to that age where people I care about seem to be dropping like flies. When so many people you care about die, all you can do is remember the good things about them. That's what makes this song so brilliant. I guess I'm off to Iowa again for another funeral... Oh maybe I'll blow it off. He was 97. I mean COME ON! I liked him but... Another thing about this song---I'm an old sock. Where is my old shoe?
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Post by CopyOfCpt (just say Cor) on Oct 18, 2005 19:00:34 GMT
How can you not just love this song? It is up there in the top 5 of my most favourite songs...
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stev0
Moving
He's an utter creep and he drives me 'round the bend
Posts: 517
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Post by stev0 on Oct 19, 2005 3:28:14 GMT
I've posted this on another board, but since the song has been brought up...
This past winter my wife was in the hospital in Boston in a pretty serious condition. Mass. General Hospital is on top of Beacon Hill, and she had a pretty high room, so she had a GREAT view of the skyline of the city. It was beginning to snow pretty heavily. When I got back that night to where I was staying, I put on MOP. When I got to this part: On a balcony in New York It's just started to snow He meets us at the lift Like Douglas Fairbanks Waving his walking stick But he isn't well at all The buildings of New York Look just like mountains through the snow I just lost it.
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Post by Adey on Oct 19, 2005 10:55:32 GMT
Hang in there, Stevo..
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Post by liliya on Dec 2, 2005 5:32:28 GMT
I listened to this song while trying to fall asleep last night but I couldn't help but cry. It's just so heartbreakingly sad, especially her mother's saying...it's so beautiful. You can substitute the names she sings for people you know so it's your own personal song. The "do you really love me?" line is gorgeous. It reminds you of how short a time we have on this Earth and so you really have to make the most of it. This song is just...overflowing with love.
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Post by matanchik on Nov 17, 2006 20:15:08 GMT
i think this song should have been the closer of TRS, it's just a perfect album closer
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Post by tannis on Feb 19, 2009 6:45:35 GMT
Moments of Pleasure Like tracks on many of Kate's previous albums, this represents the piano and orchestra style of composition and was recorded largely at EMI's Abbey Road studios. Abbey Road's Studio 2 is equipped with the same SSL. automated mixing desk as Kate's own studio, and she has always recorded at least part of each album at Abbey Road. "There does seem to be at least one of this type of song on each album, although the vocals proved a struggle this time. It's inspired by a visit to the USA in 1989 which included a meeting with Michael Powell (director of the original film The Red Shoes) which took place in a flat in New York, and a lot of the lyric lines refer to that occasion." The piano parts were actually recorded in Kate's studio using a Grotrian Steinweg -built by an offshoot of the Steinway company - while the orchestra was produced by Haydn Bendall. "I'm not too proud to say that he was the man for the job," acknowledges Del. "Abbey Road is the best studio in the world, and it's all down to the people there like Ken Townsend who will help with anything, including loans of equipment whenever we need something. They don't seem to mind that we're taking business away from them by recording in our own studio as well." Microphone technique for piano recording can be a case of trial and error. "It all depends on the player. A couple of Shure SM87s in the lid, with the lid propped up as high as possible, gives you about 18 inches of microphone spacing from the strings. They're usually above the iron section to give a slightly metallic sound, and then we have Massenberg equalisation units to tailor the sound. The equalisation on the SSL. desk is too violent and you can't get very specific, which is great for some things but not for the piano." Future Music interview with Del Palmer, "Well red", Nov. 1993www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/i93_fm.html
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Post by tannis on Mar 14, 2009 21:00:28 GMT
Some moments that I've had Some moments of pleasure I think about us lying Lying on a beach somewhere Patricia 'Pat' Martin: "Oh, Barry, why couldn't I have met you a hundred years ago, on a beach somewhere." Barry Kane: "Bathing suits looked awfully funny a hundred years ago. I'll bet you looked beautiful, though. . . . Pat, this moment belongs to me; no matter what happens, they can never take it away from me." ~ Saboteur (Hitchcock, 1942)This moment in time, (She said.) It doesn't belong to you, (She said,) It belongs to me...Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942) opens with a fire at an aircraft factory (4:15). When we cut to Rogers giving an eye-witness statement, Rogers' hands are heavily bandaged, burned from the fire.
In The Line, the Cross & the Curve (1993) KaTe's mysterious woman (Miranda Richardson) also has heavily bandaged hands, burned from a fire, just like in the Hitchcock movie.Saboteur - Hitchcock 1942 Trailer www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r4YVKCio-8&feature=related When sabotage destroys part of an aircraft plant, plant worker Barry Kane is blamed for the crime falsely. Determined to clear his name, he sets out to track down the man he believes to be the actual saboteur, the mysterious Frank Fry. He chases Fry across the western deserts to New York, where he discovers a plot by a group of anti-American fascists, and the two men confront each other atop the Statue of Liberty.Saboteur -- (Movie Clip) Society Ball www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja6Z0-b-jpc 4:11 - 4:50
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Post by tannis on Sept 19, 2009 2:27:18 GMT
And I can hear my mother saying "Every old sock meets an old shoe" Isn't that a great saying? "Every old sock meets an old shoe" Here come the Hills of Time...CHAPTER XLV: THAT WHICH WAS LOST Going out to find God we need not wonder when he finds no one word, or one thing, to reward his labours; nor need we be disappointed if he is "put off with a substitute," for though his search is not fruitless it is not altogether successful, as is fitting when we recall that the complete unveiling of God cannot come to any man in any one lifetime. That hope must ever remain an ideal to us humans in the shadow of our earth life—a flying Ideal, eluding us while it beckons us, leading us over the hills of Time into the tireless searchings of Eternity. Symbolical Masonry, by H.L. Haywood, (1923)www.sacred-texts.com/mas/syma/syma49.htmABOVE THE HILLS OF TIME Words: Thomas Tiplady, 1931. Music: Londonderry, traditional Irish melody.
Above the hills of time the cross is gleaming, Fair as the sun when night has turned to day; And from it love’s pure light is richly streaming, To cleanse the heart and banish sin away. To this dear cross the eyes of men are turning, Today as in the ages lost to sight; And for Thee, O Christ, men’s hearts are yearning, As shipwrecked seamen yearn for morning light.
The cross, O Christ, Thy wondrous love revealing, Awakes our hearts as with the light of morn, And pardon o’er our sinful spirits stealing, Tells us that we, in Thee, have been reborn. Like echoes to sweet temple bells replying Our hearts, O Lord, make answer to Thy love; And we will love Thee with a love undying, Till we are gathered to Thy home above.
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Post by tannis on Oct 12, 2009 12:27:36 GMT
Just being alive It can really hurt And these moments given Are a gift from time Just let us try To give these moments back To those we love To those who will survive...Moments of Pleasure is compellingly sad. Commenting on the Never For Ever album, KaTe told us to tell our hearts that all things are transient and to be happy that it's like that (Kate's KBC article, 1980). Moments of Pleasure returns to the theme of transience, only KaTe's heart is not so happy...“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery” ~ Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)On 'The Red Shoes' "Moments of Pleasure," she sings, "Just being alive, it can really hurt," and infuses the line with a suffering she might once have probed in painstaking detail... Bush is aware that many of her ardent fans misunderstand songs such as "Lily," analyzing them word-for-word, like clues in an autobiographical puzzle. "People seem to read a more ethereal dreaminess into my lyrics. I like messages in songs that are much more based in reality." Often, that reality is suffused with melancholy. Though she acknowledges that the album has its weepy moments, she draws a distinction between morose songs and her work, which she believes are "the complete opposite." On the affecting "Moments of Pleasure," for example, "I'm not talking about only pain or only ecstasy, but this notion that life is so precious. The moments of pleasure couldn't exist without the sadness." Philadelphia Inquirer, "A Return to Innocence", Jan. 1994www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/i94_pi.htmlCLOUDS AND SUNBEAMS by William C. Ware, 1862.
O, think not, my friend. That I am always so sad, Bright moments of pleasure And joy I have had: Moments of brightness, Of peace, and of love, As bright and as cheering As aught from above.
But sadness will come And darken my brow, And stern sorrow rests On my brow even now; But ere the dawn of the day All my grief will depart, And joy reign supreme In my wild, throbbing heart.
This life is made up Of sunshine and shade, Flowers must blossom To wither and fade. Pleasure comes with a smile, For a time hovers near, Then sorrow and grief Follow on with a tear.
But the clouds break away, And the sunbeams so bright Gild shadows of sorrow With soft, holy light; We must never give way To grief or to tears, Or this life will be but A lapse of dark years.
We can make it so bright, So happy and true, If we pass over clouds, And look for sky soft and blue. Then never despond, Nor give sorrow sway, And joy will be ours Each swift-passing day.’Tis a great advantage to the honor of ignorance that knowledge itself throws us into its arms when she finds herself puzzled to fortify us against the weight of evils; she is constrained to come to this composition, to give us the reins, and permit us to fly into the lap of the other, and to shelter ourselves under her protection from the strokes and injuries of fortune. For what else is her meaning when she instructs us to divert our thoughts from the ills that press upon us, and entertain them with the meditation of pleasures past and gone; to comfort ourselves in present afflictions with the remembrance of fled delights, and to call to our succor a vanished satisfaction, to oppose it to what lies heavy upon us?— “The way to dissipate present grief is to recall to contemplation past pleasures,” if it be not that where power fails her she will supply it with policy, and make use of a supple trip, when force of limbs will not serve the turn? For not only to a philosopher, but to any man in his right wits, when he has upon him the thirst of a burning fever, what satisfaction can it be to remember the pleasure of drinking Greek wine? it would rather be to make matters worse:— “The remembrance of pleasure doubles the sense of present pain.” Of the same stamp is the other counsel that philosophy gives; only to remember past happiness and to forget the troubles we have undergone; as if we had the science of oblivion in our power: ’tis a counsel for which we are never a straw the better:— “The memory of past toils is sweet.” How? Is philosophy, that should arm me to contend with fortune, and steel my courage to trample all human adversities under foot, arrived at this degree of cowardice, to make me hide my head and save myself by these pitiful and ridiculous shifts? for the memory presents to us not what we choose but what it pleases; nay, there is nothing that so much imprints anything in our memory as a desire to forget it: and ’tis a sure way to retain and keep anything safe in the soul, to solicit her to lose it. This is false:— “And it is placed in our power to bury, as it were, in a perpetual oblivion adverse accidents, and to retain a pleasant and delightful memory of our successes;” and this is true:— “I even remember what I would not; but I cannot forget what I would.” ~ Essays of Montaigne, vol. 5, trans. Charles Cotton, revised by William Carew Hazlett (New York: Edwin C. Hill, 1910).OH! LET US BE HAPPY ~ FOR MUSIC. by Eliza Cook, 1850.
Oh ! let us be happy when friends gather round us, However the world may have shadowed our lot; When the rose-braided links of Affection have bound us, Let the cold chains of Earth be despised and forgot. And say not that Friendship is only ideal, That Truth and Devotion are blessings unknown, For he who believes every heart is unreal Has something unsound at the core of his own. Oh ! let us be happy when moments of Pleasure Have brought to our presence the dearest and best, For the pulse ever beats to most heavenly measure When Love and Goodwill sweep the strings of the breast.
Oh ! let us be happy when moments of meeting Bring those to our side who illumine our eyes; And though Folly, perchance, shake a bell at the greeting, He is dullest of fools who for ever is wise. Let the laughter of Joy echo over our bosoms, As the hum of the bee o'er the Midsummer flowers, For the honey of Happiness comes from Love's blossoms, And is found in the hive of these exquisite hours. Then let us be happy when moments of pleasure Have brought to our presence the dearest and best, For the pulse ever beats to most heavenly measure When Love and Goodwill sweep the strings of the breast.
Let us plead not a spirit too sad and too weary To yield the kind word and the mirth-lighted smile ; The heart, like the tree, must be fearfully dreary Where the robin of Hope will not warble awhile. Let us say not in pride that we care not for others, And live in our Wealth, like the ox in his stall; 'Tis the commerce of Love with our sisters and brothers Helps to pay our great debt to the Father of All. Then let us be happy when moments of pleasure Have brought to our presence the dearest and best, For the pulse ever beats with more Heavenly measure When Love and Goodwill sweep the strings of our breast.Pleasure is troubled. Troubled not only because many of life's pleasures involve aspects of pain and anxiety, or because the conditions within which moments of pleasure are experienced are themselves frequently fraught, but also because many of what were previously simple needs and pleasure (for food, recreation, travel) have become problematic because of the ways which we satisfy them; ways which are ecologically damaging, morally undesirable, politically unacceptable. For modernity's definition of pleasure is itself conceived as individualistic, materialistic and narcissistic. ~ Feminist Review, Issue 40, 1992, p.120.
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Post by tannis on Oct 12, 2009 14:27:24 GMT
We are mortal, we are trapped in the present and we could all die any moment. All we can do is try and make the most of every moment we have. Seize the day — carpe diem. So while we sit around agonizing over the meaning of life, you'll find them down the pub, dangling from a bungee cord or, if they're more high-minded, weeping at the opera... One truth that lies at the core of carpe diem is the sense in which experiences and moments are of supreme value and should be cherished. I have personally found this insight expressed as powerfully in popular music of the moment, which gains in immediacy what it sometimes lacks in depth or complexity. What better medium, therefore, to express the nature and importance of fleeting moments? Two examples in particular stand out. One is Kate Bush's song 'Moments of Pleasure'. Over surging piano and strings, the chorus cries out: Just being alive It can really hurt And these moments given Are a gift from time. Like most song lyrics, they don't read as great poetry when separated from the music. But when sung, they movingly convey the sense in which special moments, experiences of joy, are both elusive and valuable, to be appreciated and cherished precisely because the march of time ensures they cannot be kept hold of, but start to fade even at the moment of their greatest intensity. Another example comes from Rush, whose brand of bombastic melodic rock I would not normally associate with emotionally moving experiences. But in their song 'Time Stand Still' I again find a poignant expression of the value of the moment... Both songs have the air of laments, in that they deal with a kind of tragedy: the inevitability that even the most wonderful experiences cannot be held in our grasp but rather run through our fingers like water. Life is ultimately sad because we are doomed to lose the most valuable of times. Yet in powerfully expressing emotions in the here and now they remind us just how valuable these fleeting times are... I mention the examples of these songs in order to draw a contrast between a shallow interpretation of 'seize the day', which just seems to advocate a kind of flippant hedonism, and a more profound, bittersweet version, which seems to draw a necessary link between the joy of the moment and the pain of its passing. This distinction alone is enough, I think, to cast doubt on the view that carpe diem is a simple doctrine whose dictates are obvious. On the contrary, as I aim to show, the whole idea of seizing the day is deeply problematic, starting with its crudest form: simple hedonism. ~ What's it all about?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life, Julian Baggini, 2005, pp.124-127.Kate Bush - Moments Of Pleasurewww.youtube.com/watch?v=D5P0v0kGaucRush - Time Stand Still (HD)www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGsQ5n9Qu0A
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Post by tannis on Nov 25, 2009 21:27:47 GMT
And "Show a Little Devotion" only appears on a small handful of CD singles that were released just prior to Christmas 1993. What's that all about? I can't find the correct version of "Moments of Pleasure" CD single that contains this track for sale anywhere online. Yes, there are four different releases of "Moments Of Pleasure", but only one version features "Show a Little Devotion" (CDEM 297). Here is a copy on eBay, Item number 180436400730. "Show A Little Devotion" was also released as a b-side on the US single version of Rubberband Girl (44K 77332).CDEM 297, 7243 8 81085 2 2, 7243 8810852 2: "Moments of Pleasure" (November 15, 1993) 1 Moments of Pleasure (Album Version) 5:19 2 Show a Little Devotion 4:18 3 December Will Be Magic Again 4:48 4 Experiment IV 4:23 www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-Moments-Of-Pleasure/release/1630504 www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-Moments-Of-Pleasure/master/28775
"Moments of Pleasure" was released November 15, 1993. The second track, "Show a Little Devotion", is one of Bush's more elusive songs. It only appears on a small handful of CD singles that were released just prior to Christmas 1993. The version of "December Will Be Magic Again" that appears on this release is slightly different from all the other mixes previously released. It is basically the same as the original single mix, but it's brighter, and the percussion instruments are different. The CD release also includes "Experiment IV" which was released in 1986. The 12" and cassette releases contain an instrumental version of "Moments of Pleasure" and a third track entitled "Home For Christmas", both of which have yet to be released on CD. This was the first, and to date only, Kate Bush single not to be released on 7" vinyl in the UK.
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