It’s Oh So Quiet

In 1995, Bjork released a big band jazz cover of Betty Hutton’s 1948 hit “Blow a Fuse”. This was a cover of an Austrian song “Und jetzt ist es still” by Hans Lang and Erich Meder.

Bjork said of the song:

Isn’t that the best song you’ve heard for five years? In a way it was against my principles to do an old cover version because I’m so anti-retro. But it has this story, this narrative: there’s a beginning and something happens in the middle and the ending is different. So many pop songs, especially with English lyrics, are just 900 different ways of saying “she left me!” Which I actually love because it’s pop, just one idea, very simple, and it doesn’t mean it’s cheap. I can relate to it, but I belong to the storytelling group.”

Source: Creswell, Toby (2005) 1001 Songs: The Great Songs Of All Times. Prahan, Victoria: Hardie Grant Books, p.101-102.


Posted

in

by


Featured Content

It must be worth the effort
Martinu on creating beautiful music: “It must be beautiful, or it wouldn’t be worth the effort.” Cited in: Calum MacDonald, “Bohuslav Martinu: Cosmopolitan Dreamer”, BBC Music, August 2009, p.45.
Mozart on aesthetics
Mozart’s musical aesthetics are revealed in a letter to his father about Osmin’s first aria in The Abduction of the Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail).  The Eighteenth century classical ideals of balance and refinement are evident: I have sent you only the beginning and the end of the aria.  I think it will prove […]
Abstraction XVIII
Title: Abstraction XVIIIComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoProduct medium: PDF scoreRelated products: – Abstraction XVIII (mp3 audio) Sample:
The mannerisms of Pachmann
The Russian pianist, Vladimir von Pachmann was known for his funny mannerisms: Everyone knows that the Russian pianist has funny ways of his own, which the public tolerate for the pleasure he affords them as an artist. On this occasion, we read, he remarked, first of all, “Too few people; I cannot play. This is […]
Beauty Around Us – Bernhard Severin Ingemann
Title: Beauty Around Us Composer: Greg Smith Based on text by: Bernhard Severin Ingemann Instrumentation: Piano (easy) Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Beauty Around Us (piano version)     – Beauty Around Us (easy piano version)     – Beauty Around Us (mp3) SAMPLE:    
Bach’s preferred instrument
Johann Sebastian Bach’s preferred to play the viola when conducting an orchestra. Source: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 216.
The orchestra as a symbol of unity
“You see behind me a symphony orchestra.  Every single one of the instruments has an entirely different background and history; they come from different places …; they’ve had different developments; they sound different… And so, the next time your soul sings, assailed with some sort of horrid indication that people can’t get along together, please […]
Performers
Lord,When Your Glory Appears (Setting II) – Psalm 16 (17)
Title: Lord, when your glory appears (Setting II) Text: Psalm 16 (17): 1, 5-6, 8, 15 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Vaughan Williams on sense of musical citizenship
Vaughan Williams wrote a series of articles for the Royal College of Music magazine entitled “Who Wants the English Composer?”. In these, he expresses his advocacy for an exploration of the English musical style: We English composers are always saying, “Here are Wagner, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, what fine fellows they are, let us try and […]