A COUPLE OF PRIVATE JOKES

Dear Music Lover,

Our first square is about Drive my Car, by the Beatles. Here I decided to do a playful take on the song given the squares we have already produced for other Beatles' tunes like Yellow Submarine and Octopus’ Garden. I don’t recall from my childhood if Noddy ever allowed anyone else to drive his car, although he did act as a taxi driver for many different characters!

Since beginning this square, I have learned that this song is not actually about lending a car, but is in fact a much more libidinous invitation. But surely any young lady would be safe driving a car with Noddy in it!

Bird on a Wire, by Leonard Cohen

This square has been requested by Judy, for her niece who lives in England. It’s not so much that this is a favourite song, as that there is a certain someone who sings it in a special way, and this has become a private joke between them. So when they look at this square, executed cleverly by Kathy, they will always feel the secret bond between them!

Enjoy the joke, girls!

And happy listening to the rest of you,

Susan

THE CELLIST AND THE VIOLINIST

Hello Music Lover!

This blog is dedicated to the Israeli poet Yael Cohen. You may recall that she asked if she could use our square for “The Lark Ascending” for the cover of her next book, In Constant Spreading Motion. Well, the book is out (and the cover looks great!) Apart from the Vaughan Williams, there are two other poems which respond to pieces of music.

The first one is Song of the Birds, El Cant del Ocells, a Catalan folk tune. If you don't know it, the best way to experience it is to go to hear it played on the cello by the great Pablo Casals on UN Day, October 24 1971, in New York. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt9iz3xApVg. He says, “The birds in this piece sing peace, peace, peace and the music is the music that Bach and Beethoven and all the greats would have loved and admired – it is so beautiful, and it is also the soul of my country – Catalonia.” He also later sadly says that we have always wanted peace, and we have talked about it for centuries. It was in Catalonia (now part of France) that leaders of nearby states gathered to talk peace, and that was in the 11^th century. We haven't come very far.

I chose to show five dove-like birds, because the tune keeps switching between 2/4 and 3/4, and each one carries a sprig of laurel, for peace. I have also broken one of our rules (that each square must contain a predominant amount of either coral or emerald green) and have used mainly blue and white, the colours of the Israeli flag. Good luck with your new book, Yael!

I’d also like to say hello to Steve Hancoff, the guitarist and composer who toured Israel in 2002, and whose e-book, a biography of Pablo Casals comes out this fall. Look out for it!

The second piece of music which inspired a poem was Der Lindenbaum from Schubert’s Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey). Der Lindenbaum (the linden tree) was the fifth in the song cycle, a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm  Müller. The entire cycle is dark and brooding, not surprising because Schubert was already dying at that time, and in this one the winter traveller passes by the shelter of the linden tree and continues on his journey. Yael speaks in her poem of her violinist father who spent much of her childhood on concert tours, and how she wanted to cut the strings off it and hang it in a tree. The linden tree in the text says “you should have found your rest here,” and in her poem, Yael says the same thing.

I can’t help reflecting on the process by which art inspires art. A poem by Müller inspires a song by Schubert, which inspires a poem by Yael Cohen, and both inspire an 8” quilt square. Long may artists continue to inspire each other. To quote Austin Kleon - Step #1 Wonder at something; Step #2 Get others to wonder with you.

Happy listening!

Susan