Last night Eamonn said we were the most like a choir than he’s ever heard us sing!
A high accolade indeed.
What happened?
Was it the hilarious tongue twister:
One smart fellow he felt smart
Two smart fellows they felt smart
Three smart fellows they felt smart
They all felt smart together.
Or had we done our homework with God Only Knows?
Only a few tweaks needed on this one.
Keep the swung rhythm and look up and watch Eamonn for the cut offs.
Rabbits in films and my thoughts go to a favourite Oscar winning film, Harvey. Still makes me laugh.
Mad World followed. It is a 1982 song by British band Tears for Fears, written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith. It was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982
The song was born out of the unhappy childhoods that Orzabal and bandmate Curt Smith had endured, separately, in Bath, the city where they grew up.
Orzabal’s father had been given electric shock treatment after serving in the second world war and had, says Orzabal, subjected his mother to abuse. “When I was 18, I dropped out of everything and couldn’t even be bothered to get out of bed. I poured all this into the song.”
Meanwhile, Smith’s father had been absent for much of his childhood and died when Curt was 17, by which time, the singer says, he hated him.
The song is about childhood suffering, loneliness, invisibility, and the drab, repetitive nature of most people's lives. At its heart, life appears to have no meaning: people go to work, children go to school, but everything they do seems ultimately pointless.
In the song, a young person, alienated from the world around him (its “worn-out places, worn-out faces”), recalls his agonising school days and concludes that “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” Not that this line should be taken at face value. According to its author, Orzabal, morbid dreams like these release tension; the dreamer wakes up feeling better.
The promotional video for Mad World was filmed in late summer 1982, in the grounds of Knebworth House. It was Tears for Fears' first music video, and features Curt Smith staring out of a window while Roland Orzabal dances outside on a lakeside jetty. A brief party scene in the video features friends and family of the band, including Smith's mother, who was having the birthday party, as well as his then-wife Lynne.
Jules’s cover of Mad World was released as a single after it appeared on the soundtrack of Richard Kelly’s strange, haunting 2001 film Donnie Darko in which a troubled teenager (Jake Gyllenhaal) encounters Frank, a giant, demonic-looking rabbit who brings tidings of the imminent end of the world.
Eamonn’s arrangement has been written to include all voice parts.
It needs to be kept spacious with no temptation to rush it. Even when singing the ‘nm’s (not ‘nums’ just ‘nm’)
These ‘nm’s have the Tenors and Altos together alternating with the Basses with the Sops singing ethereally on top.
Although it written in a minor key, keep it bright.
Watch Eamonn for the beginning and end of phrases so we are all together.
After the great depression we Let the Sunshine In.
This was written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music) and was a hit for the 5th Dimension.
This song will be sung at the beginning of our concert with no music in front of us.
An easy one to learn.
Remember the first part starts in a big and epic way.
There is a small gap before the second ‘Let’.
However, when we start the next funky section, the second ‘Let’ comes straight in with no gap.
Be prepared. Don’t let it catch you out!
At the end emphasise the endings of words on ‘sun’, shine’, ‘in’ with strong ‘n’s
We were really on a high after this sounding the best we’ve ever done and singing like a real choir!
On the back of that we went the through the section in The Rose of ‘When the night has been too lonely….’ with Altos and Tenors together and Sops and Basses together with our voices soaring gloriously to the top notes (squeezing our oranges, of course!)
Basses, be reprepared to take on the baton at the very end of the song.
Keep it tender and nurturing and not like hoeing the ground!
Next week, Elliot will be leading us going over The House of the Rising Sun and teaching us a new song, Crossing the Bar
Do your homework and let’s see if we can impress him now that we sound like a real choir!
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