Folk and Anti-Folk

Just felt like listening to this. And blogging it.

Cinderella, she seems so easy
“It takes one to know one,” she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning
“You Belong to Me I Believe”
And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place my friend
You better leave”
And the only sound that’s left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

[...]

Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row

Contrast this with this:

Shysters live from scheme to scheme but my 4th quarter pipe dreams
Are seeming more and more worth fighting for
So I’ll curate some situations, make my job a big vacation
And I’ll say fuck Bush and fuck this war
My war paint is sharpie ink and I’ll show you how much my shit stinks
And ask you what you think because your thoughts and words are powerful
They think we’re disposable, well both my thumbs opposable
Are spelled out on a double word and triple letter score and

We won’t stop until somebody calls the cops
and even then we’ll start again
and just pretend that nothing ever happened

Nice way to end a weekend with this.

Appreciating Gulzar – Masoom

As I continue to listen to Gulzar’s songs, old and new, every time one hears a song, there is a new meaning that one discovers. Today I was listening to songs from Masoom, Shekhar Kapur’s first Hindi film as a director.

Each one of the songs is a delightful piece by itself, besides the music of the LoRD. Let’s have a few sample lines from the different songs.

One of my favourite songs, not just of this movie, but of all time is the one sung by Arati Mukherjee – Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani.  This song in the film is picturised as a lullaby sung by the mother Shabana Azmi for her two daughters. The lines are ostensibly a story for the kids. But there is something deeper in it. Have a look. There is antara which goes like this

chhotee see do jheelon mein wo
bahatee rahatee hai
o chhotee see do jheelon mein wo
bahatee rahatee hai
ko_ii sune yaa naa sune
kahatee rahatee hai
kuchh likh ke aur kuchh zubaani

Between two lakes (jheelon – tear drops? remember the song starts Do Naina aur Ek Kahani) flows the story (story of life?). Whether any one listens to it or not, the story goes on and on, sometimes in letters sometimes in voice.

The rest of the song you will see borders on distress and sadness.

Another favourite song, also with explicit nonsense lyrics, reminiscent of Sukumar Ray’s Aabol Taabol is Lakdi Ki Kathi. Song sung by kids having fun. Gulzar has done this many times. Earlier was one in Kitaab – remember VIP underwear banian?

ghodaa thaa ghamandee
pahunchaa sabjii mandee
sabjee mandee baraf padii thi
baraf mein lag gai thandee

The arrogant horse reaches the market, the market is covered with snow, in the snow the horse catches a cold. To what end was the arrogance? Only to catch a cold? Nice.

Finally I will end with Huzur Is Kadar.

koi manachalaa gar pakad legaa aanchal
zaraa sochiye aap kyaa kiijiyegaa
lagaa dein agar badhake zulfon mein kaliyaan
to kyaa apanii zulfein jhatak diijiyegaa

This song was one of those drinking songs when one is a little elevated from the ground.

(All lyrics taken from www.smriti.com and due credit to all respective contributors)

One Loner In The City

Ek Akela Is Shahar Mein
Raat Mein Aur Dopahar Mein
Aabodaana Dhoondta Hai Aashiyana Dhoondta Hai

Din Khali Khali Bartan Hai Aur Raat Hai Jaise Andha Kuan
In Sooni Andheri Aankhon Mein Aansoon Ki Jagah Aata Hain Dhuan
Jeene Ki Vajah To Koi Nahi Marne Ka Bahana Dhoondta Hai

In Umar Se Lambi Sadkon Ko Manzil Pe Pohonchte Dekha Nahin
Bas Daudti Phirti Rahti Hain Humne To Theherte Dekha Nahin
Is Ajnabi Se Shahar Mein Jaana Pehechana Dhoondta Hai

An old classic, so why we listen to it now? Simply. Also partly because of an interesting conversation with some friends on the “Khali Bartan” i.e. empty vessel metaphor. Some friends remarked at the funny side of the literal translation. However, the deeper meaning was merely in the eyes of the beholder, as one would say. Each one to his own interpretation.

I would read it as, “the day is loud but hollow (like an empty vessel) and the night is a bottomless abyss (andha kuan)” The melancholy continues with “In the blank dark eyes, even the tears are replaced by smoke / there is no reason to live, trying to find an excuse to die“

The movie was one of the classics from the 70′s. The other version of this song, the happier “Do Deewane Shaher Mein” starts with hope and happiness and now “Ek Akela Is Shahar Mein” reflects the change in the situation for protagonist.

This is one of the main points of the Golden Age. The story of the film can be discerned from the sound track.

Kaminey

In continuation of the exploration of the music of Kaminey (Dhan Ta Nan and Fatak) and specifically the lyrics written by Gulzar, here’s Gaurav Sabnis on the title track sung by Vishal Bharadwaj.

My favourite lines, which in true Gulzar style has as many interpretations as your imagination allows it, are as follows:

Jiska bhi chehra chheela (But whenever I peeled off anyone’s face))
Andar se aur nikla (Underneath it, there was more/something else (pun))
Masoom sa kabutar (What I thought was an innocent pigeon)
Naacha to mor nikla (When it danced, showed itself to be a peacock)
Kabhi hum kaminey nikley (Sometimes I was the crook)
Kabhi doosrey kaminey (And sometimes, the others were crooks)

(Note: Translations given by Gaurav)

Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series, Vol 1

Having recently acquired the complete songs of Bob Dylan, it has been some great musical journey all along. Every day I listen to a couple of songs, songs which one hears for the first time.

And unlike other songs, you can’t just listen to Bob Dylan as just another song. You stop / pause it, go back and play again. You listen to couple of lines three to four times. Over 30-45 minutes, you generally listen to two Bob Dylan songs at least 5 times each.

And then you sit back and ponder the song in your mind.

Here are two from the Bootleg Series, Vol 1

Ramblin’ Gamblin Willie:

So all you rovin’ gamblers, wherever you might be,
The moral of this story is very plain to see.
Make your money while you can, before you have to stop,
For when you pull that dead man’s hand, your gamblin’ days are up.
And it’s ride, Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin’ now, nobody really knows.

And this one

Who Killed Davey Moore?

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an’ what’s the reason for?

“Not I,” says the referee,
“Don’t point your finger at me.
I could’ve stopped it in the eighth
An’ maybe kept him from his fate,
But the crowd would’ve booed, I’m sure,
At not gettin’ their money’s worth.
It’s too bad he had to go,
But there was a pressure on me too, you know.
It wasn’t me that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame me at all.”

Go enjoy. More from the 20th century’s greatest poet (IMHO)

Fataak

After Dhan Ta Naan, I will now take up another brilliant song from Kaminey, Fataak

There’s a clear message about AIDS and unsafe sex and all that. However, it is not preachy unlike most others. In fact, there is a subtle hint of sarcasm at Indian attitudes. I will focus more on the use of a few words or phrases.

“bhavra” – a bee, no doubt. What is a bee doing here?  I have two guesses a) the “sting” of the virus floating around human habitat and b) “bhavra” a better way to say “bhadva” i.e. a pimp – some one who tempts you in to lust. By a fair stretch of imagination, “bhavra” could mean your own death warrant in the form of a debilitating disease.

ke bhavra bhavra aaya re,
gun gun karta aaya re,
sun sun karta galiyon se
ab tak koi na bhaaya re

fatak, fatak..

sauda kare saheli ka
sar pe tel chameli ka
kaan mein ittar ka phaya re

fatak, fatak

ke bhavra bhavra aaya re,
gun gun karta aaya re

Trying a free verse translation

The bee flies in
Buzzing through the streets
Still looking for its prey

Fatak, Fatak

Lo, here he trades off a friend
Who has come with hair glistening with Jasmine oil
And ears doused with the scent of roses

The verses that follow describe the different consequences and manifestations post the sting.

Dhan Ta Nan

Sukhwinder Singh, Gulzar and the two Vishals – Dadlani and Bharadwaj combine to create “Dhan Ta Nan“. Powerpacked stuff. Just Mohit has posted the lyrics on his blog.

While the song has been around for some time, I really got to hear it properly last week as one was swamped with work. But maybe the overworked mind played a part to it – the song just blew my mind out and cleaned all the stress out.

So what does Dhan Ta Nan mean? Vishal Bharadwaj says in this interview that the phrase was a childhood one usually associated with games of cops and robbers. As kids one would come up from behind, point pistol like and say “Dhan Ta Nan”.

So he goes to Gulzar and says please write a song with this, reminiscent of how he got Gulzar to write Beedi. I am yet to see the film so I suppose there is a context of the lyrics with the film. So I do will an analysis of lyrics without the knowledge of what the film is about (and the specific context of the song).

Aaja Aaja Dil Nichode
Raat Ki Mataki Tode
Koi Good Luck Nikaale
Aaj Gullak Toh Phode

Dil Nichode will mean squeezing the heart out i.e. going full out; “raat ki matki” another Gulzar original metaphor – the unknown of the night, the black box so to speak; “Gullak” I think means treasure.

I would then proceed to translate the above lines as (forgive the break in rhyme)

Come, let’s put our full hearts out
To break the unknown of the night
Let’s find our own luck
And break the treasure chest.

Let’s move on

Hai Til Til Taara Dil Dildaara Mera Teli Ka Tel
Kaudi Kaudi Paisa Paisa Paise Ka Khel

Til = sesame, also a mole; Teli Ka Tel = ? Absolutely no idea (obviously something very oily but beyond that what?), one of Gulzar’s tantalising word plays. Kaudi Kaudi etc = obvious

My attempt at translating the above two lines falls here but for the second line re a game of extreme detail where every cowrie counts.

Aaja ki one way hai
yeh zindagi ki gali
ek hi chance hai
aage hava hi hava hai
agar saans hai to
yeh romance hai

Nice, no need to translate. Lots of Hinglish in the lines, typical of Gulzar in recent times, e.g. “Personal se sawaal karte hain“

koi chaal aisi chalo yaar ab ke
samandar bhi pul pe chale
phir tu chale us pe ya mein chaloon
shehar ho apne pairon tale

kahin khabrein hain
kahin kabrein hain
jo bhi soye hain kabron mein
unko jagana nahi

This is, in my opinion, the most profound verse in the song.

Play the game of all games, Friend
So that we may bridge over the entire sea
Then whether you go or I go
Entire city will under us, under our feet.

There’s excitement (khabrein = news = gossip = scandal = excitement) on one side
There’s stillness (kabrein = graves = death = stillness) on the other
Those who lie asleep in the graves
Let sleeping dogs lie

That ends my study of Dhan Ta Nan. In the meantime, people have dug up some old video pertaining to VB-Gulzar doing one version of DTN back in the ’90s.

In sometime I will also write about another piece in the same soundtrack – “Fataak“

Hard Rain a-gonna fall

Bob Dylan sang

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin’,
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’,
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’,
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
I heard the sound of one person who cried he was human,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Well, it seems that the Indian Met department are also singing the same song. They are calling in the Marines, well almost. An American N81WE aircraft is flying in to Ojhar in Nashik for cloud seeding experiments using silver iodide crystals and furnaces.

So far, all their experiments have failed.

The BMC has already started a 15% water cut. Truly, hard rain is a-gonna fall.

Bedtime Music – Led Zeppelin

Hangman hangman hold it a little while,
Think I see my friends coming,
Riding many a mile.
Friends did you get a some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me my dear friends,
To keep me from the gallows pole?
What did you bring me,
To keep me from the gallows pole?

Bedtime music is usually soothing, peaceful, soporific stuff. So Led Zeppelin for bedtime music? Well not quite bedtime. Working as a consultant, all day is spent doing mental exercises and brain work. Result – mental fatigue. Solution – something that flushes the mind and clears everything.

And so Led Zeppelin.

Past couple of hours, spent time listening to albums Volume 1, 2 and 3.

Couldn’t find video of Gallows Pole, but here’s Dazed and Confused from Volume 1.

Volume 1 is the introduction – the first album – to Led Zeppelin. A whole new sound of blues, folk, classic rock. Folksy vocals of Plant, wailing chords of Page. If you ever want to dig into Led Zep, start here.

Rediscovering Pink Floyd with Songbird

Songbird, an Open Source Music Player offers the feature called MashTape where for the song that is being played, it pulls hajaar stuff from the web including bios, reviews from Amazon, videos from youtube, etc. I had installed it earlier but had not used it so extensively. Now, I was issued a new laptop and while setting up my favourite applications, decided to opt for Songbird as against default Windows Media Player.

So did that and then imported all my music into the library. I started with Pink Floyd. Immediately, I was offered all kinds of content. As I started going through them, I realised that this is not just an application where you leave the music playing in the background and continue to do your work. This application engages you. And you engage with it. In the process, you go deep into your music.

I would like a feature for lyrics and for microblogging about the song / artist that I am listening to. There is a last.fm addon but I haven’t figured how it works.

Anyway, let’s have some Pink Floyd. Anyone remember this album.

Dan Epstein of Amazon.com gives the editorial review (which Songbird has pulled up for me). It says

The last release from the Roger Waters-led incarnation of the band, The Final Cut is easily the most darkly provocative entry in the entire Pink Floyd catalog.

Dark it definitely is. And personal. The criticism, at times rabid, of Maggie Thatcher, the Falklands War, etc. is overpowering to ignore.

Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd

I first heard AHM when I must have been in 5th or 6th standard. An old cassette of a family friend found its way to my hands and I was extremely fascinated with the cow. So I put it on my tape recorder and heard Roger Waters intone If. The only piece in the album with any lyrics. And what a song. I take the liberty of posting the lyrics here.

If I were a swan, I’d be gone
If I were a train, I’d be late
If I were a good man, I’d talk with you more often than I do

If I were asleep, I could dream
If I were afraid, I could hide
If I go insane, please don’t put your wires in my brain

(Gilmour flirts with the guitar here)

If I were the moon I’d be cool
If I were a road, I would bend
If I were a good man, I’d understand the spaces between friends

If I were allowed, I would cry
If I were with you, I’d be home and dry
And if I go insance, will you still let me join in with the game.

Over and out for now.