Christmas In Italy (Natale in Italia)--Capitol Records

We grew up listening to this wonderful album at Christmastime. It must be one of my earliest memories of our childhood Christmases. My father was second generation Italian; his parents emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s and settled in New York City. I'm not sure how they found their way to Tarrytown, but that's where they settled and raised their family (my father and his four siblings). My father married a woman of non-Italian heritage (English/Irish/Scottish), but she learned how to make the Italian dishes my father loved, from his mother--my grandmother. So at Christmas they would make struffoli (if you haven't had this pastry, I recommend it highly). My father worked in Manhattan near Herald Square when we were children, so he would stop in Macy's on his way home and buy a panettone (an Italian Christmas cake) as well as different types of Italian hard candy. 

So it's no surprise that I love the cover of this album--a Christmas table with different foods, but what I especially remember is the big Christmas cake--most likely a panettone. 

I'm listening to the album as I write this post. Christmas is still two weeks away, but I wish you all a Buon Natale from the bottom of my heart. 

Here is the track list for those who are interested:

 

0:00 È Nato Gesù (Jesus Was Born)

2:48 Buon Natale

5:07 Pastorale

8:35 Presepe

11:26 Notte Sacra

14:03 Bianco Natale

17:30 La Ninna Nanna A Gesù

20:39 La Stella Di Betlemme

24:09 Alla Luce D'Una Stella

28:20 Campane Di Natale

32:15 Cantico D'Amore

36:00 Dolce Risveglio

Pat Metheny - You Are (Official Audio)

I bought Pat Metheny's album From This Place in 2020, during the pandemic. I didn't begin to really listen to it until yesterday; listening to it made me realize why I've loved Pat Metheny's music for the past forty years. There are many songs that stand out on the album, but this one, this one, brought me into a world where my brother was still alive, and we were listening to it together. He was a fan too and we went to Pat Metheny concerts several times during the mid-1980s. I haven't been able to cry since he died in 2015, but last night when I went to bed, I lay awake and listened to this song over and over. I don't think I've cried so much in years. It seemed like the emotions came out of nowhere, but of course they didn't. They've been welling up inside me for years and I only needed the right trigger. Because I've wanted to cry and simply couldn't these past seven years. Perhaps another trigger was eating dinner with two friends who asked me about my niece and nephew (his children) and how they're doing. I think of my brother often; we were good friends and even though our lives went in different directions when we both married, we had a bond that couldn't be broken. I don't pretend to understand what God wants of us, why there is so much pain and suffering in the world, personal and otherwise. All I know is that they exist and sometimes it feels as though we're being torn apart emotionally. I'm grateful and always will be for my memories of my brother and for this song that managed to do something that nothing else has for the past seven years--put me in touch with him and the feelings that I've been suppressing for years (why I've done so, I've no idea). 

After Hours by Swing Out Sister

Swing Out Sister is one of my favorite groups from the 1980s. Their album It's Better to Travel from 1987 is a masterpiece. I bought it as an LP and it got a lot of play time on my stereo back then. I just downloaded some of the songs from that album onto my iPhone; one of them is called After Hours and it's a beautiful song, sung by the vocalist Corinne Drewery who has an incredible voice. Here are the lyrics:

After Hours

Swing Out Sister

Day time surrenders
And the shadows fall
Your cigarette lingers
You spent the night alone
With no one at all
Another mellow mood
And the silence calls
Another fleeting glance
Another call long distance
To no one at all
No one at all
Day time surrenders
And the shadows call
Your cigarette lingers
You spend the night alone
With no one at all
After hours, after hours

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Andrew John Connell / Corinne Drewery / Martin Boyd Jackson

After Hours lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Pink Floyd - Us and Them, from the album Dark Side of the Moon

Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd is probably my favorite album of all time. An amazing piece of work from start to finish, every song a masterpiece. The first time I heard it, it blew me away, and still does, all these years later. 

This song, Us and Them, is every bit as relevant now as it was back in 1973. I'm not sure what happened to music over the years, but there is very little music made today that even approaches the creativity found in this album. This music touches your soul; the lyrics are poetry. 

Us And Them

Us and them

And after all we're only ordinary men

Me and you

God only knows it's not what we would choose to do

"Forward!" he cried

From the rear

And the front rank died

And the general sat

And the lines on the map

Moved from side to side

Black and blue

And who knows which is which and who is who?

Up and down

And in the end it's only round and round and round

"Haven't you heard

It's a battle of words?"

The poster bearer cried.

"Listen, son,"

Said the man with the gun,

"There's room for you inside."

"Well, I mean, they're gonna kill ya, so like, if you give 'em a quick sh...short, sharp shock, they don't do it again.

Dig it? I mean he got off light, 'cause I could've given him a thrashin' but I only hit him once.

It's only the difference between right and wrong, innit? I mean good manners don't cost nothing, do they? Eh?"

Down and out

It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about

With, without

And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?

Out of the way

It's a busy day

I've got things on my mind

For want of the price

Of tea and a slice

The old man died

The Loneliest Guy by David Bowie

Another poignant beautiful song from Bowie's Reality album from 2003......