Sun, Tears & Blue Sky

After the great success of our Spring Concert and break of three weeks, In Flagrante is back in action. Unfortunately, quite a few of our members were away due to holiday, sickness or work commitments etc. However, we did have five new singers come along to try us out.

We commenced with our usual warm up including a new tongue twister of “Six thick thistle sticks”, not so easy singing up and down the scales!

We began with Here Comes The Sun which was written by George Harrison and was on The Beatles album Abbey Road. This simple song is challenging, especially for In Flagrante, as there is a lot of syncopation which, according to Eamonn, is our bête noire. I’m sure we will master the technique. We were also encouraged to smile as the sun comes out which gives the song a real lift.

Following on from this we learnt a completely brand new song for our choir, As Tears Go By. It was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards; previously the Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing American blues and R&B tunes. By one account, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result was initially named "As Time Goes By", the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears".

In 1964 As Tears Go By reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart and launched Marianne Faithfull's career as a major singer.

Eamonn has produced a beautiful arrangement especially for us and put in an extra bar before “I sit and watch as tears go by”, as he feels Jagger didn’t do it right! However, there were complaints from the Altos, although they were, unusually, given the tune to start us off. You can’t please everyone!

After a well earned break with tea and wine it was back to work and revisiting Mr. Blue Sky.

This song is by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) written and produced by front man Jeff Lynne. Like the album from which the single was issued, promotional copies were released on blue vinyl. Due to its popularity and frequent use in multiple television shows and movies, it has sometimes been described as the band's signature song.

Eammon’s version includes five part harmonies, so quite challenging, but that shows he has confidence in our ability and we know we will get it right. We will finish this song next week and work on some other ones ready for our next concert on 14 July 2022.

In Flagrante is Magic

The Leprechaun is a real challenge to sing with lots of words and storytelling of a magical fairy. As you can hear, there is only one winner!

In Irish folklore, the leprechaun, is a fairy in the form of a tiny old man often with a cocked hat and leather apron. Solitary by nature, he is said to live in remote places and to make shoes and brogues. The sound of his hammering betrays his presence. He possesses a hidden crock of gold; if captured and threatened with bodily violence, he might, if his captor keeps his eyes on him, reveal its hiding place. But usually, the captor is tricked into glancing away, and the fairy vanishes. The word derives ultimately from Old Irish luchorpan, “little body.”

The Rainbow Connection is another magical song originally written and recorded in 1978 for the Muppet Movie (1979) and sung by Jim Henson as his persona Kermit the Frog. In 2020, The Rainbow Connection was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

Eamonn O’Dwyer has arranged this song especially for In Flagrante and enhanced the magical content with the blend of the different voices.

Rainbows are magic – you can hear it for yourself.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is about the magic of friendship. It was released in 1970 and was Simon & Garfunkel's final studio album and their greatest success. The title track won an unprecedented five Grammy Awards, while the complete record won Album of the Year. Paul Simon wanted it to be gospel but not gospel. Simon imagined that Bridge Over Troubled Water would be a “little hymn” but Garfunkel and Halee insisted that the song needed to be immense. It therefore needed a third verse, which Simon dashed off in the studio. It opened with a message to his wife-to-be Peggy Harper, who had recently fretted about finding her first grey hairs: “Sail on, silver girl.” Garfunkel wanted the song to start quietly and gradually build to a transcendent finale. Bridge Over Troubled Water left audiences breathless.

Did our version do the same?

Tell Me Who I am!

In Flagrante is a local choir and now based in Richmond. We have a good mix of voices and all share and enjoy the power singing. We have a definitive style when performing in the way we look - dressed in black and purple.

However, we do not have a regular sound and perform a mixture of music genre as like traditional folk songs, as in Scarborough Fair.

In 1965 Paul Simon learned about this song when he was on tour in England, where he heard a version by a popular folk singer named Martin Carthy. When Carthy heard Simon & Garfunkel's rendition, he accused Simon of stealing his arrangement. Carthy and Simon did not speak until 2000, when Simon asked Carthy to perform this with him at a show in London. Carthy put his differences aside and did the show.

The concept of unrequited love. The yearning is felt throughout the song, creating a perfect medieval love story inthe process. A young man delegates certain impossible tasks to his lover with the condition that she would have to finish those to be able to come back to him. This is a haunting melody sung in four part harmonies and is full of storytelling, so it is essential the words are heard clearly and, as the song builds up to its completion, the arrangement keeps the audience interested.

In contrast we sing The Logical Song. It has quite a maniacal quality, again full of words and attitude and asking ‘Tell Me Who I am!’

It is a song by English rock group Supertramp that was released as the lead single from their album Breakfast in America in March 1979. It was written primarily by the band's Roger Hodgson, who based the lyrics on his experiences being sent away to boarding school for ten years. The song became Supertramp's biggest hit, rising to No. 7 in the United Kingdom.

In Flagrante is very versatile and will continue to sing songs of various styles to suit everyone’s tastes.