So, Frank and Johanna, I have fond memories of perfect breakfasts in warm summer sunshine watching the squirrels in your back garden, so I hope that you enjoy tomorrow’s musical accompaniment.

The words “perfect day” came to mind last night as we walked along Ayr beach in beautiful late-summer sunshine (even if it was a bit cold!) so I decided to play Perfect Day as the last song of August’s 365songs. Dating from 1972, Lou Reed included this on his Transformer album. It also featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting, and then in 1997 the BBC released a version of it performed by various artists which became the 1997 Children in Need charity CD.

Barn är ett folk och dom bor i ett främmande land, detta land är ett regn och en pöl.
Över den pölen går pojkarnas båtar ibland, och dom glider så fint utan köl.
Där går en flicka, som samlar på stenar, hon har en miljon.
Kungen av Träd sitter stilla bland grenar i Trädkungens tron.
Där går en pojke som skrattar åt snö.
Där går en flicka som gjorde en ö av femton kuddar.
Där går en pojke, och allting blir glass som han snuddar.
Alla är barn, och dom tillhör det gåtfulla folket.

Barn är ett folk och dom bor i ett främmande land, detta land är en äng och en vind.
Där finner kanske en pojke ett nytt Samarkand, och far bort på en svängande grind.
Där går en flicka, som sjunger om kottar. Själv äger hon två.
Där vid ett plank står en pojke som klottrar att jorden är blå.
Där går en pojke som blev indian.
Där, där går Kungen av Skugga runt stan och skuggar bovar.
Där fann en flicka en festlig grimas som hon provar.
Alla är barn, och dom tillhör det gåtfulla folket.

Barn är ett folk och dom bor i ett främmande land, detta land är en gård och ett skjul.
Där sker det farliga tågöverfallet ibland, vackra kvällar när månen är gul.
Där går en pojke som gissar på bilar, själv vinner han jämt.
Fåglarnas sånger i olika stilar är magiska skämt.
Där blir en värdelös sak till en skatt.
Där, där blir sängar till fartyg en natt och går till månen.
Där finns det riken som ingen av oss tar ifrån dem.
Alla är barn, och dom tillhör det gåtfulla folket.

Rough English translation:

Children are a people, and they live in a strange land. That land is a rain and a puddle.
Over that puddle the boys’ boats go sometimes, and they glide so nicely even without a keel.
There walks a girl who collects rocks. She has a million for herself.
The King of Trees sits quietly among the branches of the Tree King’s throne.
There walks a boy who laughs at snow.
There walks a girl who made an island out of fifteen pillows.
There walks a boy, and everything he touches turns to ice cream.

All of them are children, and they belong to the mysterious people.

Children are a people, and they live in a strange land. That land is a meadow and an attic.
There a boy may find a new Samarkand, and rides away on a swinging gate.
There walks a girl who sings about fir cones. She owns two herself.
There by a wooden fence stands a boy who scribbles that the world is blue.
There walks a boy who turned into an Indian.
There, there walks the King of Shades around town, he is shadowing thieves.
There, a girl found a funny grimace that she is trying out.
All of them are children, and they belong to the mysterious people.

Children are a people and they live in a strange land. That land is a back yard and a shed.
There, the dangerous train ambush happens sometimes, on beautiful evenings when the moon is yellow.
There walks a boy who is guessing on cars; he himself always wins.
The songs of birds in their many variations are magical jokes.
There, a worthless thing turns into a treasure.
There, beds turn into boats one night and go off to the moon.
There are kingdoms that nobody among us takes away from them.
All of them are children, and they belong to the mysterious people.

This beautiful Italian song was first recorded by Zucchero in 1984, but it was the 2006 Laura Pausini version which I first heard. The title means “Like unexpected sunshine”, and the song deals with perseverance in the face of adversity. Ever since I heard Come il sole all’improvviso in France a few years back, I’ve loved this song. It was released on Laura Pausini’s Io Canto album, as a duet in Italian and French with Johnny Halliday, but the solo version was included on an ‘iTunes extra’ album, and I much prefer this version. If you’re interested, the solo version is on YouTube. I hope you like this song!

The song All I know is a tender Bertrande/Arnaud duet from the original version of the musical. In the 1998 version of the musical it was reworked into The Day has come which features the whole cast, very similar to the song One Day More from Les Misérables. I actually prefer the original version, and it’s this version I’ve based my performance on today!

I hope you enjoy this song today, Dad, and that you have a fantastic birthday!

I was sent a video last week filmed by one of the students who was taking part in a visit to Strasbourg which I organised earlier this year. We had a ’soirée musicale’ one evening and along with the Italian bus driver who accompanied our visit, I sang (or rather tried to sing!) ‘O Sole Mio. I thought I’d post the video here for a laugh – apologies for the bad singing, particularly towards the end! I should also perhaps explain that Nino was holding my iPhone on which the lyrics were written in very small text! Next time I’ll take the iPad – and start playing the song a few tones lower to avoid the high G!

Anyway, here is When you wish upon a star from the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio, originally recorded by Cliff Richard as the voice of Jiminy Cricket. My version is based on the Nelson Riddle arrangement included in Linda Ronstadt’s 2000 Christmas album.

Looking for space was released by John Denver in 1976 and reached #1 in the Adult Contemporary charts in the US.

Variation 5 became Unexpected Song when Don Black wrote lyrics for the one-woman show Tell me on a Sunday – have a listen to my previous performance of the title song from this show from back in January.

The lyrics were written by Tim Rice and the music was by Elton John, who also recorded a pop version of the song included on the soundtrack album. I hope you enjoy today’s song!

So, any ideas for the next 165 songs? Is there a song I’ve not played yet which you like? Or an artist which I’ve not really covered? By now I’m sure that you know my style, so let me know if there’s something you think would fit!

Today’s song is the first of month seven on 365songs, and tomorrow we move past the half-way point! Thanks to everyone for continuing to listen to my daily tunes – keep your requests coming!

Like many other Scottish teachers, Pierre-Benoît will be stopping for his summer holidays today, so I’d like to wish him and all my other Scottish teaching friends a good summer break – bonnes vacances à tous!

While researching my notes for today’s post, I discovered a new recording (iTunes link) of the Misa Campesina by Nicaraguan singer Katia Cardenal. Coincidentally, this was released in Norway under the same Kirkelig Kulturverksted label as Sigvart Dagsland – see my song from 18th May.

The song comes from the 1954 film of the same name which tells of three American girls looking for romance while employed by the American Embassy in Rome. Despite not being allowed to see the film or read the script, lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne came up with the song in an hour. It was recorded the following day by Frank Sinatra.

Update: Thanks, Dad: here’s a photo from 1980 taken by Mum – from left to right it’s my Dad, me, my sister Clare and my brother Derek at the Trevi fountain. Weren’t shorts short in 1980!?

It seemed only appropriate to play something Italian in memory of my gran and her brother and sisters who lived through these sad events. Rather than play something poignant, however, I’ve decided to choose a song which my gran always loved. The song Luna Caprese wasn’t released until twenty years later, but it has always been a favourite in our family. I hope I’ve done it justice.

The song is based on a popular Christian poem which tells of a dream in which the writer is walking along the beach with God. Looking back along the beach the writer identifies various stages in his life and notes that at times the two sets of footprints become one, particularly at the lowest points of his life. He questions God about why He deserted him at these difficult times. God explains that in his lowest times He didn’t abandon the writer: instead He carried him.

The song was written by Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Richard Page and Simon Cowell and was given to 2006 X-Factor winner Leona Lewis. It was used as the 2008 Sport Relief song.

Eurovision udpate: I hope my performance of the Belarussian song on Friday didn’t bring bad luck to the performers – it came second last! Although that wasn’t as bad as the pitiful UK entry. I’m glad Germany won and hope that next year I’ll make it to the contest in person!

Norwegian

Det e ein ensom vei me går
Eg ser det klart fra der eg står
Om solen skinne litt
På meg og livet mitt
Kan eg gå den ensomme veien samen med deg

Det e ein ensom vei me går
Eg ser det klart fra der eg står
Om solen skinne litt
På meg og livet mitt
Kan eg gå den ensomme veien samen med deg

My rough translation

It’s a lonely road we go
I see it clearly from where I stand
If the sun shines a little
on me and on my life
I can walk that lonely road with you

It is not easy
to always have known where you stand
I can see the way
But do not know how possible it is.
So I can’t lead you along it,
But hand in hand, you and I,
Can watch over each other’s steps.

It’s a lonely road we go
I see it clearly from where I stand
If the sun shines a little
on me and on my life
I can walk the lonely road with you.

Now, a bit of explanation about the song I’ve chosen for today. Two years ago we had a wonderful meal (elk stew, I believe!) at Knut and Ane’s house and after the meal we had a bit of a sing-song. Knut taught us all a well-known Norwegian song which had something to do with strawberries. And that’s where the story ended. When I was trying to think up a song to play today (I felt Ja, vi elsker was maybe a bit much, and I’m keeping my Jan Teigen Eurovision classics for later this month!) I thought it would be a nice idea to find this song, work out a piano version and perform it. Armed with nothing but “Norwegian song which has something to do with strawberries” I began my research, finally finding a version by Maj Britt Andersen. I’ve based my recording on this version, and hope you enjoy it.

Så, jeg håper dere da i Norge har det kjempebra i dag og vi snees snart!

Sing-song at Knut and Ane's house

I believe that GarageBand, part of the iLife suite of applications, is extremely useful in classrooms as a tool for providing rhythm to help learners repeat words, phrases, equations, formulae, etc. and I demonstrated this to the assembled delegates by teaching them some Zulu. Having visited South Africa for the first time last month I picked up a few phrases (which may find themselves included in a future podcast series…) in Zulu and I decided that I’d begin by teaching the word sanibonani, which is how you say “hello” to a group of people. I wanted to get in one of the lovely click sounds of Zulu, so I also taught the phrase ngisaqala ukufunda isiZulu – “I’m learning Zulu”.

The Voices and World Music jam packs for GarageBand provide some fantastic African sounds, so I prepared a backing track using some loops and a simple melody based on the two phrases. I then got everyone repeating the sounds, using the African rhythms as a background. We split up the audience, giving one half the tricky ngisaqala, the other half ukufunda, and then everyone said isiZulu together. Finally, I recorded them a couple of times chanting these phrases before putting everything together in GarageBand.

I only had 15 minutes for the entire Keynote, so I didn’t have time to put the final piece together there and then, but the idea was that the recording could then be shared among the learners, further consolidating their learning as they listened on their own iPods etc. To be honest I’d forgotten about the whole project as the rest of the ATI took over, but I remembered about the GarageBand file this morning so I’ve put together a performance using the backing track and the recordings made at ATI and you can have a listen here and let me know what you think!

Ngiyabonga (thanks) to everyone at ATI, and I hope you like it.