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Our wintertime show features Robert Service’s “Cremation of Sam McGee”, a tall tale from the frozen north, and “The Smoke-Shovelling Song”, a tall tale song from the frozen Edinburgh. Dylan and the Kinks and RLS, of course, and also Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman. But don’t take my word for it – come and attend for yourself.
Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes (Classic Reprint) (RLS)
New Morning (Dylan, “Winterlude”)
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol.1 (Randy Newman, “Lonely at the Top”)
Everybody’s in Show-Biz (Kinks, “Sitting in my Hotel Room”)
Starlight upon the darkness
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Not one of your typical Christmas shows, of course. The myth speaks of a light shining in the darkest hour, so let’s see what we can do with that theme. It all depends on what we mean by “darkest hour”, of course. John Lennon calling for peace in a time of war? How about Father Christmas being mugged by some kids who want his money? Christmas blues? RLS’s “faithful failures”? John Donne on the year’s darkest day? But be sure not to miss the amazing performance by Dylan Thomas of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” – a sparkling reading to lighten all our darkness as we listen.
Lennon: Legend – The Very Best of John Lennon (John Lennon, “Happy Christmas [War Is Over]”)
Misfits (Kinks, “Father Christmas”)
Christmas In The Heart (Bob Dylan, “The Christmas Blues”)
A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Dylan Thomas)
The John Rutter Christmas Album (Cambridge Singers, “Silent Night”)
The Love Poems of John Donne: Complete & Unabridged (Richard Burton reading Donne’s “Nocturnall upon St Lucies Day”)
Darkness into the Light (Tavener, “Medie Noctis Tempus Est”)
Rain
Fog coming down on Llangollen canal, RLA at the helm coming down the canal; Ab coming down with the photo
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All sorts of things come down here: clothing, space aliens, rain – both threatening rain and the Advent coming down of righteous rain. The Kinks and Dylan, of course, and also Lennon, Randy Newman, one of those comic songs of the 50s, a bawdy song, some peaceful Japanese music, a song from Eastmountainsouth and a Gregorian Chant. Readings and reflections on RLS, James Joyce, Dante, Cyrano de Bergerac, and others. Come on down and join us!
Ulysses: Annotated Students’ Edition (Penguin Modern Classics)
A Parcel of Steeleye Span: Their First Five Chrysalis Albums 1972-1975 (“The Ups and Downs”)
Halloween Songs: Thriller, Ghostbusters, Monster MASH, I Put a Spell on You, Halloween, Werewolves of London, Purple People Eater (Sheb Wooley, “The Purple People Eater”)
The Fantasticks (“Soon It’s Gonna Rain”)
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol.1 (“I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”)
Beatles Again (“Rain”)
Preservation Act 1 (Kinks, “There’s a Change in the Weather”)
The Bootleg Series Volume 9 – The Witmark Demos (Dylan, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”)
Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics)
Restful Music of Japan (Toru Takimitsu, “Rain Tree Sketch”)
Eastmountainsouth (“Rain Come Down”)
Kersting, Man Reading by Lamplight
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We invite you to attend to our exploration of Mothers of Different Sorts. There are the problems of motherhood, needing little helpers, envying (or perhaps not) those still free to live it up without the drag of children. Then there is the Mother-Son relationship, and the Mother-Daughter relationship – not the same things, of course. And finally the mythic mother and divine Mother. So we’ll hear from the Stones, the Kinks, the Miracles, Randy Newman, Dylan, Dr Hook, and introducing Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six, a wonderful group from Manchester with their own problems with Mother. There’s not much reading this time, just a few anecdotes about RLS and his mother. Also songs in Yiddish and, I think, Greek. Lots to ponder on here.
Between The Buttons (UK Version) (Rolling Stones, “Mother’s Little Helper”)
Something Else By The Kinks (Kinks, “Two Sisters”)
12 Songs (Randy Newman, “Mama Told Me Not to Come”)
Bringing It All Back Home (Bob Dylan, “It’s Alright Ma [I’m Only Bleeding]”)
Completely Hooked: the Best of Dr. Hook (Dr Hook, “Sylvia’s Mother”)
the naughty nineties LP
(Beatrice Kay, “Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl”)
The Yiddish Radio Project (Barry Sisters, “Oh, Mama, I’m So in Love”)
Song for Athene – Svyati and other Choral Works (Tavener, “Hymn to the Mother of God”)
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Cast your minds back a few days to the pivot of October 31/November 1: All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en) and All Hallows’ Day, or All Saints’ Day. And come attend to some Hallowe’en-spirited songs and reflections, modulating into something closer to a celebration of All Saints and All Souls – that is, everyone, good or bad.
Kersting, Man Reading by Lamplight
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We wander around the theme of wandering this time, bringing light to this aimless activity we all share in, a light that shows the power that lies in doing something for no good reason at all. Thoreau comes into it. And there’s some exotic music: Chinese pipa, klezmer, Paganini, Irish harp. Also one of the earliest recorded Dylan songs, and Kinks on living on the road and RLS on Walking Tours. On our wander, we also meet Walter Scott, Coleridge, the Old English Wanderer, yes, Dion and the Belmonts, Jr Walker and the All Stars, and lots more. And we finish, as we often do, with Leonard Cohen.
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We call it Paranoid Overtones to hint that the show is not really paranoid, but only suggests things we might want to feel threatened by, or things that we all feel a little threatened by. “We live in a political world,” Dylan sings, “Wisdom is thrown into jail.” Uh-oh. And the Kinks tell us “There ain’t no cure for acute schizophrenia disease.” A big dose of Mothers of Invention’s We’re Only in It for the Money and the Firesign Theatre. And several other interesting things, of course – just what you expect, isn’t it? So come along. You’re invited to attend, and we’ll see you there, just a click away!
Oh Mercy (Bob Dylan, “Political World”)
Muswell Hillbillies (Kinks, “Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues”)
We’re Only in It for the Money (Mothers of Invention, “Are you hung up?” etc.)
Sail Away (Randy Newman, “Political Science”)
Waiting for the Electrician Or Someone Like Him (The Firesign Theatre)
I’m Your Man (Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows”)
Lola Vs Powerman & The Moneyground (Kinks, “Got to Be Free”)
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This evening, under lamplight, we are looking at Wonder, the wonderful moments when we penetrate our masks so that “I see you and you see me – and ain’t that wonder?” as the Kinks sing. There is always curiosity (“I wonder …”), but which kind of curiosity gives us true wonder? There are songs by Mokey Fraggle, Marvin Gaye, Taj Mahal, Incredible String Band and the Lovin Spoonful, and readings from Walt Whitman and RLS.
Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition (Penguin Classics)
Journey through the Seasons
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Here is the Evening under Lamplight show that went out on Cambridge 105, Cambridge Community Radio, on Sunday, 5 September 2010. It celebrates the season of Hairst, or Harvest, a time of peaceful abundance, following our anxiety about whether we’ll have enough or whether we’ll even make it to the end of our Journey. The show features
- the Harvest meditation from RLA’s CD Journey through the Seasons: Meditations on the Five Chinese Healing Energies
- music from the Kinks and Dylan, of course, and also Nick Drake, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Manfred Mann, Leonard Cohen, The Band and King’s College Chapel Choir
- readings from RLS, the psalmist, Walt Whitman and Wendell Berry.
You are invited to attend and share this abundant harvest.
Face To Face Kinks, “There’s Too Much on My Mind”
Song of Myself (Dover Thrift Editions)
What Are People For? (Wendell Berry)
Pink Moon Nick Drake, “Harvest Breed”
Porgy and Bess: Introduction – Act II Scene 1: I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ (Porgy, Chorus)
Stage Fright The Band, “Sleeping”
Biograph Dylan, “Quinn the Eskimo”
The Story Manfred Mann, “The Mighty Quinn”
Ten New Songs Leonard Cohen, “Land of Plenty”
Hermes in the sky
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This latest Evening under Lamplight brings you an extended programme, featuring the trickster god Hermes (or Mercury – tricksters go by many names), and helping you find your own Hermes Moment – that time when you met Hermes, bringing you some message from above, leading you down into your own depths at a moment of confusion or indecision, and bringing you good fortune in ways you would never have expected. There’s a wide variety of music, and two stories, and some poetry, and still we haven’t covered everything. So watch out for another Hermes programme sometime down the line. — RLA
