Sunday 18 November 2012

Birdsong

No, not the Sebastian Faulks novel. I tried to read it once, but it failed to engage me, as indeed have other works by Mr Faulks, apart from Human Traces. And possibly Engleby, although I remember not a jot of it.

This is a wren. Check out what
its South American cousins do.
Anyhoo, I meant the song of birds. I've touched on birds before, but without aural reference. Birds are very quiet this time of year and I miss them.

Let's all sing like the birdies sing? Well, we can't necessarily. We produce sound through a larynx; a bird produces sound through a syrinx, which is a very different kettle of fish, anatomy-wise and means they can do all kinds of clever things.


That fact notwithstanding, the artist Marcus Coates did something wonderful a few years ago. He asked people to learn and reproduce birdsong. He did this by recording the birdsongs, slowing down the recordings and giving these to the participants. He then filmed them singing at the same speed and then altered that film to bird speed - sound and vision. The speeded-up movements are eerily birdlike. Here is a montage and here you can see more of "Yellowhammer" and hear a recording of the person at normal speed.

There is a song called The End of The World. My favourite version of it is by Andy Mackay, but it is instrumental so if you don't know the words, you wouldn't get the reference. It's on YouTube though. It's on a sublime album called In Search Of Eddie Riff, to which I lost access in The Great Music Division of 1989. I mourn it still. Well - there's a thing. I had looked for it online before and found it commanded fabulous prices. I've just looked again and there are some more reasonably priced so I've just snapped one up as an early birthday present to myself. Hurrah! Their idea of "very good" quality in vinyl had better coincide with mine...

Anyhoo, here is a version with words. It's the most well-known version, I think, although I didn't know until today that the singer was called Skeeter. In the clip, she displays curious head-bobbing behaviour (perhaps due to the weight of her hair) which is rather birdlike. It's a funny old world. As further evidence of this, here is a picture which came up when I searched Google Images for "birds". Is it me?


Thanks for popping in. The salon is now open for musings.

16 comments:

  1. Dawn Chorus is one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen/heard... I'm still reeling! Will now head back to the craft table with the rest of the musical accompaniments... happy Sunday!
    Alison x

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  2. And I'm sorry... but to WHOM is the presenter speaking in the introduction to the extraordinarily-haired Skeeter Davis? (She would know how to pronounce Merceydeis properly!) And has anyone ever looked less happy to have heard a song at the end of it? What hosting skills...
    xx

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    2. oops - sorry. finger-slipping took place. What i said was - Indeed - and what price the nightshirted banjo player? xx

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  3. What an extraordinary post Andrea! I sat listening to wrens and humans with dropped (and oc totally released ;-)) jaw and then my eyes widened at the hair at the end.

    If we are having a hair competition then how about this one? I admit she lacks the slide, or whatever one might term it, but in exchange there are fearsome curls on each cheek.....

    PS I feel Skeeter's frock would have benefited from being in gingham...red for preference.

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    1. I'm not sure Tammy Wynette and "totally released" jaws belong in the same comment... dear lord!
      xx

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    2. I spake of my jaw. Will go back and observe hers. I was fessled by the hairdo.

      (Um - is fessled English? I fear it is another bastelroom)

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    3. Ah yes, I see what you mean about her jaw. And what price red sparkly dress on a country porch? She too needs red gingham.....

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  4. I didn't know we were having a competition (I blame your schooling, Cestina) but TW must be a finalist, surely. And I think you'll find that wearing red sparkly dresses on your porch is essential Standing-By-Your-Man behaviour. Agree gingham would have enhanced Skeeter's ensemble. I found a later clip of her singing the same song in the '70s, wearing a Laura Ashley-type number, with collapsed hair. She had extended the head-bobbing into upper-body-bobbing. It was not an improvement.

    If fessled isn't English, it should be. It's an excellent word. x

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  5. Well, the bird people are just A-mazing!! Thank you exceedingly for that!!! And how delightful to encounter Skeeter in the salon. She occupies a very particular place in my music library - and in proving the futility - or at least arbitrary nature - of boundaries. I own a Country Music compilation with Skeeter on it - and a Blues and Soul compilation with Skeeter on it. Go Skeeter, gingham or no gingham. (Maybe Gingham Style could oust Gangnam Style??)

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  6. ooh Gingham Style I like, although I do want to make it Gingnam Style - perhaps we could choreograph a head-bobbing dance to go with it. Is Skeeter singing the same song in both of your collections?

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  7. It's definitely "End of the World" on "The Blues and Soul Bible" but I can't remember what it is on the country music comp. If I can locate it, I will check and report back.

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  8. Salon update - my copy of In Search of Eddie Riff arrived today - quality acceptable. I rushed to the turntable and put it on. The first track is Ride of the Valkyries. Goodness me, I thought, he takes that at quite a lick, jumping happily around the room. The second track is The End of the World - also much faster than I'd remembered. Then I realised the turntable was set at 45, presumably from when I'd played Uptown Top Ranking, such is the infrequency of my turntable use These Days. Ah me...

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    1. Oh how disappointing. I'm very partial to a super-speedy Ride of the Valkyries....

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    2. Well, plating it at 45 rpm is always an option. And 78 would be even better...

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