The fourth book: #4 Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Started this. Very much a history book with stories, it feels like it's jumping from event to event while trying to make them more dramatic. A tough read, but a bit easier to follow than the Tale of Genji - there are still a lot of characters, but they are easier to keep track of and have stronger, consistent (but perhaps slightly more flat) personalities
The third book: #3 The Tale of Genji
And that's another big book finished. The Tale of Genji was pretty up and down for me. While interesting in places, it also dragged on from time to time with a lot of drama series style will they/won't they and a revolving door of love interests - made more confusing by the common lack of names, who was 'the girl' again?
The shift in protagonist was interesting, but less compelling because you don't follow along with Genji's early rise - there is less of an understanding of the character. Even so, the difficulty with keeping up is that the book doesn't have the larger plots most stories have - there was less of a plan in what was written, and that makes it more difficult to keep track of it. Things just happen. It's realistic, but not as satisfying to read about.
Still, even from the historical perspective this was interesting to see, figuring out more about Japanese court life, how these people interacted and what the proper conduct was... as well as how the lower classes seemed mostly ignored in the story. They're there and contribute, but they feel separate still. Certainly happy I read this.
The third book: #3 The Tale of Genji
This is a long book - I'm just over halfway through and it feels like it has taken ages to get this far. The book is fairly dense, with a lot of cultural reference you're just assumed to know - I have to keep checking.
What's interesting is how, although Genji is the main character, he's not a hero. He cheats, has affairs, abandons his wives and isn't too happy with his children so far. It makes for a compelling story, but also an interesting indictment - you are meant to sympathise with the others, although as often they are inactive characters, unwilling to do more.
The twenty-first song: Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday
Another piercing song from Billie Holiday. The lyrics about suicide are sad enough, the voice adds to it, and while there are some slight upbeat moments in the music - more from style than intended, the trumpets stand out - mostly the slow music drags on to enhance this feeling.
The twenty-second song: Guantanamera - Joseito Fernandez
Titled 'She from Guantanemo', these days you'd expect the song be more like Billie Holiday's than this upbeat, Latin swinging song. Although the song is apparently often improvised, here the melody does enough, a hint of longing included in something that's generally there to be enjoyed.
The twenty-third song: God Bless The Child - Billie Holiday
One of the few songs by Billie Holiday that she wrote herself, it's slightly happier than the ones we've heard before. There's still the slow voice that gets to you, but it's a conflict about money, not death, and it feels like there's some statement of independence in there as well. It's nice to hear a slightly less gloomier side, especially since as a song, it still holds up really nicely.
The twenty-fourth song: Stormy Weather - Lena Horne
Another jazz song, Stormy Weather feels more annoyed and angry - it's worse since her man left her. Even if the lyrics aren't as much so, the performance is incredibly strong. Lena Horne has a magnificent voice that rings out and makes a major impact.
The twenty-fifth song: Rum and Coca-Cola - Lord Invader
Another calypso song from Trinidad, this song mourns the American cultural influence coming from soldiers stationed in Trinidad during the war. Some of the effect is lost because of the quality of the recording - the parts with multiple singers is discordant, obscuring what's being sung. It's all over the place, but when you read the lyrics, the annoyance speaks through, with the sentiment being at odds with the sound of song.
The twenty-sixth song: This Land Is Your Land - Woody Guthrie
What sounds like a floksy country song is a song that feels like it could feel many political affiliations - even though they were removed from the final verse, it's a very 'proud of your country' song that has apparently been adapted for several countries. What was most surprising, reading about it now, is that Woody Guthrie had communist leanings, and while it fits the lyrics, it's not what the music style is generally associated with, but it works.
The twenty-seventh song: Lili Marleen - Marlene Dietrich
Sometimes I'm happy I speak some foreign languages - understanding the German lyrics (sort of) adds to the appeal of this sweet lovesong. Somewhat wanting, there's the careful joy of a soldier seeing his girlfriend again. What adds to the poignancy is that this is dated for the end of the second world war, where this would have been notable for soldiers wanting to retun home or returning home to see their family. A lovely song, sung by someone who has the perfect voice for it.
The twenty-eighth song: (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 - The Nat King Cole Trio
One of the things that I've still sort of been waiting for throughout this project is for rock to start. We're obviously still too early for that, but the topic of this song - the by now well known Route 66 - would now fit in there. The R&B in this song feels swingier, closer to rock, stepping up the beat a bit and waiting for a proper guitar to come in, breaking loose completely.
The twenty-ninth song: Al gurugu - La Nina de los Peines
Back to Latin songs, we get a flamenco song next. With her deep voice, we are demanded to pay attention and be drawn into the song. Recording quality sadly affects that here, not coming across quite as clear as it could be, and it makes the song a bit of a mess. It's a nice composition, though, and the power of it shows through.
The thirtieth song: La Vie en Rose - Edith Piaf
Before we started, Peter described this as one of the most famous songs ever released. It has everything working together - a great melody that fits in perfectly with the sounds of Edith's Piaf's voice, taking you on a journey that feels familiar, has lyrics but doesn't need a precise meaning to draw you in. It's music that speaks on a base level.
The thirty-first song: La Mer - Charles Trenet
A sweet tune, one that sounds like it isn't very consequential - and knows it doesn't really need to be. It's a happy little ode to the sea that just makes you feel happy, a nice melody with vocals that put you in and pull you along.
The third book: #3 The Tale of Genji
I really just started on the next book, or so it feels, The (roughly) 1100 page old Japanese story The Tale of Genji. A few chapters in, it's interesting - first of all, I spent a large part of my reading time googling terms, reading up on Japan's government of the time and other references. It's interesting though, with the different writing styles (almost completely avoiding names, as was the custom at the time). More thoughts later, but so far it's been an interesting read.
The eleventh song: Mal Hombre - Lydia Mendoza
Song writing credit entirely to her apparently, based on lyrics found on a candy wrapper. Lydia Mendoza has a clear voice, which comes through even on the less than perfect recording. The sadness comes through the sound, the slightly upbeat sound that comes up from time to time interrupted frequently by the sadder sounds of the songs.
The twelth song: Hula Girl - Sol Hoopii
Apparently the first 'world music craze', you can see where its popularity would have come from, even if it sounds cheesy now. The hula girls would have been remarkable anyway, but the upbeat, happy sounds help put you in a good mood and make this a song that's out there for the joy of it, rather than some greater artistic purpose (not saying it isn't there though).
The thirteenth song: Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By) - The Carter Family
Although this song doesn't sound as happy as our previous song, it is apparently more influential in starting country music (Hula Girl's guitar tuning frequently being used in it now). It's a folksy, sad song about loss, about the singer's mother who has passed away. It touches you even now, the loss can really be felt.
The fourteenth song: Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson
A blues song, it's a shame the recording quality seems to have dropped a bit again - it was about to not be a problem anymore, but the vocals especially sound muted because of it.It drags you away from the emotion a bit here, the shrill guitars sounding a bit off where they'd otherwise add to your blues. Still, an impressive voice, but maybe we can say more after the next song.
The fifteenth song: Hellhound on my Trail - Robert Johnson
Recorded later, this song seems to display the emotion far better. Hellhounds on his tail, the idea that the devil is going to get him, shows through in this song, panic spurring on the song while also incorporating sadness. With these two songs, you can see how Robert Johnson would have been a power in blues.
The sixteenth song: Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
What a horrible story. You can't help but listen to Billie Holiday's voice, slowly singing about the lynched black men hanging from a tree. A horrible sight it must be, and fully evoked by the lyrics and the sad, slow music that talks about it. Even now often ignored, the song shows how music can be used to strike deeper and tell more of a story than it otherwise would.
The seventeenth song: Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
An antidote to the previous song, a completely different one. Full of hope, it brings the movie to mind, but also feel like they can apply to anyone's life. The music follows this, pushing up in range and taking you up with. Encouraging in its desire.
The eighteenth song: The Gallis Pole - Lead Belly
Although there is a melody and song here, I'm not sure they go together here - it feels like they could be from two separate songs. It feels repetitive and while this is meant to be based on an older folks song, it just doesn't seem to come across right here.
The nineteenth song: Mbube - Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds
Ignoring a troubled history of the song (The Lion Sleeps Tonight from the Lion King comes from here, although with royalties only paid in 2006), the song doesn't feel quite as composed, instead rougher call and response in a way that feel more pure. There's no chorus here either, but the composition more speaks for itself in an attractive way. It's an enjoyable song.
The twentieth song: The Java Jive - The Ink Spots
It's a song about coffee! That is one of the odder subjects for a song (straight out of Thrilling Adventure Hour if you ask me), but it's a nice confident song anyway. It's mostly about just nice coffee, and other simple pleasures (such as tea). You can't fault it for that though, as the song sounds good and is quite catchy. Here's a song we'll remember for sure.
What an amazingly varied run of ten again...
The second book: #2 The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
And so we jump from Arabian fairy tales to Japanese. The version of this story that I read was from a larger collection of Japanese fairy tales (the book, I saw later, recommending a specific 1998 edition, but in this case for me the core story mattered).
Reading some of these fairy tales has been pretty interesting in general. After Arabian Nights, these felt a bit less forward, a bit more controlled and less repetitve (but that's also because there's less of them). The tropes are still there - down to the room you shouldn't enter - but there's certainly more of a morality tale to it and less awkward crowd pleasers.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a good example of it, working as a morality tale with an interesting story. It follows plenty of the fairy tale lines - a magically found baby, gold and gems coming out of nowhere, and the good adoptive parents getting wealthy and having good luck. The second part, regarding the suitors, have their own mini lessons, but also feel to follow different beats, avoiding repetitiveness by having each of them taking a different approach to avoiding their quests. It all still feels pretty predictable.
The third part, regarding the king's meeting and the end of the story, play nice, even if it never entirely leads anywhere - there's no success and the real resolution, the girl returning back to the moon, comes out of nowhere. It's a bit unfortunate, but fits in with the general theme of these stories of staying in your place and accepting your fate - returning to your own place.
Time to move into the current millennium!
The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights
And that's my first book complete. One of the big ones too - not the biggest, but the 1001 nights get long and obviously take some time to finish.
There are times where the book is repetitive, with a bunch of recurring elements and word use, but the combinations were different enough that, most of the time, it was still engaging.
A great start of the list... although I hope not all of them will take months.
The first song: O Sole Mio - Enrico Caruso
New, additional challenge: Find out more about music through the 1001 songs list. I am not really a music expert, so this almost seems necessary.
First, this song sounds old. It has all the imperfections you get in older recordings, apparently amplified by the recording process of the time.
The song is familiar, with the voice being incredibly powerful - again, if it wasn't for the faults of the recording process putting limits on the sound, this would be giving me goosebumps. You can tell it was an impressive voice just from this.
And it's a hundred years old. Wow.
The second song: The St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith
The sound issues are still there - emphasing the cornet more than it normally would. It muffles the voice slightly, especially for the type of song,
Blues isn't a sound you hear much these days, and these feels melancholic. A good song to set a mood, it plays well, but maybe a bit dated. Lovely to fade away to, having it sink in slowly.
The third song: Lafayette - Joe & Cleoma Falcon
We've moved a decade from the first song - these first entries speed through time.
An interesting song musically, accordeons and guitar creating a jollier sound. The vocals are unfortunately weaker, in style with the music but (to my ears) sounding a bit off. Still sounds good though.
Peter just pointed out to me this is really early country music, just in French.
Not, perhaps, the best song, but a good different type of song - one you wouldn't hear otherwise.
The fourth song: Lagrimas Negras - Trio Matamoros
A sadder sounding song (the title means 'Black Tears'), this is a song I'd expect to be played by a band on a street corner - the Cuban roots fit this. Even then the Latin music has some happy tones in there, making some additions.
By the way, the recordings are already sounding a lot better.
The fifth song: Pokarekare - Ana Hato
You could actually hear the recording click here.
Lovely music and female lead, she sounds great in here. The support singer feels a bit off compared to her, and I wonder how well they would have been able to hear each other. Musically this might not be anything special anymore, compared to more current lovesongs - it feels very 50s "what your parents listened to", which is very forward looking for its time. Lovely even so.
The sixth song: Saint James Infirmary Blues - Louis Armstrong
Now this sounds familiar. Lovely to hum along to, there's something almost soothing about the song and Louis Armstrong's voice. Even so, it mostly makes for good background music, not something I'd seek out to just listen to.
The seventh song: El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor) - Don Azpiazu & The Havana Casino Orchestra
Our first rumba, and while it's not quite swinging yet (we haven't had that yet), the song already feels more danceable than we've had before. It's nicely uplifting and attractive, grabbing your attention more. I'm looking forward to more of this.
The eighth song: Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway
Another big band song, and more from the horns section - is it just me or do you not hear trumpets in music these days? It's decent to listen to, with some interesting almost call and response in the refrain, and a move away from the love songs towards... is this the first revenge song? I suppose we had to see someone start what made Taylor Swift famous. Just with less electronic music and maybe a bit more feeling.
The ninth song: Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl - Bessie Smith
Our first repeat performer! And she sounds better now recording technologies have improved. With her voice coming through more strongly, the song feels stronger and we get a great performance. Despite the song being clean, there's a lot of winks in here - it's "sugar" in the "bowl". It's well performed, and that makes it far more likeable, there's so much more personality shining through.
The tenth song: Brother Can You Spare a Dime - Bing Crosby
Some performers have a reputation, but I never really saw why. This list is already showing me why some of these performers deserve it - Bing Crosby's voice is captivating, changing tone and playing with the music to emphasize its impact. He believes it and it pulls you in.
The message comes across clearly, especially knowing this was recording during the great depression, when these things were a big issue. It makes the message more important, improving on the delivery of the song.
The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights
The second comic: #837 The Walking Dead
Progress on Arabian Nights is... present. There's plenty of variety in there, and the stories are interesting, but there's little to say - with nothing to link them, covering a few stories each day means there's not much to say about the whole. Plenty of sections become predictable anyway - while not formulaic, there are a bunch of standard lessons.
So about two-thirds of the way through, I've taken a break for The Walking Dead. I have to catch up with Peter, who's read a bit ahead, so we can stay in touch. Aside from a nice change of pace (and literal change of direction compared to Bleach), it's a good story. I've started watching the tv series earlier and the differences are already apparent. Plenty of unexpected deaths and some interesting challenges coming up. It's still early days, but I'm looking forward to see what follows!