By Severin
“My heart flies with the nightingale, through the night all across the world.” – Julee Cruise
As we have seen, from many of the song nominations since Thursday, Nightingales feature in a huge number of folk songs and in the folklore of countries round the world. Especially beloved in Ukraine though, where they are the country's national symbol and are portrayed not only as a creator of lovely music but also a builder of homes and harbinger of spring. Nightingales are found throughout Ukraine and a Ukrainian word for a nightingale - “soloveiko” – is a sometimes used as a term of endearment. It was with all this in mind that I first suggested the idea of nightingales as a topic.
It wasn't long before I backtracked a little and changed it to Nightingales and Song Thrushes which, in turn, opened the door (or possibly window) to other birds in. Nightingales, being classified these days as Old World Flycatchers are, I learned, quite closely related to “true robins” whereas your American robin is basically a thrush in make-up. Old-world blackbirds are also a type of thrush. Bluebirds are in the thrush family. Possibly by marriage. I rather lost the thread at this point.
What to do? Well, listen to the songs, obviously, and see what happens. Make nightingales the focus, give thrushes a fair hearing and let a few of their friends in for the ride.
Start with a classic recording of a stunningly beautiful classical piece written by Camille Saint-Saëns which gives full range to the soprano's vocal abilities in imitating the song of the nightingale.
Follow it with the Ukrainian entry (performed by a combo called Go_A) for the (cancelled) 2020 Eurovision song contest. They won't be expecting that. I can't say whether this is about an actual nightingale or a person who sings like one but I'm rather taken with it. Might be retrospective bias but I'd have been inclined to give it my vote.
Then we have a lesser-known Irving Berlin number written in 1911. One of his few Jewish-themed songs. This one's definitely about a lady with a golden voice. Her admirer would pay a dollar just to hear her. He'd even go to jail for a year! Sung here by Maude Maggart.
Carole King's deceptively up-tempo song is about a tired, disillusioned man, weary of his success, walking home late at night. He needs the nightingale to “sing him home again” and restore his strength when his “golden hope” has gone.
Two of the harder choices this week were 1) over which of the beautiful blackbird songs to pick for the list. And, 2) having decided on the intense, allegorical Nina Simone song Blackbird, whether to go for the superb original or. the more recent, and equally moving “black acid soul” version by Lady Blackbird. As you can see, I went for the latter but it was a close call.
Laura Veirs, like Carole King, sings of the hope and comfort a nightingale's song can bring, even in moments of despair. “I could not bear to dream until the nightingale came and sang a song for me”.
And here comes a third dilemma. There were at least six versions of the Berkeley Square song nominated and not a bad one among them. In the end, it had to be Nat King Cole. Nobody delivers a song like Nat. But the Tori Amos version was in the running right up to the end. Not least because it featured in the TV adaptation of Good Omens. A story where that nightingale did finally sing there, for the first and only time.
Bellowhead give us an arrangement of the folk song, sometimes titled The Birds In The Spring, but here called One May Morning Early. Like many traditional songs, there are different versions sung by different people. The details and the titles change but the essence of the song is retained. Here, the song of the nightingales is so charming that “no music, no songster can with them compare”.
Johnny Osbourne sings that God can turn the tide when things go wrong. Citing the fact (well, OK, the belief) that he gave a red breast to the robin and a song to the nightingale. A song he proceeds to demonstrate in his own individual style.
“I had never heard of Rocco De Luca and the Burden before this week.” That's what I typed before a nagging suspicion made me check the Marconium and confirm that I had, in fact, listed one of their songs for a previous topic. From my Googling I (re)learnt that Californian-born Rocco taught himself guitar by playing along with classic jazz and blues recordings, only later starting to sing as well. I'm glad he did.
Gilberto Gil was Brazil's Minister of Culture from 2003-2008. This song dates from 1979 and is funky and eclectic. Like the guy who recorded it. Maybe even like the nightingale...
On to a lament for an environment rapidly being destroyed. And a longing for the song of the wood thrush. A beautiful a cappella rendition by Laurie Lewis.
Adjust your volume controls as there's a bit of a contrast here. Roxy Music's song expresses the feelings of an abandoned lover as he asks the nightingale for consolation. “Before the morning comes, will I hear your song?”
From the soundtrack of Twin Peaks, a song for which the word “atmospheric” might have been designed. Julee Cruise's nightingale tells her of the love that's meant for her and how, one day, they will be together.
And finally. A song that mentions the nightingales and their song only twice but is accompanied by their song and seems like the only way to end the playlist. Sam Lee sings and plays.... ? Accordion was suggested, I thought maybe harmonium. Anyway, he sings and plays beautifully and the birds sing.
Singing Aviary A-List Playlist:
Camille Saint-Saëns (singer Edita Grubarova) – Le Rossignol et la Rose (ParaMhor)
Go_A – Solovey (Nightingale) (magicman)
Maude Maggart – Yiddisha Nightingale (Alaric)
Carole King – Nightingale (BanazirGalbasi)
Lady Blackbird – Blackbird (DiscoMonster)
Laura Veirs – Nightingale (happyclapper)
Nat King Cole – A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (magicman)
Bellowhead – One May Morning Early (Suzi)
Johnny Osbourne – He Can Surely Turn the Tide (Nicko)
Rocco DeLuca and the Burden – Nightingale (Uncleben)
Gilberto Gil – Nightingale (BanazirGalbasi)
Laurie Lewis – Wood Thrush's Song (Pop Off!)
Roxy Music – Nightingale (Carpgate)
Angelo Badamenti and Julee Cruise – The Nightingale (magicman)
Sam Lee - The Tan Yard Side (singing with nightingales) (Alaric)
The Bigger Birdsong B-List Playlist:
The Beatles – Blackbird (pejepeine)
Everly Brothers – On the Wings of a Nightingale (magicman)
Michael Jackson – Rockin' Robin (amylee)
Cab Calloway and his Orchestra – Twee Tweet Tweet (AltraEgo)
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset – Blackbird (Suzi)
Brinsley Schwarz – Nightingale (Maki)
Dionne Warwick – Message to Michael (AltraEgo)
Peggy Lee – A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues (Nicko)
In Gowan Ring – The Merry Month of May (Alaric)
Xavier Cugat – Nightingale (Nicko)
David Rotheray – The Sparrow, The Thrush and the Nightingale (magicman)
Los Mirlos – Danza de Los Mirlos (pejepeine)
Djivan Gasparyan – Tormented Nightingale (Nicko
Paul McCartney and Wings – Bluebird (Nicko)
Trisha Yearwood – The Nightingale (magicman)
Nina Simone – Blackbird (Nicko)
The Eagles – Nightingale (Fred Erickson)
Norah Jones – Nightingale (Loud Atlas)
Yona – Sateenkaarilaulu (Rainbow Song) (DiscoMonster)
Sinead O'Conner – My Singing Bird (Fred Erickson)
Buffalo Springfield – Bluebird (Uncleben)
Lambchop – Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed (Shoegazer)
Marcos Valle & Stacey Kent feat Jim Tomlinson – My Nightingale (BanzirGalbasi)
Jackie Oates – The Sweet Nightingale (Suzi)
Whiskey Rebellion – The Last Nightingale (EnglishOutlaw)
Anonymous singer (Kashmir) – Song of the Nightingale (Nicko)
Larissa Kovalchuk – Nightingale (BanazirGalbasi)
Prefab Sprout – Nightingales (ToffeeBoy)
(plus)
Juan Perro – El Mirlo del Pruno (Maki)
(which for some reason can't be added to a playlist)
Bonus Classical/Orchestral/Instrumental and More Playlist:
Guru’s Wildcard Bird List:
Igor Stravinsky – Nightingale Aria from the opera Le Rossignol
(sung by Kate Royal)
Sarah Vaughan – Midnight Sun
“The music of the universe around me, or was that a nightingale?” This one was my sister's choice.
Pauline Vallance – Soloveiko
A song for Ukraine written by Franzeska Ewart and Pauline Vallance. Discovered by chance while on YT.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Joy in repetition: songs about nightingales and song thrushes. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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