
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.
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