Season 546...can we revisit Season 54?

[Voran]

Great Grey Owl:



Lyrics:

It's dark in the taiga
Close to the sixty-sixth parallel, it is vicious and cold

I sleep by day in the dark northern pines
Night dons her black velvet mantle, it is time to go

I wear grey hunting camouflage
Somewhere here I keep yellow lamps for eyes

Strapped to my heels are yellow horn knives, I take flight
And I become part of the night, and the night becomes part of me

I see in harsh white and grey
Night vision lenses show a bleak world of ice and snow

The tiniest blur of motion tugs at my sight
I fold my wings close to my back, I drop from the sky

Stout cords of sinew engage
Flight muscles of agile and weightless steel

I plunge to the snow, I wield my yellow horn knives
I am a part of the night, and the night is a part of me

 

[Voran]

Snowy Owl:



Lyrics:

He is brilliant white and spectral
And his eyes are yellow and gold
And the aurora borealis ignites him vivid emerald

The flight of the harfang hypnotizes, mesmerizes my eyes

He seems to be made of light
Stark and bright against an ice blue sky
The sun rays lance through his flight feathers, lighting them silverish white

The flight of the harfang hypnotizes, mesmerizes my eyes

He calls to me from high on the tundra
Says watch as I wheel and I tilt and I glide
Step into the air and be weightless, dance with me under the polar night

And the flight of the harfang hypnotizes, mesmerizes my eyes

 

[Tootler]

I've been away for sometime and I thought it was time to pop back. My wife had a stroke in February last year and it's had a permanent effect on her mobility so it's been harder to get time for recording. She goes into hospital on Friday for major surgery but I've managed to sneak a bit of time to record this song. It's by Burns and it's a wonderful evocation of this time of year. There are birds a plenty mentioned as the second verse is almost a catalogue of birds you could find in South West Scotland in the mid 18th century. I apologise in advance if I don't get round to commenting on many of your entries.

 

[hendulele]

I've been away for sometime and I thought it was time to pop back. My wife had a stroke in February last year and it's had a permanent effect on her mobility so it's been harder to get time for recording. She goes into hospital on Friday for major surgery but I've managed to sneak a bit of time to record this song. It's by Burns and it's a wonderful evocation of this time of year. There are birds a plenty mentioned as the second verse is almost a catalogue of birds you could find in South West Scotland in the mid 18th century. I apologise in advance if I don't get round to commenting on many of your entries.

Sending good vibes your way, Geoff. Hope all goes as well as possible, and welcome back!

 

[Voran]

Great Grey Owl won't load, hours later. Lemme try again...

 

[Mark Suszko]

Great Grey Owl won't load, hours later. Lemme try again...

You could try compressing the file into an MP4 before uploading. VLC is free, cross-platform and drag-and-drop. I can give you a video tutorial to show how if you need it, but you probably don't need the help' it's pretty easy. VLC will crunch a 5 gig file down to around 300 megs, uploads faster to youtube and facebook that way. Also useful if you don't have higher broadband speed locally.

 

[Voran]

Let's see does this work



Lyrics:

It's dark in the taiga
Close to the sixty-sixth parallel, it is vicious and cold

I sleep by day in the dark northern pines
Night dons her black velvet mantle, it is time to go

I wear grey hunting camouflage
Somewhere here I keep yellow lamps for eyes

Strapped to my heels are yellow horn knives, I take flight
And I become part of the night, and the night becomes part of me

I see in harsh white and grey
Night vision lenses show a bleak world of ice and snow

The tiniest blur of motion tugs at my sight
I fold my wings close to my back, I drop from the sky

Stout cords of sinew engage
Flight muscles of agile and weightless steel

I plunge to the snow, I wield my yellow horn knives
I am a part of the night, and the night is a part of me

 

[Voran]

You could try compressing the file into an MP4 before uploading. VLC is free, cross-platform and drag-and-drop. I can give you a video tutorial to show how if you need it, but you probably don't need the help' it's pretty easy. VLC will crunch a 5 gig file down to around 300 megs, uploads faster to youtube and facebook that way. Also useful if you don't have higher broadband speed locally.

No this was my fault for renaming a file and then Youtube couldn't find it. Thanks though.

 

[lizbrinker]

Hi Dave! What a season you are having! Fantastic :- )

Ok...9 birds are mentioned in this piece, if I am counting correctly... It clocks in at 4:41 and I left out 3 refrains! Cole could go on with his clever word play for ages, but I didn't want to subject you to the verses concerning mammals, sea creatures or insects. It was written for his first Broadway hit, Paris, in 1928.

Let's Do It
Cole Porter
1928

 

[Voran]

Should I post more or am I hogging this thread a bit too much?

 

[uke4ia]

I did 4 or 5 songs back in Season 54. I did the Robyn Hitchcock song "Birdshead" early in the week, and it went over well with the Seasonistas, so I had someone record me playing it live at an open mic that Friday night.

This is a song by Ed's Redeeming Qualities, a Boston area band from around 1990. They were the first band I ever heard that had a ukulele player and didn't play either Hawaiian music or Tin Pan Alley songs. Today we'd call them alt-folk.

 

[TCK]

Should I post more or am I hogging this thread a bit too much?

Please post every bird song you can muster. Clearly you love them...and I really enjoy hearing what you write about them. Keep them coming. As (I believe) you are in Australia...ever write one about whimsy of birds? I have a fondness for Kookaburra's

 

[TCK]

Sorry I was a bit quiet today gang...I appreciate all your enthusiastic responses to the theme and to making me smile, figure y'all did not need me prattling on all day on the thread. In any event, I am here now, and smiling ear to ear. We had some pretty awesome songs today- Crows, a bunch of owls...CHICKENS (though cooked), and beans in Boston had relations. Can't ask for more than this. You guys are so awesome...seriously. Keep them coming gang!


Pa- Really nice driving tune here about everyone's most loathed Corvid...hoping the window sill is not an omen, and more an interest. Crows are so hard. I work with thousands of them and have to be so careful not to talk to them they imprint so fast. Only bird I have ever field rescued that looked at me and I could feel it asking for help. Anyway- I love crows and this song Is a beaut Pa- Thank you so much for writing and performing it for us.


Rick- Oh my- I am indeed blessed sir. I love this song (hope you don't mind I played it with ya), and your empathy has made me smile ear to ear. What a mess this is. Cracking performance sir! Funny you have the cat and bird thing going on there...both the dogs tried to get into the chicken run today. They really want to meet the new gals and I have no doubt they will be fine. Introductions will be happening on Friday
And darn them allergies....

Cee-Jay- Good sir if this was not here tonight I was gonna do it- Thanks for taking the pressure off! This is spectacular mate, thank you for sharing it with us.

Voran- Some lovely imagery there- I have never seen this bird in person, but I have seen videos of those amazing wings carrying it over the ocean. Hopefully someday. Thank you for writing and sharing this with us.
Part two- Another great tune- like a painting really. I think if I could ask for anything I do not have, it would be wings. Off to see what Australian bluebirds are all about (a guess based on the Wedge-Tailed Eagle post)
Part three- Wedge-tailed Eagles!!!! Yes! Now this one...this one I really need to see. I have handled both Golden and Bald eagles...something about looking at an Eagle before you are holding it. There is nothing else like it. In any event- transported immediately to watching a group of these hunting in the early morning. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Part four- This came through for me earlier- sorry I was late to comment as I see it was a bit of an issue on your end. First- not hogging anything, I asked for every song you had about birds and clearly, you have a passion for birds. These are all, as I said, like paintings, about some really cool animals. I had a chance once to see a Great Grey near by about 6 years ago. It had ended up very south of its normal range, and every birder I knew went to see it (it was in a easy spot- out in the open, very easy to find). It broke my heart because to me, he was just lost. I decided if I had to see him, I would go to his home someday. Thanks for this tune.
Part five- Haha- I think you are going to hit every owl I want to see and have not yet! One of these dropped down into Washington state (US) about 7 years ago...that year many came lower than they ought to. It was a warning we missed, but we always miss those. Beautiful imagery here again. Probably won't go see this one at home because I hate being cold.

Tootler- Not gonna lie. For the last few weeks I have been waiting for you professor...thinking often to myself "where the hell is Geoff?" I cannot tell you how glad I am that you made it here. Thank you. This is a beautiful song, delivered exactly how I expected it when I saw your post. I am at a loss regarding the hardships you and your spouse are going through, but I can at least offer that you are in my thoughts, and I wish you the best mate. Thanks for playing us a song.

Liz- YES YES YES- I adore this song, and would have happily been subjected to all the verses regarding the mammals, sea creatures, and bugs if they were all brought with this level of excellence (and they would have been)...this is so spectacular! Cole Porter was a lyrical genius- thanks so much for bringing this!

Jim - I was wondering where you were...missed you Punk week. Yeah, I don't know any Hawaiian songs, and only really racy Tin pan tunes...this is just about perfect. I don't know about forgetting the beer...and I surely love my chickens, but I will happily eat their cousins. Also no stranger to a food coma- what a great song ! Glad you are here mate, thanks for this tune!

 

[Voran]

Please post every bird song you can muster. Clearly you love them...and I really enjoy hearing what you write about them. Keep them coming. As (I believe) you are in Australia...ever write one about whimsy of birds? I have a fondness for Kookaburra's

Ireland, not Australia - I just have a big admiration for the wedgetail because they have the sublime combo of being both massive and elegant. I love their elegant necks and their loooong lanky wings.

Okay then! More on the way

 

[TCK]

Ireland, not Australia - I just have a big admiration for the wedgetail because they have the sublime combo of being both massive and elegant. I love their elegant necks and their loooong lanky wings.

Okay then! More on the way

Those legs...so AMAZING and silly long. Excellent. More birds on the way. In any event, here our biggest loss is shore birds and geese...the geese are dying in huge numbers, the scavengers soon to follow (and my god I love turkey vultures). Might be of some inspiration for a song- I don't know how you do it. I could never write an original because the vulnerability there is too much. Glad to have found some common ground here with you, and thank you for your enthusiastic response the theme. Looking forward to more songs about birds.

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

Frenzy at the winter bird feeder. The great tits have a strange habit, they well never eat seeds at the feeder, but will always take a sunfower seed away and eat it elsewhere.

 

[RAB11]

Here was my first thought when I saw the theme but it took till now to muster up the courage to look at the chord chart.

Wasn't as bad as I feared but probably could have done with more than the two run throughs I gave it before trying to record.



Sadly time has got away from me and I won't be able to bring a big multitrack Free Bird like I wanted to.

 

[redpaul1]

10 years ago! Didn't you all look so young?? Season 54 playlist

 

[mythinformed]

Cheers for hosting Dave, hopefully this old Irish fiddle choon/Jig will go some way in cheering up your situation. I picked this arrangement up the other day, ran through It a few times then discovered that a Swallowtail was actually a butterfly and not a bird as I had always thought so I put It away. This morning I decided to get It down and throw It out to ya on the flimsy basis that It does actually mention Swallow albeit in part in the title.

 

[CeeJay]

It is what it is !!