
After Eamonn's great success at his show at Crazy Coqs on Monday evening, he was back in the driving seat, putting us through our paces.
Nights in White Satin was revisited, and we made a good rendition, building on what we had learned last week.
Remember that the ‘Oh, how I love yous’ are timed differently for the Sops and Basses, who hold their notes slightly longer. Tenors can sing their moving notes, so the Altos are underneath.
Ensure the ‘ooh’ sound on ‘I love you’ at the end is a full round, warm ‘Ooh’ sound.
Julie Andrews didn't sing The Hills Are Alive with Lilacs, but she did sing. We’ll Gather Lilacs we had previously learned with Amir, so we showed Eamonn what we had remembered. Eamonn thought it was ‘OK’, which gave us an excellent base from which to work.
Tenors and Basses think in long lines on your phrases in the verses and don’t make them sound jumpy.
In the section with ‘… lovely things to share…’ sing it with intensity and control and smile while you sing!
Spring off the ‘W’ in ‘I want to know’ helps reach that high note and clarifies the lyrics' direction.
Listen to each other across the room, being aware of the different voice parts singing and how your part fits into the pattern.
Keep the verses flowing with a yearning feel; don’t just plough through it.
Sops, make your ‘Oohs’ loud, even though the score says ‘piano’. The notes are quite low, so sing them out so they can be heard.
On the last ‘When you come home once more,’ make the previous ‘more’ diminuendo.
Two for the price of one. It was an emotional moment at Glastonbury 2010 when Ray Davies dedicated "Waterloo Sunset & Days" to the memory of Pete Quaife, the original Kinks bassist, who passed away on 24 June 2010. Listen to the Choir. I found this quite moving.
Waterloo Sunset is a song by English rock band The Kinks. It was released as a single on 5 May 1967 and featured on the album Something Else by The Kinks later that year. Written and produced by Kinks frontman Ray Davies, Waterloo Sunset is one of the band's best-known and most acclaimed songs.
Interviewed in May 1967, Ray Davies stated that he wrote Waterloo Sunset, having had the actual melody line in his head for two or three years. He initially titled the song Liverpool Sunset but scrapped the Liverpool theme after the Beatles' song Penny Lane was released.
The lyrics describe a narrator watching or imagining two lovers crossing a bridge. The narrator reflects on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo Station. Ray Davies, the songwriter, mentioned that the song was not initially meant to be about Waterloo, but he realised the significance of the place in his life. He reminisced about being in St. Thomas' Hospital and the 1951 Festival of Britain. The song also reflects the aspirations of his sisters' generation who grew up during World War II and the world he wantedwo lovers in the song are named Terry and Julie. While Davies initially likened them to famous actors Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, he later clarified that the song was a fantasy about his sister and her boyfriend moving to a new world in Australia. for them.
Eamonn’s version has the phrases of the verses passing to different voice parts with some overlapping, like a relay race, so be ready for when your part takes on the baton. Keep it smooth with the piano part like the river flowing through the city underneath.
Sops & Tenors start with the Altos and basses joining in and then taking over until the next phase.
Sops, squeeze those oranges when singing ‘..needs no friends..’"Squeezing the orange" is a metaphor that means you can decide how much you get out of life and how much you can extract from it. For example, you can squeeze an orange a little and leave much goodness inside, or you can squeeze it a lot and extract every last drop.
The dynamic changes with ‘Don’t feel afraid’ and then moves on to the safety of the river.
Altos take a quick breath after ‘at night’ then, only you don’t take a breath on ‘Ooh, but I don’t feel afraid’.
Sops, tenor and basses can breathe before ‘But I don’t feel afraid’.
Make sure you mark the difference when singing an ‘Ooh’ or and ‘Oh. They sound very different and change the whole sound of the song.
This should sound like a dramatic, cinematic moment of a love affair on Waterloo Bridge.
Thank You for the Days is another Ray Davies composition sung by The Kinks. This was released as a single in 1968. Ray Davies attributed the song's "air of finality" to The Kinks' turmoil at the time, even noting that, when the band made the song, he felt it might be their last single. He recollected, "Pop musicians aren't meant to go on forever. And around this time, whenever I finished a session, I thought maybe this is the last record I'd ever make. That's why it has this strange emotion to it. Fortunately, The Kinks went on to make other records.
It's a goodbye song, but it’s also an inspirational song. It could also mean a new beginning. He wanted to write a sad song with optimistic praise.
This was run through quickly at the end. Again, it is important to listen to the other voice parts. With the Tenors and Basses starting, the Altos and Sops must be ready to come in clearly on Days, the last word in the first phrase.
‘Days’ is a long note, so give it direction and consider the destination to prevent it from going flat.
Sops do not harmonise on ‘I won’t forget a single day….’’ Your harmony starts on ‘I bless the light…’

‘Now I’m not frightened of this world…’ slows down, so watch Eamonn for timing
We will complete this next week, along with Something Inside So Strong and anything else.
Keep an eye out for any new material in Dropbox.

This week, we went from the light and bright Something Inside So Strong, with radiant-sounding aspects, to the dark side of Nights in White Satin.
We had our regular warm-up first, which was a waste of time. However, it gets the muscles moving in our faces, making us ready to sing all the different vowel sounds in the songs, making them clear and distinctive. Especially in the ‘Oh eh, oh eh, ah’ sections
Smile when you breathe in.

Tongue twisters certainly get the tongues, the lips and the brain working all at the same time.
Eamonn is always looking for new ones, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let us know.
They can be in any language!
Here are a few hints and tips:
Something Inside So Strong:
Basses – you are singing the T (Tenor) Line
Tenors – you are singing the LT (Lady Tenor) line
Sing ‘You can’t deny me’ and ‘you can’t decide’ as ‘y’can’t deny me’ and y’can’t decide’
Watch out for the cut-offs:
‘The higher you build your barriers’ – ‘barriers’ is short
At the end of Bar 33, with ‘strong.’
‘The further you take my rights away’ – ‘away’ is short
In this song, they are ‘Ohs’, not ‘Oohs’. It may be only one letter different, but it makes a huge difference to the sound.
‘Oh ehs’ and ‘Ahs’ should sound tribal.
Take a quick breath after ‘…blind you’ so you can sing out ‘Cause there’s, Something inside so strong….’ Make it sound like a shaft of light.
Aim for the ‘so’ on the key change and make it strong.
Altos, be brave and sing out loudly in your ‘Brothers and sisters’ part, where the other voice parts are singing around you.
Don’t fall into the Eamonn dunce hole at the end. Wait and watch when to sing the last note!
You’ll Never Walk Alone:
Sops engage your whole body when singing the top notes.
Be prepared for the high notes so you are not surprised and squawk from your throat!
Altos & Sops – clear diction on the verses so all the words can be heard.
The ‘Oohs’ should be warm – it’s hard work to get this sound, but you can do it!
Nights In White Satin is a song by the English rock band The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward.
When first released as a single in 1967, it reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and number 103 in the United States in 1968
When reissued in 1972, the single hit number two in the US for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash) and hit number one on the Cash Box Top 100, making it the band's most successful single in the US. It earned a gold certification for sales of over a million US copies (platinum certification was not instituted until 1976)
Band member Justin Hayward wrote and composed the song at age 19 while touring in Belgium. He titled the song after a girlfriend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets. The music itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward. Hayward said, "It was just another song I was writing, and I thought it was very powerful. It was a very personal song, and every note, every word in it, meant something to me. I found that many other people have felt the same way about it.
We last performed this song in our Summer Concert 2023.

Eamonn’s version takes us to the dark side, with the ‘Oohs’ being round, not smiley and bright as usual. They should sound like Acker Bilk playing the clarinet and challenging the Sops as they sing the words.
The Sops start this one, and then the other voices join in on ‘Beauty I’ve always missed…’ with ‘always’ and ‘missed’ being slightly longer.
The twiddly sounding ‘oohs’ at Bar 27 can bring us back into the light and be bright and smiley.
Sops don’t get carried away and screech up to the top notes. Be in control!
‘I love you’ Basses and Sops have the exact timing, which differs from the Altos and Tenors.
Next week, we’ll sing Waterloo Sunset and Thank You for the Days, plus anything else
Thank you for the Days singer Kirsty MacColl – whom Bono once described as “the Nöel Coward of her generation” – would have turned 65 this month had she not been killed by a speedboat in Mexico in 2000. Her legacy, from There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop, Swears He’s Elvis to Top of the Pops in 1981. And is it too early for Fairytale of New York?
.

This is the new tagline for In Flagrante.
The charity chosen for the Winter Concert is React: https://reactcharity.org/
Tickets will be available from the end of October, and all the sales will go to the charity. The tickets will be non-refundable, and resales will go through Jan.
We only have nine Tuesdays left before the concert, so a concerted effort is needed to listen, watch and learn.
'There is something worse than being sad, and that's being alone and sad. Ain't nobody in this room alone.' Ted Lasso
You’ll Never Walk Alone – start this with warmth and commitment.
Only breathe when you see the rests. Do not dare to breathe at any other time!
At the end of each phrase, end it with crisp consonants and watch Eammon for the cut-offs.
The lower notes must be quiet and intense, and the higher notes can be louder.
Sops, commit to the very high notes!
Fields of Gold – Sop 2s, be confident about your entry.
Altos ‘In his arms, as her hair’ section, don’t breathe and build the phrase up.
The last ‘gold’ is very long, so take a deep breath and control it.
Kenny Rogers's version, Something Inside So Strong – ‘Hm’ should be a strong ‘h’ like coughing up phlegm!
The tune is passed around the different voice types in this song, a bit like a relay, so be ready when the baton is passed to you.
The ‘Oh ehs’ should sound tribal and rhythmic, and when the ‘Oh’ changes into an ‘Ah’, make it shine like a shaft of light.
Make this edgy and intense.
Listen to Dropbox and be ready to finish this song next week.
We ended with All My Trials.
We have done much work on this song over the past few weeks.
Basses, remember you are not on the tune!
This song needs patience and singing the words right until the end with a lot of breath control.
Don’t expect an email from Eamonn. Next week, we’ll finish Something Inside So Strong and go through -
Nights in White Satin, We’ll Gather Lilacs and Waterloo Sunset. More information on these songs will be provided in next week’s blog.
Keep up the excellent work, and keep singing!
