RadioMoscowIdent

The Internationale  conducted by Arturo Toscanini--BANNED by U.S. censors!

Al Green - People Get Ready

I recorded Teddy singing this song in  a primitive 4-track studio in 1971. It was meant to be an A-side single, but my business manager substituted one of her own songs and I got the B-side. I don't think anyone bought it. I still think it's great. Like everything I write, it's autobiographical.

Teddy Munro - Get outa my head

Not broadcasting on BCB until after local elections

It was several years ago when I was coming home from an Easter Sunday dawn service when these words came into my head. I didn't have a tune, or time to get out my guitar for the morning service, so I just went to the front of the church and started singing. The Holy Spirit (and Milton Evans on back-up guitar) did the rest. 

It's Resurrection Day

I set these words on March 17, 1994 to the Irish sean nos ballad, Eibhli Gheal Chiún Ni Chearbhaill, inspired by the John Martyn instrumental of the tune (also recorded by Paddy Moloney with the Chieftains). The backing was played by Milton  Evans, based on John  Martyn's original.

How Can It Be

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Video Caroline Promo With Fanfare

This poem was written in August, 2000 about probably the finest diva in Jazz or indeed in any kind of music, come to that.

She kind of drags her words behind the beat
in a way impossible to imitate (thank God)
and she messes with the tune
the way a horn-player will,
but she never, never loses the meaning
of what she's singing.

Her diction is superb,
every word clear and placed
exactly right,
whether on the beat
or off it.

Her life,
her lost loves,
her death,
it's all there in the songs:
Good Morning Heartache,
My Man,
You've Changed,
and especially Don't Explain,
yet it is not depressing,
that cracked voice
out of too many cigarettes,
too many whiskey bottles,
and, in the end, too much smack;
it’s the song of a survivor
nothing could kill,
not even death.

Even her upbeat songs
have the taste of wormwood in them,
a manic sense that
after this it can only go downhill.
But there is no cynicism,
despite the world-weariness,
the having been used.

She got better
as her life and her body fell apart,
the voice more apt to what she was singing about
as it became
more broken, more ravaged
by too much time crammed into too few years,
so her last recordings are almost unbearable
whether they are with that wonderful distingué band
or that bizarre string orchestra
on Lady in Satin.

Despite the title of her life story
she wasn't really a blues singer
in the strictest sense,
though she did a few 12-bars
in her time.

She didn't sing the blues;
she was the blues.
(What'm I saying?
She could never be was.
She is.)
Not Lady Day;
Lady night.
Midnight striking.
A drunk staggering across 52nd Street
as the last cab
takes the help home
and the boss locks shut the doors of the club.

And the city turns to face another day.
With you.
Without you.


Remembering LadyDay

New words to the 12th Century Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

The time has come Emmanuel
For love to triumph o'er the flames of Hell.
Death dies upon this winter morn
Come see where life, a tiny babe is born:
Rejoice! Rejoice! The mother gives the breast
And all our fears and sorrows laid to rest.

The longest night, Emmanuel
Must brighten to the song we know so well.
It lives within our sleeping hearts;
The golden sun shall rise as night departs.
Rejoice! Rejoice! For deep beneath the snow
The flowers of spring are budding there we know.

So let us all, Emmanuel
Link arms and dance and weave a magic spell 
That comes upon the earth at Christmas time
And bubbles through the blood like sparkling wine:
Rejoice! Rejoice! And make a merry noise
Rejoice, again we say to you, rejoice.
December 12, 2014, 11 pm

The Time Has Come, Emmanuel

A New Year/Hogmany medley of 3 songs: We Sing Auld Lang Syne at Midnight, Auld Lang Syne, and It's Been a Long Time Since (my translation into English of Rabbie Burns's original Scots words).
The track is a mix of recordings at the Topic Folk Club and the Castle pub, both in  Bradford.
The words of the first and last songs are © Copyright Karl Dallas/EMI Music. The tunes are traditional.

We Sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight - Auld Lang Syne - Long Time Since Medley 2015

We sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight
Tune: The Week Before Easter (The False Bride)
 
Hogmanay comes around and all things are made new
And we make resolutions of what we should do
It's a time to be faithful, a time to be true
As we sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

As the chimes they ring out and the world forms a ring
Do we ever consider the words that we sing?
For the love we receive is the love we must bring
As we sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

There are many who shiver in a world hard and cold
And their numbers are growing as the new year grows old
It's a tale that's familiar and too seldom told
As we sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

For all friends and lovers of today and the past
May we always be constant so true love may last
As we reach out our hands may they always hold fast
As we sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

So let us remember as we sing out the tune
All these words have a meaning as morning comes soon
May each old acquaintance not wane like the moon
As we sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.
Let us sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.
 
It's Been A Long Time Since
Tune: Auld Lang Syne (James Watson, 1711)
Can we regret what's gone before
As if it never was?
Should we forget for ever more
And never mourn its loss?

It's been a long time since, my dear,
It's been a long time since.
All time is one, when said and done
Though it be a long time since.

Leaves fall from trees in the winter breeze
When the hills are carpet-white.
But still we know, despite the snow,
That daytime follows night.

As daytime follows night, my dear,
As daytime follows night.
The scarlet sun proclaims the dawn
As daytime follows night.

So let's remember where we've been
And press it to our breast.
Tomorrow starts in the human heart
And all is for the best.

And all is for the best, my dear,
Yes, all is for the best.
Each yesterday goes on its way
And all is for the best.

© Copyright 2014 Karl Dallas/EMI Music

Karl Dallas

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