Softly and Tenderly

When I was young and arrogant, I thought Christian hymns were predictable, boring and not very good poetry. I think I thought that because I'd heard them all my life and the lines rattled around in my head much to the dismay of my determined agnosticism. Then I met Christ.

And the old hymns began to mean something to me. This scene from the 20005 movie "Junebug" is a sweet rendition of a hymn that became one of my favorites. The lyrics no longer seemed trite and foolish. This song and its brothers and sisters tucked inside my church hymnal became the echoes of my own heart. My choir teachers in academy taught us to sing four part harmony and how to follow the notes and the parts in the music.

My Sweet Baboo grew up singing hymns and one of the things we did quite a lot after we were married was to break out in old hymns while washing dishes or driving in the car or walking along a path on a Sabbath walk. Old hymns became old friends.

Tom King

The Good, The Bad and the Amazing Danish Symphony Orchestra

I went to see my first spaghetti western in my teens. Me and my buddy, Richard Hutchins went to see it at the Esquire in Cleburne, Texas one Saturday night after which we cruised up and down Main Street in a VW micro-bus between the Sonic Drive-In and City Park. While doing so we discussed and solved most of the burning issues of the day all the while wondering why no girls would jump in the V-dub with us. We were not great romancers of women in those halcyon days of our youth, but we knew good music when we heard it (Ennio Morricone for instance) and good movies (Clint Eastwood in practically anything he ever did) when we saw them. I like to think we were saving ourselves for the very special women we wound up with.

After seeing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Morricone's iconic Western theme song got stuck in my head big time.  I found myself running around randomly going, "Ah-eee-ah-eee-aaaaah!" when I thought no one was listening. Couldn't get that danged song out of my head for years.

Seeing the good folks from the Danish Symphony Orchestra take a run at this massively complex song using instruments ranging from recorders and ocarinas to trumpets and glockenspiels to choirs and soloists. It's no wonder that not a lot of high school bands ever attempt this music.

It's really amazing to watch and it makes you appreciate what a lot of talent someone like Ennio Morricone brings to his music.  I'd be doing good to figure out the recorder part, myself, but I'd like to think that in heaven and the new Earth, after several thousand (or perhaps million) years of practice, I might be able to crank out a reasonable facsimile of such a tune.

Enjoy.

Tom

Glen Cambell Tribute to the Lone Ranger and Tonto

Stumbled on this little gem on Youtube. A lot of people don't realize what an amazing guitarist Glen Campbell was. He was a member of the famed "Wrecking Crew" of studio musicians who played the instrumentals for a massive number of hit records in the 60s and 70s for groups as diverse as The Monkees, Frank Sinatra, Jan and Dean, The Beach Boys and Ike and Tina Turner.  They played backup to Glen Campbell when he began his solo career.

This is Glen's tribute to his first Western heros, Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. Here Glen demonstrates his virtuosity on the Lone Ranger theme, better known (maybe) as The William Tell Overture.

It was amazing how long Glen's guitar skills held up even after his Alzheimer's became more advanced. It's funny what survives an assault on the mind is amazing. Campbell was as good as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, but didn't get the hype by dying young.

Enjoy!