Tag Archives: music

First “juke box”

First "jukebox"
1899, The world’s first jukebox was installed at San Francisco’s Palais Royal Saloon. It was constructed by the Pacific Phonograph Company. Four stethoscope-like tubes were attached to an Edison Class M electric phonograph fitted inside an oak cabinet. The tubes operated individually, each being activated by the insertion of a coin, meaning that four different listeners could be plugged in to the same song simultaneously.The machine was originally called the “nickel-in-the-slot player” by Louis Glass, the entrepreneur who installed it at the Palais Royal. It later came to be known as the jukebox.
– photo and info passed along by Benjamin Barr

Mini Box Dulcimer

by Goschenhobel

Two children’s songs played in noter-drone style on a slim, short scale box dulcimer made by Goschenhobel in about 5 hours.

The facts: poplar plywood top and (double) back, strips of oak for the sides and beech blocks (for the string nails and the zither pins) on the left and right.
Length 60 cm (24″), width 20 cm (8″), height 3,7 cm (1 1/2″); scale length 54 cm (about 21 1/2″). Three strings (0.12, 0.16, 0.24) tuned to Gdg.

On Rannoch Moor


OH GO WEST HIGHLAND WAY
FOR RANNOCH MOOR

OH GO WEST HIGHLAND WAY
THE CURLEW CRIES
ON RANNOCH MOOR

AND YOU WILL HEAR THAT CRYIN’
AND THAT’S WHAT YOU CAME FOR
AND IT WILL TAKE YOU DOWN
ON RANNOCH MOOR

OH GO WEST HIGHLAND WAY
FOR RANNOCH MOOR

GO WEST HIGHLAND WAY
THE CURLEW CRIES
ON RANNOCH MOOR
– by Mary MacGowan

Mary’s Song

This song’s title is from a poem with the same title by Marion Angus, a Scottish poet popular at the turn of the century. I decided to “Americanize” her words because she used a lot of Gaelic and it didn’t feel right for me. Youtube gave me the option to create this old-fashioned look, sepias and faded, lovin’ it.

Innisfree

Please click on “play”

poem by Yeats, of course; music by me


I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

 

Skinamarink


☝ play!

Sitting around the kitchen table this morning and couldn’t think of one good reason not to record Skinamarink. Singing and playing by me.

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

I love ya in the morning and in the afternoon

I love ya in the evening underneath the moon

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

I love ya on the hillside, I love ya on the level

And when you’re in my arms I love ya like the devil (ooo!)

Skinamarinky dinkydink skinamarinky do – I love you

(sing it again now) I love you

(one more time!) I – love – you – too – boop boop dee doo

Dizzy Lizzy the Monkey

Dizzy Lizzy (feat. Bill Kelly)
PLAY ☝☝☝☝
Lizzy's smile's a frown DSCF0985

Dizzy Lizzy lost her head
Found it hangin’ by a thread
By a thread her head hung down
makin’ Lizzy’s smile a frown

I got a needle and some thread
Sewed together neck and head
Right side up she found her smile
Grinned a grin Lizzy style

Dizzy Lizzy is she fine?
Don’t ask me she isn’t mine.
All I know is that her head
is fastened on with golden thread.

Metta in A Minor

Sacred shrine by Leslie
metta in a minor

Click on “metta in a minor”
A lovingkindness meditation in A Minor. Different. Pretty. Soothing.
The usual “script:” May I be safe, May I have happiness, May I have healing, May I have ease and grace.

Humbly yours, Mary

yes, music by me

i took the photo of my beautiful new altar created by: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SacredArtsbyLeslie

Still chanting the same one, another version tonight

my new meditation seat and cornerCLICK BELOW TO LISTEN:
metta day 7
May you be safe
May you  have happiness
May you have healing
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

…. i know there’s not much of an audience for this kind of thing (so far) and that’s okay. recording these is life affirming and a joy!

photo by mary macgowan, my new meditation seat 

LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION IN SONG, DAY 6

CLICK HERE FOR A GUIDED LOVING-KINDESS MEDITATION IN SONG (ambient vocals and all):
metta day 6

First, for yourself:
May I be safe.
May I have happiness.
May I have healing.
May I have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone whom is easy for you to love:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone neutral in your life:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone difficult in your life:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Lastly, for all creatures on this Earth:
May we all be safe.
May we all have happiness.
May we all have healing.
May we all have ease and grace all hours of the day

music by mary macgowan, late at night in her living room having a great time

We’re All About It Here at Plucky Umbrella

DAY #5 “Compassion meditation” research
A few recent psychological studies suggest that loving-kindness meditation may impact health and well-being. One study done at Stanford University suggests that a short 7 minute practice of loving-kindness meditation can increase social connectedness. Loving-kindness meditation has also been shown to reduce pain and anger in people with chronic lower back pain. Researcher Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that loving-kindness meditation can help boost positive emotions and well-being in life, fostering the personal resources that come from experiencing positive emotion. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO PARTICIPATE IN MY LOVING-KINDNESS-IN-SONG. YOU CAN SIMPLY LISTEN AND BENEFIT FROM THAT. AND NOW THAT I KNOW ABOUT THE “7 MINUTES” RESEARCH, I’LL DO A LONGER VERSION NEXT…
metta meditation day#5 with piano

Continuing Loving-Kindness Meditations – with a tweak and harmonies

Loving-Kindness meditations all have the same basic “script.” Since I’m doing something new by putting it to music, I figure I can also tweak some of the words, so here’s what I have so far; I haven’t gone too far astray from the “script” most meditators use. You are invited to click below to hear it in song.
yay metta meditation day#4

First, for yourself:
May I be safe.
May I have happiness.
May I have healing.
May I have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone you find easy for you to love:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone neutral in your life:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Then for someone difficult in your life:
May you be safe.
May you have happiness.
May you have healing.
May you have ease and grace all hours of the day

Lastly, for all creatures on this Earth:
May we all be safe.
May we all have happiness.
May we all have healing.
May we all have ease and grace all hours of the day

Learning Tom Dooley on Guitar

(G chord) Hang down your head Tom Dooley. Hang down your head and (wait, wait for it, get the D chord ready, and…yes!) cry. Hang down your head Tom Dooley.  Poor boy he’s bound to (Okay, think fast, get that G chord in place and…yes!) die.

 

The 6th grade me. Tom Dooley was my first song. And, hey, remember those chairs!

The 6th grade Me. Tom Dooley was my first song. It was a classical guitar. And, hey, remember those chairs?

Lurching About

Yesterday I lurched about, creatively.  My “creativity slave driver” buzzed around me all day…

First thing in the morning, went next door to my dear friend’s house to have tea, both of us still in jammies. It was delightful!  Creativity slave driver: Tsk tsk you didn’t write in your journal.

Went home to clean the house just a bit.  Creativity slave driver: Hurry! You need to start typing up those poems!

Made soap.  This has been an ongoing project. It turns out that to make soap you have to melt soap! This made me laugh!   In my case the creative part is this: I had muddled mint (with a mortar and pestle) from my property and slow-cooked it in oil to create a kind of “essence of mint.”  So I yesterday I put it all together and made mint soap.  I’m making the soap to give as gifts at Christmas/Hanukah. Creativity slave driver: You are spending too much energy and time doing a tame task, not creative enough!

One of my dear daughters called. She was baby sitting a 4-year-old.  She had been telling this young girl about her mom (me!) who used to sing and perform children’s music.  She asked me to sing to the 4-year-old!  I loved it!  Creativity slave driver: Go back to children’s music! You could make a lot of money! You are so good at it!

Saw a client. I’m an art therapist and I see a few clients each week.  “Creativity slave driver” was okay with that, no scolding.  I like being thoroughly present during sessions; being as attentive as I can be.

A hurried dinner and then I went to my jazz vocal ensemble rehearsal.  Creativity slave driver: You should sing just jazz! Practice jazz theory more! Put together an act and perform, become a jazz singer! 

Visited a wonderful friend after rehearsal. We talked about how we lurch about creatively! He has the same “Do this! Do that!” voice in his head!

Went back next door in my jammies for a late night cup of tea. Delightful! Creativity slave driver: You promised to start typing up those poems. Are you going to start tonight?

Got home a little before midnight. Got an email with a song attached that I might like to sing.  It’s a great song about  Spider Lake and Traverse City!  It got me happily excited, and then my creativity slave driver:  Do it! Put your local songs together, package them up and sell them next summer! You could make a fortune selling songs about Traverse City to Traverse City vacationers!

Got ready for bed, etc.  That dang creativity slave driver was still trying to get me to type out at least one poem!

I over ruled.

 

Cry For You House


Cry For You is one of my songs…Click on Play – above

She sighs.This might be the saddest
house in the world.
He sees her: a cloudy wind drifter on high.
He says, I don’t know how you got to such a leave-you place.
She leans back on the bed. Saddest song, too.

yes, beauty in the decay
yes, photo and song and poem by mary macgowan

Grey Eyes

“Tavern,” poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, adapted to music and sung by Mary MacGowan

I’ll keep a little tavern
Below the high hill’s crest,
Wherein all grey-eyed people
May set them down and rest.

There shall be plates a-plenty,
And mugs to melt the chill
Of all the grey-eyed people
Who happen up the hill.

There sound will sleep the traveller,
And dream his journey’s end,
But I will rouse at midnight
The falling fire to tend.

Aye, ’tis a curious fancy—
But all the good I know
Was taught me out of two grey eyes
A long time ago.

Morning Glory

Oh go ahead, click on “play,” you know you want to . . . and it’s worth it just to hear the legendary Jerry Friedman play his heartbreakingly beautiful lead guitar. This might have been his last studio gig. His playing made me cry . . .

Yes, this is me, and one of the songs, Morning Glory, from my CD, Morning Glory.
Not to brag, but I love this song, I just do.

One Ring Ring-a-Ling

Instructions for use of telephone:

First you hold the telephone
then you hear the dial tone
Dial the number of your friend
She will answer if she’s in

One ring ring-a-ling
Two rings ring-a-ling-a-ling
Three rings ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling
Soon your friend will say hello (hello?)

Say hello and say your name (Hello, This is Andrea)
and your friend will do the same (Hi Andrea, this is Mary)
Ask her if she wants to play (Can you play today?)
Maybe she will say okay (I’d love to!)

One ring….etc
Now it’s time to say goodbye

Tell your friend you’ll see her soon
You can play all afternoon
Say goodbye and she will too
That is all you have to do (doo wah dah)

One ring…etc
This is the end of the telephone song, the telephone song.

disaster and bars

disaster bars 2
(must click twice to hear song)

(and my apologies – first post the song attachment didn’t work)

water drips down on graffiti walls
brick and mortar and painted plaster
and walking overhead on your bridge of stars
you hear voices drunk on disaster//on disaster and bars

sizzling in the river // you hear the moon whisper
and still up there on your bridge of stars
voices laugh and drink faster // you hear disaster and bars
you make a bed with your Goodwill coats -so what? who cares?
nobody takin your biography notes

sure, there’s someone out there
and maybe you could ask her, you could ask her
but all those people up there on your bridge of stars
walking home plastered//all you hear is disaster and bars

up there on your bridge of stars
under your sizzling moon
your time will come soon
under your own bridge of stars
it’s all disaster and bars
all disaster and bars

Oil painting and song by Mary MacGowan

The Vacuum Cleaner Song

A one minute song – go ahead and watch!

I know you sing a lot of songs all day long
but you’ve never sung along with the vacuum cleaner song.
Listen to this, this one you shouldn’t miss
It’s our own little vacuum cleaner song song song.

Here’s the good news – it’s easy to use.
Just flip a little switch and it’s vroom vroom vroom!
It picks up dirt and dust and it’s better than a broom
Now you have a clean living room room room.

That was our song, it wasn’t very long
sing along with the vacuum cleaner song song song!

– by Andrea Loftus & Mary MacGowan (Singamajig!)

More clear blue skies

☝PRESS PLAY, GO AHEAD☝

Last night I posted my song “Clear Blue Sky.”  At the time, I didn’t connect it to the day I had just spent with Bob.  An unseasonably light-filled and warm day, we walked bare foot on the sandy beach. Bob picked mint leaves for me and crumpled them slightly – held them out for me to smell.  So tender and minty fresh.  We drank Chardonnay.  We kissed.  And laughed.  A lot.

We acted out the whole song, except for the rain falling from a clear blue sky. [That part happened once when I was alone. It rained for a couple of minutes from what was apparently a perfectly blue sky.]  

Bob and I also watched 5 deer run across the ice-covered lake, past the island, hurrying toward the far shore. And 2 ice fisherman who weren’t afraid, as we were, of falling through the ice.  

We watched the sun sink low like blueberry plants with red leaves.

Clear Blue Sky was fiction.  Bob and I made it true.

I’m holding onto this one.  Tomorrow: a painting of the wintergreen mint.

Once I saw a flock of ducks sitting in a large field in V formation. Not eating, not quacking.  Resting.  Resting.  Sometimes we all need to rest in a field, doing nothing.  [No sleeping in blueberries though!]

Clear Blue Sky

☝PLEASE PRESS PLAY☝ (you can adjust volume, too)





Gave myself a birthday gift: Now I can put my songs up on Plucky Umbrella… ♥

 

 

 

Clear Blue  Sky

Barefoot we break off leaves of mint
soft and sweet they smell like heaven scent
and when we kiss and sigh
it’s love falling from a clear blue sky

Oh we laugh, and sip our Chardonnay
the sun so bright it’s hard to say
just why a rain dropped by
and fell down from a clear blue sky.

And here’s to you, my true (blue) eyed love
and here’s to mystery from up above
and here’s to the fall
that started it all

They say it happens but it’s rare
a cloud so small it’s barely there
and then with a gentle sigh
there’s love falling from a clear blue sky.
– Mary MacGowan

Listen to the End of the Song

Listen To the End of the Song

  

When you’re driving 

your dusty Jeep 

invite music in 

and in.

Listen and love 

as you go on your way

and when you get there

(to the place where you’re going)

if a song is still playing

put your car in Park.

Wait.

It’s a love song 

written just for you.

Can you hear it?

Listen and you’ll know.

Follow these instructions

and even your Jeep will be happier,

in need of less repairs.

 

the pain of music

Every instrument gives pain.

The violinist’s neck – left, left.

The oboe player’s lips buzzing.

The cellist’s back hunched over

glossy carved wood.

We play to give away

one holy moment

from inside the music.

Sore fingertips play lake songs

on a cigarbox ukulele.

– poem and illustration by Mary MacGowan